Her hand reaching out to pat the dog halted seeing the familiar figure chasing after the dog by her feet. The man stopped in front of her, more specifically, in front of the dog.
He knelt to shorten the leash on the dog's neck before meeting face-to-face again with her.
Shen Ru seemed to recognize her at one glance.
"Apologies, Ms.Xiu. It seems like my dog disturbed your walk."His expression still looked cold but he was very sincere in his words.
"I'm fine, there's nothing to apologize about. Besides, the dog didn't bother me at all. It looks so cute, no one would dare say that it's disturbing them." She giggled in response while rubbing the dog's fur. She paused for a second.
Wait. Why was she chatting so comfortably in a public place ah?
It would be terrible if someone recognizes her and sees her with a guy. She'll surely be at the very top of the searches by tomorrow, then an earful scolding from her beloved manager.
"I'll have to—"
The sound of police sirens reverberated around the neigborhood, almost deafening everyone's ears. Arthur barked loudly, agitated by the loud sound that Shen Ru had to tighten the leash to prevent him from jumping in front of the car.
"Coming through! Excuse me!"
A lot of police officers started circling the area and stopping the people from further closing in on whatever's they're crowding about. Ding Jia finally found an opening and immediately squeezed herself to take a peek.
"Hey! Stop, I suggest you don't—" She heard the dog's owner shout behind her that she didn't listen to as she kept going to the front.
Finally! Oh my god, she almost died from being squeezed by the people.
After fixing her cap and mask, her eyes shifted to the middle where the police officers are surrounding someone… on the ground.
When one of the police officers blocking the person scooted to a different spot, Ding Jia froze on the spot.
It felt like the time froze around her for a moment as her eyes closed in on the person's face that she found very familiar.
She… she was that bloodied woman she saw in front of her apartment. And similar to how she saw her back then, the woman still looked almost the same except for the bloated body and the fact that she was lying lifelessly at the moment with her eyes closed.
...So she wasn't hallucinating.
T-that woman was real! A-and… she saw her back there… but why?
She was too shocked to move her eyes away from the body and she only returned to her senses when she a hand grabbed her arm and dragged her to the back of the crowd again.
"Forgive me for being too rude, Ms.Ding, and I am not sure what is your reason for being so interested in seeing that but I'm pretty sure it's not the best practice routine if you're planning to get used to seeing this to practice your role." Shen Ru expressed.
Ding Jia returned to her senses but she was still shaken up with what she saw so she only fell silent after being warned by him. Luo Yang AKA Shen Ru, noticed that she was trembling while he was still holding her wrist.
He immediately dragged her further away from the area and walked back to their apartment building, with one dog and one woman in his grasp.
As soon as they arrived at their front door, he was just about to ask if she was alright when Ding Jia suddenly lost strength in her legs. Luckily, Luo Yang immediately caught her, while Ding Jia's other hand was able to lean on the wall.
"Are you okay, Ms.Ding?"
The woman in Luo Yang's arms didn't respond, and now he could even feel that her body temperature was decreasing. He didn't believe it was because of the cold wind from outside so he quickly made a decision.
He brought her into his home instead and helped her up into his sofa. He stood up to get some warm water while Arthur comforted Ding Jia.
Ding Jia finally felt her face getting wet and realized she was face to face with a dog. She was taken aback by surprise when she realized she was in an unfamiliar place instead of her own apartment.
"Ms.Ding, are you doing better now?" Luo Yang appeared with a glass of water in his hand and handed it over to her.
Ding Jia gladly accepted it and was comforted by the warm glass of water that warmed up her slightly cold hands.
"Thanks. Sorry Mr. Shen, I disturbed you. I'll go back after finishing this water." Then she started chugging down the water. She was just about to stand up from her seat when a hand appeared in front of her.
She glanced at the extended hand and raised her hazel eyes met with his crimson ones.
"Luo Yang."
"Eh?"
"You can call me Luo Yang, instead of Mr. Shen. It's not fine if we're at work but if we're here, you can call me with my name."
"...Then Luo Yang, please comfortably call me Ding Jia as well." She also extended her hand and shook hands with him for a second before letting go of it.
Luo Yang took the glass of water from her hands.
"I don't think you're still fine so just stay and have dinner here for now. I already cooked earlier today so would it be fine if we eat a preheated food?" Luo Yang nonchalantly said while taking out the food from his fridge.
Ding Jia didn't even get to decline his offer at all because Luo Yang moved too fast and it didn't take over 3 minutes for him to preheat and lay everything on the dining table.
She stared at the plate of meat and vegetables that looked so good with the golden sauce over it.
She gulped in difficulty.
...As long as Lin Lin doesn't know, she can probably eat ah?
And so, Ding Jia completely succumbed to the enchantment of delicious food laid in front of her eyes.