Fear and desire

Had Liss simply chosen one of her three friends, none of this would be happening. That thought kept repeating in her head since she regained consciousness. Feng Huang is undoubtedly dangerous, the face that she saw for a brief moment shook her. It was the face of a twisted desire, she saw his beautiful face pulled as if he was struggling to hold back.

Laying in bed while hugging her knees, Liss sobbed quietly in fear that he would hear and come inside that pitch-black room. She was overwhelmed by the new emotions and couldn't calm herself, and think rationally again. 

All she wanted was to return to her peaceful days with the three oddballs who treasured her dearly. With them, she didn't feel alone, and she experienced no pain. 

The pained cries only got louder, and she could only cover her mouth, trying to muffle the sounds.

"Levi... Ishid. hic"

Feng Huang couldn't sleep, his mind was filled with so many contradictions he became restless and decided to meditate on the roof.

After accepting the fact that he was wrong, instead of thinking of ways to apologize he wanted to know what made him mad in the first place. His mind went to the day they met, he could hear her coming from afar and was already bracing himself for a hysterical reaction, but at that time it would only be fair, he knew already from the tiger king her predicament (even if he pretended not to), so her fear would be dismissed but he grimaced at her soft hello.

'She's definitely slow in the head.'

Even though the conversation was pleasant, it was cut short by an intriguing display of bravery. After pretending to leave, he saw something even better. The female was too soft, too forgiving.

Never before had Feng Huang heard of a female obeying a male without resistance, it was all too strange, but even after showing how strong he was, she ran crying in another male's direction, one who wasn't even her mate.

'Makes no sense.'

To him, everything she did was against the norm. Upon observing her, he couldn't question her story. If she was raised without the right education, he settled to teach her about rights and wrongs before sending her back.

But he lost composure too soon and eventually became intoxicated with the power dynamics, it felt wrong like everything she had done until now, a male controlling a female was unheard of, and even though he is a member of the temple and worked during those long years to help maintain peace and order, he gave in.

The sun was already up, and he heard her whimpering. He couldn't help but chuckle; he found it endearing how she acted nonchalant only to burst into tears when alone.

But the fun was cut short when he heard her cries calling for those youngsters.

'Annoying.'

He let out a groan as he descended from the roof and strode purposefully towards her bedroom door. He knocked once on her door before bursting inside.

He knew something had changed as soon as he saw her in that state, that long bright hair sprawled over her body and the bed was so enchanting all of a sudden, her attempt to hide her tear-stained face in that dark room even though he could see it all seemed so cute.

"Good morning, Feng Huang."

Her voice was hoarse and cracked as she spoke. Slowly, she got out of bed and made her way toward him, trying her best to act as if the events of the previous day had not occurred.

"Good morning."

He responded in his usual manner, aware that she had gone without food the day before, but as expected, she didn't complain at all, which both pleased and annoyed him. Feng Huang wasted no time with pleasantries, with a few steps, he was already in front of her, lifting her off the ground to sit on his arm.

The alien was once again caught off guard, Feng Huang was needlessly fast when handling Liss, as if to mock her, he picked her up with only one arm on her bottom, without any support at her back at a ridiculous speed, forcing her to cling onto his neck to not fall.

Liss's stress levels were beyond bearable. Why is her experience here so different from her mother's stories, why are they so scary and overbearing with her when she was told they treasured girls? Liss felt so bitter that she would rather stay hugging his neck than look at his face. With a defeated sigh, she rested her chin on his shoulder, hiding her face.

'You tyrant chicken.'

"Are we going somewhere?"

Her voice came out muffled and Feng Huang felt her breath tickling his neck, at that moment, he felt no repulsion when touching her in actuality, the warmth of her cheek on his neck and her weight on his arm was soothing. 

"To feed you."

As he confidently strolled out of the room, he smoothly wrapped his other arm around her waist. With her arms encircling his shoulders and her face nestled in the curve of his neck, they moved in a tight embrace, confidently walking out of the house, feeling the warmth and comfort of their togetherness. But neither said anything about it, the alien was way too hesitant to do anything about it and Feng Huang was too busy biting down on his lower lip.

Feng Huang gave up on making sense of it all, there was no justification for this pull he started to feel toward her. The hunger that arose from that closeness alone made him roll his eyes in anticipation.