Memories with Her

The auburn-haired woman moaned loudly beneath him; her eyelids shut as she writhed with pleasure as his mouth and his hands worshipped her naked body. His fingers gently roamed her sides, his lips leaving kisses on her face and neck while hers kissed his cheeks as her fingers threaded through his dark hair. She bit her lips in anticipation, eyes still shut, as he continued to kiss her heated skin. Her hands left his messy hair to slide over his shoulders, her nails raking his back.

"Mine,"—the man murmured in her ear and pressed a gentle kiss on her jaw—"only mine."

A loud ring broke the silence of the morning within his bedroom. With his gray eyes opening at the sound, his body turned to his side to turn off the damned alarm clock, tossing it back on his bedside table. He groaned as he noticed that his body was affected by his dreams of her. His engorged member made its presence known to its owner. It had been five years.

Five long years without her on his side. He needed another cold shower for sure. It wasn't the first time that he had dreamed of her. He forced himself to get up and moved to take a shower.

So many dreams of his were filled with her. The last five years without her was extremely boring. His dreams weren't always carnal and sexually explicit. There were times that he dreamed of her smiling face, calling his name. Sometimes, he dreamed of her dead and lifeless body in his arms. He also dreamed the day when he first met her several times. He couldn't help but reminisce their memories.

A lonely mute child that was almost beaten to death in an orphanage. She was eight years old while he was nineteen. He wasn't really interested to attend the charity event that his father's second wife hosted in the orphanage where she resided. He despised his father's woman so much that only his father's threats made him attend the said event.

While they successfully dragged him to that event, he didn't have any intention to participate in their foolishness. He skipped the welcome ceremony, which he knew were filled with bootlickers, and entered the orphanage's garden instead. There were many tall trees ahead which he could use to avoid his father's wrath and for him to have a chance to get a quick nap.

He only got a half-an-hour sleep when he heard several boys laughing and taunting someone at the hidden part of the garden. Hopping down from the branch he had slept on, he walked toward the commotion and saw five boys around ten to twelve years old beating a young girl on the ground.

His curiosity perked up when he noticed that the girl wasn't crying even if one of the boys pulled the collar of her dress and slap her cheeks. She only gave them a disdained look. One of her eyes was a bit darkened; surely a black eye would form on her face later. Her cheeks grew swollen from the harsh slaps she received earlier.

"And here I thought that Mother Superior teaches the kids with good morale. Who would have known that we're wasting our money to help raise insolent kids like you?"

At the sight of his intimidating figure leaning on the nearest tree, the boys were horrified at the thought of being caught red-handed during their crime. They threw the sticks and stones they had in their hands and ran away from the scene. For the past two weeks, they had been bullying the new girl in the orphanage.

Finding out that she's mute, they made a bet among themselves as to who could force her to make a sound. They'd been trying different tricks to make her speak but failed. Even if they beat her, she refused to make a sound and wouldn't even shed tears.

The girl pulled herself off the ground. Her legs wobbled slightly as she tried to compose herself. He walked towards the girl and pulled one of her tiny arms to help her maintain balance. Guiding her to the nearest bench, he took his white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped away the dirt from the little girl's face.

"Why didn't you report them?" he asked. It was clear it wasn't the first time this incident happened. He refused to believe that no one noticed the old injuries and dark bruises on her skin. The girl just shrugged her shoulders in reply as if telling him that she couldn't be bothered by the bullies. Her response and actions were way too abnormal for a little girl like her.

She took the handkerchief from his hand and gently scrubbed away the dirt that clung to her knees. Watching her innocent face stay so serious while trying to clean herself, he couldn't help but take her under his wing.

"Do you want to leave this place?" he asked. Her face instantly lifted up to meet his gaze. Her eyes grew wide with surprise. She nodded in response. "I can take you away from here… only if you accept that you are going to be mine, and your freedom is in my hands." Was he really helping her? Of course not, she had something in her that was necessary to become an assassin like him. Eyes and soul that weren't afraid of death.

"What is your name?"

The young girl took his right hand. Her small hands radiated some warmth against his large cold hands. She traced some letters at the palm of his hand: R-I-R-I-N-A.

"Ririna?" she nodded and retraced her name again on his palm.

"Ririna Han." She nodded once again and unexpectedly gave him a bright smile. A smile so beautiful that he knew he would never forget. A year later, she started serving under his command and was able to bring back her voice.

Waking up once again from his daydream, he sighed to himself and slipped away from the shower. Covering his lower body with a large white towel, he filled his mind with today's agenda while preparing himself for another long day ahead. Since the day she left, every passing day was full of thoughts about her. He would rather think of her than that stupid ex-fiancee of his.

Thankfully, the bitch was so reckless she left traces of evidence of her cheating behind his back. It was so easy for him to destroy her reputation and career that she loved to brag around. Her scandal filled up the search engines, newspapers, and magazines.

No other woman could compare to his Ririna. She was the only one that had ever made him feel weak in her presence. He watched her grow from afar—saw how a bud bloomed into a wonderful flower. He didn't have any intentions of making her his lover when he took her in. Everything about them was platonic. He never noticed when she started to become a woman. She was always smiling—happily chattering about the events that happened during her mission.

On her sixteenth year, he noticed some changes in her attitude. She became more reserved and quiet in his presence, only speaking to him when he asked something. She wouldn't look at him when he's around, her smile becoming rare. He was starting to think she didn't want to stay with him anymore.

The dam broke two years later. On her eighteenth birthday, one of his underlings requested her hand for marriage. It was expected that he could only decide for Ririna as her longtime guardian. A part of him woke up, acknowledging Ririna as a woman. He was so enraged at the thought of her leaving him. He was so angry at himself for not noticing sooner that she was indeed a great beauty that no one could resist her charm. The unsuspecting rival was killed on the spot.

'No one is allowed to touch what is mine.' It was a clear warning. Ririna Han was off-limits to everyone.