Xingsheng almost lunged at Astha as she thrust the silver dagger straight into Vina's gaping wound. However, the other six women held his efforts back. Surprisingly, Xingsheng's strength really doesn't match them, even though the Chinese actor has a fairly muscular body and often does weightlifting.
"What did you do to her?" Xingsheng shouted angrily.
The man's anger became more and more unbearable when Vina kept screaming in pain with her body limp, but for some reason it seemed as if she couldn't get up from her current position.
"Stop it, you bunch of bastards!" Vina cursed loudly until her voice was hoarse. "Stop!"
Astha, the woman with sharp narrow eyes, didn't pull the dagger she stuck into Vina's arm nor plunged deeper into it. She just left the dagger there, her hand raised to chest level, right above the girl from Siji's body.
What she did was to prevent Vina from getting up from her current lying position, as well as to minimize the rebellion from the girl's body. Thus, the more miserable Vina was because the pain was way more painful than before. There was a burning feeling in the stab of the dagger that wouldn't let go of her arm, as if hot iron had stabbed it instead of ordinary metal. However, a chill ran through her entire body, from head to toe.
Vina couldn't go any further in explaining it all except that she really was in hell.
Tears of pain dripped from the corners of her eyes. Her screams were getting slower and slower, weaker from exhaustion and almost confused because the pain was fading as the seconds passed. Over time, all that was left of Vina was the sobs that gurgled from her throat, the remnants of her cries.
Xingsheng finally stopped struggling and his eyes looked at Vina frantically, wary. Vina was still breathing, but her eyes were closed and she was no longer screaming in pain.
"Vina…!" Xingsheng, in vain, once again tried to release the hands of the Seven Beauties that had locked him in place. "Vina!"
Vina opened her eyes slowly and then glanced at Xingsheng who looked very worried about her. She smiled weakly, thanking him with a look in her eyes because an actor like him was willing to worry about her. Meanwhile, Xingsheng himself felt a little relieved even though he wasn't fully willing to forgive what Astha had done to the Indonesian girl.
On the other hand, Vina groaned for the umpteenth time. The girl turned her head just as Astha finally drew the silver dagger slowly but surely. At first Vina thought that bluish smoke was billowing from the dagger, but it wasn't. The strange smoke was actually coming from the wound whose blood now seemed to dry.
Even though it was a little difficult to inhale and take a breath, Vina still tried her best to open her voice. "How can my blood dry so fast?"
Astha wipes the dagger in her hand with a handkerchief that she takes from her pocket. Her eyes glanced at Vina briefly; her tone was flat, emotionless. "What do you mean by that question? Blood can't be wet forever if it's outside your body."
"This is not normal," Vina said again, refusing to give up.
Astha finally finishes wiping her dagger. She tucked the sharp weapon back into her waist. "Stop wasting energy just asking such trivial questions."
The slanted-eyed woman then just walked away. Vina opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything else because the sudden pain hit her wound again; only briefly, but enough to distort her already weary mind.
Meanwhile, Astha returns to her position to be among the other Seven Beauties. She nodded at the woman who looked like their leader, who then nodded back and raised her head. She waved a glance towards the ceiling just above Vina. The ceiling opens in a circle.
The woman with a mole at the lower corner of her right eye then looked up again. This time she looks at the woman who is beside Astha. "Sapta, please."
The dark-skinned woman called Sapta took a step forward while Vina, unable to hold back, automatically remembered the meaning of the name: number seven. Sapta's hands were raised and she closed her eyes for a second or two, and then brushed one of her hands in the air gently, towards the open ceiling and Vina.
The two people from Siji couldn't help but stare in silence when a bunch of vines came in from outside the ceiling. The pale green vines descended until they finally arrived above Vina, who again could only give up because she couldn't move her body.
All the vines were like living snakes wrapped in leaves, continuing to creep and crawl Vina's bed until it was covered in leaves. Vina thought that what Sapta had done would be limited to that, but in fact, she was wrong.
Two or three of the vines ran down her injured arm, wrapping it around so that Vina's arm seemed to grow from a plant that lacked photosynthesis. When finally one arm was wrapped neatly with vines, Vina was able to move her body again. Before the girl tried to pull her arm free from the grip of the plants, Sapta stopped her.
