บท 154: Fear

JINHAI

Jinhai stumbles out of the bathroom holding his stomach. His lips were still red and swollen but the look in his eyes was a mixture of fear and disbelief. How could she eat that!? That was by far the worst thing he's ever eaten! So spicy!

Not only did it burn going down, it burned coming out... He shivers and shakes it off before walking to his study and downing more cooling tea. He slams the teacup down and grits his teeth with determination.

Xin appears in the door and kneels before saying "The young Miss is being followed by a man who calls himself Li Jun. She hired him to protect her." Jinhai slowly turns to Xin with a frown. Hired a man to protect her? From what?

She was perfectly capable of protecting herself... Was she perhaps interested in this man? Xin clears his voice and continues "They ran into Bandits and..." Jinhai raises a dark eyebrow and asks "And?" Xin nervously licks his lips before saying "She... She blew them a kiss. They all started laughing but then I noticed something was wrong."

Xin's head snaps up so fast, it slightly startles Jinhai. Jinhai stares down at Xin with a frown and yells out "Out with it!" Xin's eyes fill with fear as he says "They couldn't stop laughing! They kept laughing and laughing until they... until they died!"

Jinhai looks at Xin with mild surprise before saying "Exactly... so why did she hire the male?" Xin looks at his Master like he's lost his mind. THEY DIED OF LAUGHTER!! FROM A KISS!! And he's worried about why she hired the guy!?

Jinhai waves Xin away and says "Never mind. I'll go there myself." Xin watches Jinhai disappear midstep with shock. Was his Master okay? Did that woman give him poison!? He quickly gets up and follows after his Master with confusion and worry.

~~~~~~~~~

WILLOW

I giggle and quickly try to cover it up but it just keeps coming back. When I hear a deep voice say "Someone seems to be really enjoying herself." My giggle completely dries up. I glance over to see Jinhai walking over with cold eyes.

I give him a small smirk and say "A little. You were gone for a while, I got bored." Jinhai comes to a stop next to me and looks down at me with those dark, cold eyes before slightly smirking and saying "It seems I shouldn't ever let you get bored..."

I slightly frown at that but before I can say anything, Li Jun stumbles back with wood. He drops the wood down in a pile but when he looks up and sees Jinhai, he jumps back and quickly grabs his sword. I snort and say "Calm down, Rambo. He's with me."

How did Li Jun survive this long? I shake my head and point to the wood before saying "Hurry, I'm hungry." Li Jun releases his sword and slightly nods at Jinhai before quickly making a fire. When he takes to long to light the wood, I flick my finger and watch with satisfaction when the whole thing lights up.

Li Jun falls back on his ass with smoking eyebrows and says "Wow! I've never had that happen before!" I chuckle again as I place the pot on the fire and wait. Jinhai narrows his eyes on Li Jun before looking to me and saying "Ah, I see. You were bored..."

He then walks over and sits by the fire. Li Jun continues to feed the fire as Mango licks his lips. When Li Jun goes to sit down, he almost sits on Mango. "Hey! Watch it!" Mango yells out before jumping down and running to me.

Li Jun stumbles back and stares at Mango with wide eyes and stutters "It iiiit talks!" I raise a brow and say "Good observation skills..." Li Jun frowns and me and asks "Obse... obver... what?" I chuckle again as I wave him off and say "Nothing."

I glance back to Jinhai and ask "Where are the women?" Jinhai keeps a straight face as he says "No need. You're here, right?" I raise both eyebrows at that and slowly lean back. That's going to be a problem. I stare him down but he doesn't look away.

He stares right back at me as nothing but the fire and the surrounding bugs can be heard. I'm going to have to get creative with this one. He matches me blow for blow so I can't face him head-on. Suddenly, an idea comes to mind.

"Maaango~" I call out with a smile causing him to stiffen. He slowly turns to me with fear causing me to chuckle as I say "Remember our last Halloween party?" Mango slowly nods his head with hesitation. Still not understanding but I give him my evil little smile as I say "Those treats really were the best... Would you like to have some with me?"

Mango frowns before it clicks. His entire face transforms as he matches my evil grin and nods his head while saying "Oh yeah! They were soooo good!" I chuckle and quickly reach into the rune to pull out a few candy fingers and gummy eyeballs.

Now I should warn you. These things are top-notch when it comes to looking like the real thing. Even I had a hard time eating them the very first time. I take a single finger and hold it out to Mango.

Mango makes a face as he shakes his head and says "The bones are too hard. I like the eyeballs more. They're way juicier!" I give him an approving smirk as I nod and say "You know, you're right!" I pull out a sticky, slimy gummy eyeball and hand it to Mango while I take my own.

I hold the eyeball up to the firelight so that Jinhai can get a good look before popping it into my mouth. It's so quiet, it sounds like the surrounding bugs are even watching and waiting. As I bite into the gummy eyeball, it makes a small 'pop' noise.

Red gummy juice slips out of my mouth and threatens to roll down my chin but I quickly catch it and lick it up with a small. "Mmmm, so good." I say popping another 'eyeball' in my mouth and biting down. When I hear gaging, I look up to see Li Jun throwing up.

I glance to Jinhai to see him watching me with wide eyes but he doesn't move or say anything. He looks frozen... I smile at him, showing him my red-stained teeth before reaching for a 'finger' and biting into it.

The crunch carries through the night air like a true bone breaking. Li Jun throws up again and tries to walk away but doesn't make it far before throwing up again. Jinhai remains frozen... I think I broke him.

I glance over to Mango to see that he had bitten into the 'eyeball' and was now licking up the gooey inside. These were really good. I hand him another 'eyeball' before finishing the finger. I pull out my last 'eyeball' and lift it up to Jinhai "Would you like to try it? It's very sweet."

He looks to the 'eyeball' and swallows hard before slowly and silently shaking his head. HAH! Now he'll definitely go running for the hills. I shrug my shoulders and pop the last 'eyeball' in my mouth and bite down. It 'pops' again as the sweet tangy inside fills my mouth. My face lights up with a satisfied smile as my eyes meet Jinahi's.