Time seemed to freeze, each second stretching endlessly, a cruel, unrelenting torment.
After what felt like an eternity, a faint ringing sound echoed through the stillness of the receiver.
I held my breath, listening intently to the sounds on the other end.
From the sound of it, Xu Ze had answered another call.
As I had suspected, he was now using a different phone to communicate with my best friend.
Soon, that all-too-familiar, heart-wrenching voice of hers returned, distant yet piercing through the line like a thorn, burrowing straight into my heart.
I dared not even breathe, clenching my lips in silence, waiting as though my very soul had risen to my throat.
Finally, the seemingly endless conversation came to an end, and Xu Ze's calm, almost gleeful voice followed: "She's on the hook."
Upon hearing those two words, the tension that had been wound tight within me began to ease ever so slightly. It was only then that I realized my back had been drenched in sweat, the beads of perspiration trailing down my spine in rivulets.