"It's Bulan plants," Sapta explained in her deep voice. "It can inhale the poison from your wound."
Vina's eyes widen; more out of anger than surprise. "One of you not only injured me, but poisoned me?"
Sapta glanced briefly at the woman who previously injured Vina. "Please forgive Sat. She's a poisoner and shouldn't act impulsively on you."
Sat snorted behind the woman with the mole. The woman crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at Sapta disapprovingly. "You don't need to apologize to her, Sapta! She should've accepted her fate to be hurted, or else she wouldn't woke up from her slumbering mind."
Vina frowned, suddenly felt very disdain for the thin woman. "You're a very annoying number six!"
Sat blinked, looking confused for a moment. "Who are you calling number six, kid?"
Vina rolled her eyes. "Your names are clearly names taken from the Kawi language. Why not just be honest?" the girl let out a low "tch" voice. "There are only seven of you, but Astha… that name means eight, am I right?"
Vina's words somehow made Sat and the other woman on her right side very angry. Astha restrains Sat from wanting to approach Vina.
"You have no right to comment on our names!" Sat hissed sharply, startling Vina as well as Xingsheng. "You don't know anything about us! You—!"
"Sat," the woman who had always been in the middle interrupted in a warning tone. She then turned to Xingsheng, then Vina and smiled. "This is a sensitive topic between us, so we hope you don't bring this up again. Vina, you need to stay in that position until the sun goes down for the poison to be completely neutralized. Meanwhile, we'll go first on some matters."
Another woman beside her turned her head. "Eka, is it okay to leave them alone here?"
The woman whose name means number one nodded slightly in response. "Let Heuras take care of them later."
Eka smiled once again at Vina. "Rest for a while. Heuras will be here soon." She then turned to Xingsheng. "You can rest too, Xingsheng. Those doors, those are the rooms you can choose to lie down in."
Xingsheng dropped his gaze to the several polished bamboo loungers at the side of the room. He then nodded towards it and smiled at Eka. "Thank you. I can use that bamboo chair. I don't want to leave Vina here alone."
Eka nodded in understanding. The Seven Beauties in unison turned and stepped. A step before they actually reached the door, Vina called out to them.
"Who is Heuras?" the Siji girl asked curiously, while one hand continued to hold the other which covered in Bulan plants. "Is she… a woman like you?"
It was Eka who answered while shaking her head and smiling. "He's a man, a tough guy. Don't make him angry."
Simultaneously, the Seven Beauties walking out of the house and closed the door. Vina and Xingsheng stared at each other for a moment.
"You believe this isn't a dream?" Vina finally asked the Chinese actor.
Xingsheng looked up at the unopened ceiling. He sighed, as he walked closer to Vina. "I've never had a dream this real, let alone realized it was a dream." He was silent for a moment. "You understand what I meant, right?"
Vina chuckled. "Barely, but, yes, I understand." She lightly pressed her arm against the injured area; the pain came again. "What if this is for real and we shouldn't be here… and die?"
Xingsheng tilted his head slightly as his eyes met the girl's. "Why are you saying the word die so easily?"
Vina chuckled, rolling her eyes. "It's not that I said it easily, Xingsheng, I'm just… you know, speculating on the worst so I won't be too shocked when I actually face it later."
The Chinese actor crossed his arms and chuckled. "I remember you called me Gēgē a while ago, but now you call me by my name."
"You want me to call you Gēgē again?" Vina asked without seriousness in her voice.
Xingsheng smiled. "No need."
The man moved towards the bamboo chair he had seen earlier. His next words were loud enough for Vina to hear.
"No matter how much you speculate about the worst that will happen to you, you'll still be surprised at the end result, Hansen."
"You speak so confidently, as if you've experienced this before," Vina squinted, her eyes fixed on the patch of clouds in the sky, visible from the open ceiling.
Liu Xingsheng half turned his head and let out a sound like he was chuckling softly. He moved to lift the bamboo chair with light steps, but had to be surprised and almost fell backwards because it turned out that thing was quite heavy. He wondered why that was.
The man glanced over, but Vina didn't seem to notice him. He let out an imperceptible sigh of relief.
