The Divorcee Is A Wicked Black Belly

The base commander was a middle-aged tall, lean man with a scar on his right cheek, marring a handsome face that could have sold millions of bottles of Ralph Lauren. A loud gong sounded somewhere and a few minutes later, the sound of heavy boots running in tandem was heard.

An Ning was not even surprised when a battalion of soldiers burst out of the trees still marching as one body. The phalanx then stopped and saluted the tall scarred man who inspected each and everyone of them with a hawk-like vigilance. The soldiers were dressed in khakis, boots, carried rifles, grenades, and gleaming knives on their waists. They looked elite and strong and extremely formidable. An Ning"s heart sank to the bottom of her soles and died there.

"I think he"s the chief those two guys in the marketplace were talking about," An Ning said, frowning. "He reminds me of someone."

"Who?"

"Don"t remember."

"About 50,000 strong to the man, you think?" Yi Hai asked, keeping his voice neutral.

"Give or take, yes," An Ning answered in the same tone of voice.

50,000 strong compared with the palace"s 5,000 guards. And the bulk of the army was miles away to the north, which was several months of travel back to the capital. Yi Hai swallowed the anxiety in the pit of his stomach.

"When do you think they"re going to launch an attack?" he asked.

"Soon. The weather is clearing up but they"re going to attack sooner than expected, probably before the planting season begins. Better to starve the enemy that way," An Ning said grimly.

"Your majesty..."

"I know what you"re going to say," An Ning cut in. "We don"t have the manpower. The army is far away. And the capital is in shambles right now. But believe it or not we might be in the best position to turn this tide around and win."

"How?"

"We strike first and brutally without guilt or remorse." An Ning"s smile was nearly feral. "Come on, let"s go back."

They retreated in silence, brooding at what they had seen. That the force in Laniang went unnoticed by the palace and the army mean only one thing: that somebody was pulling the strings inside the capital and purposely telling the emperor a bunch of lies. And that somebody was hiding deep in Yuqui because no one else of authority was still alive to plan treacherous plots outside the palace. n.o.body, that is, except the emperor and the empress dowager.

That night, An Ning slept in the open air inside a tent she shared with Yi Hai. The two of them were not in any mood to talk, both busy with their own thoughts and worries. The sky above was clear; the stars twinkled like glowing dust thrown in the vast darkness; and the moon looked down below like a a hanging emoji with its lip split in a mocking smile.

An Ning turned on her stomach and once again peered outside the open tent. It was frustrating trying to think of a way to open a doorway in s.p.a.ce in which a time machine could squeeze itself in and land right there in front of her. It was even more frustrating to try and think of a way to build a time machine with the limited materials she had with her.

Hippolyta built her time machine because she was obviously a f.u.c.king genius. And obviously, she found a way to blast through the continuum of time and s.p.a.ce to get from A to B so why couldn"t she do it again? What was the thing missing? And how did Richard figure it out so easily?

An Ning"s teeth gritted with rage when she thought of her ex-husband. That punk was obviously not going to stop hounding her until she"s bleeding in front of him and begging him to kill her. Yi Hai"s words again popped in her head. Richard had Valerie. His idiot wife willingly gave him a no-contest divorce so he could live happily with his true love so where was the problem? What the h.e.l.l was he so mad about? He couldn"t have blamed her for the soul switch, could he? That was his and Han"s problem and had nothing whatsoever to do with her. Was he mad because she slept with his brother, was that it? In theory though, she really didn"t sleep with Han since the body wasn"t his but Richard"s.

An Ning angrily shook her head. She really wanted to remember her childhood when she and Richard were growing up. Even if the relationship was false and encouraged by Yu Yan to manipulate her mind, she wanted to remember so she could pinpoint the exact time she fell in love with him. He didn"t love her but based on what people told her about him, he seemed to have liked her. Liked her enough to asked her to marry him and even promised to love and protect her until of course the real deal punched him right on the face when he unexpectedly met Valerie.

An Ning admitted to herself that of all the characters in this long-winded story of hers, Richard was the most complex and the most hidden from her. What was it he wanted? Why did he pull her into this world and practically left her to fend for herself? Did he hate her that much?

