Intertwined: Two fates | Book:-1 | Jikook | ✔

53 - Do you believe him?

When his father came near with a mocking look on his face, the pressure on Ruan reached its peak. He was really desperate to protect this precious money that was given to him. In the heat of the moment, he screwed his eyes shut and swung the knife blindly..

The sensation of the sharp knife tearing into flesh was scalp-numbing, so was the grunt of pain that escaped his father's lips. Terrified, Ruan immediately dropped the knife and ran out of the house without looking back. He did not even stop to check on his father's condition. However... Ruan was certain that the wound he inflicted was not a stab in the stomach, not even deep enough to take lives!

"You ran away," Jimin repeated, the color of his eyes deepening. He recalled the statement from the field officer who was the first to arrive at Ruan's house and reasoned, "You must not have gone far. From the time of the fight until the police arrived, it was only ten or so minutes. Where did you go? And why did you come back again in such a short time?"

Jimin's question was completely reasonable. In hindsight, the body would trigger an acute stress response to perceive harmful events, attacks, or threats --- namely fight, flight or freeze.

In Ruan's case, the highly-stressed environment prompted him to throw an attack as a feign in order to pave a way for retreat. Jimin could understand it very well. However, there was one point he could not figure out.

If Ruan had indeed fled, then why would he come back so soon? Why didn't he run further someplace nobody could find him? Was he not worried that his father would be waiting for him at home and really beat him to death?

Once again, Jimin recalled his memory of that year. What a coincidence... Ruan had also injured his father before running out. As for Jimin, he had run out in a moment of panic and after he calmed himself down, he thought of calling for help around the neighborhood. What about Ruan?

"I..." Ruan screwed his eyes shut, his breathing ragged and uneven. "Mister, if... if I told you that I don't remember what happened during those ten minutes, will... will you believe me?"

This time, Jimin was stunned. "...Don't remember?"

Perhaps thinking that Jimin did not believe him, Ruan grasped onto him tighter, his eyes wild in panic as he pleaded in desperation, "I-I am telling the truth! I really don't know what happened, Mister! I... I ran away from home but then... I suddenly blacked out and... and when I came to, I found that my father... he was already dead!"

It sounded utterly unbelievable, Ruan knew that. Today, if he had been in the police officer's position, he would not have believed it either. Alas, exactly because he found it unbelievable that he did not dare to defend himself. After all, everything had happened so fast.

One second, he was still scrambling out of the house in panic, the next second everything went dark and he woke up to his father's corpse and the police who suddenly barged into the house to put metal cuffs around his wrists. There was so much blood and... and the knife. He was still holding onto the blood-stained knife.

He tried to convince himself that he was not a murderer. He really tried to, but... all of the evidence was clearly pointing at him!

There was no third person in the house, only him and his father. There were no other fingerprints on the knife, only his and his father's. No matter from which angle he saw it, the only murderer could only be... him.

Eventually, even he started to doubt himself. What if... what if he was wrong all along? What if everything was only a trick of his mind? What if during those ten minutes, he had really stabbed his father and forgotten everything due to some inexplicable reasons?