Chapter 3: Which one is the mask?
I slapped myself. Fortunately, I was awake and could feel the pain.
He was stunned and looked at the five red marks on my pale face.
"Come and get the money tomorrow."
"Hey, okay, okay, thank you son, I promise, the last time will be the last time!"
"Don't call me that, it sounds disgusting."
He looked at me awkwardly, nodded and said he was leaving and would come early tomorrow.
Without telling my grandma, I started to raise money everywhere. The clinic and old house were absolutely not allowed to be moved, so I had to borrow some from my friends one by one. Those friends who could still move around could at most put out nearly 10,000 yuan. Alex was at the wedding The company does makeup for people, and they only get a small salary a month, so they spend whatever they have and have no savings at all. I was the first to tell him about it, but I didn't expect him to lend me much money.
In the afternoon, Alex came over in a hurry and handed me a bulging brown paper bag. When I opened it, I saw it was about 50,000 yuan.
"Where do you moonlight clan get so much money?"
"The people I associate with are all very wealthy investors, and apart from the break-up fee, they can still afford it."
"Wouldn't this make you a MB?"
"Hey, are you cheap? They really loved me, and I really liked them. I dedicated my precious body and time to them, but they only brought me pain in the back and never see the light of day. It’s an underground affair, even if they charge a breakup fee, it’s really too cheap for them.”
I hugged Alex and said, "Thank you, my dear friend."
Alex pushed me away, goosebumps fell all over the floor, "Go away, even if I give you 100,000, it's just a drop in the bucket. You have to think about it, 300,000 is not a small amount. Is it worth it for you to risk everything to pay off the debt to someone like that?" "
"When doing some things, you calculate the gains and losses and calculate the value. In the end, you don't do it, so you regret it for the rest of your life. In comparison, it is better to do it well. It is better to regret it for a while than to regret it all your life."
"I know I can't persuade you. With your stubbornness, even if William puts a gun to your head and tells you to never mind your father's affairs, it will be useless."
"Don't tell William about this, I will handle it myself."
"There's no way, I've already told him."
"Alex you!"
"Even if I don't tell him, your friend will have to tell William about this sooner or later. After all, with William here, their money will not be wasted. I just told him earlier and helped you find a solution earlier. "
"Don't say that you learned your nosy character from me! Why is this character so annoying!"
Surprisingly, William had no intention of intervening in this matter this time and did not contact me for a day.
In the evening, I closed the curtains in my bedroom, put my savings and loans together, and counted them three times with a money counter. It was still a little over 200,000. I thought to myself that it was really sad, and the clinic had been open for some time. , it doesn’t matter if the income is not considerable, the daily expenses alone are already huge.
I took out my cell phone and looked at William's phone number hesitantly. It was still a quarter of an hour before midnight.
I just sat there quietly for a while, still not dialing the number. I put my clothes on and lay on the bed, sighing and closing my eyes sleepily. I dreamed that my dad’s hand was chopped off and thrown on me. My whole body was stained with blood. He looked at me with horrified eyes and blamed me for not saving me. He said if he had known better, he would have let that woman stab me to death. .
I woke up from my dream in a cold sweat.
At dawn, I got up and waited underneath the clinic. The spring morning was still a bit chilly, and I was only wearing a thin T-shirt. I was shivering from the cold, but I just didn’t want to go in.
I don’t know how long I waited, but my dad didn’t show up, and no one answered his phone calls. I was worried that something might have happened to him, when William’s car came speeding down the street, and the fallen stones on the ground started to rise. William parked the car on the side of the road, got out of the car and ran towards me quickly.
"William, why are you here?"
"Are you waiting for your dad?"
I hesitated for a moment and nodded.
"No need to wait, he won't come."
"What did you say? What do you mean he won't come? Is he dead? Didn't you agree to come and get the money this morning?" I grabbed William's shoulders anxiously.
William hurriedly said: "No, your dad is fine. Not even a hair is missing. I have taken care of everything for you. You should pay back all the money you have to pay later."
"William, you..."
"I happen to know your father's creditors. They are all honest. He has to bow his head when he sees me. Besides, it's not just about money. Things that can be solved with money are not troubles."
"I will pay you back that money in the future, but can I pay it back in installments? But I will definitely pay it back as soon as possible!"
William stared at me for a long time, with a look of reluctance and blame in his eyes, "I've known you for ten years, and every time something happens, I have to know through Alex, the first person you think of asking for help, always. It’s not me!”
"William, I have received too much favor from you, and I'm afraid I can't repay it."
"When you receive a favor from me, the first thing you say every time is how to return the favor to me. You don't even say thank you!"
I looked up at William's injured eyes and realized how selfish and arrogant I had always been. I took William's kindness to me for granted and took it for granted. In order to take care of my ridiculous self-esteem, I kept stepping on William's feelings under my feet.
I lowered my head guiltily, "Thank you, William."
This thank you was from the bottom of my heart. It was a timely correction that I made after realizing my mistake. However, I misunderstood. This was not what William wanted to hear at all.
The gentle light in his eyes gradually disappeared, and his black pupils were condensed with cold light, as if a layer of icy mist had risen around him.
"You're welcome." William paused, his voice was as low and sinister as I had ever heard him say, "It's just that I hope that next time you have any trouble, the first person you think of is me, not Alex. If you do If not, then just let Alex disappear, I am happy to be the choice you have to make."
After William finished speaking, he walked away with a heavy door slam and the roar of a car.
A piece of cherry blossoms hit my face, chilling my bones. Looking at William's black car driving away, I stood like an ice cube cast for a long time.
For so many years, in front of outsiders, including Alex, William always looked like a heartless fool who only obeyed me. But sometimes, only I could see his unknown appearance, which was so strange and suffocating. He only showed up in front of me because I was too ignorant of praise and was cautious but always made mistakes, ruining his affection time and time again. He will also get angry. After all, with his status, no one has ever dared to push him around. But he won't really do anything. He will only threaten people and things that are important to me, but will not actually do anything.
Although he and I have known each other for ten years, we have never been true friends. How can there be constant vigilance and deep fear between friends.
After that time, William didn't call or come to the clinic for a week. I was so busy every day that I seemed to have no time to care about anything else. Be distracted.
It wasn’t until I was injured in the cafe that William rushed back from Hainan. Later I heard that William was absent from an important negotiation because of this, and the business he had been preparing for months fell through. His subordinates were unworthy of him. After chewing my tongue for a few times, he fired him. The man had leg problems and a family to feed. He knelt down and begged William to give him food, but William still had no eyes. Blink and drive the person out.
Although I felt that he was making a fuss out of a molehill, I didn't ask anything about it. I don’t want to plead for others and end up with a false reputation. After all, I am already a disaster in the hands of those subordinates. If a few slanderous words make William change his mind, William’s prestige will be difficult to establish.If I were assassinated one day, wouldn’t it be an injustice?