The masked man released Yanyue, wincing from the gunshot wound on his arm.
"Take her to the secret hideout!" the masked man ordered Doctor Arun.
The doctor gripped Yanyue by the arm and forced her to flee away from the area. The masked man loaded his gun and shot back at the two men taking covers behind some trees a couple of meters away. He was stalling time for the doctor to take away Yanyue.
Soon, gunshot sounds rang throughout the forest, stirring awake the sleeping birds and scaring away the wild animals nearby.
"Don't let him escape!" Beichen said to Captain Sean.
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Beichen hustled toward the direction where the doctor had taken Yanyue, while Captain Sean stayed behind to keep the masked man occupied.
The doctor was pulling Yanyue without stopping. She could not endure the pressure and almost tripped a couple of times.
"Let go of me!" Yanyue continued to put up a fight.
"Keep quiet!" the doctor roared back, seemingly agitated from stress. He was angry that she had messed up their plans, and now he would be as good as dead at the hands of the Leader, who was devil-like.
"I don't care! If you don't let me go right now, then I will bite you!"
Yanyue did just that. She sunk her teeth into Doctor Arun's hand and only let go when she tasted iron. The doctor quickly released her.
"Bitch!"
Yanyue didn't wait to see his reaction and ran down another path. She did not care where she was going as long as she could escape the trouble here.
Thunder exploded above the dense forest, and lightning waltzed down the earth. The madness up there was as horrifying as the madness Yanyue was trying to avoid. When a bolt of lightning struck close to her, she unconsciously ducked down as if that would shield her from possible electrocution.
Running through the forest brought back awful memories that she had kept sealed away in the deepest part of her subconscious for a long time. She was in a trance-like state, and her body shook nonstop as she raced and scrabbled through the monstrous obstacles of low-lying branches and bushes. She didn't know where she was going, but her goal was to run away as fast and far as she could manage because everything and everyone was out to get her.
"No, don't follow me!" Yanyue delivered in a panic as she ran without looking back, fearing that the burly men chasing her would catch up to her.
"Baby, Mommy will not let anything happen to you again!"
Another lightning hit, and she was startled and cried, then tripped on a rock. She tried to get up but froze when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Ah! No, don't hurt me! Don't hurt my baby!" Yanyue scrambled to her knees and her hands were thrown up in the air in various defensive motions. "Go away!"
"Yanyue!" Beichen's voice overlapped her screams of terror.
But the woman was overtaken by trauma and could no longer discern what was real or the past.
"Look at who I am!" Beichen ordered.
She did. She looked at the man. When she saw who it was, the fear and panic in her heart immediately faded.
"Jun!"
Then, her body failed her, and she collapsed in Beichen's arms.
It had begun to rain heavily, so Beichen had to find shelter as soon as possible. They were far away from the base, so he carried her to a cave that they came across.
He set the unconscious Yanyue to a flat area in the cave and started a fire. Once he got the flame under control, he went over to her again. Yanyue was holding her body in a fetal position. It appeared that she was pretty frightened back there.
Such an evil woman would be this vulnerable? Beichen asked himself, confused by his mixed emotions.
Then, he noticed that her lips were shivering and her face was red. He understood that she had caught a cold from the rain and confirmed it when he touched her forehead, and it was burning hot.
"Woman, you are dead meat," he sneered under his breath. Despite her weak constitution at the moment, Beichen didn't forget that he despised her. However, he couldn't let her die here.
To reduce her temperature, he took off her clothes to dry by the fire. He also took off his to dry. Then, he rested by her side and gently buried her tiny body into his. At this moment, the usually hateful woman was so vulnerable that Beichen found himself a little entranced, especially by the soft face on his chest. He couldn't resist taking his hand to trace her pale lips.
Then, he felt something hitting his stomach. He looked down and saw a tiny footprint on Yanyue's stomach.
"Do you that think I'm bullying your mother?" he asked ridiculously.
The baby kicked again. Beichen became amused by the small foot that was lightly appearing on the woman's stomach. She was still unconscious, thus unable to feel the kick.
As if taken away by some unknown emotions, Beichen stroked the tiny foot. He felt that this wasn't the first time that he had been in a situation like this. He had a dream once that he had caressed a woman's stomach in the same manner as now. It was a faint dream, but it had felt so real that when he woke up, his eyes were wet from crying in his sleep.
He couldn't understand himself at times, especially when he felt that a different person was living inside of him. At times his heart would ignore his philosophies and sentiments, and he would do something conflicting. Like now. He told himself that he wouldn't feel anything for her or her baby, but he felt warm when those two were in his embrace. It was the kind of heat that emanated from the heart because of security and... perhaps love. And he must admit that the sensation of fatherhood was familiar, though, he couldn't quite pinpoint, why?
"You are nothing more than a toy," he muttered to the unconscious woman. He was convincing himself that these emotions were due to the dangers they had just experienced together. He knew in his heart that he would never fall in love with her.
