Be My Strength - Chapter 440

Lin was not supposed to go out but she felt stuffy inside the room. So, when the doctor and the nurses were chatting, she snuck out into the balcony to get some fresh air. When she saw the men from the balcony, she was a little scared.

Yesterday, when Mr. Ye brought her over in the middle of the night, he told her that there was someone that he wanted her to meet.

Lin had expressed her discomfort and based on her facial expression, Mr. Ye knew that she was still afraid of the idea of meeting a stranger.

Thus, he and Dr. Wong spent the next few hours as well as during breakfast to tell Lin what to expect. This way, she would not get overwhelmed by whatever that was about to happen.

So that she would not be too afraid should she bump into any man, Mr. Ye also told her that there would be men walking around the house, but no one would go up to the second floor to bother her.

So, when she saw the men who were walking outside the house, she did not scream out.

Still, it had been a long time since she saw any man other than Mr. Ye, and looking at the men outside the house, she felt uncomfortable and did not know what to do now.

Thus, she immediately rushed back in and told the doctor what she saw. Upon hearing her, Dr. Wong took a quick glance out of the window before she closed the curtain.

From what they were wearing, she knew that those men did not come with Mr. Ye.

Worried over Lin’s safety as well as her mental health, Dr. Wong told her that Mr. Ye brought the men here to play hide and seek and that Lin was supposed to hide.

Dr. Wong also said that if she managed to hide until the end of the game, Mr. Ye would come and bring her home immediately.

“Stay hidden, Lin. Until I call for you. That’s when you’ve won…” said Dr. Wong before she opened the door.

She checked the outside of the room, but there was not a soul to be seen. She then urged Lin to go out and hide immediately.

Hearing that she could go home earlier if she won, Lin then quickly left the room and went to look for a place to hide.

She did not understand why Mr. Ye would ask the men to play hide and seek with her when he knew that she hated men.

However, since Dr. Wong told her so, she thought that Mr. Ye had probably forgotten about it.

She also thought that Mr. Ye probably forgot to tell the men to stay away from the second floor. If he did not… She would be the winner of the game!

Smiling at the idea of being able to go home soon, Lin was careful as she walked slowly to avoid creating any ruckus.

She used to play with the nurses back when she was at home, so she knew how to be quiet to avoid detection. There were some voices coming from the ground floor, but Lin ignored them.

She figured it was those men who were looking for her and so, she moved faster.

When she found the second-floor cleaning closet, she immediately hid inside. It was a very small space. No one would have guessed that she was inside.

She giggled softly before she closed her mouth with her hands and whispered to herself to be quiet.

However, after a long time and no one came to find her, she started to feel bored and restless. So, she got out of the cleaning closet and like a child hell-bent on mischief, she climbed on all fours to avoid being detected.

She wanted to see if she could find Mr. Ye instead.

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice yelling, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”.

She did not recognize the voice, but her body still trembled in fear just from the voice itself. Somehow, she had a feeling that the voice belonged to a bad man. A very bad man! With a terrified expression written on her face, she muttered, “He’s here!”

When she heard the sound of a woman crying and whimpering, she immediately covered her ears. She recognized those sound. Even though she could not remember a lot, she knew that she used to cry like that.

When the woman started to beg for her life loudly, Lin started to feel real fear. The image of a cruel man surfaced in her mind and she kept whispering, “No! No! No! Don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me!”

An image flashed through her mind. It was one of her kneeling in front of a naked man as she begged, “I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”

Lin shook her head to get the image out of her head.

Even after the sound of the woman crying ended, she could still see the face of the cruel man on top of her. He would hit her if she misbehaved, or he would starve her for days on end.

Every day, it would repeat itself. Even on a good day, she would not be able to escape a slap.

And every day, he would do things to her body. Lin suddenly remembered parts of it. She remembered her fighting, and she remembered when she gave up fighting.

Her body starting to ache as if it was remembering the abuse it went through, and she suddenly felt that it was hard to breathe.

After what seemed like an eternity, another image flashed through her mind. This time, she saw the face of a little boy screaming and crying as he begged for someone to help. In that image, she saw her own hands reaching out for him.

Suddenly, images of the same boy in different stages of growth flashed through her mind.

She knew that the little boy was someone important to her… Someone she had forgotten… Her brain started to ache as she tried to remember. Her past was a blur, and she could not tell what was real and what was not.

All she could remember was the pain!

“Xiao Ying!” gasped Lin as she remembered the son she had. Suddenly, her head hurt as if someone was nailing a nail into it. It was pounding so badly that she had to rely on the way to help her get up.

The images of her young son were replaced by the cruel man who kept her captive for years.

“Help…” murmured Lin as she held her head and walked around. She did not want to play anymore. She wanted to go home now. Her head hurt and so did her heart. Her heart hurt so much that she thought she would die soon.

When she got herself to the top of the stairs and saw the men below, she froze and prayed that none of them had seen her. She could see the men with their guns. They did not seem like they were here to play with her.

Beads of sweat started to roll down Lin’s forehead.

She looked around and saw an unconscious body on the ground but she could not see the face of that person.

She then saw Mr. Ye talking to a white-haired young man on a wheelchair.

Just as she wanted to call out to the kind-hearted Mr. Ye that she knew and felt safe with, the white-haired young man stabbed himself in the heart and she heard Mr. Ye screamed before he rushed forward to catch him.

“Xiao Tian!!!”

His scream scared her and acting from instinct, Lin covered her mouth immediately and crouched down, hoping to hide behind the banisters.

She was afraid when she saw the amount of blood that was flowing out of the young man as well as the unconscious man who was on the floor. The blood… They reminded her of herself.

An image of blood and dirt around her thighs assaulted her mind and tears started to roll down from the corner of her eyes.

