- Two weeks later -
“May, wake up.”
This was the beginning of my new life. I would be living in Bangkok with Jacques and Sherry, who now went by the name Everleigh. According to Sherry, Lee Jung had provided us with a new identity each, and Jacques changed his last name as well, from Jacques Jones to Jacques Jensen.
My new identity was Maybel Wright, May for short.
I didn’t know how the last two weeks passed, but out of my cage, everything seemed to get better as Jacques promised. While I no longer felt my body was disgusting as before, it was only that fear of darkness in me that struck at night.
He was always there for me.
His voice always calmed me, and
“What did the specialist say today?” Sherry was lying on the couch with her bump pointed upwards.I giggled, staring towards Jacques.Jacques adopted a serious expression on his face, looking glum. “Erm, she needs a long series of therapy sessions to recover. That’s for occupational therapy.”“For psychiatry, it will depend on herself. We won’t know for sure.”She immediately pushed her bankbook towards him. I widened my eyes curiously at the massive number of zeros in her account.“Hey, you’ve got a lot of money!” I chuckled, bouncing on the nearby recliner. She instantly cupped her hands protectively over her bump.
When I got back to the house, I found the door was left wide open. Immediately, I rushed into Sherry’s bedroom, but the door, too, was open. A few of Sherry’s belongings lay strewn over the carpeted floor, including her phone and a few toiletries. But she was nowhere to be found.A pool of liquid, most of which had dried up by now, left a mark on the black carpet.My intuition told me it must have happened minutes while I was unconscious earlier. Emotions rushed inside me.What do I do now?“Piper.”I heaved a sigh to hear Jacques’ voice.As he came towards me, I flung myself into his arms, still panicking, “Sher…Sherry… she&hellip
We were in the hospital, and I held onto Jacques, while watching Sherry holding her baby and talking to him.Though I didn’t say it out loud, her son resembled her, but also had inherited part of Anderson’s features. It made me think of how I wished I could give Syl a family of his own. And now, I wanted to give Jacques a family.I didn’t want to tell him that right now, but I was eager to get to a gynaecologist to determine whether I could ever have a baby.Jacques, however, wasn’t keen on sending me to the gynaecologist, as if he was afraid the outcome of seeing the doctor would traumatise me. Thus, I put down my plan to see the doctor, and just went for my usual appointments.During this time, the neighbours offered to help Sherry with the baby
Sherry hadn’t noticed the difference in me, nor did she see the tear of my dress. She handed Jacques a sum of money. As Jacques had his back turned to me, he didn’t see me enter.Her son, Andrew, was asleep in the Pack and Play in the living room. I understood she must have just received another instalment payment from Lee Jung.As usual, I had to fake a cheerful smile, speaking in a high-pitched voice, “I’m heading to my room!”She didn’t keep me at all. Neither did Jacques follow. I knew they were discussing. Probably discussing my matters, or possibly what Sherry wanted to do in the future.I locked myself in the bathroom and broke down in tears. Tears that I was reluctant to allow The Master to see. I couldn’t understan
I saw a few holes at the top of the bag, probably to prevent me from suffocation, but most of it made me feel it was dark and dizzy being inside the bag. A hundred questions flooded my mind, which was thinking whether I would make it back alive, or who it was that wanted my life. But being in hell before changed my mindset about everything. During my occupational therapy sessions, I used them as an opportunity to rebuild myself. Starting from my strength and my stamina. I worked out until I couldn’t any more. So, if I would fight to the death, if that was what it took for me to live. Instead of screaming in panic, I calmed my senses and took my time to figure out an escape plan. The atmosphere outside the bag felt chilly, but I bore with it. A chance to be taken while you were in your bra and panties was rare, I had to make the best out of i
“Serve the Master for one night.”“And after that?”“Kill him.”The idea of killing the Master with my own hands was gratifying for me. It was like music to my ears. But what were the chances of succeeding? He had dozens of men at his command in Bangkok. Neither did I know the reason for his presence in Bangkok.Had it anything to do with me or Sherry? Or did he have ties to anyone here?I was sure he was a difficult target to take down. He had to be a powerful figure to lead the mafia. With my weakness right now, I could barely brandish a knife, much less kill the Master with it.“That doesn’t seem possible in one night,&rdquo
Remembering the self-defence tricks Jacques had taught me, I curled my body easily and went right to the floor, scrambling as fast as I could for the dagger.No matter what, Lenard Lee had to go down tonight. Hearing his fast footsteps, I evaded his grasp in the nick of time as he made a powerful lunge towards me.“Don’t come near!” I shouted, flashing the weapon in front of his eyes.He just laughed.“Stab me then! Go ahead, do it!”He waved his hands at me with a sickening laugh. As he came closer, I held the dagger more firmly, swallowing hard. My hands felt clammy. I had never hurt a fly all my life, and it just scared me more of how I would kill him.
-One and a half years later- Saying goodbye was harder than it seemed. The time I spent with him made me love my life with Jacques, even if it was a loveless marriage. Two weeks after our second-year anniversary, we registered our marriage at the nearest district office. It was an intricate process as it involved us getting clearance from the embassy of our home country. However, Jacques settled it easily and in addition, he even threw us a special celebration. We restricted the private party to just the two of us, and it was a secret from everyone we knew. In my heart, I still wondered if it all didn’t come up to this, would I be walking down the aisle with Syl instead? Maybe then, yes. But now, it would never happen in this lifetime. It was a truth I found it