Taking Advantage, Then Trying to Run - Chapter 4

I drove to the parcel station near my residential complex.

The place was every bit as busy as expected. Couriers streamed in and out—some unloading, some sorting, some checking delivery lists—each absorbed in their own task.

I stood at the entrance looking around for ages, but there was no sign of the girl.

“Hey, miss. Picking up a package? Got the code?”

After watching me hover by the door, one of the couriers approached to ask.

I hesitated, then pulled up a screenshot from the security footage. “What’s this courier’s name?”

He glanced at it and recognized her at once. “That’s Hai Yan. He’s out making deliveries.”

“Deliveries? Where is she going? Can you tell me? I need to speak with her urgently.”

When reluctance crossed his face, I hurried to add, “I live in Jinyue Huating. Hai Yan did me an enormous favor last night, and I’d like to thank her in person.”

“Wait here, then. I’ll ask around.”

He went inside and shouted across the station, “Hey! Anyone know where Hai Yan is delivering?”

“No idea!”

“Call him!”

The courier scratched his head as he came back out. “Hang on. I’ll call him…”

“Oh, you’re so busy. I’d hate to trouble you. Why don’t you give me her number, and I’ll contact her myself? I don’t want to hold up your work. Mornings look hectic here.”

He studied me, and a teasing smile suddenly appeared on his face.

“All right. Write down his number.”

—

Following the address Hai Yan gave me over the phone, I quickly drove to an older residential complex five kilometers away.

The delivery company’s truck was parked beneath one of the apartment buildings.

I parked and hurried over, only to find the cab empty.

Hai Yan must have gone upstairs with a delivery.

I waited beside the building.

Before long, two couriers emerged. One of them was Hai Yan.

She wore the same uniform as the night before: black shirt, black cargo pants, and a black baseball cap. A pair of dirty work gloves covered her hands for hauling heavy goods.

I was about to call her name when she and her coworker opened the truck and began unloading again.

They clearly weren’t finished.

I swallowed my words and quietly watched her work.

Perhaps I had lost my mind. I’d abandoned a mountain of work to come here and watch a young woman deliver packages.

Yet I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

When she raised both arms to take a box from her coworker, her shirt rode up, exposing a strip of waist.

Those V-lines…

Sweat followed them down beneath the waistband of her cargo pants.

I stared without blinking.

After stacking the boxes and clearing a path, she helped her coworker push an enormous carton toward the edge of the truck.

It held a refrigerator nearly six foot three.

Before my very eyes, Hai Yan hoisted that gigantic refrigerator onto her back.

Her coworker supported it from the side to lighten the load.

Even so, her strength was astonishing.

My mouth fell open.

Together, they carried the refrigerator upstairs.

I badly wanted to follow and watch, but I knew I would only get in their way.

I took a deep breath and kept waiting.

I had no idea how long passed.

At last, Hai Yan reappeared.

She headed straight for the truck and opened the passenger door.

I realized at once that they were done here and about to leave for the next stop.

I rushed forward. “Hai Yan!”

Her hand stopped. She turned to look at me.

Her pupils contracted sharply.

She had recognized me, I guessed—and remembered the catastrophe from last night.

I took a step forward. She instinctively stepped half a pace back.

I had no words.

Nothing was worse than an ambush by awkwardness.

We stared at each other for a moment before Hai Yan tugged her cap lower.

“Ma’am… did you need something? I still have deliveries to make.”

Her voice was low, too.

It was as though she didn’t want anyone to know she had any connection to me.

I opened my mouth, but my mind was perfectly blank.

All the eloquence I’d honed fighting my way through the business world deserted me.

“N-no… It’s nothing. Go on with your work.”

In my panic, those were the words that came out.

I regretted them the instant I finished speaking.

Sure enough, Hai Yan visibly relaxed. She nodded, turned, and hopped into the passenger seat.

The door shut. The truck slowly pulled away and soon vanished from the complex.

I stood there in a daze.

What was I doing?

Was I an idiot?

Had I really come all this way just to tell her, “It’s nothing, go on with your work”?

I could have cried from sheer frustration with myself.