Imperfect Desires

Author Donald G. Firesmith wrote; 'Nothing seems to tempt fate more than mentioning the possibility of something bad happening.'

That's exactly what Xiu did. She tempted fate when she thought that nothing could go wrong in five minutes. But one should never forget, even a minute is enough to change your whole life. Life and death are both only a blink apart. If the distance between life and death is so close, how can you expect that a minute is not enough to change a life?

Click-Clack...

The sound of her heels on the pavement could be heard as she carefreely scrolled through her phone. She honestly believed herself to be a jinx in her past life but she wasn't gonna do it this time around. However, the silence in her surroundings was really eerie. It didn't bother her until...

That gut feeling came rushing back to her... The same one she had had for weeks now. Someone was following her.

She could feel someone's gaze on the back of her head which made her hair stand on alarm. She neither hurried nor did she slow down. Her pace was exactly the same as before because she wanted to make herself believe that she was just overthinking. It was just her being paranoid. That's exactly what she thought.

"I'm just overthinking again," she reassured herself.

.....

Yan Ying was going through a real struggle since last night she hadn't even slept. First, she heard the news of Xiaoli and Meihui's wedding then she was told that the person she was looking for was herself. Like, did that even make sense?

Even when Xiu stayed at the Jing Family house, Ying had been constantly wondering what exactly happened? Did she also have amnesia? Because one had to know, the first time she heard Destiny Novell's name was from Cali. Before that, she knew nothing about her. Absolutely nothing!

So amnesia could only be a good answer to her questions. Because the rest didn't make sense to her.

After all, no one could use her access card other than herself. There was a possibility of her card being stolen but even that couldn't be possible. Especially because only she knew the unique code associated with her card. Only having the access card was useless to anyone who got it. There was something missing somewhere which she couldn't exactly pinpoint right now.

 Struggling to keep her brain from having a short circuit, she played games on her phone while waiting for Xiu. And silently followed after Xiu keeping a fair distance when Xiu decided to leave. Although she took the role of a guardian angel very seriously, it was getting boring now. 

According to Xin Zimen, he was certain that Xiu's life was in danger but Ying hadn't felt or seen any abnormality in the past three days. But then again, it was too early to say anything. She wasn't that impatient anyway.

"Why is she walking alone at this time of night?" Ying muttered to herself with a frown between her brows as she walked under the guise of darkness easily. "It's unsafe for a lady to be on her own at this time." Ying was literally complaining to herself about how Xiu was being careless. "It's a good thing I'm here."

Suddenly, someone called her, she would have gladly ignored the call if the name flashing on the screen wasn't her grandmother's. If there was one person who could scare Ying in this world, that would be her grandmother. So, she had to take this call and got distracted at the moment.

During this time, she failed to notice the man that started walking right behind Xiu on the pavement. Earlier she wasn't being paranoid, someone was indeed following her but she didn't want to believe it this time as she had done previously.

The man's rough hand extended and came to Xiu's shoulder.

"Ah-!"

The man put his hand over Xiu's face to stop her from screaming from behind. "Don't dare to scream!" The man hissed in a dangerous voice.

Since Ying was keeping her distance from Xiu and since her scream was already muffled before it could come out, Ying didn't really notice it.

Xiu felt a familiar fear overtaking her senses but before it could overwhelm her senses, another strange rush of anger surged forth as Xiu's elbow slammed into his stomach with full force making him gag.

Xiu got out of his grip and glared at him while he did the same through his bloodshot eyes. "Wh*re!"

Xiu who was thinking of running dropped the idea. She couldn't run from a man anyway. He'd catch up. She knew that. She had the experience. But what got the blood to hum in her veins in determination and anger was what he called her.

He rushed over and suddenly his fist was about to slam into her face. Xiu used her hairpin and pierced it right through his shoulder before he could touch her.

"Wh*re?" She repeated as she held his shoulder which was bleeding now and pressed on it. Xiu tilted her head back a little before slamming it right against his. 

Stars burst into her vision which she tried to shake off and so did he while trying to kick her. It was sloppy. One could tell he was drunk when his shoe even came off because of his sloppy kick. Taking advantage of the situation, she easily evaded it before stepping her heel onto his foot and using all her weight to crush his feet.

He pushed her away with much force which made her not only step back but also fall on the pavement harshly. While he was taking a step towards her, he heard a low grunt and then turned his head, his jaw came into contact with someone's foot.

The man fell on the ground and passed out.

Ying was busy on her phone but when Xiu fell that's when she noticed the commotion. She dropped her phone ran over to Xiu's side. After dealing with the man, she saw Xiu sitting there on the cold ground with a blank look on her face. It kind of scared Ying.

"Xiu! Xiu!" she tried to shake her awake but the later stayed unresponsive. "Say something, damn it!"

Xiu turned her head a little when she finally felt the warmth of someone's arms around her and looked up at Ying's face.

She clutched Ying's collar into her fist as she spoke in a low voice, "You came like a knight but without the shining armor." Her words made Ying's eyes-widen in shock while Xiu's head fell to a side and she lost consciousness.