As she waited at the counter for the order, she looked out into the street and saw the corner of the man's body from the glass window of the store.

  The man had stopped. As he turned to face her, he scratched at the back of his neck. Something flashed in the corner of her eyes and she noticed something like a handle peering out of the man's jacket picket.

  The shop was small enough that she could see it clearly. It looked like a hammer.

  The contents of her stomach bubbled in fear.

  There was a group of people enjoying their drinks and Qian Meng could see that they were about to leave. She wondered where it was safer. How long would this man follow her?

  She closed her eyes and tried to force herself to make the decision. She needed to go somewhere where there were security guards. She wanted to turn around and walk back to her office but that would mean that she would come face to face with the man following her.

  Or maybe, she could run.

  She could run to the gym. Anything to avoid the man following her.

  She shook her head as she controlled her emotions. She pulled out her phone and opened Mo Qingchen's number.

  [At the juice shop. Pick me up please.]

  She sent it quickly. Her eyes were trained on the man.

  And then, it happened.

  The man must have seen her fiddling with her phone because he slowly started to make his way into the store. Qian Meng's eyes flitted to the group who were about to leave and without a thought about the drink she had just ordered and paid for, she sprinted to them and joined their group to go out.

  She quickly apologized for bumping into them and briskly walked away, her pace just short of a sprint.

  "No, no, no, no…" she chanted. Her phone pinged but she couldn't for the life of her, look at it. She could see the glowing sign of the gym but it looked so far away that she swallowed thickly.

  She had to be strong. She had to be the tough girl Mo Qingchen thought she was.

  She heard voices from somewhere behind her that she realized she was faster than she had thought. She didn't know what these people were saying. She felt like she was underwater. Everything around her was muffled and blurry. She moved like a zombie.

  She was conscious of her own mind, but completely unaware of her body. She moved on autopilot. Her mind was racing with so many thoughts that she couldn't hold on to them.

  Perhaps it was her way of blocking out all the other senses that hindered her from running away.

  Maybe, she would die a painful death.

  The thought came to her like a haunting.

  She remembered cuddling into Mo Qingchen, the way his chest rose and fell with his breath and how he would kiss her hair in the middle of the night. She remembered sitting beside him and them being scolded for talking during a conference. And she wanted nothing more than to see him. If only she could run to him.

  'Oh god.'

  She was approaching the gym faster than she would have expected. Maybe she was running. She was alteast aware enough of her surroundings to know when she had almost reached. She also noticed that there was a distinct voice speaking from behind her.

  "Qian Meng!" someone shouted.

  'Oh, I can understand them now,' she thought.

  Everything that happened in the next few moments was so quick that Qian Meng wasn't even sure how it happened. In a flash, she felt her chin smack into something hard. She was not sure if she felt it or heard it, but whichever it was… it happened in the same second as the pain. It hurt like a bitch, so much so that it seemed to snap her out of the trance she was in.

  Her ears were ringing and her mouth had a salty taste from the tears flooding down her face, but now, there was a taste alongside it.

  Her stomach turned at the realization that her mouth had blood in it.

  A shriek entered her ears and it took Qian Meng a moment to register that it had come from her.

  "Shit, Qian Meng…"

  Mo Qingchen. A half a second after recognizing his voice, his arms were around her. He lifted her into his embrace, her feet moving off the ground as he carried her.

  He carried her up.

  Up?

  Apparently, she had tripped and fallen a few steps away from the gym.

  "What is going on?" Mo Qingchen demanded.

  He placed her on her feet, but she seemed not to trust herself to stand on her own.

  In all honesty, she couldn't stand on her own. Mo Qingchen's hands remained firmly around her waist and she let him hold her upright as she covered her mouth with her hands.

  "She's upset," someone said from somewhere.

  "Yes, I can see that," Mo Qingchen snapped, impatient. "What the hell happened?"

  "I think she is panicking," the same person said again. If Qian Meng could focus, she would know it was a fellow gym-going whom she had seen multiple times on the treadmill.

  Mo Qingchen gave the person a scathing look, immediately silencing them.

  Qian Meng swayed and his arms tightened around her in response. She leaned against him, worried that she was going to pass out.

  All she could think was: 'This can't be real. This has to be a nightmare.'

  "Qian Meng. Listen to me. Relax," Mo Qingchen prompted. "Take a deep breath."

  "He was following me," she croaked between her sobs. "He was following me."

  "I'm here," he whispered. "I'm here," he reassured.

  "He's following me," she croaked, unable to say anything else. As they stood in front of the entrance, Qian Meng was still sobbing and bleeding. She told him again and again about the man.