《Stockholm Syndrome》
(Extra) Fake Play Turns Real
Author: Kim Fiesta
At night, in BD.M's office, everyone was nervously discussing how to rescue Shengmin from GS.
While everyone was offering opinions on others' ideas and sharing their own thoughts, Shilin was staring blankly at the photo of Xiaogang pinned to the whiteboard.
Xiaokai, who was beside him, noticed and nudged Shilin with his elbow, bringing him back to his senses.
After a while, worried about Shilin, Xiaokai opened his phone's memo app, typed "What's wrong with you?" and handed it to Shilin.
Shilin took Xiaokai's phone, read the text, and met his gaze for two seconds.
Seeing the concern in Xiaokai's eyes, Shilin shook his head, not wanting to say anything.
Seeing Shilin's reaction, Xiaokai didn't press further and dropped the subject...
At that moment, Xiaokai really wanted to wrap his arm around Shilin to comfort him as much as possible.
But perhaps out of shyness, his arm was already raised, yet he only patted Shilin's shoulder before pulling it back.
Shilin, who felt Xiaokai's good intentions, turned around, smiled at him, and said thank you.
After seeing Shilin smile, Xiaokai felt a bit more at ease.
Shilin then looked back at Xiaogang's photo on the whiteboard and began recalling the first day he met Xiaogang...
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Back then, Shilin had just experienced a dangerous incident at the club and was feeling down all day.
Considering that his mental state might have been affected, the boss told him to only handle morning and afternoon shifts at the club for half a month and temporarily stop working as a male escort.
So during that time, as soon as his shift ended, Shilin would head home early.
It was one afternoon.
After work, Shilin walked downstairs in his neighborhood. Just as he was about to take the elevator up, someone tapped him from behind.
He turned around and saw a man about his age but slightly taller and more muscular.
Since he didn't know the man, he politely asked:
"Is there something you need?"
"Hello, sir. I was wondering if Building 11, Unit 2 is here?" the man asked.
"Yes, that's right."
"Great, I didn't get lost after all. I've only been here two days and already can't find my own building, haha."
"I see..."
Shilin replied awkwardly. Though he found it funny, since the man was a stranger, he didn't say anything more.
So the two entered the elevator together...
Inside the elevator, they silently watched the floors go up one by one.
Since the building's elevator was quite old and Shilin's floor was the 11th, he could only wait slowly for it to ascend.
Shilin glanced at the elevator buttons and noticed that only the button for his own floor, 11, was lit. He turned to look at the man.
He didn't recall seeing this person before, nor had he heard of any new residents moving in next door. So he curiously asked if the man also lived on the 11th floor.
He didn't know until he asked—and was surprised by the answer.
The man wasn't on the same floor; he had simply forgotten to press the button. Only after Shilin reminded him did he remember to press his own floor's button.
Seeing how careless the man was, Shilin couldn't help but laugh.
Noticing that Shilin was laughing at him, the man smiled awkwardly as well.
"Well, since I live above you, we're neighbors now. Let's get to know each other. I'm Xiaogang from 12-4. Nice to meet you."
The man quickly changed the subject to save face.
"Hello, I live in 11-3. My name is Shilin."
Shilin politely responded and introduced himself. After that, he secretly glanced at the man.
He hadn't paid attention to the man's appearance downstairs, but now realized a handsome guy had moved in upstairs. Hehe.
Instinctively, Shilin felt a bit excited inside, but since it was their first meeting, he had to stay reserved.
After getting acquainted, they chatted for a bit. Only when the elevator reached the 11th floor did Shilin reluctantly say goodbye to Xiaogang and head home.
Just as Shilin reached his door and found his keys, two masked men in black suddenly rushed out from the emergency stairwell. They grabbed him from behind with lightning speed.
Before Shilin could speak, one of them forcefully stuffed a wad of black cotton into his mouth and covered it tightly to prevent him from spitting it out.
The other cuffed Shilin's hands, snatched the keys, and opened the door.
Once inside, they dragged Shilin in and locked the door...
Shilin struggled desperately to break free, but there was a size difference, and there were two of them, so his efforts were futile. Instead, it angered them. The one who opened the door pulled out a knife to threaten him, forcing him to quiet down.
Seeing Shilin too scared to move, the door-opener took off his backpack, threw it on the ground, and said to the other, "You deal with him. I'll go check if there's anything valuable."
With that, he headed to the bedroom.
After he left, the remaining man laid Shilin face down on the floor, then took out bundles of rope and silver tape from the backpack to restrain him.