Chapter 4

The air went dead quiet.

The officer looked at Hilary Delgado, who had suddenly appeared, as if he'd found his savior.

He quickly pulled him in front of me and said.

"Mr. Perry, you saw it, didn't you?"

"Mr. Delgado's right here in his own home. He never went out, and he's not with your wife."

The building manager stepped in to smooth things over too.

"Parking in the wrong spot all the time really does damage neighborly relations."

"Since Mr. Delgado happens to be here, how about we act as witnesses and have you and Mr. Delgado swap parking spaces, once and for all?"

Hilary Delgado's face wore just the right amount of confusion.

But as always, once the building manager spoke up, he apologized to me with a face full of remorse.

"Did I take the wrong spot again? I'm so sorry."

"Why don't we go with the manager's suggestion and swap our two spaces."

"And you don't need to pay me the difference. Consider it my apology to you."

Hilary Delgado gave a gentlemanly smile.

The neighbors beside me told me to let it go, too.

"Mr. Delgado's already apologized. We're all neighbors here, no need to make it this ugly."

"Exactly, how many gifts did he send over to your place after he moved in? The gifts during the renovation alone were probably worth more than half a year's pay for you and your wife, right?"

"He gives you a parking space that big for free, plus a charging station worth several thousand, and you should just count your blessings!"

"And you spread rumors that he's got something going with your wife."

"Have you even looked at what your wife looks like? Any female toad you grabbed off the roadside would be better-looking than her, right?"

"Ugly people always make the most trouble! Falsely accusing handsome, kind-hearted Mr. Delgado, are you out of your mind?"

Their coaxing quickly rose to the level of personal attacks.

Hilary Delgado finally understood why tonight's mess had blown up so big, even bringing out the police.

It was because I'd misunderstood, thinking he was using the wrong-parking-spot excuse to have an affair with my wife.

But instead of getting angry, he actually spoke up for me.

"Everyone, ease off. I know Mr. Perry didn't mean it."

"He's just upset that I keep taking the wrong spot and causing him trouble."

"Put yourself in his place. If someone kept bothering me like this, I'd be unhappy too."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Perry. I've caused you trouble."

Hilary Delgado apologized to me sincerely.

He even went ahead and transferred over a sum of money as compensation.

The livestream chat started taking his side, too.

Stop making a scene, male lead. The rich guy's already apologized, what more do you want?

Nobody's trying to steal your wife, can you act normal?

I really can't stand these crazy cheating-obsessed types. Can the cops lock him up for a few days?

I was the only one staring at the glaring 13140 on the screen.

I raised the axe in my hand and brought it down hard at Hilary Delgado.

Hilary Delgado screamed.

The officer beside us pulled us apart in that same instant.

But the axe in my hand still landed on his forearm.

Clutching his wounded forearm, Hilary Delgado looked wronged.

"Mr. Perry, I really don't know what I did to offend you and make you this angry."

"If it's about the parking space, I can apologize."

"Or name a figure, and as long as it's reasonable, I'll pay it."

"But you actually raised a hand against me, even tried to kill me. This is too much!"

The officer angrily pulled out his handcuffs, ready to slap them onto my wrists.

"Mr. Perry, you're suspected of intentional assault. Please come with us!"

I was the only one standing in front of Hilary Delgado, speaking coldly to his wronged face.

"Stop pretending. My wife's in your place, isn't she?"

With that, I ignored Hilary Delgado's attempts to stop me and forced my way into his home.

I gave the wall shared between the two units a light push.

The next second, everyone gasped and clapped their hands over their mouths!