When Laura reached to the classroom, Nancy Xi was already there.
“Laura.” Nancy stood up and waved to her as she spotted Laura.
Laura looked at her, hesitated for a moment but then she just put up a beaming face and walked to her.
“Morning...”
“Laura, you left in such a hurry last night that forgot your backpack. I called you, but you didn’t answer.” Nancy held her hand and said.
Laura stared at her in a strange look. Her lips also twitched for a second.
“Are you alright? Why are you looking at me like this?” Nancy Xi frowned and didn’t understand her.
But Laura just continued to gaze at her this way. When Nancy was about to leave, she suddenly embraced her.
“Nancy...”
“Well?” Nancy Xi was really confused about her behavior, “Is everything okay, Laura?”
“Have you played truant?” She whispered at Nancy’s ear.
Nancy Xi was stuck and dragged her, “Skip classes?”
“Have you?”
Nancy nodded.
Laura grabbed her backpack with one hand and Nancy’s hand with the other, “Let’s go, we don’t have classes today!”
“Seriously?” Before Nancy realized what had happened, she was already pulled out of the classroom by her friend.
————
Half an hour later.
At the cafe.
They were sitting at the most inner corner of the shop.
“Laura, what’s going on? Why do we have to play truant today? Well, this is not like you.”
Nancy didn’t understand her unusually bold behavior this morning.
Laura was stirring her coffee with her eyebrows twisted. She just didn’t know how to express her feelings to her.
“Laura!” Nancy Xi called her again, “What happened? Are you hiding some secrets from me?”
Laura was stuck, and then she looked up at her, “Nancy...”
“Yes?” She was confused and gazed at Laura.
Laura just didn’t know how to say it properly, which was really itching to Nancy.
“Laura, you just shoot! I’m ready to hear!”
So, Laura just bit her lip, looked around and whispered to her, “You, you were forced to do that, right?”
“What?”
Laura could tell that Nancy didn’t get her by her expression.
“Laura, just go ahead. What do you mean by being forced?” She asked her as she took her cup up.
“Actually... I went back last night; I went to the back garden...”
“Bang!” The cup slipped from her hand and directly fell onto the floor, which was broken into pieces consequently.
The noise attracted the waiter to come here to check.
“Sorry, I’m sorry.” Nancy hurried to make an apology.
Laura also stood up to help wiping the table with a tissue.
The waiter cleaned up the mess swiftly and served another cup.
But the atmosphere turned awkward.
Nancy was sitting stiffly on the couch. Her face was as pale as a paper.
“Nancy...” Laura softly called her name.
“So...”
She looked up at her and asked, “You saw it, right?”
Laura didn’t reply. But the subsequent silence meant everything.
“Ha, ha, ha.” Nancy giggled and then she started to weep.
Laura hurried to come to her and sit beside her friend. She wiped her tears off with a napkin, “Don’t cry, Nancy.”
Nancy sobbed and said bitterly, “I just know it. I know this kind of shameful thing will be discovered sooner or later.”
She was trembling crazily as if some dark secrets were about to be shown to the public.
This was the first time that Laura saw her brave friend cry that she really felt sorry for her, “Nancy, don’t be afraid. I’ll help you; I’ll protect you. Don’t you cry, okay?”
Nancy stared at her in a bitter and strained look, “Do, do you feel I’m disgusted? Do you think I’m a bitch?”
At this moment, she was scared and worried.
She cherished their friendship. What would she do if Laura look down upon her?
Laura shook her head and said, “Never, you’re not the kind of person. I knew. I know that you were resisting him. It was him, him...”
Nancy Xi lowered her eyes with a sad look, “I wanna leave that place, I wanna leave the devil!”
“Nancy, why? Why would he treat you like that? Aren’t you, aren’t you his sister?” Laura just couldn’t figure it out. There were brother and sister even though their shared different birth parents!
“Ha.” Nancy Xi snorted, “Sister? He has never regarded me as his sister, not to mention my mother. In his eyes, me and my mom are sinners who take his father away.”
“I joined this family when I was 14. Back then he was in the army. When he returned home, he found out me and my mom. His father told him to greet us, but he refused. When I called him, he just cast a cold eye and since then, he has been indifferent to us...”
“Then Uncle Huo, please help me! Help me leave that family!” Nancy Xi took some bows.
“Nancy Xi .” He called her name, “Let me ask you. Are you sure you wanna leave that home and you mom? Have you figured out how to explain to your mom?”
Nancy frowned--that’s correct--she had never thought of these.
“You have a family here. You could come and live with me for several or a decade of days. But have you thought about what your mom’s going to feel after a long period of time? Do you have a perfect excuse?”
All these problems and obstacles were obvious to her.
Nancy was mute for a moment.
On seeing this, Debra Huo proceeded, “Do you merely hate him in your heart?”
Nancy suddenly looked up at him for she didn’t know why he would ask this.
“You have lived in the Nan family for 5 years. This might not be the best way for both of you to get along. But have you thought that will you feel really at ease after you leave him?”
“Uncle Huo, what do you mean? Do you think I’m a masochism?”
“No, that’s not what I mean. I just wanna tell you first, once I take care of this affair, you and he is never getting back together, do you get it?”
He rarely took care of these issues. But once he was serious about these, the result would not be that simple.
“I never want to see him again!” Nancy Xi refuted, “He’s a robber and a demon. I hate his guts. I can never fall in love with him!”
Debra Huo didn’t reply but kept a special smile around his lips.
“Uncle Huo, what’s that? If you don’t wanna help me, that’s fine. But please don’t insult me! I will never love that crap even if I’m dumb or insane!” Then she snorted a “Goodbye”.
After saying those, she was about to leave.
“Wait a minute.”
Nancy stopped and replied in a cold voice, “What’s the matter, Uncle Huo?”
“I’ll help you if you don’t change your mind in a week!”
Nancy turned around and frowned, “Uncle Huo, forget one week. You should know that I’ll never change my mind if I have to die!”
The man lowered his eyes and toyed with his teacup for several seconds. Then he moved his lips with a slight smiled, “Hope you could be this determined after a week.”
Nancy Xi didn’t get what he means by that, but she just turned around and left.
As she stepped out of his room, Huo made a phone call.
“You may arrange the plan.”
But the guy who he was speaking to be a little bit surprised, “Mr. Huo, are you really going to take care of this affair? You are setting yourself against a military officer.”
Debra Huo smiled slightly, “Maybe he’s going to thank me in the end.”
“Yes, sir, I got it!”
Debra Huo hung up the phone and skimmed Walter Nan’s file on presented on the computer screen. Then he moved his lips, “Don’t let me down, Mr. Nan!”
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