Memory Lost

Su Mian lies down on the bed; she's already very sleepy. But Han Chen is still in the shower, so she fights to keep her eyelids open to wait for him.

After a while, the bathroom door opens. Han Chen is in his pajamas and holding a shaving knife in his hand. The texture of his pajamas is nice and soft with faint gray stripes on it, adding a hint of elegance and laziness to his temperament. He has one hand on the counter while facing the mirror about to begin shaving a few stubbles that have come out on his chin.

Su Mian is intrigued immediately. She jumps out of bed and stands beside him, "Let me help you."

Han Chen, who has just finished taking a shower, is so beautiful that it makes one's heart pound. He takes a look at her with his moist looking eyes, "You know how to?"

"I can learn it," Su Mian answers swiftly as she looks at him with hopeful eyes.

Han Chen smiles, turns around to face her and puts the shaving knife in her hand. He then presses one hand onto the wall behind her while stuffing his other into his pocket. He looks down at her, "You can start."

There isn't a lot of room in front of the counter; now that he's leaning towards her, although she wants to help him shave his beard, the atmosphere now suddenly feels……very ambiguous, sexy, and seductive.

Blood rushes into Su Mian's head and she says without thinking, "You sure are……Qiao Han Chen." (Chp 18: from the novel, "Sui Tang Yanyi," the son of Emperor Yan, the young "Qiao Luo Cheng" is brave and fierce, killing hundreds of enemies. He has handsome facial features, but is always stern looking, making him unapproachable)

Qiao Han Chen clearly doesn't like this nickname. He lowers his hand and seals her lips. The light reflects on his face lightly, showing a stern expression. But his kiss is provoking and carries a sense of punishment as he sucks onto her lips repeatedly. It's not until Su Mian moans and begs to be released that he finally lets her off. They return to shaving his beard.

Although Su Mian is careless and unrefined, she is very gentle and takes her time in helping him shave. After covering his face with shaving cream, she follows his chin line and scrapes it off bit by bit. She's very focused in shaving. She lifts her head slightly to look at him with brilliant lights reflecting on her eyes. Han Chen stares back at her, but his mind recalls Xu Nan Bai deliberately calling her, "Junior (female) Classmate," just before falling off the cliff.

A feeling of annoyance and coldness ripples in his chest.

Without a doubt, the woman in front of him is a special existence to the seven-member organization. This is why they didn't kill her back then. This is why Xu Nan Bai called her Junior (female) Classmate just before dying.

Ever since the day he and she reunited, he knew that she could understand the pains and needs of a psychopath very intricately and even tenderly. But yet she's so firm and clear on not agreeing to them blindly.

Could this quality of hers be what's captivating to them?

They once stole her away from him and stole her original life.

And he has finally found her back now.

Are they planning to try again this time?

……

His hands on her waist tighten after thinking about this.

"What are you thinking about?" Su Mian looks into his eyes.

He takes the shaving knife from her, tosses it to the counter, lowers his head and kisses her. He mumbles, "Mm……I'm thinking if we should……add another line to our tracker."

"lust should come after one has been fed full and feel the warmth! (idiom)" Su Mian uses all her might to push him away, "I need to sleep now."

Han Chen loves her dearly nonetheless. He smiles and releases her so that she can hop back into bed. He looks up at the clock; it's still early; 8 pm on the dot.

"I'm taking the car to the shop," he changes his clothes, fetches his keys and caresses her forehead, "Go to bed first."

"Mm, come home soon," she says in a soft and gentle voice.

He stuffs both hands into his pockets and walks to the door, "I'll wake you up when I come home."

It takes Su Mian a second to realize what he means, "……"

He's always like this! Behaving like a scoundrel without you knowing!

_____

Su Mian sleeps very well tonight. Ever since she started living with Han Chen, she rarely has dreams.

It's been a long time she has had one.

At some point, her leg shakes itself as if it feels something.

She opens her eyes suddenly; she's awake.

The room is dark and it's quiet. But just before waking up fully, she seemed to have heard a noise, yet it seemed like she didn't.

"Beep" a faint noise.

She hears it clearly this time.

The sound is coming from the living room's entrance. Sweat seems to be forming from her hands. She continues lying in the bed without moving. Through the door gap, she stares toward the entrance of the apartment.

She can tell what the sound is.

Ever since she was strangled by the mysterious person——perhaps it was Xu Nan Bai——Han Chen had installed infrared security alarms on every window and every door. As soon as someone breaks in, the police will be contacted immediately.

And the sound of the alarm silenced so quickly just now…… 𝘧𝑟𝘦𝒆w𝚎𝙗nov𝘦𝗹.𝐜o𝓶

Someone is dissembling the alarm……

That person will be entering the place without a sound very soon.

But the person probably doesn't know that Han Chen has installed a second security alarm that's even more intricate. Every time Han Chen leaves, he would set both of them. If the person enters, the alarm will sound immediately. Not only will the security guards of the building be notified, it will also notify Han Chen's cell phone directly as well as the local monitoring station.

