1. Pepper Spray

Late at night, around eleven or twelve, Wen Mingjuan and Zhang Tingyu were coming back from a business trip to Taipei. In a rural place like theirs, forget eleven or twelve — even at eight or nine, there was hardly anyone out walking the streets.

"Mingjuan! Don't you have a spray canister in your bag? You'd better take it out and hold it in your hand." As she spoke, Zhang Tingyu pressed her body closer and closer to Wen Mingjuan, grabbing hold of her hand.1

"Hey!" Wen Mingjuan shot her a sideways glance. "You're gripping my hand — how am I supposed to hold the spray?"

"Oh—" Zhang Tingyu let out a long, drawn-out sound and quickly let go.

"The world's gone to the dogs, morals aren't what they used to be..." Wen Mingjuan rummaged through her bag for the spray, while Zhang Tingyu muttered on beside her. "So annoying! If it weren't for the pervert supposedly lurking around here, we wouldn't have to worry like this."

"Could you stop nagging?" Wen Mingjuan was the type who looked sharp on the outside but was actually a scatterbrained mess underneath; digging through her things until her head spun was practically routine for her.

"You didn't forget to bring it, did you?" It wasn't hard to hear the fear and unease in Zhang Tingyu's voice.

"I have it! I promise." Wen Mingjuan shot her an irritated glance. "If you'd just be quiet, I'd find it already."

Zhang Tingyu muttered under her breath again, though this time her voice was much smaller.

Wen Mingjuan simply crouched down by the roadside to dig through her bag. The pose might not have been very ladylike, but since hardly anyone was passing by, it wouldn't ruin her reputation for life.

Finally, Wen Mingjuan's fingers found the spray canister.

"Here it is." Wen Mingjuan excitedly waved the spray in front of Zhang Tingyu's face.

"Hey! Don't press it, you'll kill someone." Zhang Tingyu shrieked in fright.

"Relax!" Wen Mingjuan packed up her bag and gripped her "weapon" in her palm. "You're not the pervert."

Lately, there had been rumors that a pervert lurked along the stretch of road between the school and the train station — that whenever he spotted a "pretty girl," he'd pull out his "little brother" to "show it the world." This rumor had spread like wildfire, and the whole school was in an uproar; every woman lived in dread of it.

"Let's go." Wen Mingjuan took Zhang Tingyu's hand and walked on.

With tomorrow's early start weighing on their minds, they had to pick up the pace.

They'd only gone a few steps when footsteps began drifting faintly from behind them. The footsteps drew closer and closer, and both their faces fell at the same moment. They exchanged a quiet glance, but neither had the nerve to look back.

"What do we do?" Zhang Tingyu gripped Wen Mingjuan's hand tightly, asking in a timid whisper.

"Forget it." Wen Mingjuan gritted her teeth, resolve hardening. "Once he gets a little closer, I'll spin around and spray him, then we run."

"That's the only way." Zhang Tingyu murmured.

When the footsteps stopped right behind them, and they heard a voice call out "Miss," Wen Mingjuan whirled around and sprayed wildly at him in the pitch-black night. Because he was so close, Wen Mingjuan caught a brief glimpse of the pervert's face.

He looked perfectly normal — nothing like the vulgar, lecherous image she'd expected. Perhaps people always carried preconceived notions, believing a certain type of person should look a certain way; it was exactly this kind of biased thinking that so often let judge-by-appearance types be fooled.

Though she'd gotten a clear look at his face, Wen Mingjuan had no time to study him further. She spun around, grabbed Zhang Tingyu, and ran for her life, a faint image lingering in her mind — a tattoo on his upper right arm, its shape not quite clear.

The pervert seemed restrained by the spray and didn't follow. Fighting off a flood of tears and snot must have been a miserable experience. Wen Mingjuan secretly pitied him, but was also relieved to have escaped his clutches. Still, this lingering, shaken fear was the kind of thing that would probably never fully fade.

* * *

This Saturday was the school's parent-teacher meeting day. Early in the morning, Wen Mingjuan and Zhang Tingyu headed to school to get things ready. Before eight o'clock, the crowds had already begun gathering toward the school, streaming noisily into the auditorium.

The moment she stepped into the auditorium, Wen Mingjuan plopped herself down, her eyes naturally scanning for her class's designated area first, then sneaking a glance at the parents' section. But that single glance sent a violent shudder through her.

"Ting... yu..." Wen Mingjuan called out to Zhang Tingyu as if summoning a spirit.

"What is it? That sounded awful! Don't tell me the principal's got some weird new hairstyle again?" Zhang Tingyu lazily lifted her head to look at Wen Mingjuan.

"No... it's not that." Wen Mingjuan swallowed hard and nearly choked on it. "It's... it's terrifying."

"In broad daylight, did you see a ghost?"

"Close enough!" Wen Mingjuan leaned in to whisper in Zhang Tingyu's ear: "I saw that pervert."

"What?" At those words, Zhang Tingyu shot up from her chair without warning, looking as if she'd been electrocuted, drawing concerned glances from the colleagues around them.

"Are you sure you didn't mistake someone? Did you actually get a clear look at that pervert's face?" To avoid drawing more odd looks, Zhang Tingyu lowered her voice and murmured into Wen Mingjuan's ear.

"I saw him clearly. Even if he were reduced to ashes, I'd recognize him."

"You're being way too dramatic."

"As the saying goes: 'A gentleman's revenge is never too late, even after three years.' I'm sure he's no gentleman — he's shown up at my doorstep in just three days." Wen Mingjuan kept her head as low as possible, looking like she dreaded being spotted.

"Are you out of your mind? He was never a gentleman to begin with — he's a filthy pervert. You defended yourself; that's only natural. What's there to be afraid of?"

"Easy for you to say. He never saw your face, so of course you're not scared." Wen Mingjuan said.

"Wait, that's not right." Zhang Tingyu's face took on a puzzled look.

"What's not right?" Wen Mingjuan asked her.

"There's no way he'd know we teach here, right? He's not a god."

"That's true." Wen Mingjuan found herself agreeing with this, though her head still refused to lift.

"Where is he?" Zhang Tingyu asked.

"In the parents' section for my class."

"Don't tell me he's one of your students' parents?" Zhang Tingyu's face went pale with alarm.

"No way." The shock made Wen Mingjuan jerk her head up, nearly in tears. "Wouldn't that mean I'm doomed?"

Up on stage, the principal was saying something, but from start to finish, not a single word registered with her. Her heart pounded with anxiety, leaving her unable to sit still.

"Oh God! Please save me." Wen Mingjuan silently prayed over and over in her heart, with no idea what awaited her back in the classroom.