Pitbabe S2, Chapter 35 pg 9
Pitbabe S2, Chapter 35 pg 9
I quickly grabbed his head and pulled it to rest on my shoulder, acting like he was still unconscious and swaying, nearly hitting the window. Luckily, Charlie was quick-witted. He didn’t make a sound or resist, closing his eyes again and staying still, so the others didn’t notice he was awake. I subtly slipped my hand to hold his, while my other hand secretly pulled out my phone, opened the notes app, and typed a short message:
“Look to the future.”
I gave a slight shrug to signal Charlie to open his eyes and look. He followed obediently, read the message, and closed his eyes again. I felt the hand I was holding tighten its grip.
I hoped Charlie would understand everything before we reached the mansion. And more importantly… I prayed the future in the next few minutes would unfold as we’d planned.
As everything reached the decisive moment, I carefully played my role with precision, mentally checking off each step as it unfolded.
The information Kenta provided was invaluable. They acted exactly as he said, following every move Chris had laid out. Because of that, the final checkbox fell to Charlie. I had no idea what kind of future he saw for me, or whether he’d even understand what he needed to do. So, I could only pray silently, hoping he’d recognize the signals I was desperately trying to send, or at the very least, hear my plea.
CHARLIE:
The vision of the future I saw when I held Babe’s hand in the van was utterly confusing—fragmented images and sounds with no coherence. Unlike watching a movie, there was no clear cause and effect, making it incredibly hard to piece together the story. Only one thing stood out vividly from the few scenes I glimpsed, and it hit me instantly.
Babe hadn’t betrayed me.
As I pretended to sleep on his shoulder, I thanked someone—anyone—in my heart a thousand times. I didn’t even know who I was thanking, but it was the most relieving realization. For months, Babe had confused me time and again. Did he love me or hate me? Did he want to help me or destroy me? His behavior shifted so unpredictably that I didn’t know what to believe. Even if he’d fooled me until the very last second, what I saw in his future proved that my entire world was still intact, not shattered in the slightest.
But honestly, I didn’t understand the story at all. No matter how hard I tried to piece it together, it remained incomplete. I saw myself tied to a chair, saw Tony and a dozen of his men, saw Babe fighting the guards alone, saw several of them lying unconscious on the ground in the next scene, blood staining the pristine white floor everywhere. Babe was pinned down, someone was poised to inject a syringe into my arm, Babe was screaming and trying to say something. I couldn’t hear the words, but his lips moved as if saying, “Now.”
Connecting all these images into a single narrative was too difficult. So, I focused on grasping the key moments where I needed to act, leaving the rest to flow with the situation and relying on my instincts to make the most of it.
And I think I succeeded. The moment I saw Babe’s lips move, I locked eyes with him, focused with every ounce of my being, and snapped my fingers, producing a sharp, clear sound.
Then everything froze.
“Well done.”
Babe grinned widely as he saw everything around us come to a standstill. In that room, only he and I could still move. I didn’t even know how I did it. I’d always thought that to pull someone out of frozen time, I had to physically touch them, like I did with Babe before. But this time, I only stared into his eyes, and somehow, Babe was able to exist in the same world as me, amid everything else that stood still.
“Well done, Charlie.”
Babe praised me repeatedly as he broke free from the grip of the frozen guards. He ran straight to the doctor standing beside me, grabbed the syringe from the tray, and replaced it with another one hidden in a secret pocket of his jacket. The new syringe looked identical in every way, except for the substance inside.
“The drug was being tested in my own lab, so why did Babe find out it was completed before I did?” I couldn’t help but grumble, genuinely feeling a bit hurt that Dr. Chris kept this from me. No, not just Dr. Chris—Phii Touch and Liu, too. I don’t know how much those two were in on the plan, but what’s clear is they quietly worked on the sense-dissolving drug until it was complete, without ever hinting at it. No wonder they wouldn’t let me into the lab lately.
“Aw, darling,” Babe gave a small smile, reaching out to touch my cheek, his face full of exaggerated affection. But I knew he was teasing me. “Don’t think you’re the only smart one here.”
“Babe.”
“If we didn’t do it this way, it wouldn’t have worked,” he said. No need to spell it out—I could tell Babe felt guilty for deceiving me. Truth be told, I couldn’t deny I was pretty annoyed at being tricked and toyed with all this time. But every time I wanted to get seriously mad, memories of my own past would smack me right in the forehead. When it comes to lying and deceiving others, someone like me probably has no right to be angry at anyone else in this lifetime. “Sorry for lying.”
“I’m more relieved that it was a lie,” I said with a laugh. “Because if everything Babe did to me was how you really felt, I’d be heartbroken.”
“As heartbroken as you were cruel to me?”
“Babe, I’m sorry…”
“Just kidding,” Babe cut me off, as if worried I’d launch into a long-winded apology that would drag on too long. “It’s fine, Charlie… really, it’s fine.”
“Ugh, and then you go saying stuff like that…” I pouted, on the verge of tears. The guilt, the joy, the overwhelming gratitude—it all flooded me until I could barely hold back the tears. Babe, seeing me start to lose it, looked utterly flustered. He lightly tapped my shoulder, scolding me not to cry.
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