Betrayal of Wisteria ✓

6

Officer Gong felt more guilty than anything at the thought that Officer Pan was right. He felt like an indirect accomplice to Qi Qiao's murder because he'd been the officer to let Yi Zhao go on that exact day.

"You said it yourself. Zhen Jie said she and Qi Qiao weren't close. If they weren't close, they wouldn't have sat in her apartment for two hours eating lunch without talking to each other. How does someone go from handing someone a book to eating at their home?" She gathered the papers and slid them into a manila folder and gazing into Officer Gong's eyes.

"Tell me, Officer Gong... is this really the right case for you? You seemed to have overlooked those small, obvious details and immediately jumped to defend Zhen Jie because you've grown close to her." She mocked. "So what I need you to do, is go get Zhen Jie. She knows more than she says she does... and if she's really clueless, he's using her to keep us off of his tail and she could be in danger."

Officer Gong wasted no time rushing out of the police department to get Zhen Jie. He didn't believe she was an accomplice one bit. He also didn't believe Yi Zhao was behind it and would harm Zhen Jie — but he couldn't go off of what he believed when Zhen Jie's life was on the line.

He loved her.

Officer Gong sped to Zhen Jie's house and when she didn't open the door, he picked the lock and entered himself. The first thing he saw was dried blood on the floor and began jumping to conclusions. Someone might have hurt sweet little Zhen Jie. He pulled out his phone and called Officer Pan, barely letting her answer the phone before speaking, "Pan, she isn't here but there's blood on the floor."

"I'm filing a missing persons report. I'm going to send a search party. He could have taken her... do you think he saw us watching them? Maybe he forced her to go with him—"

"I don't know, dammit! Just hurry."

Miles away, Zhen Jie and Yi Zhao were on their way home, smiling giddily hand in hand. Zhen Jie couldn't stop touching her lips. Yi Zhao gave her the sweetest kisses after they woke up and brushed their teeth. It was soft and sweet, and his lips seemed to taste like honey — though that was most likely her imagination.

After getting off of the train and heading back into town, Yi Zhao could feel the stares he was getting. Zhen Jie was walking ahead of him, keeping her distance as always, and was getting sympathetic glances. Not even the stares from people could kill her smile.

Yi Zhao didn't realize what was going on until he saw someone pull out their phone and press a few buttons on it. He heard them try to whisper into it, but as their voice shook, it failed to remain low. They'd called the police and muttered something along the lines of, "That kidnapper is here..." Zhen Jie stopped outside of a shop and stared at the television that showed both her and Yi Zhao's faces.

Her smile fell immediately.

It said she'd been kidnapped — by Yi Zhao.

Zhen Jie panicked and grabbed Yi Zhao's wrist, her nails digging into his skin unintentionally. She pulled him into an alley and when they heard police sirens, she grabbed his backpack. She took his lighter while he watched confused, wondering what she was thinking as she panicked and scurried to the dumpster.

Zhen Jie tossed the trash from the dumpster and set it on fire before grabbing Yi Zhao and running off again. She dragged him through alleys, under the smoke-filled sky, coughing at the damage she, herself, created. She let his hand go and shoved him away while looking back, "Go!"

"What?" He asked.

"Please, go. They think you hurt me... go! Stay away for a while then I will meet you at your house in two weeks. Please."