Filed to story: Sweetheart Do You Still Love Me
“It’s going to be a hassle looking one by one.” Elspeth noticed the houses looked all the same. “At this rate, she might be in trouble.”
“We’ll split up to cover more ground.”
Elspeth observed the buildings, and for some reason, she thought they looked familiar. “Hey, this place looks familiar.”
Callum turned around and gazed at her. “You’ve been here before?”
Elspeth shook her head. “No way. I’m just saying the buildings look familiar. Oh, I remember now. Ever read a book called The Village?”
It was the story of a female college student being kidnapped and sold to the mountains. Callum shouldn’t have read it before, but surprisingly, he nodded. “I have.”
“You have?”
Callum explained, “My friend wrote the book. He asked me to beta read it, so I did.”
“Remember how the book describes the village?”
Callum looked around him and realized what Elspeth was talking about. He looked at the fog in the skies and recited, “Short huts were strewn all across the village, their walls made of red, crimson bricks. On these bricks were spindly, stringy words resembling arcane runes. A great path led into the mountains, and standing on both sides of this path were short poplar…” He stopped reciting. Standing on both sides of the path they were on were poplar trees.
“Art imitates life. That book must have drawn its inspiration from somewhere.” Elspeth touched a poplar tree. “I bet your friend must have come here before.”
Callum looked a little hesitant. “It’s been a while since I contacted this friend of mine. Let me see if I can get in touch.” He took his phone out, but the signal in the mountains was bad. When they neared a signal tower, they finally managed to get connected. Callum went through his contacts and made a call, and it went through quickly.
“What is it, Callum?” Callum’s friend asked calmly.
Callum frowned. “It’s about your novel called The Village. Where did you get the inspiration for this setting?”
His friend asked in puzzlement, “Why the sudden question?”
“A friend of ours got kidnapped to a village, and it’s just like the one you described in your book.”
The friend asked coolly, “Is your friend called Yelena Sullivan?”
Callum froze. “How do you know?”
“Where are you now?”
Callum looked around him and told his friend his location.
His friend solemnly said, “You’re in the village, aren’t you?”
Noticing what his question implied, Callum asked, “You’re here too?”
“I’ll pick you up in ten.”
Ten minutes later, a handsome silhouette came out of the cloud of dust before them. Elspeth narrowed her eyes, but she said nothing.
“It’s been a while, Federick.” Callum smiled.
Federick wasn’t fazed. He nodded and looked around, then his gaze landed on Elspeth.
Noticing the gaze from Federick, Callum said, “This is my wife, Elspeth.”
“I know.”
Callum wondered what he was talking about.
“We met at an authors’ gathering.”
She’s an author? Callum shot Elspeth a look, and she quickly looked away.
“Just wrote something out of boredom.”
For the first time since they met, Federick smiled, but it was a mocking smile. “That thing you wrote out of boredom got you the highest award an author can get.”
Elspeth smiled sheepishly.
Callum was not surprised Elspeth had another side he didn’t know about, so he just looked at Federick and asked, “Why are you here?”
“I’m a village officer.”
Elspeth looked at him. He was wearing simple clothes, but he radiated an air of regality. Man. I’d love to chat, but we have work to do. “Where’s Yelena?”
Federick looked in the direction he came from. “She’s at my place. Come with me.” He added, “This village is filled with crude, barbaric people. You guys come here all alone wearing expensive clothes and they’re going to rob you.”
Elspeth and Callum looked at their clothes. If they went into the village wearing these, they would be robbed, but there was no time to talk about that. Before the villagers came in droves, they carefully went to Federick’s place.
Yelena was asleep on the bed when they came. She had been nervous the whole night, and exhaustion eventually overwhelmed her.
Federick poured two glasses of water for them and sat down. “You guys are here to save her?”
Callum nodded. “Yes. She’s my friend.”
“She’s safe. Nobody has laid a finger on her since she got taken here.”
Elspeth shot him a look of gratitude.
“But…” Federick mused over it for a while. “Can you stay back and help us out for a bit?” The fact he used ‘us’ meant there was more to the topic.
Elspeth nodded. “You helped Yelena, which means she owes you one. We’ll do our best.”
Federick looked like he was in a dilemma. “But this might be a difficult task. We can’t be sure about the details yet, and the mission might put you guys at risk.”
Elspeth smiled. “It’s alright. Callum and I can fight well. We can handle ourselves.”
“No, it’s not you guys.”
Elspeth was surprised. “Who are you asking for, then?” It can’t be…
“Yelena.”
Elspeth frowned. “I can’t do that. Yelena’s not a combatant. She wouldn’t have been kidnapped otherwise. If you have to use her, I won’t let you, but I can help in ways I can.”
Federick looked a little sullen. “I know it’s going to be hard for her. She’s a former classmate of mine and I wouldn’t want her to take the risk otherwise, but she’s in a perfect position. She’s a celebrity, after all.”
Federick didn’t seem to be lying, so Elspeth decided to listen to him.
“I’ll shoot straight. I came here to be an officer so I can destroy this human trafficking joint. The human traffickers here are working with the local cops, and we can’t get rid of them easily.”
Elspeth had a feeling that was the case, but she nodded anyway. “And?”
“They’ve sent an undercover cop in as a female college student, who will work with me so we can capture these people. It just so happens that Yelena was captured as well.” Federick noticed the solemnity in their eyes, and he sighed. “The disappearance of a famous celebrity is going to cause an uproar. If I tell the public what happened, we can get them to help. Then we’ll tell them the exact address of this village and get them here to bust her out. Maybe we can capture these traffickers at long last.”
It was a reasonable plan, but there was a flaw. Elspeth asked, “What if the perpetrators take revenge on Yelena?” If they find out Yelena’s the reason they can’t do their business anymore, they’ll try to kill her. Human traffickers are evil, after all.
That was indeed an issue. Federick couldn’t risk Yelena’s life, so he set that plan aside.
Yelena woke up while they were chatting. When she came out and saw familiar faces outside, tears fell down her cheeks. “You’re here.” She knew Elspeth would find her, but she didn’t think Elspeth would be this quick.
“Of course. We’re taking you home.” Elspeth walked up to her and patted her head. “You didn’t get bullied, did you?”
“No. He was nice to me.” Yelena smiled, albeit a bit cautiously. “Are we going home today?”
Elspeth was about to say yes, but then she remembered what Federick told her and she had no idea what to say.
Yelena was smart enough to notice the hesitation. “Did you run into something?”
Elspeth gave her a look. “Federick needs your help but it’s risky, so we’re trying to figure out things.”
Yelena paused for a moment. And I thought it was something big. She said, “Sure. It’s risky, but I’m sure I will get out of it fine.”
