Breakdown

At the same time that the unfortunate Yu Changcheng was experiencing the worst night of his life, Emma was arriving at her little apartment. She had felt jumpy and anxious the whole way home. The confrontation with Mr. Long had unsettled her. The man was clearly deranged, dangerous and obsessed with her.

The whole way home Emma had felt like the walls were closing in on her. She had come to the awful realisation, that he was not going to leave her alone.

Emma managed to keep it together until she closed the apartment door behind her. Then her legs began to shake violently and she started drawing panicked breaths. She sank into the floor and hugged her knees close to her chest, rocking slightly back and forth.

What on earth was she going to do?

Mr. Long had clearly not lost interest at all. And tonight had showed her that the man wasn't right in his mind!

The weight of it all came crashing down on her, her exhaustion due to her sleepless nights, her unstable financial situation, Mr. Long's obsession with her. It all became too much and she broke down sobbing.

She felt frustrated that she cared so much. Plenty of women would jump at the idea of being with a man like Mr. Long, he was rich and powerful. But that possessive streak in him also made him dangerous. He seemed to care more about owning and controlling her, that he did about her wellbeing and happiness.

At that moment she hated herself for being so stubborn, for not being able to give in. It would be so much easier to just accept her fate, to let herself be possessed and controlled by this man. But she couldn't do it. She cared too much about her own freedom and independence.

Emma just hated it all. She hated herself for not being stronger, and yet felt frustrated that she couldn't just not care about it. She hated that her freedom mattered so much to her. She hated her father for demanding of her what she could give. She hated her mother for abandoning her. She hated it all.

She sobbed on the floor of her apartment. The darkness pressed in on her from all sides, but Emma didn't stand up to turn on the lights. Seeing the empty apartment around her would remind her of how alone she felt. No, it was better to remain in darkness.

Emma felt so alone. So tired. The darkness seemed to close in on her, the shadows twisted around her.

One of the shadows seemed to take a more solid form. It loomed over her. She raised her head, wet tear tracks down her face. The shadow was large and furry.

Emma laughed humourlessly. Of course, on top of everything else, she was now hallucinating too. Before her stood the big black dog from the forest, right infront of her, in the middle of her apartment. She had really cracked under the pressure this time. Still, even though it was all a figment of her imagination, she was happy not be alone.

The dog came closer lowering his face to become level with hers and whined in concern. Emma flung herself foreward and hugged him tightly around the neck. Another round of sobs rocked her body. She didn't know how long she hugged the imaginary dog. It might have been eternity or no time at all.

The warmth of the dog's body and the softness of his fur felt comforting and Emma gradually started to calm down. The exhaustion of the night finally claimed her, and before she knew what was happening, she went limp against the dogs neck as she fell into a deep slumber.