An Ning thought of the twins. She never really sat down with them and told them about their father. And really, if it was not because of her habit of checking things via DNA testing, she wouldn"t have known who their father really was. Imagine the damage she might have done if she had impulsively told them about Han then to apologize later for her mistake. An Ning thinks to herself that she had also been very unfair to them. Their father, even if it was Han or Richard, should have been an active part of their lives from the start. Considering they skipped their terrible years and jumped to being teenagers overnight, still, they needed to know that they had a father who loved and cared for them even if he couldn"t be with their mother because he loved someone else. That would have been the ideal situation for everyone and yet it didn"t happen. Was it because of her?

An Ning sighed and cupped her chin on her folded hands. She didn"t remember and with all that memory lost, all she had felt for Richard were gone as well. It was sad and inexplicable but it was not something she should be blamed for, right?

This time, An Ning"s sigh was long and drawn out.

"Why don"t you just sing a sad song and get it over it? It"s annoying," Yi Hai"s m.u.f.fled voice was peeved and testy.

"You"re merely my subject so I"m ignoring your comments."

"Shut up. I"m tired and I want to sleep. But you"re keeping me awake with all this turning and sighing. If you can"t be quiet while trying to be a drama queen go and sleep outside."

Without a word, An Ning pulled her sleeping bag outside and continued with her vigil still in full drama mode.

What did Richard found out that enabled him to travel back and forth in time, and even had the ability to pull not only her but Du Lu along with him?

An Ning followed the flight of a falling star as her mind wondered. The falling star burst out of the dark sky in a kaleidoscope of light. Like a spent firework, it burned and fizzled, leaving behind a trail of tiny embers that lasted even when the star has reached ground and died.

An Ning"s brain suddenly exploded. She sat up and stared up at the sky foolishly. She wanted to find a simpler way to access time and s.p.a.ce and there it was, staring right back at her. Hippolyta didn"t find the way back and forward because she was too busy looking at the moon and failed to see the stars.

An Ning laughed crazily and ran back inside the tent to look for her bag. She found it under Yi Hai"s head and yanked it out ruthlessly, not caring about the loud and angry cry that greeted her action. She carried the bag outside and took pen and paper out of it. She always carried her pink Kitty notebook with her because it was nice to look at and Lux gave it to her last Mother"s day.

She hastily wrote the words down, afraid that she would forget or the a.n.a.lysis forever lost in her excitement. She wrote a diagram, explaining the points A to B to C and back again. She hoped that Hippolyta would understand what she way saying because even she doubted whether she"s right or not. If she"s wrong, then everything would be lost. But if she"s right, then the possibility of the family being back together again was high.

She underscored the importance of the words "Point of Origin" in caps and bold underlines. She needed Hippolyta to know that this is where it all started and that she needed to go back and retrace her steps to find the true path. Richard already found it. It was there, waiting for them to find it as well. Now, all she needed to do was wait.

"You"re really dead set on bothering me tonight, aren"t you, lady?" Yi Hai"s voice was extremely peeved.

An Ning didn"t even look at him as she sat and pondered. Her indifference made Yi Hai madder as well.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Go back to sleep and don"t bother me," An Ning said absent-mindedly. "Oh, and keep the snores down. It"s irritating."

Yi Hai glared at her then as she continued to ignore him, he left in a huff, his long hair tumbling down his rigid back in attractive disarray.

The night settled down to a sonorous peace. An Ning snuggled inside her sleeping bag with her senses all alert. She couldn"t sleep even if she wanted to. The excitement was unbearable. The hope in her heart as loud as the beating of her heart.

When the familiar sound came, she jumped to her feet and waited with bated breath. The whirring noise grew louder, then there was a sort of regurgitating sound, like the emptying of a whale"s stomach. The dark s.p.a.ce trembled, literally shaking like layers of jelly then the two silhouettes emerged and An Ning was finally looking at Hippolyta"s face who broke into a wide grin when she saw her. The more reserved Li Cheung nodded his head in greeting but An Ning could see the gentle smile in his eyes, eyes that reminded her of her mother, Ceres.

