Chapter 244 - The Third Gift
In a different location, the sound of classical music echoed within the whole house. A man with a broad back can be seen playing with an Old English Sheepdog in the vast green garden. The dog’s bark sounded happy as he ran across the garden to pick up the chew bone that his owner had thrown.
"Mr.Lu’s people started moving to investigate Zhu Lin’s death." Xiu Su Yi stated as soon as he arrived at the garden.
The man still looked at ease as he threw another ball.
"They’re too slow. I expected much more from Ms.Xiu’s choice of man."
Silence befell between the two. Xiu Su Yi solely focused on the man’s view from behind.
"Send another gift on my behalf." The man ordered. The man pondered for a moment, tapping the ball with his finger as he carefully chose the gift he wanted to send Xiu Mei.
A broken doll. A blood-red rose. Hmmm,... what should he give her next?
"Ah." The man raised his hand and smoothed out the fur of the dog as he continued his sentence, "A letter."
A mysterious smile appeared on his face as he cupped the dog’s head and rained it with kisses.
"A letter would be nice. What do you think, buddy?"
The dog barked as if to respond to what he said. The man laughed and cuddled the dog into his arms, carried it with ease then went back inside the house.
The next day, Xiu Mei’s assistant was going through the box full of mails directed to the president. After dividing the mails according to their receiver, she left Secretary Lu’s mails to his table and both the President’s and Secretary Xiu’s on Xiu Mei’s table. That morning was as busy as the previous weeks, the three members of the President’s office were buried in their work.
"An earl grey tea?" Her assistant offered.
Xiu Mei gladly accepted the teacup and immersed in the sweetness and bitterness of the tea. Her tensed shoulders gradually relaxed while her assistant briefly went out to pick up the food they ordered in the lobby. Ever since the parcel incident, not many people are allowed to drop by the President’s office.
Luckily, the President and Lu Shao were out on official business she had the freedom of doing whatever she wanted for the day, may it be drowning in work or relaxing secretly in the office.
While she was enjoying her short break with a cup of tea, her eyes darted towards the small pile of mails that she pushed off just this morning.
Xiu Mei glanced at the elevator door.
"Well, I guess she would still take a while." She muttered under her breath, recalling the long line of people queuing during lunchtime.
Grabbing her paperknife, she opened and read the mails one by one, dividing them by priority, importance, and useless mails. Well, it wasn’t like there’s that much mail to go through since a lot of things are now done thru emails. It’s usually special invitations and requests that come in paper mails.
"Oh my, this is so pretty." Xiu Mei uttered seeing a white envelope sealed with red wax with a few laces in between that made the whole look of the letter look very fancy.
This is probably an invitation for some kind of fancy gathering, huh?
She innocently taught as she nonchalantly opened the envelope. She marveled at the whole appearance of the letter before reading it.
Whoa... whoever made this really made an effort in their design ah.
Every design glued on the paper looked fancy and expensive. Was this some kind of super-rich party or something? They even used some kind of red ink. That’s not a really common color to use ah. It must’ve been so expensive.
She slowly read the letter. It was addressed to her, which she already somehow predicted given the girlish appearance of the letter.
Dear Ms.Xiu,
This humble self writes a letter to you hoping that it will reach your hands and feel my sincerity. I couldn’t think of a perfect third gift, except this letter, which I hope will bring a surprise to your face.
Along with my letter is another gift, which shares the same features as my second. It is inscribed in this paper, as to which you are reading as of the moment. I do hope it won’t scare you, as it is a precious liquid that I collected and kept for quite some time. Oh, you don’t know how much I would be willing to pay just to see the expression on your face at the moment.
Carrying on, I would also like to know if you’ve enjoyed my previous two gifts that I wholeheartedly and carefully chose as a perfect gift dedicated for you.
Some might think that I meant to endanger you, but I assure you that it is not what I intend to do. It is merely my expression of feelings for you, and how far I would go just to make you see me in those eyes.
Oh, those pools of hazel brown eyes that I could never forget. The first time I laid eyes on them, they twinkled and shone brightly under the blanket of darkness, and it looked so charming despite the expression on your face that night.
How I wish to see you like that again.
Look how much I’ve babbled. It seems like I’m letting you on too much at the moment which is not entirely my intention. I do hope that you could remember me, even if it is just for a brief moment so that it would bring a smile to my face thinking that I wasn’t the only one who had forgotten our shared moment.
It seems my correspondence is taking a little too long than intended. Unfortunately so, I would have to cut this letter short. Ms.Xiu, I sincerely look forward, to the time we meet again. A moment when you can finally recognize me, just like how I’ve always remembered you.
P.S. I wonder how my special present is doing as well? I would not entirely consider it as a present, but since you willingly received it so that makes it a special present then.
"...What?"
Xiu Mei was confused about the meaning of the letter. She thought it was an invitation... but it seems like it was a love letter instead? It even sounded a bit too...weird? It looked like a letter written by someone who reads classical books. She wouldn’t be too surprised if she sees a ’thy’ or some kind of old English word in the letter.
She grabbed the white envelope to look at the back but nothing was on it. No stamp or anything.
T-This... this wasn’t set thru postmail. And that means it’s a very suspicious letter.
And it’s even addressed to her.
She instantly threw the letter on the table. Her eyes lingered on the words on the paper and thought hard.
Who is it? Who sent this?
Even though she was a bit scared, she continued to reread the letter hoping to understand the meaning behind the cryptic message.
Wait.
The sender said that this was the third gift. And just like the letter mention, she already received the two previous gifts. Then on the postscript, there’s another gift. A special gift.
Xiu Mei tried to recall if she received anything.
A third gift...third...second...
Xiu Mei paused and a memory instantly clicked in. That’s right! How could she forget?
The third gift! This was the third gift. Then there was a first and second gift.
And there’s only one thing she remembers that it was mentioned as a second gift.
"A bloodstained rose from the first victim I killed as my second gift to you."
A chill suddenly ran down her back.
That red rose dyed red with blood.
She shuddered as she recalled that memory, but she instantly remembered the words that she read from the letter.
It was written that the third gift shares the same features as the second gift. The second gift was a rose dyed with blood so that means...
Xiu Mei’s eyes darted on the dark red ink contrasting to the white textured paper. A thought flashed in her mind.
D-Don’t tell her... that the ink was blood?!
What the hell! Who is so crazy to use blood as ink in writing a letter?!
In the first place, who is that crazy bastard sender?! Why does that person keep sending her strange exotic gifts?!
A broken doll. A rose dyed with blood. Then a letter written with blood ink.
What’s next? A juice made with blood?!
Xiu Mei felt complex emotions for the entire time she was washing her hands. She felt scared and angry.
But then, she remembered another part of the latter.
A special gift.
She almost forgot that there was a special gift!
A special gift that she had no idea what it was at all!!