54 Stay and be with her (1/2)

An Ning went to the room where Sam is, at the back of the cave with a view of the mountains and river. The twins' eyes anxiously followed An Ning who saw the worry on their faces and stopped. Lux was near tears and Cas was nervously twisting his fingers. An Ning enfolded them in her embrace, murmuring words to calm them down. The kids then left with Sarai, their eyes on the room where Sam slept.

Sam was awake when An Ning entered. She turned her head then looked away when she saw who it was.An Ning sat down on a chair beside the bed, not saying anything.Sam leaned back on the pillows, still not looking at her.

”It's kind of gory trying to kill yourself by tying a stone around your neck to drown.Poor Matt is traumatized,” An Ning said. ”The next time you do it, just take some pills or something. Easier to go and less messy.”

Sam swung her head around, her eyes stormy with anger.

”I'm just saying,” An Ning said, shrugging. ”What do you think will happen if you had really killed yourself? Not only is Matt traumatized, so are the twins. And why do it here? I mean, why not do it where my children can't see you? Like your own house for example. It's kind of unfair to us, you know. We invite you here for a visit and you repay us by trying to kill yourself. By the way, that river is sacred around here. It has certain magical powers you can't even understand. If you really want to kill yourself, don't do it here. We don't appreciate cowards who run away from their problems.”

Sam, who was listening to her in gathering wrath, stood up and attempted to walk to the door. She fell to the ground with a thud. An Ning looked at her with indifferent eyes. Sam didn't move but after a while An Ning saw that the thin shoulders were shaking. Her sobbing was thin and pitiful, like she didn't want anybody to hear.An Ning sighed and helped her up. Sam resisted but An Ning had already taken her arm and dragged her to the bed before she knew what was happening. She looked at An Ning with wet eyes, taking the glass of water An Ning was holding in her hand. She sipped at the water like a delicate cat which really stretched An Ning's patience.

”Stay here as long as you need,” An Ning said. ”We don't have to be friends or anything like that. Take it as a favor to Matt. He is very worried about you and even if he's never said anything, I know he wants you to stay here where people can look after you. Saravia is the best place for you right now. You can heal here faster than anywhere in the world. If you want to do anything stupid next time, then leave. I won't stop you.”

An Ning didn't wait for an answer. She walked to the door and close it quietly behind her. Matt was outside, waiting. She met his anxious eyes and motioned with her hand.

”I think it would be best if you stay here and look after her,” she said, leading him outside. ”I don't mind if she stays here for a while but we are after all strangers to her.If there is a chance for her to heal at all, then she needs someone familiar to her. Saravia might look provincial but it's actually not. We have a hospital and doctors who can look after her. If you're worried about your job, don't be. The whole place is connected online so all you need is your laptop.”

”You've thought of everything,” Matt said, somewhat overwhelmed.

”I won't invite you to stay here though. I don't want gossip in the village. Besides, I don't think you want to be cooped up in here with us. Go out and mingle. Take your girlfriend with you later when she's comfortable going out. It will do you both a lot of good.”

”She's not my girlfriend,” Matt said with a red face.

”Could have fooled me,” An Ning answered wryly. ”Okay, take the car and go to the hospital. Look for Taey. He lives in the hospital barracks. Just tell him I sent you. Maybe they still have room for you in there or he can direct you to someone who's willing to rent to you. Don't worry about not finding anything though. We have lots of unoccupied houses in the village. You can buy one if you like. Just tell me and I'll take care of it.”

”Thank you for doing this for us,” Matt said, his voice solemn.”I hated to ask but I have no choice. There's no one else, you see.”

”What the heck happened, Matt?”

”Her mom died,” Matt said, a grim look in his eyes. ”Yu Yan promised them a pair of artificial legs that's why Sam did what she did and betrayed us.But when they operated on the mom, they found out her body was too weak to undergo another operation so...Sam was devastated. She was close to her mom who turns out had a harrowing history of her own. She came from a wealthy family but when she fell in love with a married man and eloped with him, her family disowned her. The dude died when Sam was still a baby and the mother did everything she could to give Sam a future. She went back to her family but they all behaved like assholes to her. They left and it's always been Sam and her mom all these years.”

”Hmnn...,” An Ning said. ”So now you see yourself as prince charming to the rescue, eh?”

”It's not like that,” Matt protested.

”I won't say I understand but it is after all your life,” An Ning said. ”I have no right to interfere so do what you think is best and stay here and be with her. I'll do everything I can to help. That I can promise.”

”I owe you one, An Ning,” Matt said. ”And thank you.”

Matt eventually found a house thirty minutes away from the Grove. He still worked full time but his afternoons were spent with Sam, who little by little started to emerge from her shell and slowly integrated herself in the life of the village. Their presence, however, gave An Ning some misgivings. Saravia was growing. It was still a village now but if people start arriving and teens start having sex and birthing babies then the entire peninsula will undergo a rapid change. It's not necessarily bad in her opinion but the system currently in place had to change as well.

Foremost in her mind was the village's security. It was not enough to rely on Taey's presence or the men he had with him. Saravia first and foremost was governed by the strong tribe of the Amazons, who were admittedly not pussies who will sit by and expect a man to protect them. Threat or not, the tribe had to be pulled back from the edge and encouraged to participate in the growth of the village. Young and old, all of them now will have to take a position in what direction the village will follow in the future. It just doesn't concern An Ning and her family but all of them. Yu Yan was dead and it was now time to prepare for the future without her threat hanging over them at last.

An Ning thought about it for a while and made a decision.

Two days later, the representatives of the tribe, which included Nyra, the four queens, and An Ning and the outsiders represented by Taey and the three doctors, gathered together in the main house for a meeting. At first An Ning didn't know how to start the conversation. Maybe it was too premature yet to talk about Saravia's future but her doubts vanished when Nyra said something which was not totally unexpected.