Chapter 118 - The Kidnapping

"We have information about your mother and sister so if you wish to know more about them, meet us at The Noodle Place at 8.00 pm.' That was what the note said. Naturally, I found it odd that if a person had information why not come forward directly and tell me but I convinced myself that since it was a public place, I would be safe and even if the lead turned out to be a dud, at least I would have tried. Even after having suffered so much and knowing that I was walking a thin line, I went in there, only to be met with another hell. The entire place was a setup. From the friendly owner to the old woman who came to offer information to the other customers. The older woman seemed to know about my sister and me. She said that everyone assumed we were dead. After that, she started telling me about the hardsh.i.p.s she had suffered and though I was impatient, I remained polite and heard her story, much to my foolishness. Because that is what it was exactly- a story.

Once they saw that I had let my guard down, I was given some sleeping pills mixed in my food and kidnapped."

"The next time I opened my eyes, I was in an enclosed moving vehicle. It was hot and humid in that box and I was tied tightly like a pretzel. After travelling in a dazed state for a long time, I was then brought into an abandoned warehouse. It was horrible. There were more girls like me there. All between the ages of 16 years and 23 years in various states of injuries. Because I did not struggle much, I was relatively fine other than a few bruises from being manhandled. Once the effects of drugs had worn off, I started to take note of my surroundings to plan my escape. We were there for a few days and that is how I came to know that it was an entire racket of illegal trading of slave girls. Every girl who resisted was subdued with drugs and almost all the girls were either orphaned or estranged with their families so there was no one to look for them or alert the police anytime soon.

But they had miscalculated with me. They had not looked beyond the surface. From my previous incident with Yao Yao and then my decision to go to Country C, I had promised my brother to talk every day. Once I missed that deadline, he had already made a move and informed Long Ah Hai that I had gone missing. What they did not know was that I had a tracker on me in my watch. One of the goons had stolen the watch when they had kidnapped me which is why I had to live in that hell hole for five days. During one of these days, I meticulously planned my escape and would have succeeded but again that old woman apprehended me. She really did know my parents. She called me by the name that I had forgotten and when I asked her, how she could be so sure that I was Shi Xiao and not Shi Ai, she told me that it was because they had already caught Shi Ai a few years ago. And traded her. After this, I gave up the idea of escaping and simply decided to stay there. The old woman told me that both of us had very similar features which is why she was able to recognize me. I thought that my sister had been kidnapped like me but it was only yesterday that I came to know that my sister had been sold there by my own father. The older woman claimed that she knew that we were sisters because even out modus operandi of escaping was the same. We had both been cooperating with the goons until we could plan our escape. My sister had also similarly planned her escape but had been caught by the boss. It seemed that her looks had enamoured their Leader and he had kept her to be a plaything for himself. After a 'light beating', she had seemed to accept her fate. The Leader kept her under watch every minute of every day and she seemed content.  The man wanted to make her his wife which is why he had not rap*d her and was waiting patiently for her to grow up. But she had not been accepting and after biding her time for a year, she had made another escape attempt and this time she had succeeded. Everyone who had been charged with her protection had been killed by the leader, he had been so enraged."

Meng Ran who had been expecting a romantic saga felt goosebumps rise as she heard Shi Ai's story.  Meng Ran had always felt that her life was not very interesting and rather her parents had been very protective of her. But now she almost wanted to call her parents and thank them for loving her so much.

Without a word, Meng Ran walked to Shi Ai and higher her tightly. She was thankful that her roommate had survived that place and was here now. Shi Ai had not been expecting to receive a hug. Instead, she had not even realized that she had blurted out the entire situation in front of someone. Some of these things she had not even dared to tell Zhang Min. But once she had started, she was unable to stop herself. She continued with her story, " That lady was called Old Deng. She had been with the gang for many years and had prepared many girls. Though she pretended to be sympathetic to the girl's plight, in reality, she was the mob head's eyes and ears in that place. She had already informed him of my resemblance with Shi Ai and that I carried the same name too. Though those other girls had been kidnapped to be sold off, the men had not refrained from touching them and molesting them as they pleased. A few of those men tried to do the same with me but I was under Old Deng's protection and to be held until the boss came back from overseas."

"As I said, due to Zhang Min's alert, my then-fiance had already reached the goons and was now making his way to rescue me. But there was a problem. He had been working undercover and if he had come to rescue me directly then his cover would have been broken. So, he bribed one of the goons in that gang and once he was sure that I was being held captive, he approached them as a potential buyer.

The mob leader was getting old and the vice leader was getting impatient. When he was offered a good price for me and yet the leader refused to let go, the vice leader rebelled and decided to sell me to Long Ah Hai who was then called Snowden. I did not know who Snowden was so I fought with all my might and tried to escape once again. I had extracted all the information I could get from that Old Deng and now I only wanted to escape to look for my sister. But their own greed resulted in a fight breaking out where the vice leader killed Old Lady Deng. But by then the mob leader had come back and he killed the others. That was when Ah Hai had to break his cover and he freed me and the other girls by setting the warehouse in fire. But we underestimated the mob leader's reach and would have been caught by him again if not for a stroke of luck.

A big church had organised a charity group wedding for all those brides and grooms who could not afford to have a ceremony. We became a couple and joined a group of people. It is with them that we were able to escape the country on a cruise ship and come back here. The man though had truly been obsessed with my sister and he transferred his obsession onto me. This is the reason why I also had to cut my hair short and move here while trying to live quietly. It seems that man is still looking for my sister and now me."

Meng Ran understood what was being said and that Shi Ai was actually warning her to not become close to her lest she was endangered. But Meng Ran had already decided that she was going to be Shi Ai's friend and help her in any way that she could. Meng Ran wondered if she should tell Shi Ai that her father was a powerful man and he may be able to help her but then decided against it. It was better to speak to her father first before volunteering his help and guidance.