For some reason, he sensed so much in her expression that he took a step back. As he turned around, he heard a strange cry behind him.
“Ah… don’t come any closer…”
Startled, he spun around to find the girl on her knees, hands cupped over her ears.
“Don’t come any closer!” Her hysterical screams shocked Hua Jin so that he stood rooted to the ground.
“What’s the matter?” He immediately stepped forward and took her by the shoulders. He was so worried that he panicked. “What’s wrong?! What do you mean, don’t come any closer? Did you see something?”
She covered her ears tightly and shook violently. “Stop talking! Stop talking into my ears! Go away, go away! Evil person! Evil person!”
The actor was horrified. He couldn’t figure out what had happened to her, but he was worried that something had gone wrong and reassured her gently. “I’m here. I’m here. Don’t be afraid… look at me. Look at me…”
The girl’s head jerked up. Almost simultaneously, she raised her right hand.
Immediately… A pocket watch fell from her palm.
Click…
Suddenly, it became extremely quiet. Only the sound of the watch hand’s movement could be heard.
Click…
Click…
Clear and rhythmic.
Reflexively, the actor turned his attention to the pocket watch dangling gently before his eyes. His vision seemed completely zoomed into the watch, gradually blurring.
He tried, with difficulty, to steady his own state of mind, to look away, but his gaze was firmly fixed on the pocket watch. There was no room to flinch. This pocket watch seemed to have magical powers!
Yet what little consciousness remained seemed to be reminding him… This appeared to be… hypnosis?!
He had initially thought that such hypnosis happened only in movies and novels. He did not expect it to happen in real life!
‘What’s your name?’ the girl asked.
Hua Jin appeared to be in a daze as he answered, “Rong Jin…”
“What’s my name?”
“Messenger.”
“Wrong…” The girl’s voice grew soft as a feather. “My name is Natalia. There is no ‘Messenger’, let alone ‘Natalisa’. Now, I will snap my fingers. When you hear this sound, you will forget everything you heard before. Everything you should or shouldn’t have heard, you will forget them. You just… had a long dream. You will wake up to reality and everything I’ve said will no longer exist.”
The actor’s eyes gradually went blank. Reflected in his eyes was the ever-present oscillating pocket watch.
The girl studied his expression, then suddenly put her pocket watch away. She reached out and snapped her fingers.
Click.
Hua Jin’s eyelids suddenly fell close as he lost all support and collapsed to the floor, unconscious. The girl crouched beside him and just stared at him in silence.
After a long wait, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and laboriously dragged him to the couch and helped him onto it.
She took a deep breath, stood up abruptly and went downstairs.
Downstairs, the nanny was cleaning.
“Auntie.” She called out softly.
She caught the nanny’s attention. The woman looked up and saw it was the girl. “What can I do for you, Young Miss?” she asked curiously.
“I think he fell asleep on the couch. I’m afraid he may catch a cold.”
