The day dawned crisp and clear, the sun poured through the window of the room, marking the journey that Chan Juan had just began. Shao Jinhai and his parents watched as she slept peacefully, like she never encountered any terrific incident.
Dread, looming on Shao Jinhai's face, the woman below him had such innocent face, and fragile body, it could break with a snap.
Shao Jinhai raised up her wrist, and discovered it was delicately branded, the shape of a tiny hummingbird.
It looked red and sore, Shao Jinhai imagined the pain she must have gone through, and shut his eyes tightly, as he gently dropped her hand back on the bed.
Lan Shang gasped and covered her mouth when she saw it, Master Shao's expression was rigid and impenetrable.
"She has been marked by Lian Hua" Shao Jinhai muttered; and sighed deeply, rubbing his temple.
"That is so early, will she perhaps remember a thing if she wakes up?" Lan Shang asked folding her arms.
Master Shao cleared his throat, and joined his hands behind his back.
"Let's just wait, until then Shao Jinhai. You watch over her."
Master Shao spoke in an orderly tone, and left the room, Lan Shang walked slowly towards Shao Jinhai and patted his shoulder. She smiled at him, while he reciprocated with a natural smile and watched her leave the room too.
He turned around to see his unconscious bride; her face was porcelain white, her lips were pale and her face had a sickly flush; but it didn't overshadow her beauty, rather it made her look more innocent and charming. Shao Jinhai's face went through series of emotions, he felt his heart limp at the sight of her tender face.
He felt like there was connection between them, last night when she fell unconscious in the hallway. Seeing her terrified face, he went numb, despite they don't know each other, he does not want to hurt her in any way.
Lian Hua was smarter, the curse will begin to manifest, once she bears his first child who will eventually be given birth to as a monster. As for Chan Juan, she will become mentally unstable, the Shao family had tried to conceal this dark side for decades; that the first wife of the first son, is cursed with a monster as her first child and eternal insanity, afterwards.
There was no remedy to the curse, rather live with it forever, this curse was the best definition for cruelty. The history to how the curse came about was a mystery, all what they knew was that; Lian Hua was connected to the Shao family.
Shao Jinhai gazed at her for a while, then he leisurely trailed his eyes to her wrist and discovered the Pentagon symbol had disappeared.
Shao Jinhai blinked severally, squeezing his lips, he tore his eyes away from her and looked the other side, and stared at nothing.
Chan Juan lazily lifted up her lazy eyelids, the sun rays peering across her face, there was a soft glimmer in her lucid eyes. Her head was blank at the moment as she choose to stare at the blue canopy hanging on the steel bars of the bed, spreading across like the blades of a fan and joining together at the centre more like the pivot in the fan.
Her big and clear eyes sweeping across it for a short while. The murmurs of someone triggered her to move, Chan Juan sat up to see who it was and she paused for a moment after.
The man before her was an epitome of art, she gaped openly as she observed every tiny bit of his alluring features; all the way from his well crafted face, to his built and outstanding physique... so mesmerising.
Shao Jinhai who was miserably shy, rubbed the nape of his neck and let out an uneasy grin, but somehow; he liked that she was staring at him. Maybe because he hadn't given a woman the opportunity to, even though he gets such stares a lot, this one seemed different.
"Hey, you're awake?"
Chan Juan was trying to compare and contrast between the media photos and real life self of Shao Jinhai. Then his baritone voice made her heart shudder, a perfect example of the "forbidden fruit"
"Ni hao Shuai!" Chan Juan couldn't take her eyes off such beauty without a compliment; while she was still locked up in her little world of fantasies and admiration.
"What?" Shao Jinhai creased his dark, thick brows, as his brain automatically tried to pretend like it didn't understand her statement. Chan Juan immediately recovered her senses and shook her head repeatedly, causing her black hair to flow smoothly across her shoulders like silk.
"Please do not get me wrong, I was definitely not referring to you" Chan Juan waved her hands as she tried to resent and take back her statement. Shao Jinhai tilted his head, and twitched his lips, it was oblivion to him that she didn't remember anything from last night, since she wasn't reacting the way he had expected her to.
"Actually, the last time I checked, it's only two of us in here, and it was quite certain you were referring to me." Shao Jinhai teased her a little, Chan Juan scoffed and rolled over the bed.
"Someone thinks highly of themselves..." Chan Juan said while she cracked her knuckles and stretched thin petite body.
Then she took a proper look at Shao Jinhai again, after her short exercise.
"Wait a second! You... You are" she trailed off, realizing it, pointing towards him.
Chan Juan fluttered her fine lashes so many times; she was probably out of things to say. The man whom she was drooling over was..was... her husband? She was standing with Shao Jinhai? Who is now her husband?
Chan Juan gulped loudly as she screamed innerly; cold chills running down her spine, her head began to spin around crazy thoughts, she had actually thought she was dreaming, but it was reality anyways.
Chan Juan's eyes became gloomy and dimwitted, she bent out of shape, with slight gait, and utter embarrassment.
"What happened last night?" She lowered her gaze, and shyly asked, it wasn't a bad luck to have someone as handsome as Shao Jinhai, for a husband to have perhaps bed with her.
Shao Jinhai who already understood what she meant, twitched mockingly, with a mysterious smirk on his lips.
"So you really do not know what happened to you last night?" He asked moving closer to her. With every step he took, Chan Juan equivalently moved backwards, with the same pace.
"No....no" Chan Juan stammered; clutching her hands to her chest. Finally she felt her back hit the smooth wall, Shao Jinhai huge and bulky body, shrouding her weak and shuddering feminity.
"Good." Shao Jinhai said curtly and smirked at her. Chan Juan pressed her brows together resulting to a frown.
"What does that mean?" She asked Shao Jinhai who was heading towards the door, he turned and gave her a chilly smirk, which gave her apparent goosebumps.
"You, me, the bed and freaky stuffs." Shao Jinhai uttered and gave her a devilish grin, Chan Juan's mouth hanged wide open, watching him open and close the door, after such statement, he left her with nothing to say.
She looked down, and discovered,
Pants on, bra's on... She thought, and flared through her nostrils, after realizing, he just made a fool out of her.
Author's Note: "Ni hao Shuai" means you are very handsome.