LOVING A MANNEQUIN

Chapter 6: The Stranger Saving Us

The sound of stabbing the knife on the stranger's flesh was too loud. Enough for me to shiver in dread, fret, and sorry towards him. I also heard him grunt in pain.

Open-mouthed, I unfolded my eyes and looked up to the tall stranger who has his back faced on me. He stood  stiff. 

The fat man simpered, "Aiyo, there is another meddler." Teased by him. "How was it Bro? Does it hurt? That is how you end up with when meddling other people's business."

"It's not enough." The stranger said in a low yet intimidating tone which caused all of us to be stunned. "This is the proper way to kill people." The stranger grasped the fat man's hand that was holding the knife. He led the fat man's hand to stick the knife deeper and twist it around between his flesh.

My heart wanted to jump out from my chest seeing what the stranger's did. 

Everybody fell dumbfounded. 

The fat man was very surprised and ready to punch the stranger. "Showing off." The stranger remained calm and met the punch of the fat man with his fist. Not only that, the stranger released a more successive jab on the fat man's face until his nose exploded. 

The fat man whined and asked his three companions to seek revenge for him. "Kill him!" He yelled while holding his bleeding nose. 

The three charged together to the stranger while I stepped aside with the girl and hugged each other. 

The two men punched the stranger together at both sides, aiming at the stranger's face but the stranger used his both arms to block their punches. The stranger turned fast, and released a breaking bone elbow strike to the two straight at their jaw while throwing a rear leg push kick to the other one on his chin who was trying to hit the stranger's nape sneakily. 

The three were thrown away at once. The fat man's face twisted in fury. "You bunch of useless morons. Where did the food I fed to all of you go?"

The tall thin man lurched as he tried to stand up, caressing his jaw that seemed to get broken. "Big Bro, this man is too strong. We can't defeat him." Said him in much difficulty. 

"Yes, Big Bro." Agreed by the two together. They were like the tall thin man, their hands were in their jaws with a distorted expression.

"Shut up! I will settle for the three of you later." The fat man got more furious. He forcefully spurned his foot on the ground and charged towards the stranger who just stood still. 

I was unable to see his face because he was wearing a black jacket with a hood and a black mask but I could tell that he has a well-built body. He was so tall that I had to look up at him even though I had a 5'8 height.

I heard the cracking sound from the fists of the stranger as he clenched his hands. And when the fat man stroked a jab on him, he seized the fat man's arm and squeezed it inside his own hand. Then he twisted the fat man's arm. 

The fat man screamed in pain but was still trying to give the stranger a blow with his other hand. Luckily, he failed and vomited blood as the stranger gave him a cross counter punch.

The stranger wasn't content with it. He let go of the fat man's hand but held his shoulders and stroke him on his stomach successively with the stranger's knee until the fat man bent down like a withered vegetable.

Our attention was focused on them. So I and the girl didn't notice that the three had come near us and grabbed us from behind. 

"Let go our brother and go away! Or else we are going to slice these girl's throats." Shouted by one of them. They entrapped us at their arm while the other hand was on our neck, holding a broken bottle and pressing the sharp edge on our throat. 

I and the girl glued on the ground in terror. My palms were sweating non-stop and my heart was hammering inside my chest. 

The stranger slowly turned around and faced us.

"In this world, the thing that I hate the most is to threaten me." Without notice, the stranger disappeared from our sight like a frail bubble and I only realised he was already behind us when the two jerks who held us captive shrieked and let us go. 

As we looked at them, I saw the scarlet blood glittering under the dim night coming from their arms and dripping endlessly on the ground. In order to free us, the stranger cut these jerk's arms using the knife they used to stab him earlier. 

I was wondering, every time the stranger did nothing, he didn't face us. He only showed us his back. But after saving us unscathed, with his firm stand and heroic deeds, I couldn't help but admire him. 

Later, our attention shifted to another direction where the police car horns came from. The four tried to escape. Gladly, because of their injury, the police  managed to arrest them. 

"What is happening here? How did these four end up seriously injured?" The police lieutenant asked. 

The girl next to me jumped close to the police and hugged him, sobbing. I was surprised by her. "Mr. Handsome, gladly you come in time. If you're late a bit, surely any from us will die."

The young police pulled himself out of her. "Miss, mind your action. Don't you think it's improper to hug a man you don't even know his name? Besides, you're drunk." The police wrinkled his nose. 

I tugged the girl back at my side.  I apologised on behalf of her. "Sorry Sir but thank you for rescuing us."

"It's our job. But I am wondering, how did they get injured? Who did it? You two?" The police eyed us from head to toe.

I waved my hands in front of us. "No. No. Someone saved us earlier. He is here---" I suddenly halted as I looked back to the spot where I remembered the man was standing and found out he was no longer around. "Where is he?" I faced the police again. "I clearly remembered he was just there."

The police sighed. "Nevermind! Just come with us to the station and tell us the details."