10" Perfect Irony!

 Ah Cy opened her eyes slowly with much more ease this time. She could feel her legs and hands this time. Her head wasn't aching which was quite a miracle compared to the throbbing headache she had had before.

She sat up on the bed and her eyes fell on her hand that was still closed in a fist. She opened it and the chain was still there, just as she had left it. Surprisingly, all her worries about the chain were gone. She had peace of mind and all the questions that had almost made her go insane had been pushed to the back of her mind. What more miracle could this mysterious chain do? Ah Cy thought.

She put the chain around her neck and with little difficulty clasped the hook together. Her hands found the pendant and she held tightly unto it, like she had suddenly found a new lifeline.

With slightly unstable steps, Ah Cy got out of the bed and looked around the room she was in. It was a small room consisting of a not-too-big bed, a bedside table, a wardrobe and windows. It looked empty like it hadn't been occupied for a long time but it didn't feel empty. Somehow, it exuded a very unexplainable homely vibe that Ah Cy had yearned for in many places. Was this the handiwork of the chain too? She thought as she caressed the pendant on the chain.

Ah Cy made her way out of the room. The door led to a very long corridor. She walked through it not forgetting to be conscious of her environment. The corridor eventually ended and Ah Cy found herself standing in front of another door. Warily, she opened it, her hand still clasped on the pendant.

 " Wow!" She mouthed when her eyes fell on the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. The water waves flowing towards the shore and then back to the river was captivating. She could see the reflection of the sky in the water, the light blue laced with white clouds. It was beautiful. The trees waving their leaves with the wind and the colourful birds chirping added to the beauty of the whole scenario leaving Ah Cy more than stunned. She took unconscious steps towards the beach as she stared at the breathtaking scene.

 " I guess you're a fan of nature" she heard a voice behind her. It didn't startle her which was a surprise. Instead, she smiled lightly when she turned and saw him.

 " Who would have thought that the sea could be this beautiful?" She said. He chuckled lightly as he stood beside her.

 " I do know something's that's more beautiful" Jiu Ming mumbled, he was staring intensely at Ah Cy but she didn't react to it. Either she didn't notice cause she was too lost in watching the waves of the sea or she chose to ignore it.

 " More beautiful than the sea?" Ah Cy asked.

 " Way more beautiful than the sea" He said, still staring at her.

 " What is this place?" Ah Cy asked. Jiu Ming looked away as she turned to look at him and stuffed his hand into his pants.

 " As I said earlier, we're in Guilin. You must have heard somewhere that the best beach is in Guilin" He said.

 " I never did" Ah Cy said with a sigh.

 " Well… that's a pity. Everyone knows about this beach. It's kind of the mouth of Yulong river"

Ah Cy sighed. Everyone but her. Her life had been that boring. She never even had the time to have fun like every other normal person. And then a thought popped into her head.

 " Was this where you found me?" She asked

 " What?" Jiu Ming said, he hadn't expected that.

 " You said you found me at the shore of Yulong river, this is it, right?"

Jiu Ming didn't say anything for some time but when he noticed she was still staring at him, obviously waiting for an answer, he sighed.

 " Yes. I woke up one morning and when I came out, I found you lying unconscious over there" He said pointing to another part of the river, not too far away from where they stoo

 " So I took you in and nursed you and now here you are"

Ah Cy said nothing. She had gotten the answer she needed and now she wasn't saying anything. Jiu Ming sighed as her silence bothered him. Did he say something wrong?

 " You don't need to worry about it though. You don't need to worry about anything" He said and smiled at her, that heartwarming smile of his. Ah Cy smiled back at him and turned back to watching the sea. She sat down on the sand and crossed her legs. Jiu Ming joined her and they stayed that way for a while with Jiu Ming staring at her at intervals. He preferred talking to her than watching the sea but if it made her smile then he had to be okay with it though he just wanted to go inside with her and talk to her.

As an answer to his prayers, Ah Cy's stomach grumbled loudly. Her eyes widened in embarrassment.

 " Umm… I think I might be hungry" she said. Jiu Ming smiled at her and stood up. He dusted his pants.

 " I was waiting for you to say that " he said. With his smile still intact, he held out an open palm to her. She stared warily at his hand and then back at his face. He still had that smile on his face and somehow Ah Cy knew she could trust him. No one with such a beautiful smile could be harmful. Right?

She put her palm in his and he helped her up. With smiles on their faces, they walked away from the beach to the house. He took her round another door, not the one she had come out from. She found herself in a living room. There was a small kitchen by the side and a small round high table just beside it.

