The woman shifted her body closer to the edge of the bed.

Jeffrey looked at that foot, and his own fists slowly clenched.

He saw that the woman's toes were also tensed tightly.

The woman seemed to really want to get out of bed and take a look under it, and Jeffrey knew very well what she would see if she did...

But,

As soon as the woman's foot touched the floor, she slowly drew it back.

Whew...

Jeffrey let out a long breath in his heart.

Unknowingly, he was already drenched in cold sweat.

But even as he panted, he had to deliberately control himself. He hated this scene, hated this situation, he even hated himself for deciding to become a thief.

Maybe,

Five minutes passed?

Jeffrey didn't know if it had been five minutes; he didn't have a watch, and there was no way he could count the time under the bed.

Suddenly,

Jeffrey saw a strand of hair hanging down from the bed.

Under the bed, Jeffrey could almost picture the scene in his mind: the woman on the bed was about to slowly lean over and look underneath.

The hair

grew longer and more plentiful,

the foremost strands nearly touching the floor.

Jeffrey just stared blankly at this scene, not knowing how he would face what was about to happen.

Should he kneel and beg, plead with the woman to let him go?

Or should he use the most menacing tone to threaten her into staying quiet so he could leave?

It seemed... the first option suited him better.

The hair had already touched the floor;

then, the woman's forehead slowly appeared in Jeffrey's line of sight.

A little lower, just a little lower,

just a bit more,

and Jeffrey would be able to see the woman's eyes,

but that would also mean the woman could see him under the bed.

Jeffrey held his breath, his anxiety and tension so intense that he forgot to breathe, just staring fixedly at the woman's forehead as it moved lower and lower.

Then,

the woman stopped moving.

It seemed she was also very scared, scared of what she might see if there really was someone under the bed.

Even though she knew that taking a look was the best way to dispel her doubts and fears, she just couldn't bring herself to do it...

The hair that had fallen to the floor began to rise again,

the woman's forehead disappeared from Jeffrey's view,

the woman lay back down on the bed,

and she began to breathe heavily.

Jeffrey finally realized that he had been holding his breath for a long time. He opened his mouth and began to silently gulp in air.

His head felt a little dizzy, tears began to well up at the corners of his eyes. He wanted to cry, he wanted to go back out to the street right now, even if it meant facing the cold wind, at least he could sit by the flowerbed, smoke a cigarette, and spit loudly and obnoxiously, with no regard for decency!

He didn't know how much time had passed again,

there was no more movement from the bed,

she

must have fallen asleep by now, right?

Jeffrey guessed at the time. If the woman's husband and child came back, he probably wouldn't be able to escape.

He was already this scared of just one woman; if the man came back, he would probably lose all his courage.

She had fallen asleep,

so...

Should I

leave now?

Jeffrey began to shift his position slightly. He had been lying on his side under the bed, so now he carefully rolled over onto his back, then slowly began to wriggle his body, inching his upper half out from under the bed.

This wriggling made Jeffrey feel like he was a giant... maggot.

His left hand pressed against the floor, his right hand rested on the edge of the bed, and many parts of his body began to exert slight force, pulling himself out from under the bed bit by bit.

The first thing to emerge

was Jeffrey's head.

Earlier, the reason he had rolled over to face up before leaving the bed was because Jason wanted to make sure he could keep an eye on what was happening on the bed as he left.

If he crawled out face down and the woman on the bed suddenly screamed behind him,

God,

Jeffrey thought he would be scared out of his mind!

Slowly inching outward,

he saw the edge of the bed,

he saw the woman's hand dangling over the side,

inch by inch, he moved outward,

he saw the woman's hair,

she must be asleep, she must be sleeping soundly, definitely.

It's just that her sleeping posture wasn't great. Her husband wasn't home, so she should be sleeping in the middle of the bed!

Continuing to carefully inch outward,

Jeffrey's body suddenly froze;

because he saw that the woman's hair was at a different height, and that difference meant she wasn't lying down... instead, she was lying on her stomach at the edge of the bed, and she was lifting her head.

Who lifts their head... to sleep?

So, she must have her eyes open right now, staring... staring at the floor diagonally in front of her.

And if he kept moving outward,

their eyes would very likely meet!

For a moment, Jeffrey felt his scalp tingle. He wanted to just go for broke and pull himself completely out from under the bed, but... but he didn't have the courage.

In the end,