novelraw Chapter 294 - 192. The man who was supposed to be in the darkness actually stood in the sunlight and smiled at her (Three even three).
Chapter 294 - 192. The man who was supposed to be in the darkness actually stood in the sunlight and smiled at her (Three even three).
Chapter 294: 192. The man who was supposed to be in the darkness actually stood in the sunlight and smiled at her (Three even three).
Shi Nian’s heart was pounding with tension, almost about to leap out of her chest. The chance to verify her suspicions came unexpectedly!
She truly wished... Tang Yanqing could be here right now.
However, she also understood that if Tang Yanqing were here, Rosa might not say anything.
He represented the police, and police inquiries often carry the pressure of authority, so not everyone is willing to open up to the police, especially ordinary people who aren’t criminals.
It is precisely for this reason that journalists can unveil many truths in this world that the police cannot; because in such events, the involved parties are more willing to open up to journalists of equal standing rather than to the higher-up police officers. This was exactly why Shi Nian chose to be a journalist when she couldn’t become a police officer—on the same path of seeking truth, she could achieve what the police couldn’t with her unique abilities.
She controlled herself, trying to ask gently, "So, it wasn’t that the clown kidnapped you, but you went with him voluntarily?"
"How could such a gentle clown have kidnapped me?" Rosa smiled dreamily, "He just said to me, ’A lonely child, come with me,’ and I walked up to him and took the hand he offered..."
Shi Nian hurriedly asked, "What was his hand like? You couldn’t see his face, yet you held his hand."
Rosa’s eyelashes trembled slightly: "His fingers were long, and the tips were cool. The palm was dry yet strong. The skin was soft, bones evenly fleshed."
Shi Nian inhaled slightly.
Years had passed, yet Rosa still remembered the clown’s hand vividly.
For Rosa to describe this hand in such detail and vitality showed that her memory of this hand, this person, wasn’t one of fear, but rather fondness, reliance, and following.
"But the police said the clown came in through the window. Why are you saying he politely knocked on the door and appeared in front of you only after you opened it?"
"No," Rosa shook her head, "I don’t know why the police would say that. Maybe they thought the clown was a thief or robber? Thieves and robbers have to perform some rough actions to fit their role. But my clown wasn’t like that; he was a gentleman, he never troubled me, always speaking to me elegantly and gently."
Rosa’s narrative was calm, and the clown in her story lost its horror, turning into an elegant knight with a dreamy hue. On the nights when a little girl was ignored by her parents, in the lonely night, he gently smiled and took the little girl’s hand, leading her away from a noisy and neglectful home.
Shi Nian inhaled quietly, "...Then why did you go with him?"
Rosa closed her eyes and chuckled bitterly, "If I left, my Mom and Dad would realize how important I am, right? They wouldn’t ignore me anymore, wouldn’t break their promises to me, wouldn’t... argue endlessly in front of me, right?"
"They brought me into this world, and it isn’t enough that they just gave me life; they should let me have a complete family, have both parents’ love, right?"
To an adult, Rosa’s words might sound a bit childishly capricious. But after all, Rosa was only twelve that year, and her thoughts represented the sentiments of many children ignored by their families. Perhaps in the depths of our hearts, each one of us has had such thoughts, more or less; at some time, in some place, each of us has been a helpless, solitary child.
.
But the conversation reached an uncomfortable point here.
Initially, it was thought that drawing a clown on the windshield was because Rosa feared the clown; but upon hearing this, it seemed Rosa not only wasn’t afraid of the clown, but on the contrary, she liked him, even admired him!
Also, she once heard Rosa, upon arriving at the hospital, cry out in horror that the clown was about to climb in through the window... but how is it that back then it wasn’t like that at all?
Is it possible that Rosa experienced something similar to her, thus confusing reality with imagination, or was it that her and Tang Yanqing’s previous deductions were all wrong?
But the precious thing now was that Rosa was willing to open up to her, so Shi Nian could not miss this opportunity and pressed on.
"Then... that year, did the clown ever force you to do something you didn’t like?"