But it's possible that the person who's here is a member of the seven-member organization. Any wrong move she makes may cause her her life. With Han Chen away, Su Mian can only depend on herself. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and reopens them. A feeling of coldness and the spirit of heroism actually surges up in her heart.

She sits up almost without a sound. Moving extremely slowly, she fetches a thick wooden stick from the corner of the wall, makes it behind the door with her back against the wall and stands still quietly.

About ten seconds or so, she hears a very faint sound.

The door has been pushed open.

No sound of footsteps; no light or shadow. But she's certain that the person has entered.

The person is walking very, very slowly. After about ten seconds, Su Mian finally sees a person through the door gap as the person arrives outside of the bedroom.

There is almost no light in the apartment. The person is dressed in all black. Su Mian can barely make out that he's wearing a baseball cap and a mask, but she can't see his face at all. He seems……rather tall and lean.

The blanket is just the way it was, making it look like someone is still lying in bed. Su Mian's heart races as she holds her breath. She then sees a foot in running shoe stepping inside from the doorway.

This is it!

The piercing sound of alarm rings throughout the entire apartment. The person pauses his footstep in fright. And in the speed of lightning, Su Mian swings the wooden stick at the person's head!

Thump——a muffled sound. The person groans in pain as the wooden stick hits his/her back. Without a word, Su Mian raises the stick in an attempt to hit the person again. But the person doesn't dodge. Instead, he raises his head to look at her and says angrily, "Su Mian Jie! (Big Sister Su Mian) It wasn't easy for me to find you! Why are you hitting me after seeing me!"

The voice is loud and young while carrying the feeling of being wronged.

No matter how alert Su Mian is, she is struck dumb by his words.

And this is the moment!

He grasps her wrist in a flash. Su Mian feels the pain and the stick falls out of her hand.

He snickers and says in a deep and relaxed voice that's completely different from just now, "Su Mian, this playing dumb trick was taught by you back then. Have you forgotten about it as well?"

Su Mian's heart trembles while she says indifferently, "How could I for-……" she kicks his stomach before finishing her sentence. She retrieves her hand and dodges from his grip.

They're currently on the same level.

The sound of sirens can suddenly be heard coming from downstairs.

"Pretty fast……" he murmurs and quickly backs out of the bedroom doorway. Just as Su Mian is about to chase after him, he says with his back towards her, "Stay right there, if you don't want Han Chen to die."

Su Mian freezes. She bores into his back, "What do you mean?"

But he lets out a laugh and pulls his cap down, "I'm only here to deliver a letter today. I've already delivered it, so I must leave now. I've never beaten you once, so of course, I had to secretly install a bomb on Han Chen's car as a safety measure. It's installed under the hood of the car you guys crashed today. If you take another step forward, I will detonate it."

He says such cruel words so lightly with a smile. Su Mian can't tell whether or not he's telling the truth, so she doesn't dare to make a move. In a split second, he has already left the living room. 𝙛𝘳𝘦e𝓌e𝗯n𝗼ѵ𝙚l.𝒄𝚘𝑚

"Who are you?" Su Mian shouts.

She's not expecting an answer, but just as the door closes, she hears a soft voice say:

"Jie (Big Sister), I'm A. Your once most beloved little brother——A."

Su Mian's heart shakes. She dashes toward the door but the hallway is already empty with no sight of him. A couple of police officers have climbed up from the staircase though. She's most worried about Han Chen, so she rushes back into the apartment, turns on the lights, and finds her phone to call him. But it is also now that she discovers that she has already missed a couple of his calls since her phone has been put on silent.

The call is picked up.

"Are you okay?"

"Su Mian?"

They both ask each other anxiously at the same time.

Su Mian answers quickly, "I'm fine. I'm at home. Get away from the car immediately. There's a bomb in the car!"

Han Chen keeps quiet for a second and then says, "That's impossible. I checked it before driving the car. I've just taken the car to the shop and it's being fixed right now. They haven't found a bomb either. I'm almost in the neighborhood. Stay there and don't move."

They hang up the phone. Su Mian tosses the phone onto the couch and curses.

She must have lost her mind due to being too worried. She was deceived.

But he's an expert in explosives and a hard to read psychopath, so there was no way for her to risk Han Chen's life at the time.

The apartment is lit brightly. Having to cross paths with him for a few minutes has been enough to stir up the emotions in her heart like a tidal wave. She lowers her head subconsciously and murmurs the name he left behind……

A.

And at this moment, she spots a white envelope on the coffee table.

A said just now that he was here to deliver a letter.

Her heart starts beating rapidly. She dashes over to the drawer, puts on a pair of gloves and picks it up.

It's a very delicate white paper with a gold colored frame. It even carries a light fragrance. Three characters are written on the front of the envelope with black ink:

"To Black Shield".

The letters are free-flowing and beautifully written.

She opens the envelope carefully. Inside is another delicate and pretty piece of white paper.

The letter is written in one person's writing.

There are only two lines.

But her eyes open wide reading them. She jerks her head up to look at the calendar. Today is the 3rd.

And in the letter, it writes:

"On the 7th day at the 7th hour and 7th minute.

We will come."