Darkness once again fell
upon this haunting city. For night cats, their day was just beginning,
but for those regular night-to-five people, such as Chang- an insurance
contractor, night meant the end of another busy day. At the age of 35,
Chang had no close girlfriend or any special female partner. He always
joked to himself in front of his coworkers, 「I』d rather stay single
forever if I cannot find my dream lady.」 Of course, that was merely a
joke; Chang would die to have one lover even just for one day. He
desperately wished to be loved and to be married. Yet, Chang seemed to
be always occupied by his work and had no spare moment to go to the
clubs to have fun or get laid. But the fact of the matter was, Chang
was not good at picking up girls. He himself realized that after 10
girls rejected him in the high school graduation party.
Chang was in a bad mood after work because he was behind schedule
finishing his contracts with his clients. He felt lousy as if a cold
was coming unto him. He left his office at nine, much earlier than
ever; he usually wouldn』t leave his position till 10. On his way home
on the bus, he noticed the girl who sat next to him. In a white dress,
the girl looked like an angel fallen from heaven. She had the most
gorgeous face he had ever seen. Her slim, long legs were in perfect
scale and proportion. Chang』s eyes lit up as he tried to catch another
glimpse at the girl. Surprisingly, this girl got off at the same bus
stop as he did, though he had never seen her before. Like any other
normal man, he decided to follow her a while to see where this beautiful
lady lived. The girl ended up entering an old 5-story apartment
building not far from Chang』s house. He sneaked up the stairs to the
fourth floor, always staying about five meters behind the girl for he
was afraid that the girl might become aware of his existence. Somehow,
he noticed that all the doors and the doorknobs (with a big hole for the
key) were fairly antique, like the ones in some old films. Yet, he
didn』t care about anything at all except the girl. The mysterious girl
stopped in front of one room, #404, and then turned the doorknob. Chang
could only hide behind the walls as the girl walked in. 「Shit! Almost
there!」 Chang suddenly felt a great sense of loss. Yet, he didn』t want
to quit and leave that easily, so he tiptoed quietly to the room and
attempted to have a peek through the keyhole on the door. However, he
could see nothing but pales of red. He thought the girl had covered the
keyhole with a red sticker to keep the sons of bitches like him from
peeking in. As he could not see anything, Chang disappointingly walked
down the stairs. He knew he was going to wrap up another unlucky day.
As soon as he got down to the first floor, the doorman walked into the
gate. 「Hey, may I help you, Sir? I』ve never seen you before. Just
moved in today?」 the doorman asked. 「Oh, no, I am looking for a person
who lives on the fourth floor, but I guess that person must be really
mean, because I rang the bell many times, but no one answered the door.
Would you please do me a favor and tell me who』s living up there?」
Chang tried to gather some information about that girl, at least a name
or a phone number. 「You must be mistaken or you are at the wrong place,
my friend.」 The doorman answered. 「No body has lived up there on the
fourth floor after… that college girl.」 「 Yes, that is the girl I want
to find, she』s one of my insurance clients. I just dropped by to say
hello.」 Chang knew he was not good at lying, but he still did it
unskillfully anyway. 「No way! It couldn』t be, my friend. I meant that
not a single person has lived up there on the fourth floor anymore since
the girl hanged herself four years ago. Everybody moved away. I』ve
been doing this job for ten years, and that girl had the sweetest smile
I』ve ever seen, and her beautiful face.」 The doorman went on, 「The girl
should be the most beautiful one if she didn』t have those two bloody red
eyes…」 Chang froze on the spot without a sound.