Despite her shock, it certainly wasn't the first time someone had said something like that to her.
The first time it happened, her father was in the middle of a large scale project of building an elite residential complex and being the superstitious man he was, he invited a few shamans — priests, daoists, whatever — to perform a ritual for good luck. Later on, Shalei learned that that was a common thing among businessmen. The more powerful they were, the more they trusted in supernatural powers that were supposed to have a hand in their successful endeavors.
Indeed, thousands of years ago, the existence of Gods were recorded in history books but humans had continued to evolve and learned to rely solely on their own technology to flourish. The Gods ended up being taken merely as myths and legends.
Shalei was someone who had difficulty believing in the existence of supernatural entities, one among many things that his father despised about her. What choice did she have? She couldn't bring herself to worship any abstract and glorified figure whom she hadn't even seen yet!
The point was the elderly shaman named Jeen, who claimed that she had lived long enough to personally witness the so-called Gods, had taken one look at her and convulsed out of…shock? Horror? Fear?
Her body shook wildly, eyes almost bulging out of their sockets and foam forming in her mouth, pointing at five-years-old Shalei with a frenzied look. "Cursed… oh, the cursed child has been born again! Disaster! Disaster will befall us…!"
She struggled out of the hold of security guards twice her size with inhuman strength which shocked everyone present, then broke into a mad dash out of the construction site straight to the middle of the road. Before anyone could react, a truck barrelled in with high speed and slammed into her body. She was dead on the spot.
Fortunately, the project hadn't been announced to the public yet thus no reporter was present.
Shalei's memory of that year was blurry, after all it had been twelve years since, but somehow she could vividly recall the intense dread and despair in the shaman's murky eyes.
After that incident, the shaman was buried quietly and her death was written as an accident due to careless driving. The project continued without a hitch and the residential complex became one of the most sophisticated and sought after in the mere span of three years.
All in all, everything ended well except her father who became visibly disturbed by the shaman's last words. It was also the year that he slowly distanced himself from the family, often argued with her mother in the middle of the night, and started not to come home. Sometimes, when they chanced upon each other, Shalei could catch a glimpse of apprehension and fear in his eyes.
Out of genuine curiosity, Shalei had gone to seek another shaman behind her parents' back. Yet every time, she would return empty-handed. Either they offered to read the lines in her palm or tried to coax her into buying the charms which they claimed would be able to keep her out of danger.
Nobody else had taken one glance at her and reacted strongly.
Years crawled and Shalei gradually forgot about the matter altogether, until the appearance of the boy
Could it be that she was really cursed? One time, she could write it off as a mere coincidence but twice? Surely, that was something worth investigating about. However, she couldn't even prove that the boy indeed existed. What if Shalei was really hallucinating?
"What are you thinking about?"
The voice snapped her out of her reverie and she turned to find Sebastian adding tentatively. "...if this humble one may ask."
Sebastian wasn't even looking at her. His gaze went past her shoulder and something told Shalei that he wasn't this kind of… awkward and inept man. His effort of not making eye contact was commendable. Was he really that uncomfortable with her presence?
As much as Shalei wanted to tease him about it, the appearance of the strange boy had drained her mentally and she couldn't bring herself to joke. Moreover, she was still waiting for her parents' bodyguard to come and take her away. "Nothing." She took a peek at the tray on the table. Steam was still puffing out of it. Shalei felt her stomach grumble as she made her way across the room. "What do you have here?"
It was all thanks to the lesson of facial expression management that Shalei's jaws didn't drop to the floor. However, the subtle twitch of the corner of her lips was enough to scream her shock. She had already convinced herself that the kidnappers this time were awfully loaded but the sight in front of her was enough to make her re-evaluate everything.
The metal tray only had a scoop of white, mushy rice that clearly looked like it had been cooked with too much water, stir fry yellowish vegetables and a few thin slices of meat that didn't look appetizing at all. Honestly, even a bowl of instant noodle was better than this. Throughout years of experience of being taken hostage, this was the first time she had been offered such…unpalatable food. Were they meant to torture her? It wasn't like they were trapped in this place with the shortage of food.
She narrowed her eyes at Sebastian which was equivalent to, "Are you kidding me?"
Sebastian furrowed his brows, the lines of his mouth pressing tight. "This is the best we can afford right now."
Shalei drawled, sounding not sarcastic in the slightest but still managed to send the message across. The skill she had perfected throughout the years. "Sure…"
Rich enough to hire servants and THIS kind of fine specimen as the kidnapper but so poor that they couldn't afford to give her a full meal? Sure, she understood this predicament fully. They were truly out to torture her. And they succeeded. Food was the most important thing to Shalei after her mp3 player and now that she was deprived of both—
"This humble one apologizes." Sebastian gave a straight ninety degree bow before Shalei could continue down the dangerous line of thoughts. The degree of his politeness kept surprising her and he sounded so genuinely guilty that Shalei started to feel bad for snapping at him. Damn it.
She let out a huge sigh. "Stop treating me so formally, will you?" It's not like she was anyone important, Shalei added inwardly. Well, she kinda was, but only up until they received the ransom money, or whatever they were going to demand of her parents. After that, Shalei's worth would become nil. She tried not to think about Sebastian looking at her like she was a worthless shit after everything was over. It would be too pathetic of her to be disappointed like that.
"...This humble one can't do that."
Shalei huffed. This was one stubborn man. "Then stop bowing. Lift your head, Seth."
Shalei knew that she could sound imposing if she wished but she didn't expect Sebastian to whip his head up so quickly that she could hear a faint crack from the movement. His eyes widened by a fraction, blue eyes swirling like the shade from the deepest part of the ocean. "...As you wish." He murmured in that unfairly deep voice of his. His eyelids dropped yet somehow, Shalei could vividly imagine a pair of flattened ears atop of his head and fluffy tail that lowered in despondency. Ugh, talk about dirty minds. Keep yourself together, Shalei!
Shalei shook her head and lifted the spoon begrudgingly. She cut a small piece of meat and brought it into her mouth together with the mushy rice and ugh… she grimaced. It tasted like something that had been left out in the open for days.
She could feel Sebastian's eyes trained on top of her head and for God's sake, had someone pointed out to him how intense his gaze could be? Ugh, when did it get so hot around here? Shalei hastily reached for the glass of water and gulped it down.
"I understand." She said after she could finally move her tongue again. "Really. So you don't need to look so…guilty." In fact, Sebastian's expression almost didn't change at all. Was it weird that Shalei could understand him? "I know that you don't have any choice."
"...You do?"
"Oh trust me, I understand your line of work better than you think I am." She shrugged nonchalantly. This shitty treatment she received wasn't Sebastian's fault. He was only an underling who ought to follow orders from the higher ups. Those bastards were the ones who were to blame. Shalei was going to complain to her mother after everything ended. "Have gone through this countless times before, you know?"
Sebastian hummed thoughtfully.
"So…" She pointed at the empty chair opposite her. "Sit. Then you're going to tell me about yourself."