“What are you doing?” Out of the blue, the man standing in front of us turned around, shouted at us, and started to approach us. My heart raced. There was only one thought in my mind. Oh no! We are busted.
Fortunately, the man stopped at the woman in front of me and kicked her instead.
“Don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me!” The woman in front was together with a baby. She hugged the little one in her arms and pleaded, “My daughter is unwell and has high fever. Can you please let me out? I need to take her to the hospital. She’s only six months old. I can’t delay any longer.”
“Shut up!” The man kicked the woman again. “Don’t move. Otherwise, I’ll pull the trigger.” After that, he cursed and walked away.
My body stiffened as cold sweat drenched my back. I was really frightened just now.
The robbers were still packing the money. Although the bank we were in was just a branch, it was the largest branch in the country. There had to be a massive amount of money in the bank. Every second that passed by felt awfully long to me. Furthermore, I did not know if those people would leave immediately after taking the money or would they take hostages before making their escape.
Since they dared to kill people openly, they were obviously thugs who were up to no good. At that moment, a familiar ringtone suddenly sounded. It was the customized ringtone I had set for incoming calls from Christopher. Immediately, my face fell, and so did Julia’s.
Why did he call me at this time? If he called earlier or later, everything would have been fine.
Sure enough, the man who shot the woman earlier looked over. When he saw the phone in Julia’s hand, he yelled angrily, “F**k! This woman wants to call the police! I’m going to kill her!”
With that said, he strode over and pointed his gun at Julia. Suddenly, my mind went blank and I was at a loss for what to do. The man would really pull the trigger – he was not kidding. Before I could think of what to do, my body reacted first. I found myself pouncing in front of Julia and blocking the muzzle of his gun.
At that instant, the only thought I had in my mind was that Julia was Christopher’s mother. If something happened to her, he would be very sad.
Just then, a gunshot sounded in my ears. At the same time, there was a sharp pain in my chest. Blood splattered on my face and hands. I lowered my head and stared at the blood that was gushing out of my chest. The next moment, I collapsed to the ground.
“Yvonne! Yvonne!” I could hear Julia shouting my name in shock. Barely opening my eyes, I saw the anxious expression on her face and the panic in her eyes. I could not help but smile. Julia was worried about me. As expected, she had already acknowledged me. Previously, she was just unhappy that I had taken her son away from her.
“Mrs. Lane, I knew you’re a good person.” At first, I wanted to continue teasing her, but I could not say anything else anymore. After I squeezed those words out of my mouth, I could not open my mouth again. There seemed to be something in my throat. I wanted to cough, but when I opened my mouth, nothing but blood came out.
Soon, sirens of police cars could be heard from outside. The robbers were anxious and ran outside with the money. Meanwhile, I did not know if I could survive. I panicked: I had yet to see Christopher.
“Don’t talk! I’ll send you to the hospital,” shouted Julia while covering my wound.
I felt that I was pretty strong. Unexpectedly, I did not die immediately after being shot at such a close distance. Not to mention that I did not even lose my consciousness. When I was placed on the stretcher, my vision started to go blurry. Seeing that Julia kept following me, I smiled weakly at her.
“Chris told me that you’re a very gentle and kind mother. He also said that you took good care of him and he loves you very much. If something happens to you, he’ll be heartbroken. C-Can I call you ‘Mom’?”
Julia was a very good mother. If she could acknowledge me as her daughter, I would be overjoyed.
“You haven’t married my son yet. What right do you have to call me ‘Mom’? You’d better get well soon. We’ll discuss how you should call me after you’ve recovered.”
