A Dangerous Atrophy

"It wasn’t me. You gotta believe me!” Jane Dunn stared stubbornly at the person in the car. The roaring rain had splashed across the car window, but she could still vaguely see that cold hard face beyond the wet window. Jane’s body shook as she stood outside the door, shouting at him past the car window, “Sean! At least hear me out!”The car door opened suddenly, but before Jane could rejoice, she was yanked into the car ruthlessly. She fell onto his body, instantly drenching his crisp white shirt.“Sean, I wasn’t the one who hired those thugs to hurt Rosaline...” As soon as Jane said that, a long and slender finger pinched her chin mercilessly. His uniquely deep and mesmerizing voice spoke above her head. “Do you really like me that much?”His cold voice, and that faint scent of tobacco—his scent.“What?” Jane was a little dazed. Everyone and their mother knew that she liked him, so why was he suddenly asking her that now?The man held Jane’s chin with one hand, while his other

Three years laterThe gates to the S City Women’s Prison opened, and soon a woman walked out of them slowly.She was ridiculously thin. Although she was wearing the same white dress she wore when she entered the prison three years ago, it now looked like a sack when worn over her shoulders.She walked very slowly, taking one step at a time as she headed toward the counter more than a hundred meters away. She held a black plastic bag that contained thirty-one bucks and fifty cents, as well as her ID.It was a scorching hot summer, and there was a visible heat wave above the stone road she walked on. It was at least thirty-three or -four degrees celsius out there that day, but the woman was so dehydrated that she did not produce even a drop of sweat as she walked under the hot sun.There were black and blue bruises all over her pale skin. There was even a scar about three centimeters long on her face, more precisely her forehead near her hairline. It was extremely irritating to look

Jane’s heart was still pounding, but before she could feel relieved, she suddenly realized that a man she did not know had his arm around her waist intimately.“Aaaah…” Jane panicked. All her life, the only man who had hugged her so intimately was her older brother. No one else had touched her like this before, not even… him.Haydn Soros’ expression darkened, and he reached out his other hand, clamping it across Jane’s mouth. “Shut up! What’s with all that yelling? You’re so weird, woman! Most people would involuntarily scream when they’re falling, but you’re the exception. You didn’t make a sound at all when you were falling, so why the heck are you screaming now?”“P-P-Please… Let go of me.” Haydn noticed how suspiciously she was stammering, and then something clicked in his mind. “Hey, you weren’t screaming just because I hugged you by the waist, were you?” Haydn saw how the woman in his arm immediately turned pale at that, and he could not stop the corner of his mouth from twi

“What do you wanna do after you leave prison, Jane? I wanna go to Erhai. It’s beautiful in a clear and clean way. The waterfowl there are adorable, and the fish and shrimp there are fresh. The sky is bluer, the water is clearer, and even the sunlight is warmer than here in this city.“I wanna work hard to earn a ton of money, then I’ll go there and start a little homestay. I don’t wanna make money there. I just wanna see Erhai every day, see the tides come and go. Money isn’t my main goal, as long as I have enough to eat. Occasionally I’d see the backpackers come and go.“Jane, I think I’m dying. What should I do? I haven’t even seen Erhai with my own eyes yet.”Jane would never forget that melodic yet tragic voice. She held that girl, trying constantly to warm up the girl’s gradually cooling body with her own heat.As she lay dying, the girl’s bright eyes remained filled with desire. She looked at the sky outside the prison’s tiny metal window, saying, “Jane, to tell you the truth

“To think that the proud Miss Dunn of yore is now willing to beg for mercy on her knees and even kiss a servant in front of so many people. Tell me, how humiliated do you think that old man Joseph Dunn would be if he heard about this?” Joseph was Jane’s father.Jane’s body gave a jolt, and she instantly turned pale, but the next second, she remembered something and retorted with her pale lips, “The Dunns do not have a daughter named Jane. I’m merely a convict.” She looked at the beautiful face right in front of her. Once, this was the face of her dreams, but now she wanted nothing more than to give it a wide berth.“Mr. Stewart, I’m just a lowly convict. A great man like you shouldn’t have anything to do with me, so please spare me.” She forced down her terror of him and tried to act as lowly as possible. All she wanted to live in relative peace.What did her dignity mean to her now? She had finally walked out of that dark prison, she could finally see the sunlight now. She did not