Chapter 28: Hawk in the Photo and...
Hawk fell silent again, listening to the dial tone from the other end of the phone.
The next moment.
His mind raced.
Hawke wasn't worried about Gwen going to his apartment; instead, he was quickly recalling if there was anything inappropriate or unsuitable for Gwen to see in his apartment.
Inappropriate?
No.
Forget videos, he didn't even have a poster, let alone magazines.
He was poor, that's why.
He couldn't even afford a phone card, let alone those expensive and time-consuming magazines.
In previous years, when he was full of energy, he usually chose to go to the rooftop and punch the air until he was tired before going back to sleep.
As for things unsuitable for Gwen to see?
It seemed there wasn't anything either.
The five Chitauri alien weapons were tightly wrapped in a bedsheet and tucked under the bed in his bedroom.
Gwen shouldn't discover them.
So...
Never mind, let her be.
The main priority was important.
Having thought that.
Hawke refocused, put away his phone, and the gentleness in his eyes from his call with Gwen completely vanished, replaced by an extremely cold gaze.
Little Black, whose mouth was covered, looked terrified.
Hawke enjoyed the terror in Little Black's eyes, and the corners of his mouth curved into a beautiful smile.
"Now..."
"It's my turn to rob you."
"..."
After hanging up the phone, Gwen also immediately put her phone back in her pocket and went directly to the fire escape embedded in the outer wall of Hawke's new apartment, then smoothly reached the top floor.
Gwen moved aside what, upon closer inspection, appeared to be a pair of shorts made from casual pants, which were hanging in front of the half-open window, and then, through the window, jumped into Hawke's apartment.
Looking around.
The living room wasn't large; a second-hand sofa and a second-hand folding table with a laptop on it occupied two-thirds of the space.
But it was clean.
Not spotless, but certainly well-organized.
Gwen's first impression of the living room was comfort.
She had never been to Hawke's previous apartment, and this was her first time seeing this one.
However...
Just as Gwen took out the envelope that Dr. Connors had asked her to give to Hawke from her pocket and placed it on the folding table, her gaze was drawn to the closed laptop on the table.
It wasn't because she was surprised that Hawke had a computer.
But because...
Of the stickers on the laptop's cover.
"This is..."
"Too cute."
Gwen couldn't help but laugh when she saw the several girly stickers on the laptop's cover, curious about which girl had sold this laptop to Hawke.
She never thought the stickers on this laptop would be put on by Hawke, nor did she even consider that a girl might have given him this laptop.
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
Because no one understood Hawke better than she did.
She had no doubt that if she had spoken to Hawke after giving him the phone, he would have returned it to her.
So, to be safe, Gwen simply didn't meet Hawke for those ten-plus days.
Gwen thought to herself, then withdrew her gaze, glanced at the envelope on the folding table, and turned to leave.
The moment she turned, her open sun protection jacket slid, creating a gust of wind that blew the envelope off the folding table.
The envelope flew up directly, then drifted unsteadily towards the bedroom, which was right next to the living room.
Gwen instinctively walked over, bent down to pick up the envelope that had almost been blown under the bed, and as she stood up, a faint green light emanated from under the bed, catching her peripheral vision.
Her action of picking up the envelope instantly paused.
Gwen's gaze moved towards under the bed.
A tightly wrapped bedsheet immediately came into view.
But this bedsheet was definitely not good quality.
At the very least, it wasn't opaque.
The faint green light was currently flashing on and off through the bedsheet, like the rhythm of breathing.
But this light was very dim.
Even though it was daytime, if Gwen hadn't coincidentally caught the light source with her peripheral vision just now, she definitely wouldn't have seen it.
What is this?
Gwen, who had knelt down and leaned in to look under the bed, seeing this scene, couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.
As Gwen thought, just as she was about to stand up, holding the envelope she had just picked up, her gaze moved upwards and she saw a somewhat broken photo frame placed next to the nightstand.
A photo was clipped inside the broken frame.
The background in the photo was Times Square, and the protagonists in the photo were a young man and woman, who looked about fourteen years old, with somewhat faded white clothes.
The man, Gwen recognized.
Hawke.
Hawke in the photo was smiling very happily.
Gwen had never seen Hawke smile like that in her memory.
But this girl in the photo?
Gwen frowned again, put the envelope aside, picked up the photo from the nightstand, and looked at it.
This photo should have been taken when Hawke was fourteen, not long after he started school.
Gwen looked at this photo, confirming the shooting time in her mind.
Because Gwen recognized the pants Hawke was wearing in the photo.
It was the same pair of pants she had just complained about Hawke wearing for three years, which were clearly too small but he was reluctant to throw away, instead converting them into shorts.
Yes.
It was the same pair of shorts still hanging by the window.
But who was this girl?
Gwen frowned, looking at the girl in the photo, whose skin looked somewhat pale, but who was also smiling happily and holding Hawke's arm tightly with both hands.
A sister?
But Hawke never mentioned it.
Gwen caught the similarity in the brows between Hawke and the girl next to him in the photo, and her heart stirred, thinking so.
But...
She thought carefully and realized that Hawke had never mentioned this matter.
Passed away?
Gwen thought of the most probable reason Hawke had never mentioned it, considered it, then put down the photo frame in her hand, placed it back on the nightstand, then stood up and walked outside.
Just as she walked back into the living room, she suddenly realized something, slapped her head, and turned back around.
She forgot to retrieve the envelope.
"Huh?"
"Where's the envelope?"
Gwen, who had walked back into the bedroom, was slightly stunned to see the envelope on her floor, but now gone again, then seemed to think of something and knelt down again.
Indeed.
The envelope had slipped under the bed, possibly blown in by the slight breeze she created when she stood up just now.
Gwen looked at the envelope under the bed, extended her arm, and reached in to hook it.
Soon.
Her fingertips hooked the envelope.
At the same time...
Her fingertips also touched the tightly wrapped bedsheet.
The moment her fingertips touched the bedsheet, a sensation of touching metal arose from Gwen's fingertips and transmitted to her mind.
...
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