Before the two of them could say anything, An Ning pulled out her notebook and flashed it in front of her. Hippolyta looked at An Ning then the words written on the pink paper and her eyes slowly widened in surprise. She grabbed the pen and paper from Li Cheung"s grasp and began to write.

The words, when An Ning read them, made her smile. She nodded and wrote down her notebook, "Falling Star". Hippolyta read it and laughed. Li Cheung looked on, totally clueless about the source of their mirth but he still smiled, happy to see his wife and granddaughter share an intimacy even though they couldn"t reach or touch or speak to each other.

"Everything alright?" Hippolyta wrote.

"Eveything is fine," An Ning replied. "Just excited to see you."

When Li Cheung saw the words, he took the pen and paper from his wife"s hands and wrote back: "There is a way now?"

"Yes."

Li Cheung smiled then went back to his notebook.

"You look exactly like your grandmother. Exactly the same. Like twins."

"Everybody says that, especially Mom."

"Ceres is okay."

"She"s fine. Married to my father."

Hippolyta was shocked.

"Ceres married your dad?" she wrote.

"They"re away on their honeymoon."

Hippolyta and Li Cheung seemed absolutely stunned by the news.

An Ning went back to her notebook and added more surprising news.

"Twins? You have twins?" Li Cheung wrote, his face beaming with surprise and excitement.

"Castor and Pollux. I miss them."

The three of them shared a sad smile then Hippolyta again grabbed the notebook and wrote:

"Everything will be alright now that we know the way home."

"I love you, guys. Really, really miss you."

An Ning smiled through her tears, her shoulders shaking with her silent sobs. She suddenly missed her parents, especially An Ma, who fell out of love with the fake Ceres but refused to leave her because he loved his daughter too much to abandon her. He had always been there for her, even during the times when she disappointed him.

"We love you, too, granddaughter." Li Cheung wrote. "We will see each other again, I promise."

Hippolyta smiled through her tears at An Ning as the bubble wove and danced around them. Then the layer broke and there was only darkness where the phantom figures of Hippolyta and Li Cheung once stood.

An Ning remained on the same spot, as if unwilling to leave the only source of familiarity she shares with this time and s.p.a.ce she currently occupies. She cut a very lonely figure standing there in her thin pajamas, her long unbound hair flowing down past her hips, her expression cold and remote.

Watching her, Yi Hai felt a sudden jolt in his heart, suddenly realizing that this girl, who calls herself the empress dowager and her highness the queen, belonged to two different worlds as different as night and day. And yet, he has never seen her fear something or someone until tonight, when the ephemeral shadows of her grandparents vanished before her eyes, leaving her alone and unprotected in the dark.

He stirred but she didn"t even glance in his direction. Feeling dejected and somewhat miffed, he went back inside the tent and tried to catch up on his sleep. When he woke up, An Ning was still coc.o.o.ned inside her sleeping bag fast asleep, her nose red and her lashes still wet and damp with tears.

Yi Hai hesitated then doubled back to camp, intending to serve her breakfast when she wakes up. He told the men to pack up and get ready. He looked back. The tent he shared with An Ning was being folded back to its bag. The wild hair was swaying to and fro as she strolled down the path towards a river some distance away.

He went to the back of the van and pulled out a small stove and light it up. He poured the oil and cracked several eggs on the sizzling heat, laying several pieces of meat as well while he poured water on a can and heat it up. He then arranged the eggs and meat on a paper plate along with the fork and spoon. When the water started boiling, he ripped a pack of instant coffee and sugar and mixed it together with the water. The potato flat bread that An Ning liked and which his father baked the night before they left, was tenderly sandwiched between the eggs and the pieces of meat.

Yi Hai then pulled out a tray and placed the plate and the cup of steaming coffee on it and with jaunty steps walked over the site where once stood the tent. He never even noticed the men"s knowing look, or their grins, or how totally comfortable he was handling things that belonged in the future he hadn"t even seen.

He only noticed the smile that broke the sadness in An Ning"s eyes when she saw the tray as she hurried towards him.