How About A Bet?

Elena touched her head. The part of her body where she was hit was still aching. She rubbed her head and looked around. The room was empty, there were just gray walls and dim light from the window, one door. There were nothing and nobody in the room, except for her and... Corey.

"Oh, God, Corey! Corey!!" Elena noticed her unconscious friend beside her.

"Mmm...," Corey let moaned a little and slowly opened her eyes. "Damn, it hurts like hell," the girl reflexively grabbed her head and tried to sit up. She gradually regained consciousness and all pieces of reality began to stitch together until she finally remembered what had happened.

"Elena, are you okay? Are you alright?" Corey began to hastily examine her friend to make sure that nothing happened to her. After making sure that both of them were all right and the kidnappers didn't do anything with them, the girls decided to think about how to get out of the current situation.

"Elena, do you understand what's going on at all? What do you think, why did they kidnap us? Do they want some kind of ransom for us?"

"I don't know, Corey. I have one thought, but I would prefer your option," Elena replied, trying to reach the bars on the window. 'Damn, too high. And it doesn't look like I can do anything with these bars.'

"And what else can it be related to, except with the ransom?" Corey asked her friend.

"With Professor Richards' case. If this is so, then everything may turn out to be much more serious. I'm not sure that in this case, the kidnappers are interested in the ransom," Elena looked at the girl's confused face, sighed and gently stroked her head.

"Do not worry, I will try to think of something. When we were carried here, I still did not fully regain consciousness and vaguely saw everything, but at least I remembered the way where and how we turned along the corridors. I also thought that there were few people, no more than three or five, so there is a chance for success. The only thing left is only to somehow get out of this room," said Elena.

As soon as the girl finished sharing her escape plan with her friend, the iron door of the room opened with a nasty metal creak, and a young man entered the room.

He was dressed in all black, by his looks he was not more than 20 years old. If he was dressed differently, he could have been mistakenly taken for a regular high school student. But now, his indifferent facial expression and the way he skillfully played with a knife in his hand didn't fit in with the age he looked like.

The guy closed the door and leaned against the wall, standing in front of the girls. It seemed that their presence did not concern him at all.

After a long pause, Elena decided to start a dialogue with him.

"Why are we here? Tell me what do you need? We will consider your demands and do our best to let us get out of here."

The young man looked indifferently at the girl, and returned to his knife, without saying a word.

"Young man, I suppose you decided to ignore our questions?" Elena again tried to establish a contact, but there was still only silence in response.

"Hey, you! So you will hold your tongue, won't you? How long do we have to sit here? I actually want to go to the toilet!" Corey could not stand it and exploded with emotions.

The guy angrily glanced at the girl and abruptly waved his hand. A knife flew into the wall right behind Corey with a speed of light. The girl shuddered and immediately fell silent. The guy approached them, pulled out a knife and returned to his seat.

'Damn, he is quick and obviously with skills,' Elena thought. And then an idea came to her mind.

"*Are you Chinese? Do you speak Chinese?*" Elena switched to Chinese to test her assumptions.

"*Have we met before? Your face looks very familiar?*" This question worried Elena from the very beginning, as soon as she saw him. This guy really reminded her of someone. But who, she could not understand.

A slight smirk slid across his face.

"*I see Miss speaks Chinese. It's an amazing thing for a young American woman*," he replied.

"*My father is half Chinese. Therefore, naturally, I speak this language, but at a simple conversational level*," Elena tried to keep the conversation going to pull at least some information from the young man.

"*Aah, that's right, your dad is the President of Lee Pharmaceuticals...*," the boy smiled wickedly, and the knife sank into the wall behind Elena in a blink of an eye. The young man slowly approached the girl, and, stooping, filtered through his teeth, "*This Mr. Lee is a disgusting fellow*", he pulled out a knife from the wall and returned to his place.

'Damn, the dialogue took a wrong turn,' Elena began to ponder what topic could soften and divert the guy's attention.

Corey looked at her friend and decided to sit silently, as she absolutely did not understand what they were talking about. 'I didn't expect her to speak Chinese so well. After all, my Elena is the best of all,' her proud thoughts about Elena reassured Corey a little, and she finally decided to trust everything to her friend.

"*Young man, we don't know how long we will sit here. My friend said she wants to go to the toilet. Take us there, please*," Elena asked him, trying to be as polite as possible.

"*Your problems do not concern me*," he answered indifferently.

"*I think you are also not particularly happy to sit with us here either. How about a bet?*"

"*A bet?*" The man's eyebrows rose from the unexpected suggestion, and a faint smile smirked at the corners of his lips.

'That's it! I got you,' Elena thought with satisfaction.

"*Yes, bet. If I win, you will take us to the toilet*."

The man tilted his head to the side, and the anticipation of the upcoming entertainment could be read in his eyes.

"*Well, come on, try to surprise me with your offer*."

Elena also narrowed her eyes slightly and smirked in response.

'Well, I hope I have not overestimated my abilities.'