I GENUINELY CARE FOR YOU

The pungent smell and continuous squeak around her slowly stirred the woman up. Feeling discomfort, she shifted her body yet her movements were restricted because she was chained to the wall. Cold winter radiated in every corner of the dingy dungeon. She felt her body shivering but fought it hard not to show the slightest hint of being cold.

 "Put her down." She heard a familiar voice order. She forced herself to open her swollen eyes.

Seconds later, she was tossed on the ground. Pain radiated in every bone of her body.

 A man clad in embroidered robe stepped forward. The woman eyed him sharply with anger plastered on her face. The man was her husband. The man who promised the moon and the stars to her. The man who made her clip her wings in order to gain his favor. He pinched her chin and forced her to look at him in the eye.

"Do you understand what pain is? How does it feel?"

"Is this how you are going to repay what I've done for you?"

"Repay? Don't make me laugh. This is nothing compared to what you did to her." He spat and glared at her with all the hatred there was on earth.

The 'her' from his mouth was Lady Chen, his beloved concubine who was poisoned.

"I didn't kill her."  She defended herself. That was the truth. But her mother-in-law pinned the death on her.

"Impudent!" His hand immediately flew on her face and slapped her hard that she felt her ears ringing in pain.

Holding her cheek, she glared at him. All the grievances she kept in her heart sprung out at this very moment.  She scoffed coldly. "Without my family's support, you are nothing."

Anger immediately rose in him. He reached for her and strangled her.

"Die." He cursed as his grasp became tighter each second that passed. She squirmed to get away but she felt her body unable to move. She couldn't breathe at all. She fought to push away his hand but she could only grasp the sleeves of his robe.

The buzzed of her alarm woke her up. Luo Jingyi sat up gasping for air. Her hand flew on her chest because her heart was palpitating rapidly. At the same time, she felt pain.

She sucked in air and release it to calm herself.

The dream was a recollection of her past. She almost died at that time. If not because of someone's interference. Her husband's right-hand man interrupted, informing that someone wanted to meet him. She didn't get the name but the moment her husband heard it, he exited in haste. At that time, she thanked whoever that person was.

Anger rose in her heart when she realized how pathetic she was in her last life. She endured too much hardship for the sake of the man she loved. Once, she believed that people could change. That love would make a relationship endure all the hardships. That it was something that could last forever.  But in fact, one's feelings could change over time.

Heaving a sigh, she slid off the bed and went to the bathroom with her mind still ruminating on the word 'love.'

.....

Luo Jingyi had just changed into clean clothes when the doorbell rang. Thinking it was room service, she pulled the door open. Yun Jinghan was standing outside with a cart in front of him.

Seeing his lop-sided grin early in the morning, Luo Jingyi wondered why he was always smiling and what could actually make it go away. Leaving the door open, she turned around. Yun Jinghan pushed the cart inside and unloaded its content on the round dining table. It was beside the floor to ceiling windows. Hence, one could enjoy dining while looking at the awesome view of the ocean.

Yun Jinghan glanced at her but it didn't linger because he got distracted seeing her slender neck. He felt he was a vampire, obsessing on that particular part of her body. Noticing she was drying her hair with a towel, he asked her, "Where's the hair blower?"

"It's broken." She answered and walked to the small kitchen to make coffee, giving up on the idea of drying her long hair.

Yun Jinghan immediately called the reception and whatever words he used, in five minutes, a young man appeared outside the door handing her the hair blower. He was panting as a result of running.

"Sorry." He apologized.

Yun Jinghan took it from his hand and closed the door. Plugging it in, he gestured her to sit on the sofa. She protested but it was ignored. In the end, she listened to him.

Playing with her hair, Yun Jinghan delved his fingers into her straight hair, creating gaps. Her hair had a silky texture.

"Stop it! It's very ticklish." Luo Jingyi complained, sensing his subtle scratching on her scalp. But Yun Jinghan didn't stop. He continued which only earned irk from Luo Jingyi.  She loudly counted backward, starting from 10.

"Done." He suddenly mumbled when she was at 4.

Luo Jingyi sighed inwardly. For the next twenty minutes, only the sounds of utensils were heard. After changing her clothes and applying light make-up, they headed out.

Luo Jingyi didn't immediately get off the car when they arrive at the venue of the conference. Her dream this morning left her startled and made her contemplate on things.

Clearing her throat, she emphasized the following. "I only agreed to be your girlfriend because of aunt's pressure. It means we just needed to act in front of them. So, these acts like taking care of me, bringing breakfast, driving me around and other random things, you don't have to do it. I am an adult. I am perfectly fine by myself. Thus, there's no reason for you to take your role seriously."

Turning down the volume of the music that was playing, he angled his head to face her. "This is not an act. I am doing it because I genuinely care for you."

He was looking at her with honesty. Most of the time, he would utter words with mirth evident in his eyes hence she never took them seriously. This time, it was something else. He was very serious. Luo Jingyi sensed that time had stopped and her heart thumped out of her chest. It was very faint yet she detected something different.

'Could I trust him?' She questioned herself.  Retracting her gaze from him, she shut her eyes close and meditated. Minutes later, she whispered, "The conference ends at 5."

Seeing her jumped off the car in haste, he was left in deep thought. 'Was she bothered with what I said?'