Verian had searched around the school compound, her body drenched with sweat. She could feel both a hot and cold sensation on her back. While gasping for air, her absentminded eyes looked at the busy crowd around her. She lost her focus within an instant.
“Jelly Bean… Jelly Bean… Don’t play hide and seek with me anymore! Jelly Bean… Where are you, Jelly Bean!”
Her eyes soon welled up with tears.
She frantically reached out her phone and dialed Heaton’s number with trembling hands.
The phone rang a few times before Heaton answered the call.
With her mouth agape, Verian wanted to tell Heaton about Little Jelly Bean being missing. However, her words were incoherent to the extent that she could not utter a single word. As beads of sweat rolled down her cheeks, she could hear her voice quavering. “He-Heaton… Little Jelly Bean… Little Jelly went missing… What should I do? I’ve been searching for her around the campus… Leannie went to the broadcasting station and reported that Little Jelly Bean is missing but no one has found her yet… Heaton…”
As she continued, she started to lose herself and was choked with tears as she started sobbing over the phone.
No woman could remain rational and calm after losing their child.
Now, Verian’s mind was blank as if thunder had exploded in her mind. There was a buzzing sound in her mind, constantly reminding her to find Little Jelly Bean.
In fact, her eyes were still constantly searching for Little Jelly Bean in the crowd even after calling Heaton.
In the school compound, as long as she saw a parent holding a child with a similar physique as Little Jelly Bean, she would approach them to check if the child was her daughter.
However, she failed to find Little Jelly Bean even after using up all her energy. In the end, she sat paralyzed on a bench, feeling physically and mentally exhausted. She covered her face with her hands in shame, unable to cry. There was a congested feeling in her chest, and her heart ached as if it was about to rupture.
Meanwhile, Heaton immediately contacted Yandel and made use of Yandel’s power and influence in South City to search for Little Jelly Bean. He also secretly reported a missing child case to the police and contacted the local police to take extra caution of any possible suspicious vehicles on every highway interchange.
Half an hour later, Heaton arrived quickly at the South City Multimedia University.
As he saw Verian sitting by the bench, he could not bring himself to reproach her for losing Little Jelly Bean. He pulled her into his embrace and hugged her tightly. He then comforted her. “Don’t worry. We’ll definitely find Little Jelly Bean.”
Verian buried her face in his shoulders and started to cry pitifully. Her slender shoulders quivered intensely. “Heaton, scold me! It’s all my fault for not taking good care of Little Jelly Bean… If I had just constantly kept my eyes on her…Little Jelly Bean wouldn’t have gone missing… I’m sorry… Scold me… Hit me… I feel regretful now…”
After all, Little Jelly Bean was just a young kid regardless of how smart she was. If she were to bump into some bad guys, what would they do?
As Verian imagined Little Jelly Bean getting hurt or even got kidnapped by evildoers, she felt an overwhelming, suffocating pain in her chest.
“I’m sorry… Heaton… It’s all my fault…”
Heaton lowered his head and kissed her forehead. In a raspy voice, he reassured her. “Finding Little Jelly Bean is our utmost priority now. Everything else is unimportant.”
Verian looked at him with her red, puffy eyes. Her face was pale and haggard. “We’ll find Little Jelly Bean, right?”
“Definitely. What you can do right now is carefully recall the event in detail and tell me everything you can.”
Verian nodded her head vigorously and tried her best to recollect her memories. “At that time, Leannie was placing her order at a walk-up window and because I figured she might not be able to carry all the dishes alone, I brought Little Jelly Bean along with me to search for Leannie. As there were many people around the walk-up window, I remembered tightly holding onto Little Jelly Bean’s hand. However, as I needed to help carry the food, I asked Little Jelly Bean to clasp onto my shirt to avoid getting lost. I did turn around to make sure she was by my side from time to time. However, there was a moment when I turned my head around again to check on Little Jelly Bean and saw no sight of her.”
Heaton creased his brows. “Do you still remember the exact location and walk-up window you guys ordered your food?”
“I do. It’s walk-up window no. 3 on the First Cafeteria’s second floor.”
Soon, Yandel arrived at the university. As Yandel was an old acquaintance of the university’s chancellor and he had also once donated money to the university for building its library, it was a piece of cake for him to obtain the video surveillance footage from the management.
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