Chapter 115 - A Curse (1/2)
Within fifteen minutes of leaving the area, they reached the entrance of a big gated villa. The walls surrounding the villa were tall and surrounded by electrically charged fences. Like Ah Hai's apartment, this gate also opened with a person's biometrics, in this case, Shi Ai and Ah Hai's eyes. Though the villa was not very expansive, a garden path could be seen circling around it leading to a back garden.
Looking at the top grade but extreme security, Shi Ai shook her head in exasperation at her husband. He really was paranoid about security. Shi Ai looked around inside the vast place but was shocked that the place had no furniture. Before she could look more closely, Ah Hai started to run without stopping anywhere or even letting her look around. Ah Hai went up the curving stairs leaving Shi Ai to follow.
By the time Shi Ai caught up with the man, he already stood in front of the bal.u.s.trade, looking down at the dark grounds. Shi Ai went to stand beside him and took a deep breath as she was slightly winded from running behind him. She stood silently at his side as she wondered what he had to talk about. That was the only reason he would seek her out. So she waited for him to speak patiently.
Finally, a few minutes and a deep resigning sigh later, Ah Hai turned to Shi Ai and said,”Xaio Ai. This is going to be your new home. I want you to come live here instead of your dorm. Decorate it as you see fit. It is in your name. You will start training very soon and this time I will be your teacher. Silvia Grey has come clean!”
The last sentence reverberated in the silence of the night and the implications soon became clear. Whatever Silvia had told Ah Hai meant that the future was going to be more dangerous if she wanted to find her sister. The fact that he felt that she needed even more training was enough to hint at the dangers that lay ahead. Shi Ai was already well trained in martial arts and self-defence by Sister Su Jianan but this time Ah Hai was going to be her teacher. She remembered that once Min Min had asked Su Jianan that why Ah Hai had not trained them himself and the answer she had given them was an eye-opener.” Because you are too young and innocent to learn his methods. I am teaching you to defend, block and manoeuvre. Because that is my style. His style is different. It can be summarised as kill, bury or feed the enemy to the vultures. Ah, Hai is as aggressive as they come. He will kill first and ask questions later, that too depending on his mood. His ways of torture..the army once forced him to teach a group of students, the poor cadets had nightmares for days on end and some even threw their guts out and were the ones tortured instead..”
Thinking if this and preparing herself for the worst, Shi Ai said, ”Tell me.”
Ah, Hai looked at Shi Ai sharply and narrated the whole story word for word all the while observing the girl's side profile and the emotions that flitted across her countenance. She simply listened to everything that he said and kept staring blankly in the open space. It was only after Ah Hai had created the whole story did she eventually break down. Lifting her tear-filled eyes she looked at him and said, ” It is a good thing that you never loved me. I am cursed. Everyone who shows me love is bound to suffer- my biological mother, Aunty Wu, my sister even Zhang Min and Uncle-Aunty suffered because of me. Good thing you don't love me, Ah Hai. You have suffered already. My sister suffered so much, all because of me. If I had not been son friendly, if I had been more aware, I would have begged her to stay with me. If I had not been a bit envious that she was getting new parents who would not lock her in a cupboard or at least guessed that my mother could have her own reasons for locking us, if only...”
Ah Hai wanted to protest this sudden belief that she seemed to have of being cursed. He wanted to claim his love for her but he knew if he were to say anything now it would be useless.
Remembering what his sister in law had advised him on the way, he took Shi Ai into his arms and let her cry her eyes out. She said that a girl needed to cry and know that she could lean on you and not empty words. Since he was not good with words anyway, he felt this was for the best.
Almost a quarter of an hour later, Shi Ai showed no signs of stopping her crying jag. She would slow down for a while but only to start over again. Ah Hai was getting desperate with her tears and wanted her to stop but could not do anything. Finally, he thought of something else and decided to use that technique. He had seen it work on his chartering sister in law when his brother did it.
Placing a finger under Shi Ai's chin head her look up into his eyes. There were tear tracks on her face and her eyes looked red like peaches with moisture clinging to them.