Footsteps approached from outside, and with a "squeak", the door opened. A man with bare upper body, dressed in white pajamas, stepped in. His well-developed chest muscles, tight abdominal muscles, and the thick beard stretching from his cheeks to his chin seemed to declare his masculine power.
The man's left shoulder was wrapped in white bandages, a mark left on him by Xia Nan. In his left hand, he held a bottle of red wine, and between the index finger and ring finger of his right hand, he clutched two tall wine glasses.
"Did you sleep well?" The man greeted warmly, with a smile in his eyes, as if he had forgotten that he was an aggressor the night before, seemingly not resentful about Xia Nan biting him.
"Scum!" Xia Nan tried to suppress her anger. Looking at the man before her, she couldn't relate him to the top scientist in neuroscience she once knew. He seemed so different from the Will she had seen in the lab.
Closing her eyes, Xia Nan turned her head away, not wanting to see him or be seen by him. Escaping by shutting her eyes, as if everything ceased to exist once they were closed. She tried to steady her emotions, resisting the urge to explode.
Walking past the foot of the bed, the man set the wine and glasses on the bedside table, bent down to gaze at Xia Nan's face, and whispered in her ear, "You might need some alcohol; it'll relax you."
Alcohol. Since being with Chen Chen, Xia Nan hadn't drunk it. It was taboo for him. He neither drank nor allowed Xia Nan to. Once, she had a small drink with friends, which Chen Chen found out.
That day, Chen Chen earnestly advised her, "Alcohol damages women's brains more than men's, even in small amounts it can harm the cerebral cortex responsible for processing information and thinking." She promised him to abstain. Remembering Chen Chen stirred overwhelming emotions in Xia Nan, each tiny trigger capable of breaking her. Suddenly, she yearned for alcohol's numbing embrace.
She broke her promise. As alcohol entered her body, it surged through her bloodstream, piercing the barrier between her brain and body - the blood-brain barrier. She knew her cerebral cortex was already getting disoriented. Each sip introduced more ethanol molecules into her synapses, dulling her perception of the world. She tilted her head back, finishing her glass in one go. The first drink numbed her senses, so she asked for another, then another. The second round of intoxication spread through her nervous system, making her feel liberated.
While pouring, the blanket accidentally slid off Xia Nan, revealing her delicate figure, glowing under the sunlight. A perfect body, laid bare before Will.
Will was entranced by this Eastern woman's body. The previous night in the dim car, he vividly remembered the unique scent of orange blossom perfume from Xia Nan, which left a powerful impact on him.
He had smelled this fragrance over twenty years ago, after which no woman could attract him. Later, after delving into brain research, he realized that his brain's reward system malfunctioned. Precisely, the dopamine production mechanism was disrupted, leaving him numb to pleasures like food and women. Only alcohol gave brief joy.
Now, just being close to Xia Nan, smelling her unique scent, he could feel dopamine rushing in his brain. Xia Nan activated his reward circuit, and the resulting excitement made Will lose control.
"Aren't you afraid I'll call the police?" Xia Nan, trying to resist, watched Will inch closer.
"San Francisco police are overwhelmed by the Super Brainwave ; they have no time for such minor issues," Will said disdainfully, nothing could stop him now.
"Aren't you neuroscientists clueless about the Super Brainwave ?"
"Not including me! I'm not like some scientists who research just for awards!"
"Chen Chen isn't that kind of scientist!"
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"Don't say another man's name in my bed! I'll show you who the real savior of humanity is during this Super Brainwave outbreak! And before that, who truly deserves your love!"
Looking at Xia Nan, Will felt this trade-off wasn't bad. Chen Chen got the Nofi Prize, he got Chen Chen's woman. Right now, the woman in front of him seemed even more precious.
The alcohol made Xia Nan give in. Waves of pleasure washed over her. She matched Will's movements, no longer controlling her moans. Their intertwined, naked bodies culminated in exhaustion.
She collapsed softly into Will's embrace, a terrifying realization hovered in her blank mind; her body had succumbed to him. Tears rolled down, ashamed of her own flesh.
