I surveyed the scene and realized that a crowd had gathered around us, the incident on their phones.
Is. with many recording This was concerning.
âSteve, you went too far,â I said. Then, I angrily approached and grabbed his arm. âThis is a public setting. He was just occupying seats. Did you really need to be so brutal?â
Suddenly, I remembered the day I first woke up in Stephanieâs body, when he almost strangled me just because he couldnât find his bracelet.
Steven was mentally ill and prone to harming others.
âApologize to this gentleman!â I feared Steven might get into trouble and end up forcibly confined to a psychiatric hospital, so I had to make him apologize first.
Steven lowered his head slightly, looking somewhat aggrieved. He picked up the manâs phone in silence.
âAnd return his phone!â I couldnât fathom what was going through his mind.
The complexities of interacting with someone afflicted by mental illness began to weigh heavily on my mind.
âSir, Iâll take you to the hospital at the next stop.â I wanted to calm the man down first.
The man held his wrist in pain, but he stopped yelling and didnât dare ask for his phone back.
I sighed, realizing a trip to the police station was inevitable.
âMiss, please donât scold him. He did nothing wrong. This man harassed us first, and this man here acted bravely,â the girl next to me earnestly defended Steven.
âButâ¦â
â¦â I wanted to say Steven was mentally ill, but saying it aloud would hurt his pride. I had to change my approach. âEven so, he shouldnât have been so rough.â
Steven remained silent.
As the train pulled into the station, the police arrived..
âNo, I wonât press charges. Just give me my phone and let me go,â the man suddenly changed his mind about involving the police and just wanted his phone back so that he could leave.
I looked at the man suspiciously and then glanced at Steven, who had been following me with a resigned expression.
Instead of returning the phone to the man, Steven handed it over to the police. âHe was taking photos,â he said.
The police hesitated for a moment before instructing the man to unlock his phone.
But the man refused.
Suddenly, it became clear to me why he was monopolizing three seats and why he seemed so fixated on the girlâs attire.
He was taking upskirt photos of the girl. Fearing someone might catch him in the act, he occupied three seats all by himself.
The police forcefully made the man unlock his phone and open the photo gallery. There were over a thousand pictures, all of them secretly taken photos of women on the subwayâupskirt shots, chest shots, and more.
The girl in the sundress looked at the photos with horror, screamed, and kicked the man while clutching her skirt. âPolice! Heâs a pervert! Iâll sue him!â
I looked at Steven, feeling guilty. I had misunderstood him.
Steven didnât say anything and kept his head down.
We all went to the police station. The girl kept talking to Steven with admiration, but he remained silent throughout.
âI admit to taking indecent photos, which was wrong, but he assaulted me. Iâm going to sue him because he broke my wrist.â At the police station, the man toughened up. Since he couldnât escape the charge of secretly taking photos, he wouldnât let Steven off easily.
âMy husband stepped in to stop the manâs misconduct, especially because the man provoked him first,â I stood in front of Steven, defending him.
Stevenâs eyes lit up as he looked at me.
He was happy that I stood up for him.
âIâm Stevenâs assistant,â Ewan arrived with the best lawyer in Huma.
I sighed with relief. I knew that with their arrival, Steven would be fine.
To my surprise, Ewan gave the police a red document, which turned out to be Stevenâs mental disability certificate.
The sleazy man, who had been making a fuss, suddenly fell silent. His expression turned to fear.