 " You can sit here and I'll get you something to eat" Jiu Ming said. Ah Cy stared confusedly at him.

 " Are you going to order something?" She asked which gave her an even more beautiful smirk.

 " Why would I do that?" He asked and the he added, " Do you think I don't know how to cook?"

 " I dunno" Ah Cy shrugged, her own smile playing on her lips. " Maybe"

 " Well… You're in luck today cause I prepared my most delicious recipe. When you try it then you'll realize that there's no need to order when I'm around" Jiu Ming said. Ah Cy just smiled and stared at his back when he began putting the meal.

In barely five minutes, a plate of mouthwatering rice was set before her.

 " Oh My God!" She exclaimed, her stomach grumbling even more.

 " This is homemade beef and broccoli with rice" Jiu Ming explained, then he set another plate by the first one.

 " And that is spring rolls"

He set another smaller plate and said,

 " Dumplings… and finally…"

He placed another plate which made Ah Cy salivate.

 " Sweet and sour pork"

She was speechless for a while then she recovered her senses and gasped.

 " All of this for me?" She asked. Jiu Ming shrugged.

 " I could give you a helping hand if you can't exhaust it" he said. Ah Cy laughed lightly and Jiu Ming just couldn't help but admire her. Such beauty!

 " Before I start eating, I have to ask" Ah Cy said. Jiu Ming wiped his hand with a towel and sat opposite her.

 " You're very free" Jiu Ming said as he picked up a spring roll. Ah Cy gasped.

 " Hey! I thought you said that was for me" she said.

 " Did I?" Jiu Ming responded playfully. They laughed together like they had known each other since forever.

 " You wanted to ask..."

 " Yeah! What are you doing here? I mean, what is a nice guy like you doing all alone by the beach?" Ah Cy asked

 " You think I'm nice" Jiu Ming joked making her roll her eyes

 " That's not the question"

Jiu Ming sighed and suddenly grew serious. Ah Cy noticed and her smile faded. Maybe she shouldn't have asked. She immediately made to take back her statement but he was faster.

 " This is my mum's house. She built this place on her own after she and my dad got divorced. Dad didn't want me so I grew up here. I went away to college and when I came back, mum was very sick. She… she died in my arms and I promised to keep this place for as long as I could so yeah… here I am"

Ah Cy didn't know what to say. She felt touched that he shared something as personal as that with her, a total stranger.

 " I'm so sorry about your mother" she said. He nodded and smiled at her.

 " Yeah. Thanks"

 " I'm sure she'd be very proud of you" Ah Cy added. His smile got wider and Ah Cy smiled back.

 " Yeah! Now come on, this delicious food isn't going to eat itself" Jiu Ming said as he picked up another spring roll. Ah Cy smiled and began eating too.

 " Hmmm" she mumured as she tasted the rice.

 " Oh My God, this is amazing" she said.

 " An amazing food for an amazing person" Jiu Ming said. He smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back.

She couldn't understand. The way he looked at her, it made her feel… good. Like she was special after all. And he didn't even know her. Or did he? Was there any secrets he was hiding? No one would just pick up an unconscious lady and nurse her back to life, not in the current world. She had to ask. Why was he so nice to her? He even cooked for her. And all the compliments he kept sending to her. As she thought about it, Ah Cy couldn't help but wish that Lu Shen had been this way with her. That was all she ever wanted, for him to act like she was someone special afterall. Like she meant something to him or at the least, to treat her like she was human. She had wished this for seven solid years but never got her answers and now, here she was, being adorned by a total stranger. What more could be called a perfect irony?

The thought of Lu Shen saddened her. He must have gotten married to Chang Yang by now. They probably didn't even notice she was gone. Even if the accident made it to the news, they wouldn't find her body so it'd still die off anyway like candle light in the mercy of the wind.

Jiu Ming noticed her sudden quietness and she had also stopped eating. He cleared his throat but that didn't get her attention.

 " Down to earth with your thoughts" he said. She finally looked at him and he smiled softly at her, like he always did.

Ah Cy sighed. Why was she thinking about Lu Shen when Jiu Ming was here? The person she had tied a knot with and said wedding vows to betrayed her without the tiniest bit of remorse but here a total stranger was giving her so much attention and caring for her like she was his, why would she choose the former?

 " Are you okay?" Jiu Ming asked again. She could see the concern in his eyes and she wondered. If a total stranger could care about her this much then why couldn't her husband and even her own family?

