"Tomorrow is the start of the shooting, right?"
"Yes. Hmm, I heard that Director Han plans to finish the movie in three months. Two months for the shooting and one for the editing." Xu Jia Li nodded. She sat beside Si Weimin in the long couch.
"That's fast. I haven't talked to him since the press conference."
"But you are the executive producer." Xu Jia Li pouted before she lay on the couch, her head on Si Weimin's lap.
"I told him to do what he think is best for the movie." Si Weimin chortled.
Feeling his hand caressing her hair, Xu Jia Li flashed a satisfied grin, "This is even better than being pampered at the spa."
She closed her eyes and sighed deeply.
"How about I massage you, love? Shall I start here?" Si Weimin placed his hand on Xu Jia Li's shoulder.
"Stop being a pervert, Mr. Arrogant Si!" Xu Jia Li laughed as she playfully slapped Si Weimin's hand.
"Ha ha ha! How am I a pervert? I'm only trying to support your shoulder so I can massage your head."
"I'm not buying it." Xu Jia Li pinched Si Weimin's waist. The two of them laughed joyfully before Xu Jia Li was reminded of something.
"By the way… ahm, earlier, Zhen Nian encountered something really strange…" Xu Jia Li repeated what happened and all the things that Zhen Nian told her.
"That's really odd," Si Weimin furrowed his brows as he touched his chin, "If the man was drunk, he should've crashed or bumped Zhen Nian's car."
"Exactly! That's what I thought. It's impossible that he passed through the other four cars, and just cut her without any damage to both cars, right?"
"Did she see the driver? How did she know that he's really drunk?"
"Well… I haven't thought about that earlier. I didn't ask at all." Xu Jia Li pursed her lips. She couldn't believe that she forgot to ask such important question.
"How about the dashcam?"
"Ah, that. Well, the traffic enforcer took the footages. They didn't see anything unusual aside from the fact that the man was four cars behind Zhen Nian before it sped off and cut her." Xu Jia Li explained, all the while furrowing her brows.
Now that she thought about it, the conviction that something was off about the incident became even stronger.
"Do you think it was planned?"
Xu Jia Li stared blankly at Si Weimin upon hearing what he asked. Actually, she wasn't sure at all. With all the things that happened, she suddenly had that suspicion about incidents like that.
"It's really suspicious but nothing's sure yet. I just have a bad feeling about it."
"Don't think too much. Anyway, nothing happened to Zhen Nian. Relax, okay? You have to focus on the shooting. It will be tiring. You need all the energy you can get." Si Weimin gently patted Xu Jia Li's head.
A faint smile flashed across Xu Jia Li's face. Then, she nodded as she hugged Si Weimin's arm. She knew that she didn't have to worry about anything.
****
After making sure that Xu Jia Li was asleep, Si Weimin left her apartment and headed straight to his. He immediately opened his laptop the moment he arrived. Within minutes, a familiar face flashed on the screen,
"Bro, what's up?"
"Any news about Thomas?"
"Don't be so anxious, bro. You know how Thomas works. He can be here in a moment and gone in the next. This isn't the first time this happened. Remember when he suddenly vanished for a year? Then we found out that he took undercover in Middle East. He's someone capable of vanishing in thin air."
Seeing Si Weiyuan laughing on the screen, Si Weimin's face darkened. Why couldn't everyone take this matter seriously? He knew that something was off. He knew that Thomas would never just leave when he knew that there was something he wanted to tell him. He was losing patient. He called his brother since they were friends with Thomas but even Si Weiyuan took the matter lightly.
He knew that Thomas had been this unpredictable. He was wanderlust. He took too many dangerous assignments. That's why it was easy for them to say that it was nothing serious. However, it was different for Si Weimin.
"Seriously, bro. Don't be this paranoid. Nothing happened to him. You'll even be surprised when he calls you one day."
"I'm not paranoid, Yuan. There's something wrong with him vanishing like this." Si Weimin clenched his jaw as he ran his hand on his face – clearly irritated.
"Okay. Do you remember when he didn't call us for three months because he was so afraid of you?"
"This is different!"
"How is this situation any different, bro? That time you asked him to look after the people who wanted to destroy the company and he didn't do it because he chose to date the women sent by those people. He didn't contact us for three months because he was so afraid of you."
"Hmmm… and what do you mean by that?"
"Maybe, he really couldn't find anything."
"I'm sure he had something to tell me that night." Si Weimin interjected.
"Bro, take it easy. Didn't he message you telling that he took an important assignment? Thomas can handle himself." Si Weiyuan comforted Si Weimin.
After the video call ended, Si Weimin stood in front of the window. He was in deep thought when he suddenly noticed a light flashing from the rooftop of the opposite building. It wasn't clear but he knew that someone was standing there. The flashlight on the person's hand was flashing on and off.
****
On a dark room, a woman flashed a sinister smile as she gazed at the unconscious man in front of her. She was really disappointed that a man serving in the Special Forces was so weak.
She knelt down before she slapped the man with so much force that his face immediately swelled. Her hand left a mark on the man's cheek.
"Aaachk…" The man coughed continuously as he grimaced in pain. He had a blindfold around his eyes. It was dark and his body ached everywhere. He could feel the pain seeping through him.
The man was beaten black and blue. All he could remember was someone would slap him every time he passed out.
Another slap landed on the man's cheek which made his face numb with pain. Then another… and another… until his face was swollen from getting 10 hard slaps.
"Is this all that you are, Mr. Young? So weak…"