The visitor’s hand stopped mid-air as though she did not expect anyone to answer the door. After all, she had knocked for such a long time and might have assumed that no one to be home. Slightly surprised, she still beamed brightly when the door opened. Her soft voice rang in Nancy’s ears. “Nancy, is Larry here?”
Before the woman in the house could reply or even think of what to say, a strong hand reached out from behind her to slam the door shut.
While Nancy jumped in surprise, the woman standing outside was confused. Puzzled, Joan knocked on the door again. As it happened too quickly, she did not catch sight of the person who shut the door. For a split second, she thought it was a robber who closed the door to protect his identity when he saw that she had a visitor.
“Nancy, what’s wrong? Who was that? Hey, you better not lay a finger on her! Please calm down,” Joan’s voice grew louder, to the point where she was almost yelling. At the same time, she banged on the door without a care.
“It’s me,” Caspian declared. His hand was still in the same position where he slammed the door shut. Meanwhile, Nancy was trapped between the door and him. As she was unsure what he was going to do, she did not even dare to breathe.
The situation made the visitor bewildered. “Caspian? Why don’t you open the door? Did you mistake me for someone else? I’m Joan.”
Unforgivingly, the man asserted, “I know that you’re Joan. Don’t you dare come here anymore because you are not welcome!” Nancy could feel his voice reverberating through her scalp as he spoke.
“Caspian, Nancy, what’s wrong with both of you? Can’t you open the door and talk to me about it?” Joan desperately pleaded.
She had no clue why the two was treating her this way. Regardless of how much she thought about it, she could not recall any conflicts with them. Furthermore, they got along fine over the last few years, and they never had any disputes. In addition, they would usually discuss things in the open, but why are they refusing to meet her now?”
“Joan, you’d better leave now, and please don’t return to look for Boss in future too. If you make another visit here, I will throw you out myself. After all, we have been good friends for many years, and I believe we should not destroy our friendship this way. You should have known better before you came.”
Nevertheless, Joan was persistent, and she shouted louder than before, “Caspian, what is going on with you? Are you trying to break your ties with me? Otherwise, can you let me speak with Nancy? Even if there is a misunderstanding between us, we should at least lay it out in the open!”
Hearing her name being called out, Nancy wanted to break free from Caspian and open the door for Joan. However, despite having a black belt in Taekwondo herself, she was no match against a man who had been a soldier. Additionally, she subconsciously did not want to let the person outside in either. She thought the visitor was filthy and would dirty the house if she came in.
At the same time, Caspian had noticed how Nancy wanted to open the door, so he shot her a threatening glare that she had never witnessed before. It made her feel like she was prey, while he was a hunter with a gun in his hands.
Consequently, she gave up on the thought of allowing the visitor in but pressed her ear against the door to hear what was going on the other side.
By the time Joan’s voice was hoarse from all that shouting, and her hand became sore from banging on the door, the door was still glued shut. In a feeble voice, she muttered, “What… on earth happened?”
Those were words meant for the people in the house, but it sounded like she was talking to herself. Initially, she only came here to visit Larry. Yet, to her wildest imagination, she was rejected by the two friends she trusted most.
She stayed outside the door for a long duration while Caspian and Nancy continued to ignore her the whole time, without even responding to her anymore. All she felt was despair, as she had no idea what resulted in such a huge reaction from the two parties.