Ten years with Chen Chen, she never doubted her love for him but always resisted intimacy. Their first time ended disastrously, and in ten years, they'd been intimate less than ten times. She always used marriage as an excuse to avoid his advances. Not just him, her body would alarm at any male's proximity. Yet, she didn't resist Will, even climaxing. She felt ashamed, even perverse.
Then, the doorbell rang from outside. "Who could it be?" Will frowned. The untimely ringing irritated him, especially as it grew more urgent. "I'll go check." He kissed Xia Nan on the cheek before locking the bedroom door behind him as he left.
Xia Nan shuddered at the realization that Will had brought her to his home and was holding her captive. Her thirty-five years of life seemed overturned in a single night. If she had listened to Chen Chen earlier and not sought Professor Albert's help to retrieve her memories, she wouldn't have met Will. Worse yet, she might be implicated in Professor Albert's murder case.
Thinking of the slain professor made tears swell uncontrollably in her eyes. She was ashamed of having fled the scene without calling the police, paralyzed by her innate distrust of law enforcement.
"I need to get out of here!" Xia Nan reached for the pile of clothes by the bed. Her inner garments were ripped, and her body was bruised. How could she face Chen Chen now? Her phone was missing too.
In a frenzy, she emptied her bag but found no phone. The last she remembered, it was at Albert's lab. Regardless, she needed to leave. The door was locked, and she found that there were no actual windows, just unbroken glass facing the entrance. She was sealed in, with no escape.
As Will was still answering the door, Xia Nan pounded on her locked bedroom door, hoping the visitor would hear and rescue her.
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"What are you doing here?" Will was visibly surprised to see Chen Chen at the door, leaning against the door frame with no intention of letting him in. After all, Xia Nan was still upstairs.
"So you are home, Will," Chen Chen said cautiously, "Why didn't you come to the award ceremony this afternoon?"
"Dr. Chen Chen, weren't your fans enough for you?" Will smirked condescendingly. "You're not here to show off your trophy, are you?"
"Your research is more deserving of the Nofi Neuroscience Prize!" Chen Chen stuttered, caught off-guard by Will's icy tone.
"A winner preaching to a loser? Funny," Will retorted, his eyes gleaming with unspoken victory. "Just tell me what you want."
"Professor Albert has been killed in his lab," Chen Chen blurted out, scrutinizing Will's microexpressions.
"Your point?" Will recovered quickly, his eyes cold.
"He was our mentor," Chen Chen faltered, struggling to find his words.
" No, he was your mentor. I have nothing to do with him. Maybe I should even thank him for giving me better opportunities at Nofi." Having said this, Will prepared to close the door and bid his guest goodbye. He couldn't afford to engage with Chen Chen any longer; faint sounds of Xia Nan pounding on a door for help could be heard from upstairs.
"If it's not Will, then who could it be?" Chen Chen forced a rigid smile. Of course, deep down, he hoped it wasn't Will. He found himself letting out a sigh of relief. But this realization dawned on him—wouldn't Xia Nan be in even greater danger now? Moved by this thought, he asked, "There's one more thing I want to ask you. Have you seen Xia Nan?"
Chen Chen wasn't sure why he was asking this question; perhaps he was clinging to a sliver of hope. At least, Will also knew Xia Nan; they might have crossed paths at some point. The hope was faint, but he was desperate.
"No, I have something I need to do now." Saying this, Will stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Chen Chen had to leave, quickly; the noise upstairs was getting louder.
Calls for help had proved futile; Xia Nan went to the floor-to-ceiling glass window, awaiting her visitor's departure. Perhaps she could seize that moment to get their attention.
Chen Chen! Even from just his silhouette, Xia Nan was a hundred percent certain that the man walking away was Chen Chen. He was still wearing that purple, velvet suit with gold threads. She waved at him desperately, but Chen Chen did not look back; he walked away straight into the distance. Soon after, Will drove off.
Despair washed over Xia Nan; she collapsed to the ground. Was there any way out of here? She once again checked her bag and was immediately hit with a wave of panic—her memory chip was missing!
She remembered putting it into her handbag just before she left Professor Albert's lab yesterday. So, where could it be? In Will's car or his house? When Will had been violent towards her, she had fought back using her handbag. Could it have fallen out then? Or perhaps it had fallen somewhere in the house as Will was bringing her into the room.