"Well," Xingsheng mumbled lowly, his muscles bulging slightly as he returned to where Vina was lying, carrying the bamboo chair. "I have to admit, I've never had anything quite like this happen, but I've been imagining, speculating, whatever you say; and it turns out to be facing something that makes me… kind of dumbfounded. Although what I suspected wasn't something bad."
Vina turned her head to the side when she heard Xingsheng lower the chair and clapping his hands together as if he were removing dust from it. The man then sat facing her and smiled briefly, while the girl he saw was silent without changing her aloof expression.
They stared at each other without speaking for almost two minutes, studying each other. It was Xingsheng who finally cleared his throat and looked away from Vina. His neck felt warm. He had never felt so embarrassed to be looked at by a girl who could be said to be one of his fans. The man had wondered if her no-expression was the reason.
A real fan at least has a smile even if only in the eyes.
"Say something," Xingsheng said, looking back at Vina who was still staring at him. "The way you look at me is quite scary. I almost thought you weren't my fan."
Vina suddenly rolled her eyes, finally looking up at the open ceiling again. She snorted softly. "I am not. You may be my favorite actor and I love your drama, but you can't call me your fan yet because I don't think so."
Xingsheng looked a little surprised. "See, I just experienced what I said earlier."
Vina turned her head again to look at him with an incomprehensible look. The man immediately explained to her without being asked, "Speculating about the worst and still being surprised."
Vina frowned. Unknowingly her right hand moved to stroke her left hand that was wrapped by the Bulan plant. "Perhaps you didn't expect anything so bad."
The Chinese actor shrugged his shoulders lightly. "I thought that you weren't my fan and, perhaps, were my hater instead."
"See, there's a speck of doubt in your guess," Vina sneered playfully. "That's what surprised you."
"Maybe yes, maybe not." Xingsheng smiled wryly, with no intention of disapproving or otherwise.
"Before this, what did you expect and still be surprised by the ending?" Vina finally asked; at least now, there was curiosity imprinted on her expression.
Liu Xingsheng crossed his arms in front of his chest, took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. His gaze fell to the underside of Vina's super large bed. Suddenly a smile appeared on his lips. Looks like it isn't the happy smile one would have, but it could be the other way around.
The girl could say she knew quite a bit about it because she probably had it a lot too.
Liu Xingsheng sighed again, with that smile still on his lips. "I know you must think that the life of an up-and-coming actor like me must be a lot of fun, even more coveted by those who know it."
The man only had time to open his mouth, intending to continue his words, when suddenly the girl lying in front of him interrupted without being reproachful, "Don't act like you know what I'm thinking, Xingsheng."
He froze, not expecting to hear those words from her lips. He had always thought that girls like her, who could like someone just from watching someone's acting or appearance, would think as he said.
The actor was often met with people who look at him with admiration, often finding stares that suggest they want, or are envious, of what he is currently getting. Although he also read some online comments saying not everyone would think like that, he always thought that it's just bullshit.
Liu Xingsheng, however, had just heard the words of disapproval of the statement he had made, from a girl who he thought was the same as any other girls.
"Xingsheng," Vina said again, this time bringing a gentle tone to her voice. "I can't believe you haven't heard comments from other artists talking about how pressure they are under the results of what other people expect of them."
Xingsheng smiled ironically. "I've always thought that they were only exacerbating the problems they really felt, that they weren't as depressed as they said they were."
Vina frowned disapprovingly. "If you can think like that yourself, then don't blame people who think that the work of artists is easy and lucrative." The girl stared at the door of the room they were in without actually looking at it. "You can't keep thinking like that, or you'll just get bad payback for it." She looked at the actor once more. "So, what exactly surprised you?"
For a moment, Xingsheng just stared at Vina. The girl let out a sound between chuckling and clicking sound. "Don't you dare think that I'm a 'different girl'. Not everyone will think the opposite of my disapproval statement."
Liu Xingsheng blinked and shook his head. "No, I don't think of you that way."
Vina smiled lightly, waiting for the man in front of her to continue his story.
Liu Xingsheng sighed. "Maybe not everyone will think that an actor's life is fun, but still, there are. One of them is my mother." He let go of his crossed arms and let them fall on his lap, his back slumped slightly as his eyes traced the vines hanging above Vina.
