The floor felt cold under Hui Yin's bare feet, and her toes curled as she continued chasing him.
They passed several nurses' stations along the way, but it must have been in the early hours of the morning because most nurses were asleep, and they didn't meet any other people along the corridors. The cold and the unexpected exercise have long since woken up Hui Yin from her stupor, and she realized the danger of the situation she was in, chasing a culprit who could even threaten Lu Shen and give him headaches.
Hui Yin grabbed the hairpin from her hair and clutched it like a weapon while running. The culprit was always ahead of her, letting Hui Yin only catch a glimpse of his back turning into another corridor before disappearing. Was he deliberately trying to make her chase him?
He opened the door of the emergency exit and went in. Hui Yin followed after him.
His footsteps were loud in the enclosed space, while Hui Yin's footsteps were barely audible because of her bare feet. She could only thank the janitors for keeping the floor clean. She didn't even step on any wayward litter.
When Hui Yin heard the sound of a door opening and closing, she hurriedly quickened her pace to catch the door handle. Surprisingly, she discovered that they were in the parking lot. The lights were even dimmer here, and Hui Yin couldn't see his figure anymore. She plastered herself on the side of the car and tried to calm down her breathing.
Hui Yin felt that if she would be given a role in a horror movie as a frightened female character in the future, she would be able to act it out perfectly.
She knelt and pressed her palms on the ground as she looked under the car to find out if there were any pairs of shoes ahead of her. They were the only ones in the parking lot, and it was extremely quiet.
Inwardly, Hui Yin cursed herself for her impulsiveness. It was just...that man had evoked feelings of familiarity inside her, something she couldn't simply ignore. In her mind, his back overlapped with someone else's, someone whom she hadn't seen for very long time...
A flash of light suddenly blinded Hui Yin.
It was her only warning before a car sped towards her, its headlights trained on her small and pitiful figure.
Ever since her death in her previous life, Hui Yin had a trauma with car accidents. She widened her eyes, her legs unable to move. She didn't even take a step back as the car raced towards her, driving past the speed limit. Behind the windshield, she could see his bright pink hair, and the hands that clenched on the steering wheel...
Her mind became blank.
Just as she thought she would experience that same overwhelming pain again, the car abruptly braked. The front bumper stopped only an inch away from her shaking body, before the headlights were turned off and she heard the sound of a car door opening.
Hui Yin wasn't aware that tears were steadily trickling down her cheeks.
Before she could ask herself why the culprit didn't kill her, arms suddenly engulfed Hui Yin and pulled her towards his chest. She could hear his accelerated heartbeat, and his chin rested on the top of her head, preventing her from looking up and seeing his face.
Feeling the coldness of metal in her palms, Hui Yin struck down with the hairpin and stabbed it into his stomach.
There was a hiss of pain, but the man didn't let go of her. He only yanked the hairpin out of her hand and flung it away. On her back, he suddenly traced three characters with his forefinger.
It sloped upwards and had horizontal lines, before curving down and finishing with a slanted arc.
It was 'I love you'.
He pressed his lips close to her ear and murmured, "But if you stay any longer beside that man, mèimei, I won't hesitate to kill you too. I'll let go of him today on your behalf."
Hui Yin shivered.
He let go of her and stood up, but before he could get into the car, Hui Yin regained her senses and shouted, "Why are you doing this? What has he done to you?!"
These were the words that came out of her mouth, but what Hui Yin truly wanted to ask was: What did Lu Shen do to make you become like this?
Hui Jinhai paused and let out a dry chuckle. "Ask him what he did to the Wen family."
Wen family?
What did he have to do with the Wen family? Why is he targeting Lu Shen for them?
Hui Yin didn't manage to get answers for these questions because he already went inside the car and sped out of the parking lot. She stared at the pavement under her feet, feeling shell-shocked.
Her kind and weird brother who used to wear unicorn pajamas and tease her playfully...how did he turn into someone who could utter the words 'kill' so easily? He used to dote on her so much that she found him annoying, but she didn't ignore the faint killing intent in his words when he warned her to stay away from Lu Shen.
Her brother, that doting brother in her memories, would really kill her without hesitation...
No wonder his hair was pink. It was just like him to become a villain with cotton candy hair. He would probably even disappear in a cloud of glitter if he could get away with it.
When Lu Shen finally found Hui Yin after a frantic search of each floor in the hospital, she was still kneeling on the parking lot, giggling and crying. He felt his heart ache as he wiped her tears away and embraced her.
He wanted to ask her what happened, but refrained himself after seeing her expression. Hui Yin gripped his shirt and didn't know how to explain her complicated situation.
To get away from this man, she needed to catch the culprit.
But the culprit was her brother.
What was she supposed to do now?