Just One Call

This was probably one of the greater times in her life to be in this situation. After all, she just fired her lawyer (since they proved SO helpful in the Way Ting Entertainment scandals) and virtually had no backing to vouch for whether or not she was trustworthy.

She was being sarcastic, of course. This was totally NOT one of her greatest times. At all.

If the media got one whiff of this, the two terms "Wang Yun Lan" and "money laundering" would always appear together. That would be it for her career. She could forget about her peaceful dream. She was only worried now about how she could feed herself in the future, keep herself alive.

As the investigator escorted her to the station and sat her in front of his desk, that's when it hit her. Incoming existential crisis.

Why was she so determined to live, anyway? It's not like she loved herself. It was quite the opposite. She found her being to be a resentful thing, but never did she think about ways she could cease to exist.

Maybe this is the one selfish fear she could never purge from her body: fear of the end. But was it fear of the end or fear of being trapped in the end? She couldn't tell.

While she was spiraling into the deepest, darkest chasms of her mind, the investigator was becoming frustrated. He'd been calling 'Miss' to the woman for quite some time, but the only response he got was her deep stare. He resorted to something more overt.

The investigator gripped the files he had in his hand and slammed them down on this desk. When he did, the entirety of the woman's body jumped with great shock. Her elegant almond eyes opened wide like chestnuts. He scoffed to himself. With her shoulders tensed up, Yun Lan resembled a frightened rabbit.

"Miss, I'll need to check your backpack," he said coldly.

"Ah, right." Yun Lan handed the backpack she packed at her apartment to the man's hands. The investigator curiously peered in to see what was inside.

A change of clothes, pens, pencils, a note book, her phone and a charger, toothbrush and toothpaste, some snacks, and several other essential items, but most oddly, a scientific calculator.

He narrowed his eyes in disgust. This couldn't be anything other than a getaway bag. In the studio, they found her passport. He knew what her name was but he insisted on calling her 'the woman' or 'that woman' in his mind to prevent him from sympathizing with that shameless lotus.

Surely this woman wasn't planning to leave the country and let the old man take the fall?

While her smooth, porcelain skin made her look youthful and full of beauty, her passport told him they were around the same age. He was ashamed to face the old man now! He was ashamed of the sinister acts of their generation! The investigator made a note to apologize to the old man as soon as he could.

He sneered at her before asking, "What is your name, Miss?" He already knew her name, but he wanted to see how deeply she'd try to weasel her way out of this.

Yun Lan allowed only a moment's pause before responding. She glanced into his eyes, seeing only hatred and disgust. It was clear he didn't have a good impression of her. Not a good way to start clearing away misunderstandings.

"My name is Wang Yun Lan."

"What was your intention in coming to your studio today, the place rented to you by Mr. Liu?"

Yun Lan almost let out a smile. She could tell that the officer was a righteous, straightforward man. He probably didn't even know how to stab someone in the back. She felt a little relief knowing there was still people like him in the world, and a little fear knowing they were at odds.

"I came to use the space and sleep there overnight," she replied.

"Where do you normally sleep?" he asked.

"My apartment."

"So why not sleep at your apartment tonight?"

Yun Lan sighed. She almost didn't even want to begin.

"I received a text message and felt threatened. I was worried I wouldn't be safe there."

The investigator crossed his arms haughtily, "If you felt unsafe or thought you were being threatened, why didn't you call the police?"

Yun Lan wanted to throw her face into her palm right now. Or maybe a desk. Perhaps even off a cliff would be good. This situation kept looking worse for her!

"I didn't think it was that serious, so I didn't report it."

"Right. Miss, you realize this contradicts your previous statement?"

"You can't blame me for being cautious!" she groaned aloud. It's looking like her life was a permanent headache.

"Tch." The investigator was very clearly dissatisfied with her. "Ms. Wang, allow me to tell you my version of the story as I see it. You lured Mr. Liu to turn against the law and had him give away the benefits to you. Now that you've successfully taken advantage of the man, he's fulfilled his purpose. Since you're afraid of being caught, you came to the studio to retrieve your passport and escape from the country."

Yun Lan nearly fell over in her chair.

"My passport, but my passport is at my apartment. I keep it in a locked safe there! Why would it make sense to go to the studio to get it?"

The investigator forcefully dropped an evidence bag onto the desk. Inside it was Yun Lan's passport. She recognized it by its cover.

