Chapter 99 - The Red Rose Man's Help (3)
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xx: Why photo? That\'s too cliche, darling.
xx: I want to ask something a bit naughty. I don\'t want you to feel like I\'m a creep.
xx: So I want you to drop me the clothes you wore to school today.
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…
…
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xx: You wore a plaid shirt, right? I bet you haven\'t washed it yet. Drop it outside, at the back door. I\'ll pick it up and replace it with a box of crystal meth.
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Oh, come on! What kind of high-level creep can you be! Why would you want my sweaty-ass plaid shirt? You know, at this point, I\'d rather give you my photo.
Even my baby photo, I didn\'t mind it!
Wait, the baby photo sounded even grosser than before, never mind then.
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Emmy: Fine, do you want me to drop it now?
xx: Yes, I bet Mom is already sleeping at this hour, right?
Emmy: Stop making it as if he\'s your Mom!
xx: Darling, we\'re going to marry in the future. Of course, I\'ll call him Mom, just like how you\'ll call my parents Mom and Dad.
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Ugh, fucking creep!
But what he said was true. Mom must\'ve been sleeping at this hour. I checked the clock, and it was 10.30 already.
I sighed, walked to my laundry basket at the corner of my room, and then picked up the brown plaid shirt I used today.
I smelled it and distanced my nose immediately.
Ick, it smelled of sweat.
Of course, since I used this for the whole day and used my bike, I got sweaty.
It didn\'t smell that bad, but I still hated it since I remembered some of those bullies tormented me for being a nasty, smelly pig.
Yet, this one-man liked this kind of thing. What a sick man.
I bet he was some ugly ass creep, no doubt.
I opened my door room and peeked from the staircase, checking if my Mom was still watching some late-night show or not.
Luckily, there was nobody in the living room.
So I went downstairs and headed straight to the kitchen, where the back door was located. I unlocked the key and took a deep breath.
Click.
I opened the door slowly, peeking at what was outside in case that creepy man might be around.
After finding it safe, I hung the shirt at the door handle outside and then closed the door silently.
I locked the door again, afraid that he might break in and attack my family and me.
I took out my phone and texted him.
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Emmy: I\'ve put my plaid shirt outside.
xx: Yes, I saw that, wait for about thirty minutes and open the door, okay? The box of crystal meth will be at the door for your use.
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I wasn\'t brave enough to confront him, but I also didn\'t want to miss this moment because this felt like a totally illegal trade between us.
But the trade wasn\'t between money and drugs. It was a smelly plaid shirt for a box of expensive drugs.
Strange, I knew.
After fifteen minutes, I could faintly hear the firm footstep walking towards the door. I listened carefully but dared not open the door.
I feared my own life, feared that he might bring a weapon and attacked me while I opened the door.
After a while, his footsteps started getting further and further. I assumed that he was walking away from the door.
I checked my phone to see if he had texted me. In another ten minutes, he finally texted,
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xx: The box is at your door, my dear.
xx: Thank you for the shirt, darling.
xx: it smells like you, so wonderful. I really want to hug the real you. I really want to kiss the real you…
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Ugh, come on, things were already bad right now. You didn\'t need to make it even worse!
I didn\'t intend to open the door right now because I was afraid that he was still standing there. Maybe he was faking his footstep and was ready to strike me with a baseball bat or something.
It was like a scene of horror, where I clutched my phone tightly and cowered in fear behind the door.
I waited until exactly one hour, and when I opened the door slowly, peeking with only one eye, hoping that my greatest fear wouldn\'t come true.
After being assured that everything was safe, I opened the door a bit more and saw a black box on the mat.
I sighed in relief and lowered my guard a bit. I opened the door a bit more and took the box inside.
But when I was about to close the door again, I looked up and saw a figure in the dark of the night, standing quite far from my position.
Although I could see nothing since it was really dark and there was no garden lighting, I could see that he was wearing a hoodie and holding my plaid shirt.
I couldn\'t see his expression, but I could sense that his eyes were glued at me, and he was smirking. I couldn\'t determine whether he had malicious intent or not, but his smirk definitely perked up when our eyes met.
I froze on the spot, my leg felt too weak, and I could not move nor react with anything. I lost all strength on my feet, thinking that I might\'ve made a really terrible choice to open the door.
But then, I heard the notification of an incoming message on my phone. The man then turned around and walked away leisurely, leaving me terrified for another ten minutes before I regained my strength and closed the door silently.
I locked the door and slumped on the ground. The shock was too much for me to handle. I never knew that being stalked like this was ten times scarier than in my stupid imagination.
I slowly unlocked my phone screen and saw his text.
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xx: Do you think I\'ll leave so soon? I keep waiting until you open the door, darling. So I can see your beautiful eyes, hair, face before I return.
xx: Thank you for the shirt. I\'ll treasure it.
xx: I love you.
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