As if to protest in her sleep, Yanyue snuggled closer to Beichen while whispering, "Jun... it's warm."
"Jun?" The man frowned deeply. "Haven't you learned yet that you belong only to me?"
Yanyue did not answer him. She was in a sad dream that she couldn't hear him at all.
"Do you love me?" Yanyue asked softly. In her dreams, she was speaking to Jun.
A tear left her eye. "I hate you..."
Beichen had done a thorough investigation on this person named Jun. He asked his assistant for the information the first time he heard Yanyue mentioning the name. He felt rage when she whispered that man's name so tenderly against her lips, the lips that kissed and sucked him.
But there was no such person around her with that name, so he believed that person did not exist or was dead. But if Jun was a figment of her imagination, then why did she cry? Why did she dream about Jun as if he was real?
Beichen became irritated because it seemed that this woman lied when she proclaimed her love to him. The simple fact was that she had another man in her heart.
"Until our contract ends, your heart can only be mine."
Beichen's gaze towards the woman was serious and possessive. But there was a hatred buried in those attractive gazes as well.
He grew to hate Yanyue because of her schemes, drugging him and hurting Wanyue every chance she got. She even went as far as killing the unborn baby in Wanyue's stomach. He admitted that he didn't feel earth-shattering sadness for that lost life, but it was his child, so he was angry to some degree.
But, one of the biggest motivations to hate Yanyue was because of her mother, Leela. It was unfortunate that Leela had already passed away, so he could only pour his hatred onto her daughter. Yanyue was unlucky that she was born to be her daughter, and he felt no remorse for tormenting her. Someone had to pay for the past sins, and who else was better to utilize than the beloved daughter?
That dreadful day would remain with him for the rest of his life. He could never undo that scene from his mind. He was eight that year when he witnessed his mother committing suicide. She had fearlessly jumped out of the balcony into the unforgiving ocean, and it was because his father had an affair with a woman named Leela. Beichen promised to destroy that woman along with her family when he became older. But, she died by suicide before he was powerful enough to take action. He was disgusted when he found out that she died because her husband had a mistress. She died just like how his mother had died.
Beichen should have been happy that she met her demise, but he wasn't. Trauma turned hatred was something that his young vengeful mind couldn't grapple with and thus grew accustomed to it. It worsened when his father remarried three months after his mother's death.
Then, came along the daughter, Shen Yanyue. He had a fleeting moment of leaving her alone. But, she didn't stay hidden in the dark because she drugged him and slept with him when he wasn't conscious. It caused a dent in his plan to marry Wanyue. Importantly, it made him recall the wound he had relentlessly tried to suppress. His hatred for Leela resurfaced ten folds, and it all went to her who had woken up the demon inside of him. She had no one to blame for his ruthless opposition. She only had herself to blame for being cunning and scheming like her mother.
"Your sin is being her daughter," Beichen said without affection or warmth.
Then, he grabbed the robes by the fire and covered them. In a situation like now, he would stay vigilant. But ironically, with the woman by his side, he quietly fell asleep, and all the dangers in the forest became a passing dream.
The night flew by with no other movements. Two figures were intertwined tightly next to the smoky embers. Yanyue was the first one to wake up, and she was taken aback by the face in front of her. But, her throbbing head and sore body distracted her, and she felt hot all over her body. The fever had not gone away. It worsened overnight, and Yanyue coughed helplessly.
"What happened to me?" she groaned painfully, coughing again. She noticed her naked body and gasped angrily.
"Beichen, this bastard! What did he do to me?!"
Yanyue was mad and weakly pushed the man away while covering herself with the robe.
"Wake up, you beast!"
Beichen felt a chill and woke up immediately. He had such a good night's sleep that he was confused when he woke up.
"Woman, are you crazy?" he asked coldly, but his voice was attractive and raspy in the morning.
"You're the crazy one! What did you do to me? Where are my clothes?" Yanyue beamed fiercely.
Beichen was fully awake now. He chuckled mockingly, "Don't act so innocent. What could we have done when we're both naked?"
"I warned you last time that don't touch me without permission!"
"And? What can you do to me?"
Yanyue's eyes widened in anger. "I will-"
She coughed again instead of yelling. She couldn't tell if coughing was because she was straining her voice first thing in the morning by yelling, or if it had anything to do with the uncomfortable feeling in her body.
Beichen frowned. He ignored her commotion and raised his palm to check on her forehead again. Yanyue flinched away, but he persisted.
This woman was burning hot. But all she cared about was whether or not he had done anything to her.
Beichen sneered and got up to get dressed, not caring that his unclothed body was exposed. He threw the dried garments back to Yanyue.
"Get dressed. We have to find the way back."
"This is not over-" Yanyue coughed.
"Stop talking if you don't want to die," Beichen warned.
Yanyue frowned and was displeased, but she needed to get dressed, so she decided to forfeit for now.