FEAST FOR HER EYES
Piercing screams pierced through Hu Lei's mind as she remained asleep in a large immaculate room in completely white bed. The cries seemed louder than usual. However, her heart did not race neither did she feel a cold sweat cover her body and soak the beddings.
Though she could not move and seemed trapped in a place filled with pain, she knew it was only a dream, a figment of unclear memories. She remained calm as she allowed the demon haunting her to leave and the sleep paralysis to wear off.
When she woke up, she wondered if her mind had become trapped somewhere. Or perhaps she had died and gone to the other place.
She took a deep breath and calmed her claustrophobia. In truth, she did not fear all closed spaces. Her terror was in restriction in white clinical rooms. And the room she had woken up in was only a few test tubes short of a medical-grade lab.
As she climbed out of the cloud-like bed, she felt her head throb like a workshop filled with jackhammers. She tried to recall the occurrences of the previous day but was rewarded with more pain. The last thing she remembered was dinner with big boss Zhong.
She also remembered ordering pan-fried beef and rice while drinking that delicious something with a nice name. Then, everything seemed clouded. What had happened?
She checked herself and found that she still wore the same clothes. She was completely unharmed, minus the headache. Had she been drugged and taken away?
Her wobbly legs led her to the door. Each step seemed to resonate through her entire being before settling in her head. She turned the lock slowly, hoping that it would open. It did so quite smoothly.
She poked her head out of the door and looked outside vigilantly. Seeing no one, she stepped out and walked towards the more open direction. She found a flight of stairs and slowly went down, ignoring the throb that accompanied each step.
Obviously, this was a home in spite of the dull neutral surroundings.
When her head began to clear up, she could already make conjectures on where she was, even though she had no idea how she got there. With those thoughts in mind, she walked with more confidence.
Before long, she found a living room. It was not as plain as the bedroom, but it only had some sparse decorative items. Moreover, it did not look lived in. She walked around the room curiously, trying to find, well, signs of the resident.
"I see you are awake." A deep voice spoke suddenly from behind her.
The sound went through her ears and stimulated her brain in the worst way possible.
"Do not shout in my ears." She chided while holding her head.
When she turned back, she realised that the big boss was not as close as she thought. Her eyes squinted to get a better look at the man. In that moment, she forgot her pain and admired the vision of the straitlaced Zhong Feng in casual house clothes.
It was a feast for her slightly painful and squinting eyes.
The short sleeves of his white t-shirt exposed the toned muscles of his slightly tanned arms. His simple linen trousers hang loosely around his strong lower body while giving him a relaxed air. His normally neat hair looked slightly wet as if he had just taken a shower.
"This is your reward for drinking without a care in the world." He spoke in an apathetic tone.
She could swear that she saw a ghost of a smile hanging on his smug face. She huffed in annoyance but she did not know how to respond.
"Did you know that the cocktails were alcoholic?" He was curious.
"Of course, I am not an idiot." She replied testily.
She did know, but she had not expected the consequences to be so severe. The truth was that she had never really taken alcohol in the past due to the numerous limitations of her nomadic life. The circumstances would never have allowed her to be careless.
Moreover, she did not think that there was much alcohol in the little cocktails. She could not even taste much of the alcohol. Once, she had sipped on her father's beer and the taste had been revolting. How could she know that her slight indulgence would turn into a whole incident?
Unfortunately, she could not turn back time. She could only deal with the aftermath with grace and be thankful that the big boss was probably a good person.