"We don't live under the same roof, not even in the same city," the man continued, while Vina listened intently. "I could understand if she behaved like that only when I got to the pinnacle of my success, but no; she had behaved like that even when I was an unpopular lower class actor.
"Ever since I pursued my dream of becoming an actor, even since I was studying in art school, my mother always encouraged me with words that shouldn't be said as a form of support from a mother to her son.
"She supported and encouraged me to work hard, just to hear that I needed to do it for the wishes of her, who like to appears as a rich socialite, and doesn't want her self-esteem to be trampled on by the insinuations of her so-called friends. She cheers me on when I achieve a bit of success only to then tell me to go higher in a disgruntled tone."
Liu Xingsheng straightened his seat and lowered his head slightly. "I managed not to take what she said too deep into my heart until I finally got to this point. However, she hasn't changed." He looked up, looked at Vina and smiled wryly. "I once caught her reading scathing comments from netizens for me when we were forced to meet for some reason; thinking that she must've finally realized it's not good to always pressure me, even if being an actor has been my desire for a long time."
"But her attitude remains the same," Vina stated quietly.
Xingsheng shrugged nonchalantly. "I had thought that, no matter how bad my mother was, she would melt too if her son was in such a miserable state. It was a hopeful speculation that I once had." He stared at his shoes, holding back the disappointment he hide from Vina. "My mother did melt when an unpleasant issue, which was confirmed to be untrue, became a hot topic at one point in time, only to then berate me and say that I wasn't working hard anymore because I felt I was at the top. She said that I… should have made an effort to bring down other artist's success so that people's attention would be more focused on me."
The man took a deep breath. "I almost believe that she's the one who wants the world to center on her, while I'm just her puppet."
Xingsheng was silent, neither speaking nor looking at Vina for a while. She knows that the public life of a figure is not always as beautiful as reality, but she is still surprised by what the man has experienced. Her mother wanted to support Xingsheng just because she also wanted the impact of what he would achieve, not because of the pure support of a woman who gave birth to her child.
Vina Hansen thought that Liu Xingsheng should deserve better than his mother should. Nevertheless, her brain went blank for a split second before finally realizing that, without Xingsheng's mother, Liu Xingsheng wouldn't have been born in this world either.
"Therefore, your wishes have become gray because of your mother's attitude towards you," Vina stated again.
The man she was talking to finally raised his head, but his forehead was furrowed in surprise. "What's gray?"
Vina blinked a few times, realizing that she was speaking a little too much. "I mean, to be… less convincing to you?" she explained, more like a question than a statement.
The actor finally replied with just a forced smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Why are you telling me this?" the girl who was being treated with the Bulan plant asked, curious. "You might not have to answer my question in the first place if the answer concerns your personal matters."
Liu Xingsheng laughed lightly. "Whether it's a dream or not, you're still the first person from… you know, our world, which I met… here." His hands crossed in front of his chest. "There's nothing wrong with telling you this."
Vina snorted. "How if I tell this to someone else without your permission?"
The handsome actor just smirked. "You won't."
"Don't be too confident."
"No, I don't. I just trust you."
Vina Hansen studied the man's expression closely, wondering how one could trust another person so easily. She, however, didn't have the ability to trust others instantly as Liu Xingsheng did. She somehow always believed that people always had two different sides. Therefore, she would be neutral when it comes to her trust in someone, so that when they hurt her, Vina at least expected it beforehand.
She wondered if Xingsheng really had that much trust in her, or if it was just words spoken to a new friend.
The girl stopped thinking about it when the door opened, revealing a man with an emaciated body, pale as a corpse, standing and holding a kind of small rod but with a sharp, pointed tip. Xingsheng immediately stood up and positioned himself in front of Vina.
"What are you doing, Mr. Actor?" said Vina in surprise, her voice suddenly sounded like she was yelling lightly.
Xingsheng made a clicking sound; half lowered his head and looked at her in annoyance. "Don't yell at me. I just wanted to—"
"Name?"
Xingsheng and Vina simultaneously looked at the emaciated man who had just spoken in a deep and heavy voice. They were both shocked while looking at the person and could only be silent without being able to say anything.
"Don't play games, Sijians, or I'll have to kill both of you."