章 2: A Dog Became My Husband?!
Valerie woke up to the sound of short, sharp cracking noises. She opened her eyes again and looked around. She sat up with her legs still on the ground and remembered how she fell off of a cliff and stared at a distance.
It was not her first time being left unconscious, waking up to find herself in the woods.
Her head was a mess, and her eyes lost focus. Closing her eyes tight, she waited for a few seconds before opening it back. She rubbed her eyes with her hands and saw a man sitting at a distance, tending the fire.
Narrowing her eyes, she tried to angle herself and look at the man's face but failed to do so. All she could ever see was his bare and broad back, and his hair was similar to that with a mix of brown and gray in color.
A roaring fire in the wood crackled as it burned. Valerie could see fires crackle as small branches pop and snap from the heat. The unknown man kept on placing twigs and branches for it to keep on burning.
It was a weird atmosphere.
She wasn’t sure who the man was so he was a possible enemy. Valerie still had the desire to live. She exhaled deeply and tried to rack her brain out of something. But in the end, her brain would only focus on how hungry she was.
Her stomach growled, and she immediately held her tummy with her right hand and noticed that there was a strange, mysterious mark on her wrist.
"In the middle of nowhere, where I am alone with an unknown man, and being left unconscious several times," Valerie muttered in a small voice as she stared at her flower embellished tulle gown that was already ruined and stained with sweat and dirt at the same time. "The only thing I could think of is food."
The man crouching near the fire must have heard her as he slowly turned around and met gazes with him. At a distance, she could see his amber-colored eyes returning her gaze.
"You are awake now, lady!" The man stood up and approached her. He spoke with a rich, deep, but penetrating voice. His eyes expressed deep concern, "Are you fine? Are you hurt somewhere? Please, tell me. I can help you!"
Valerie nodded at him with her chin and noticed that the man was not wearing any shirt on him. He appeared incredibly tall and looked like he was twenty centimeters taller than her. She could see his bare chest and toned abdominal muscles that were silhouetted by the flames.
Her stare went on to the man's lower body and immediately averted her gaze when she found out that he was only wearing a thin black piece of clothing covering his private part.
'Get yourself together, Valerie,' she thought to herself and mentally slapped herself out of it.
It was certainly not the time for her to marvel over a man's body, right?
Suddenly, Valerie became wary of how she appeared. She looked like a mess now, with her hair becoming unruly after she fell off of the cliff. It was dishevelled, twisted around, rumpled, and dirty.
"I am fine," she said with a calm voice. "I guess. Thank you for your concern."
However, as she tried to stand up, pain shot through her ankle. Her left foot could not support herself too much and she was about to fall to the ground. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for impact but it never came.
The man was already quick enough to hold her left forearm and support her waist. She opened her eyes and met the same amber eyes that stared at her with concern. Contrary to his lean and muscular body, Valerie found out that his face reminded her of a puppy that was eager to please.
An adorable puppy everyone would want to pet the moment you laid your eyes on it.
Having prominent double eyelids and a sharp angular jawline, the man's overall facial features made him look like a handsome young man Valerie would like. Moreover, he had a face that resembled the qualities that she wanted for a man.
High cheekbones, round eyes, narrow nose bridge, and tall nose; every feature looked like God perfectly created him.
The only thing that made him stand out was the pair of fluffy ears on top of his head.
Wait, was the man wearing puppy ears on his head?
She snapped herself out of the trance and said, "Thank you. May I ask who you are? Where was the dog that I saved earlier?" She also raised her wrist and showed it off to the man. "And what is this mark that suddenly appeared on my wrist? Do you know?"
The man exhaled and let go of her support slowly, frowning a little at her words. "My name is Kai. I’m the one that you rescued earlier."
As if there was a problem with Valerie's brain processing, she narrowed her eyes and looked at the man who introduced himself as Kai. "You are the... dog that I rescued earlier?"
"Yes," He nodded and reached out for her wrist, holding her fingers in place. "This is the mark that I created. As thanks for saving my life. I am yours!"
Valerie furrowed her brows as her forehead creased. The more she tried to process everything, the harder it was for her to make something out of the situation.
"Mine?” Valerie echoed. “What do you mean?"
"I have offered myself to become your ‘husband’," Despite Valerie's confusion. Kai's face lit up just by talking to her. His eyes resembled that of a crescent moon when he smiled, and dimples appeared both on his cheeks.
“A h-husband?”
"Isn't that great?" he asked. That was when Valerie noticed the tail that was behind him, wagging eagerly.
This time, a tail appeared behind the man? What was going on with her eyesight? Was she hallucinating?
"You offered yourself?" Valerie's jaw dropped as her stare fell on the man's full lips for a split second. "To me?" What the heck was going on?
The dog became a man, and then the man became her husband. What kind of sorcery was happening? How would she process such unbelievable information that had been given to her?
At this point, Valerie was starting to doubt whether she was actually dead from that fall off the office building. Perhaps she had hallucinated everything up while her soul was in limbo between life and death, desperate for one last hurrah.
Had she craved love so desperately as to conjure up a husband? Maybe.
Was she in an alternate reality where animals could turn into humans at will? Perhaps.
Was this a good thing or a bad thing for her? Or maybe it was something in between?
Then again, Valerie would prefer to have a cute but muscular husband rather than live her life betrayed by her step-sister and fiance.
Just thinking of it made her blood boil in anger. She was the victim of both her step-sister and her fiance’s betrayal. If this were a place where both Helena and James did not exist in this world, then she would rather live here and enjoy a long youthful life.
"That is right, lady—” Kai started to say but all of a sudden, he stood still.
"I hope you can explain more," Valerie said as she tried to look for answers. "Did you know that you are the first person that I have seen ever since I woke up in the woods—”
She wanted to demand more answers from Kai but failed to do so. The smile that he had on his face as he suddenly turned serious as he slapped a hand onto her lips, shushing her immediately.
There was a sudden change of atmosphere, and humidity arose. The firewood and twigs that the man had placed earlier were slowly growing black smoke. As he sniffed in the air, Kai spoke in a low tone.
"I can smell the scent of the hyenas," he whispered as the tone of his voice got deeper. "They’re back."
Valerie’s blood ran cold at his words.
Doom was approaching both of them yet again.
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