Other than Mr. Ye, she could not recognize anyone and she was afraid that they were there to hurt her. She did not want to be hurt anymore!

The images of the cruel man hitting her and of him moving on top of her as she begged for him to stop flashed through her head again, and she clutched tightly on the square top balusters as she tried to breathe in and out.

When another group of people rushed in and she noticed a scary looking young man looking at her direction, she could not help but scream, “ARRRRRGGGHHH!!!”

Her action caused all the men to immediately pull out their guns and pointed at her.

Horrified, Mr. Ye immediately raised his hands up and said, “NOOOO!!!!”

…

No one fired a shot, but no one lowered their guns as well. Even Callum had his gun pointed at the woman as he waited for DX’s instruction.

“Mama?”

Callum looked toward Ghost who had a complex expression on his face. It was as if the latter was unsure if what he was looking at was real.

“Don’t hurt her! She’s just a child! She doesn’t know anything!” yelled Mr. Ye as he ran up the stairs. He gently pushed her behind him and shielded her with his body as he said, “She’s… Luo Guang Ying’s mother!”

Mrs. Luo who was crying as she demanded the medics to save her husband suddenly stopped and turned toward Mr. Ye’s direction.

“Did he say… the b*stard’s mother?” thought Mrs. Luo. When she looked up the stairs and saw Lin, she gasped loudly as if she had seen a ghost.

“N-No! She’s dead!” murmured Mrs. Luo as she stared at Lin.

When Lin saw her, she seemed to recognize Mrs. Luo despite the latter’s heavily wounded face. Lin’s face turned pale as memories of her being humiliated in front of so many people started to resurface. With trembling hands, she grabbed onto the back of Mr. Ye’s shirt and hid there as she stuttered, “D-Don’t let her get to me… Pl-Please… Please… I’ll be good… Xiao Lin will be good…”

She was trembling so violently that everyone could see it. Her action confirmed Mr. Ye’s theory and Ghost’s suspicion – She was definitely Ghost’s mother!

“Mama!” yelled Ghost as he tried to run up the stairs. When he heard Ghost, Callum immediately signaled his men to lower their guns. When Mr. Ye’s men continued to point the gun at Lin despite Callum’s signal, Callum’s men turned their guns toward them and forced them to drop it.

From where he was standing, Mr. Ye shouted, “Drop all your guns! No one is to hurt anyone!”

His men immediately did as what they were told.

When Ghost was halfway up the stairs, Mr. Ye held his hands out and said, “No! No! Don’t come too near to us!”

Ghost stopped at his tracks and glared at the man who was trying to stop him. With his fists clenched tightly, he had to hold himself back as he hissed, “Get lost!”

“You don’t get it! She doesn’t remember anything and she’s terrified of man! If you come near her, she’d be scared…”

“No…,” said Ghost. He thought that Mr. Ye was lying and that Mr. Ye was trying to steal his mother away from him.

However, when he looked at his mother who had her eyes lowered and hiding behind Mr. Ye as if she was trying to make herself invisible to others, he knew that Mr. Ye was telling the truth.

“Why?” asked Ghost. He never took his eyes off from his mother.

After a short silence, Mr. Ye said softly, “The doctors said that her mind was broken by constant abuse…”

Ghost clenched his fist and he slowly turned his eyes to Mrs. Luo. With hatred coursing through his body, he had only one thing in mind: Murder!

With determined steps and scary gaze, he walked toward Mrs. Luo. However, before he could get to her, Callum stopped him by stepping in front of him and placed his hands on Ghost’s shoulders.

“Get lost!” snapped Ghost. His eyes were at Mrs. Luo who was trying to crawl further away from him.

Callum shook his head and said calmly, “No, Guang Ying! Let my brother handles this!”

“Get lost!” warned Ghost as he tried to walk forward but Callum, who was stronger, held him back.

“No! I don’t want you to dirty your hand!” said Callum as he tried to get Ghost to look in the eye.

Without any warning and with all the strength gathered in his right hand, Ghost punched Callum in the sternum, causing the latter to bowl over. There was a small cracking sound, but Ghost was too consumed by his anger to hear it.

Instead of letting it be, Callum grabbed Ghost’s waist and yelled, “I know what you’re thinking about, but she doesn’t deserve such a quick death!”

He knew that based on the pain, he probably had a fractured rib.

“Get lost!” Ghost yelled and he slammed an elbow down on Callum’s back but the latter refused to let go. To Callum, the pain was nothing compared to what Ghost was feeling now. However, he still refused to let Ghost do the killing.

“Get lost!” Ghost yelled again before he repeated his action. He wanted to get to that cruel woman and he wanted to return back everything in tenfold. As of this moment, anyone who tried to stop him was his enemy.

Callum groaned from the pain but he still refused to let go. Instead, he tightened his hold on Ghost’s waist. There was a metallic taste in the inside of his mouth when he accidentally bit his own tongue earlier, but he ignored that.

As Ghost struggled to get out from Callum’s grip, Callum pleaded in a soft voice, “Guang Ying… Let’s take your mum home, alright?”

Hearing Callum’s soft voice, the same voice that he used whenever they were in private, Ghost yelled out in frustration.

“Why?! Why?!” yelled Ghost at no one in particular. Seeing his mother was alive made him happy, but when he saw how her mind was broken, it felt as if someone stabbed his heart with a thousand knives.

His mother was such a beautiful and smart woman, but now… She was like a child who was constantly in fear…

Ignoring everyone else, Callum placed his arms around Ghost’s shoulders and hugged him. As he ignored his own pain, he patted Ghost on the back as he whispered, “It’s alright… It’s alright… Let’s bring her home with us… ”

….