She's My Sleeping Pill-Chapter 955: NIKOLAI’S RESOLVE II

Luiz has no sense of time from the moment he was abducted. Though he was not the target, his abductor wasn’t planning to let him go as well. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

He was starved but wasn’t beaten or tortured which was fortunate since he was able to conserve the little energy left in him.

He has a blindfold on, but Luiz wasn’t the least bit worried. He has a good hearing, and would be able to use it to his advantage.

"You are rather calm," said his abductor, which Luiz deduced to be sitting not far from him, and from the smell, he can tell that the person was a heavy smoker.

"Will you let me go if I ask you to?" Luiz retorted calmly. If it was someone else, they might have been overcome with fear and was probably shouting in panic.

His abductor didn’t say anything but rather, he let out a maniacal laughter.

"Just so you know, nothing good will come out of your plan," Luiz continued to let the person talk more. "Stefan will never let you off."

"It doesn’t matter. I lost a lot because of him. It’s only fair that he’ll lose something greater than I did. My family left because of him, so I’m taking one from him."

Pretending to be ignorant, Luiz responded, "But taking me won’t really affect him. What’s the point?"

"Stefan’s weakness is his wife. His wife’s weakness is her family and you are that family. It’s your fault for being his sister."

"Losing – "

Ring! Ring!

The creaking sound of the chair being dragged on the floor and the fading voice of his abductor, gave Luiz ample time to think.

With the deafening silence around him, he was sure that the person had left the place.

Using all his remaining strength, he twisted and turned his wrist, pulling and stretching his arms apart to loosen the duct tape that bound him to the chair.

Using too much force and moving in a humid space made him sweat a lot which turned out to be a great help for him. In less than ten minutes, Luiz was able to free himself but he didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he removed the blindfold and quickly scanned his surroundings.

His vision was blurry but after a few seconds, he was able to get a clearer look of the place he was at.

It was an abandoned building, perhaps a mall from the looks of it. There were broken glasses littered on the floor and he could see some creepy mannequins not far from him.

"I already studied the map and I think we can do it tomorrow or the day after. I’ll tell you the plan," said his abductor, whose voice was getting closer as he spoke.

Luiz immediately put on his blindfold and acted as if he was still bound to the chair.

"What about him?....I don’t care....I will not proceed if you won’t show up...Do you think I’m stupid?...Yes, that will work."

Luiz listened patiently and tried to get clues from the call and based on the conversation, he could tell that this person hasn’t met his accomplice yet.

***

The gravel crunched under the tires of the old sedan, a sound that usually signaled the end of a long journey but today felt like the opening notes of a long-awaited symphony. Nikolai stepped out of the car, his knees popping in a rhythmic protest of the four-hour drive, yet he barely noticed the stiffness. His eyes were fixed on the front door of the majestic suburban house, which flew open before he could even reach for his suitcase. A whirlwind of energy in a stained t-shirt erupted from the threshold, shouting an low yet energetic greeting that bridged the gap of months spent apart. As his granddaughter hurried the nurse to push the wheelchair, Nikolai felt a profound shift in his internal weather; the quiet, dusty corners of his solitary life in the city were suddenly flooded with sunlight. He touched the older woman’s face, marveling at how much older she had grown.

The afternoon dissolved into a chaotic, beautiful blur of shared discovery and gentle instruction. They sat together on the back porch, a space where the scent of freshly cut grass mingled with the metallic tang of a red wagon in need of repair. Nikolai found himself explaining the mechanics of a simple hinge with the patience of a man who finally had nowhere else to be. There is a specific kind of magic in the way a child looks at a grandfather—as if the older man is a living library of secrets and ancient skills. They spent hours hunched over a collection of smooth river stones, Nikolai pointing out the flecks of quartz that caught the light, while his granddaughter listened with a wide-eyed intensity that no adult peer had offered her in years. In these moments, the generational gap didn’t feel like a canyon, but rather a sturdy bridge built on the simple act of paying attention.

As evening began to stretch its purple shadows across the yard, a quiet contentment settled over the house. Sitting at the kitchen table, watching his granddaughter struggle valiantly with a forkful of peas, Nikolai realized that these visits were less about the activities performed and more about the quiet transfer of an emotional legacy. He saw flashes of himself in the boy’s stubborn chin, and echoes of his beloved in the way the child tilted her head when she laughed. To be a grandfather is to stand at the unique intersection of the past and the future, witnessing one’s own history take on a new, vibrant form that will outlast the original. When he finally tucked the woman into bed, listening to the rhythmic breathing of a sleep won through honest play, Nikolai felt a renewed sense of purpose, but he felt it was all too late. He wasn’t just a visitor in this house; he was a witness to a beginning, reminded once again that while his own Chapters were thinning, the story he helped start was only just finding its rhythm.

A silent tear fell on the back of the woman’s hand.

"If there’s a chance, I hope to be your grandfather again."