 " Hey! If it's about what I said, you don't have to think too much. I understand you don't appreciate such compliments…" Jiu Ming began making Ah Cy chuckle. If only he knew how much she yearned all her life for such compliments.

 " It's definitely not that" She said as she suddenly began playing with her fingers. Jiu Ming was staring at her and she took that as her cue to continue.

 " I was just wondering… Why did you pick me up?"

Again, her question caught him off guard.

 " What'd you mean?" He asked

 " I mean… you saw a total stranger lying by the side of a river, unconscious and you took her in. What if I died in your care? You would have been a suspect, don't you think? Or what I had been involved in something dirty and I had fled or something and they came after me? You would have been taken too. Or let's say I wasn't human. What if I was a ghost from the afterlife, an enemy of your mother and I was here to haunt you and destroy all your mother laboured to build? That would have been bad if you ask me"

When she stopped, she noticed him smiling and when she raised her brows, he laughed lightly.

 " What?" She whined.

 " I'm sorry.. It's just…jeez! I'm surprised you believe in these kind of things, ghosts, the afterlife, really??" Jiu Ming said.

 " But still… you don't just take an unconscious stranger into your home and cook for her when she gets conscious without any questions, I mean who does that?" Ah Cy persisted. Her insecurity instincts were working pretty well.

Jiu Ming laughed again. He loved to hear her rambling about these kind of things. She was such a beauty.

 " First…" he finally began, " You were already in my home. The beach and everything around here is what makes this place home"

When she said nothing, he continued,

 " And you said I should have left you there, what if you had died there? I wouldn't have been able to get rid of your body. And if people did come around here, I'd be the only suspect, don't you think?"

Ah Cy remained silent and he guessed that she understood what he meant though with her expression, you could tell she still had doubts. He sighed and rested his hands on the table.

 " Mama always told me to be nice no matter the situation I found myself in. When I saw you that morning, I felt something in my heart pull and I just couldn't walk away. You talk about you haunting me? I would have been more haunted than ever if I didn't take you in" He said finally. He saw her face relax and he knew he had convinced her.

 " Thank you" Ah Cy finally said after a long period of silence.

 " If that's for the food, you're welcome. If it's for me taking you in… you don't need to. I did it more for myself" Jiu Ming ended with his usual heartwarming smile. Ah Cy couldn't help but smile back.

 " Now… I'd be really hurt if we don't finish up all of this. I made it with so much effort" Jiu Ming said with a pout on his face that made Ah Cy laugh.

 " You don't need to worry. You've got me here" she said and Jiu Ming smiled sweetly at her. They began eating again with Ah Cy complimenting the meal at intervals.

~~~

Ah Cy stared silently at Jiu Ming's back as he did the dishes. She could see his muscles reflexing with every move. She had insisted on doing the dishes but he wouldn't hear of it. After she had insisted and he still refused, she decided to let it go. Now as she watched him, she realized that she had missed out on a whole lot of things. This kind of things were a privilege to her back then and here she was getting it for free. If she had gotten this kind of life then, she wouldn't have driven herself over the bridge.

Jiu Ming finally finished and turned to her. He picked up a towel and dried his hand and then he threw a charming smile at Ah Cy.

 " So…" he said as he sat down opposite her, where he had been before

 " You've been asking all the questions, it's time to ask mine"

Ah Cy felt her body get tense. What was he going to ask about?

 " Why did a beautiful and amazing woman like you try to commit suicide?"

It took a while before she could process the question and when she did she scoffed. Was he trying to mock her? The last time she checked, she was far from beautiful. She had lost all her beauty all in the name of a marriage.

 " I think you have a very poor definition of the word, 'beautiful' " Ah Cy said.

 " What do you mean?"

 " I know I'm not beautiful. You don't have to say things like that when they're not true. I know what I look like and i know what beautiful looks like" her tone was a bit harsh but instead of getting upset, Jiu Ming smiled at her.

 " Do you?" He said with a smirk. Her brows furrowed and she made to ask when he stopped her by opening his palm in front of her.

 " Come with me" he said. She hesitated and then she placed her palm in his. He helped her down and took her into a shorter corridor which led to a room. He opened it and led her to a mirror. He blocked her view by standing in front of her and then he said,

 " You ready to see yourself?

Ah Cy rolled her eyes. What was he doing?

 " Jiu Ming, I'm not ready to see..."

Her words got stuck in her throat when he moved aside and her eyes fell on her reflection. If she had never been in a complete lack of what to say, she was in one now.

Her mouth opened to say something but no words came forth, instead her eyes got watery and a drop of tear fell.