"While clearing out the studio, we found your passport."

Looking at it in front of her, Yun Lan's eyes were on the verge of falling out of her head. A wave of panic began to course through her body. Wang Jian, really...this was all premeditated.

"Officer, please. I really didn't do this. Both Mr. Liu and I are innocent in this matter. Please! I swear, I keep my passport locked in a safe. I don't know how it got to the studio, but I swear I'm not planning to leave the country!"

"Good, then you can stay here and take responsibility." The officer looked up from the woman and glanced to one of his colleagues.

"Xiao[1] Gu, how are you on the process of obtaining the transaction records?"

A younger officer whom was typing away replied swiftly.

"Almost there, Detective!"

Yun Lan rose from her seat immediately, "Detective, before you build your assumptions, please just let me make one phone call. Just one, please..."

"Detective Mo, my office. Now," A strong female voice boomed above the chaos.

"Yes, Commander!" Detective Mo replied promptly. Before he could leave her standing, Yun Lan grabbed his sleeve.

"Detective..." Yun Lan's clear voice was breaking up now. Detective Mo pressed his lips into a thin line. Looking down at her face, he felt a pang of pity cross his heart. Even if she was already pitiful enough to extort an old man like Mr. Liu, she was still a human. He released a heavy sigh.

Out of solidarity for humanity, he would grant her wish. The reason was nothing more than that! It had nothing to do with the pain that shattered her beautiful face.

He took the woman's phone from her backpack and placed it in her hands.

"One phone call. Don't make it long, and don't leave this seat."

Yun Lan bowed her head, "T-Thank you." She waited until he left to unlock it.

She gripped her phone with trembling hands. If they didn't realize this was a ploy, and suppose there was false evidence planted against both her and Mr. Liu...would the two of them really be jail bound?

She had her whole life ahead of her, but not Mr. Liu. What if he became ill? He didn't deserve to die in that kind of place. At least for Mr. Liu's sake, she could find someone to help her.

Scrolling through her contacts, her finger hovered over her father's number. Should she call him? After all, everything here is clearly his plan, but would he help her...?

When she was young and happened to misbehave (whether it was on accident or on purpose) they would always threaten her with this: if she wouldn't follow their wishes, they had no problem walking out to the street and replacing her with the first girl they found. There were plenty of children needing to be adopted. The promised they would go out and get a new one.

Yun Lan was very aware that her parents would never show her love like others do. Their harsh words lacerated her heart, but she was more terrified of being kicked to the street with nothing back then. At 13, she didn't think she'd survive. For those first 13 years of her life, she was well taken care of in her life of luxury.

Afraid of being alone, she never challenged them in her adolescence.

Thinking of the past and the situation she was in now, to believe they would go so far to turn her sheepskin black...Yun Lan was certain they wouldn't help her. They probably wanted her to call so they could her defeated voice after they refused to aid.

With an angry huff, she scrolled past her father's contact without any further hesitation. She kept looking...but found nothing. Yun Lan glanced at the clock. Detective Mo and the commander wouldn't be talking for much longer. She needed to pick someone to call, fast.

Now at the bottom of her contact list, only her blocked numbers were left. At the top of those blocked numbers was the one who texted her this morning.

The number claiming to be Xi Lei Shun. What if the claims were true, and it was really him? Would he help her?

Right now she didn't have the luxury for pride, shame, or fear. Yun Lan threw her skepticism in the garbage, unblocked the number, and dialed.

It didn't even take one ring. Whoever was on the other line instantly picked up.

Yun Lan was speechless. Really, she was unable to make a sound. After several moments of trying to speak but being unable to, she gave up. She would've hung up at that very moment.

"Miss Wang," a voice called out. It was soothing and deep, something like the lull of the sea. Yun Lan's lips trembled. Whether they were Xi Lei Shun or not, it sounded as if he was right next to her. In its next lines, the voice spoke much louder as if they knew she was in a daze.

"Miss Wang, not only are you late, but you are not where I asked you to be." This voice that bellowed out was too clear, it was not just coming from the phone. She pulled her face away from the phone and looked toward her side.

The smartphone dropped from her hands and shattered on the floor. Yun Lan was stunned with near terror.

He stood there in all his glory.

Xi Lei Shun.

____________________

Footnotes:

[1] Xiao: term of endearment, used for those younger than the speaker