Chapter 8: Revelation

No, she yelled in her mind. She couldn’t meet with her doom just yet, for she was just nineteen! She still had a lot to achieve in her life, and she couldn’t die just like that.
‘Please, almighty goddess Miyu, please, let me escape this,’ she prayed silently.
In answer to her prayers, two hands appeared in front of her eyes, and Yuxi thought she was seeing things. She sensed someone lifting her to safety and passed out, dazed. Unlike anyone else, Yuxi didn’t fall into a deep slumber even when she was out cold. She saw images that were part of her life or her so-called past life. Visions even came to her out of the blue, sometimes at night, when she was supposedly sleeping, or randomly, like how she had just seen when she was drifting in the water earlier.
This was a part of her that nobody else could fathom, so she quit telling anyone else, lest it frightened them like how it petrified that maid in her home during her childhood days. The maid had even fled the night after that.
She hadn’t wanted to be perceived as a monster, so hid her abilities and her peculiarity, attempting to be as normal as possible.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Moments later, she came to. Her eyes wandered to the rafters above her, then wallowed about her surroundings, until they came to focus on the man before her. She was leaning against a wall in the bath chamber, slightly warm as if someone had started a fire near them.
It all became clear to her now. She had almost drowned and suddenly, someone had jumped out to save her. But when she faced the reality of who her saviour was, it turned out to be totally undesirable. For the man who had saved her was none other than the man she detested!
She was not in the mood to fight with him right now. He had perturbed her, giving her so much doubt that she did not know what to do. He, who she hated so deeply, turned out to be that person she was indebted to!
“You should stay away from deep areas if you can’t swim,” he uttered softly. She coughed weakly.
“Are you here just to blame me?” she replied, soft enough for him to hear.
“If I wanted to, I wouldn’t have saved you.”
He moved his lips closer to her, touching his lips gently with hers. Finding no power to repel him, Yuxi submitted. Her heart pounded in her again, and her body twitched at the newfound sensation.
What was happening to her? It had never occurred to her before! Even her lower abdomen was pulsing with warmth.
But she hated him, didn’t she not?
While her mind was instructing her to push him away, her heart was telling her something else. She closed her eyes instead and revelled in the fervour of his potent kisses. Receiving no resistance from her, Zhan Peng took it as the signal to go ahead. He crashed his lips against hers voraciously, and in her confusion; she followed his lead.
She had experienced nothing like this, and in an instant, she forgot her hatred for him. What she knew was that he was leading her into an unfamiliar environment, one that she didn’t feel her call of duty, stress, or burden of any sort.
His hands, warm at the touch, roamed her shoulders, pulling down the loose garment on her body. She tensed, grabbing on his hands to stop him from proceeding any further.
In Shang-Yi, the strict culture forbade such actions between men and women. Even a rebellious woman like Yuxi did not possess the courage to break such traditions. Simply put, the consequences for such actions were dire. Even though her need for such satisfaction was overwhelming, she dared not speak a word about it, and had instead saved herself up for marriage.
He sensed her nervousness and halted, breaking the kiss. The large outer robe that he used to cover her dangled over her body, partially revealing her bare shoulders. From his unsurprised eyes, she realised he wasn’t new to her half-naked sight.
It prompted her to regain her strength and interrogate him directly, “Did you dress me, Mercenary Zhan?”
When he pulled her out from the water, she was stark-naked. She did not want to think about that, but it was the truth. From her point of view, he had to admit to what he had done. He had seen her completely bare.
He didn’t answer her question, looking remorseful.
“Did you see everything, Mercenary Zhan?” She asked tensely, while pulling Zhan Peng’s robe over her chest to protect her modesty. Her eyes stung from her silent cries. How could he?
“I had to save you.”
She turned away. Reality had hit her hard. The backward traditions of the island had dictated that it was better to have a woman die than for her saviour to see what she reserved for her future husband. If word got out, it would ruin her family’s reputation.
So, he had a conscience, after all. That cheeky man now appeared guilty, knowing her predicament.
“You know the rules.”
She assumed he did, if he was a citizen of Shang-Yi. The man nodded as if he would bear the consequences.
“Just get out of here, Zhan Peng. And if you ever tell a soul, I’ll rip your tongue out with my bare hands.”
She got up to leave, but he held her back with a firm embrace.
“Miss Yuxi, have you really forgotten what happened between us? Back at the rapist’s den, three months ago..”
Yuxi’s body stiffened as she listened to his words. The rapist’s den? What was he talking about?
“Are you saying something happened between us three months ago?”
She slid easily out of his grasp, pale from his words. He also appeared defeated by her words and fell backwards on his bottom, his back hitting the wall.
“Miss Yuxi… you don’t remember anything at all?”
When she woke up in bed after heavy medication by the Mystic Physician, her mind had been blank. She later recovered bits and pieces of what had happened prior to the invasion, but the entire event appeared to be erased from her mind.
She had met him during the invasion? And what had happened between them that he was so concerned about?
“Do I.. Do I know you, Zhan Peng?” She queried him, still shaking.
“We first met from that day at the market, when we were fighting over a chicken.” He appeared to make the statement rather calmly, although she could feel her answer had impacted him severely.
A sea of silence ensued. She contemplated how to answer him and continued with the truth.
“I’m sorry. I remember the chicken, but I don’t remember you. There were many people at the market that day, and I wasn’t paying attention.”
“But I remember properly. We quarrelled for almost an hour.” The man was persistent.
“I’m sorry.” She got up and, without looking back, she raced as fast as she could towards the entrance and reached for the bolt.
And with that, she was gone. She didn’t want to think about Zhan Peng, who was probably watching her with that guilty look from the bath chamber, and neither could she find herself able to absorb all those emotions flooding inside her.
Entering her chamber, she secured the door and broke down in tears.