Chapter 189 - Canst See Her Suffering (1/2)

*Flashback Continued*

It took a whole week before Xu Mey woke up. Looking at the bamboo hut through her groggy eyes, she was really confused. That's when her eyes fell on a tall boy's figure sitting on the floor while leaning against the wall. She tried to get up but winced in pain.

The boy lifted his eyes off the book in his hands and smiled at her. "Are you feeling better?" He asked while passing a glass of water from under the curtain.

"I'm..." She felt her throat stinging. She took a sip of water before trying again, "Where am I?"

"Oh! This? You're actually in the Forest of fireflies."

Xu Mey frowned. "There is such a place?"

She heard a hearty laugh. "No, I'm messing with you. This forest is actually known as the Boundless Trees." Xu Mey nodded and took another sip of water as her dark black shoulder-length hair fell on her face covering it like a mask.

"Ah! She's finally awake." Ru came inside the hut and looked at Xu Mey. She sat closer to her and extended her hand to hold Xu Mey's wrist to take a pulse but Xu Mey immediately curled herself in a ball in the corner with fear visible in her eyes.

"You scared her!" Ye Jie complained while glaring at Ru.

"What? If I don't take her pulse, how would I know about her condition?" Ru argued righteously.

Ye Jie scowled but he knew he couldn't argue with Ru. Therefore, he looked at the curled figure in the corner, shivering and spoke gently, "Hey, don't be afraid. I know that this friend of mine looks like a bad person but trust me, sh-" He almost called Ru as 'she' before tactfully changing his words with a cough. "He can act like a good person once in a while. He even saved your life from the poisonous berries that you consumed. Let him take your pulse."

With Ye Jie's gentle coaxing voice, Xu Mey's eyes shifted a little but she didn't move. Ye Jie didn't push her, he waited patiently for her. Sure enough, after a few more silent movements, Xu Mey stretched her arm towards Ru but from under the curtain. Ru took her pulse and said, "You've improved a lot in just a week. Now, mind telling us where are you from?"

Xu Mey's body started trembling with fear. "Okay... Don't talk..." Ye Jie started looking at her condition. "Just lay down and take some rest. We won't talk about it at all."

Ye Jie walked out of the hut with Ru. In the next couple of weeks, whenever Ye Jie came, he'd go inside the hut and try to talk to Xu Mey. Eventually, he managed to pull her out of the hut with him and brought her to the river that flowed through the forest.

Because of her time in the rehabilitation center, Xu Mey had developed autism and with all the scars that she inflicted on her own body, she always covered her small face with her thick black hair. Ye Jie barely managed to see her black eyes once in a while.

While both Xu Mey and Ye Jie were sitting at the shore listening to the sound of flowing water, Ru appeared from behind with a rabbit in her hand. "Hey, best friend! Should we cook this for dinner?"

Xu Mey looked at the pitiful eyes of the cute rabbit and blurted out, "Are you a monster? That's such a harmless creature." She turned to look at Ye Jie and said, "Senior brother, your friend is a barbarian. Stop him before he really kills the rabbit."

Ye Jie stroked Xu Mey hair saying, "My dear junior sister, calm down! He won't do anything to the rabbit."

Ru was seething at the side as she said in her fury, "Who said I won't do anything? This is definitely my dinner for tonight." She was acting stubborn and she knew it.