Take My Breath Away

"Rat-a-tat-tat." Debbie was startled by a sudden knock at the door. It was already well past her usual sleeping time and she wondered who could it be at this ungodly hour. She had just unzipped her down jacket. She had no choice but to zip it up again.

"Who is it?" she called out.

"Young girl, it's me." It sounded like the voice of the village head's wife.

Her guess was right. When Debbie opened the door, she saw the village head's wife and her handsome son standing outside.

The woman smiled pleasantly on seeing Debbie and asked, "Young girl, did I wake you?"

Debbie shook her head. "No, it's okay. I hadn't slept yet. Is everything okay?" she answered, confused as to why these two were paying her a visit at night.

The woman turned towards her son. He immediately lifted up something from the ground and handed it to Debbie. "This is our electric warming fan. My mother and I have brought it to you so that you don't get cold," he told her coyly.

"But...no... I can't take this. This is too generous." Debbie was deeply moved. As far as she knew, there was not even a water heater in the village. How on earth did they manage to procure an electric warming fan for her?

She didn't want to prove a burden to anyone, but the village head's wife was having none of it and straightforwardly asked her son to carry the fan into Debbie's room. Before Debbie knew how and what, the boy had already plugged the fan into a socket and the room was filled with the slight hum of its motor.

"Thank you so much! But if I keep the fan in my room, what about you? You'll be cold at night without it," Debbie protested, though she wasn't entirely ungrateful. If she had guessed right, then this might have been the only electric warming fan in the whole village.

With a genuine smile, the woman responded, "We're used to this weather, young girl, but you've come from the big city. You can't fall asleep at night without it. Please sleep tight. We should get going now!"

Then, she held her son's hand and they left together, leaving Debbie to her confused thoughts.

With the warming fan on, the room was soon filled with a warm ambiance. Sitting at the edge of the bed in her thoughts, Debbie even forgot to lie down.

She was confused. 'Why does the village head's wife treat me so well? Is Jared's joke true? Does she really want me to stay and marry her son? Truth be told, her son is quite handsome. But...I'm married. I have Carlos. If that's why this whole special-treatment-thing is going on, I'm afraid their wish can't come true, and it's got to stop, ' she mused.

As it turned out, she couldn't be farther from the truth. This was proven when she went to get some hot water.

It wasn't only the village head's wife who was treating her so well. Debbie found that almost every person of the village who was a part of her life at the moment was being very kind. Even the owner of the house which she was staying in gave her special care. When she walked out of her bedroom and told the hostess that she wanted some hot water, the hostess immediately brought three thermoses to her bedroom.

That wasn't the only thing she did. Earlier, she had

as staring at her without saying a word. Debbie looked around and found nobody else here. Confused, she asked, "What do you want?"

Gus kept his eyes on her without responding.

Debbie got goose bumps by his gaze. "Dammit. Hey, you're a man and I'm a woman. Don't stare at me that way. I'm scared..."

Gus rolled his eyes at her. He snorted, "You're as stupid as all the others!"

Debbie was rendered speechless. What did he want? 'Is he here to stir up some new trouble for me?' she thought.

With that in mind, Debbie put her phone back and stood up from the big rock. She was about to leave but Gus stopped her. "What's going on between you and Carlos Huo?" Gus had happened to overhear someone's words. Whoever it was, the person had said that Carlos demanded people here give special care to Debbie.

With Carlos' name being mentioned, Debbie turned around and spat out, "Wimpy kid, just mind your own business and don't poke your big nose where it doesn't belong."

'What? Wimpy kid? Me?'

Gus' face darkened. If Debbie weren't a woman, he would surely have punched her black and blue now.

After Debbie had walked away, Gus immediately texted his brother. "Curtis, Debbie called me wimpy kid! How dare she do that? I need to go back to Y City now. Arrange for someone to pick me up. I don't want to take that goddamn bus again!"

The signal was really bad in the village, and Gus had to try several times before the message went through.

A few moments later, Gus received Curtis' reply with only a few words. "Debbie is right. Just stay there."

Gus was angry at his cold response. He wondered why his brother always sided with Debbie.

He was sure that Curtis loved Colleen, so there shouldn't have been any untoward relationship between Curtis and Debbie. 'When I return home, I need to ask my father if they mistook me and Debbie when we were born. Could it be possible that Debbie is their biological daughter and I'm the wrong one?'

There were several times when Gus felt like Debbie was Curtis' real younger sister and he himself was the one who had been adopted to protect Debbie.