The Story Of Dusk

However, before Senja could answer that, there was a commotion out of the library, apparently there was someone who would like to come inside and was blocked by the shadow guard.

"What is it?" Gong Xu frowned when he saw Senja was staring at the door.

"Someone is coming." Senja replied, her face fell.

"I bet that is your father." Gong Xu tilted his head toward the door.

"You win." Senja said sarcastically. "He is amazing, right? He can"t let me off even for awhile." She said with a shrug.

Gong Xu smiled on her remarked. "Tell him to not do something stupid, or you will expose his wrong deed to Commander Dam."

"That is a threat!" Senja shrieked, how she could threaten him? "He will kill me right away."

"He will not, if something happen to you at this moment, right after you just came back, Commander Dam wouldn"t sit idly. Trust me." Gong Xu encouraged her to take an action.

"But…" Senja was afraid. "If he can"t kill me then he will hit me…"

"He will not." Gong Xu was certain with his words. "He will think thousand times before he do that at time like this."

"Really?" Senja squinted her eyes, didn"t believe with what Gong Xu had suggested. "He is arrogant, do you really think I will survive after I offend him?"

Gong Xu frowned. "Talk slowly." He grumbled.

Senja then repeated her words slowly.

"He is arrogant, but he also an ambitious person." Gong Xu knew a little bit about the history of Black Sword Clan and the first Emperor of Azura. "He wants something that only your grandfather could give to him. If he is going to make a mistake now, his chance to get what he wants, would be diminished."

This time, Senja was the one who frowned.

"You really didn"t know about your own clan"s history, don"t you?" Gong Xu was surprised by this revelation. "You have to go now, don"t let him to find this place." He nudged her shoulder.

"Do I have to threaten him? Is there no other way?" Senja complained, that idea alone made her shudder in fear.

"You don"t have to, that was only my suggestion if you wanted to face him head on. If you don"t want to follow, it"s all right too. It is you who has been being abused, not me."

Senja pushed opened the door. "I will not dare to do that." She said, barely a whispered.

"You will not know if you don"t try. You can continue your life like before or try to fend for yourself, it"s all up to you."

Senja sighed deeply. "It"s easier say than…"

"Go." Gong Xu cut off Senja"s complain and pushed her out of the secret room.  

The door was closed right in time when w.a.n.g Yu stepped inside the library. His eyes scoured the room and found Senja was standing behind in front of a shelf while holding an empty plate.

"Senja." w.a.n.g Yu called out to his daughter while walking slowly toward her.

"Father." In the other hand, Senja was trying to be as calm as she could, she didn"t want to back down from this neither she want to feel intimidated by her father, but it was hard to do. Fortunately her voice didn"t shaking because of her fear.

"Good choice of place." w.a.n.g Yu complimented her and stopped right before Senja"s eyes. "We can talk now."

It took so much courage and determination for Senja to not avert her eyes and avoided his gaze. She would try her luck and took Gong Xu"s advice.

"Let"s talk father." Senja said calmly. She walked away from her father, made a distance between them to lessen the tension. "What do you want to say?" She put down the empty plate on the table.

Meanwhile w.a.n.g Yu looked at the Empty plate strangely, because Senja didn"t have habit to eat anything after dinner, or to be more precise, Carye wouldn"t give her extra food except the one that she ate as her regular meal.

"You are change. You are brave enough to talk to me now." w.a.n.g Yu remarked. The daughter that he knew before wouldn"t even dare to look at him straight in the eyes, but now she even talked back at him. "Because you think your grandfather is here? That"s why you can provoke me?" w.a.n.g Yu"s voice laced with mocking tone.

"I am not father, but because you are always threatening me with my life and even clearly wants to get rid of me, I am getting used to you." Senja sat down on the chair, but her eyes never left w.a.n.g Yu"s face. "You are not as scary as before."

"So, you not scare of me now?" w.a.n.g Yu raised his eyebrows, bemused. Senja was only away for month, but her behavior had changed.

"I still scare of you father, but if you try to harm me again this time, I will tell Grandfather about what Carye and you had done to me, about all the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt toward me and how heartlessly Carye wanted to sell me to the Black Market." Senja said emotionally. "Am I even you daughter, father? How you can side with the woman who wanted to sell me?" That was the real question that she really wanted to ask to w.a.n.g yu.

"Just because you are my flesh and blood, doesn"t mean I have to like you." w.a.n.g Yu said heartlessly. "You can kill you now if I have to."

"No, you will not be able to kill me." Senja shook her head, as expected the truth from her father"s mouth was so cruel and this still hurt her even when she knew what his answer would be.

"Why are you so sure that I will not kill you?" w.a.n.g Yu touched his sword and made a gesture like he was about to draw it.

"Because if you kill me now, grandfather will not give you what you want." Senja blurted out the word that Gong Xu had told her, though she didn"t know what was that mean?

What the thing that her father wanted from her grandfather?

With that word, w.a.n.g Yu stopped his movement as his eyes burnt with anger, apparently Gong Xu"s advice was working, but w.a.n.g Yu"s expression became even scarier than before.

"You become smarter now… are you threatening me?" w.a.n.g Yu squinted his eyes, from where Senja knew about this?

"I will not dare to do that father." Senja"s voice was still calm, there was no fear in it. "But I have to survive too. I have to find my own way to survive from you. If threatening you will preserve my life, then yes, I am threatening you." Gong Xu had taught Senja about how to face situation like this.

The key was; she needed to keep calm and composed, don"t let the other party managed to intimidated you.

Fortunately Senja was a fast learner and Gong Xu had rea.s.sured her that her father wouldn"t hurt her.

This time w.a.n.g Yu was livid. "What did you say to grandfather?!" He hissed under his breath, didn"t want to continue that conversation again as he got down straight to the main topic why he came and looked for her here.

"I said someone kidnapped me, a bunch of bandits, and wanted to sell me to the black market." Senja also didn"t want to linger in that conversation longer and tested w.a.n.g Yu"s limit of patient. There would be possibility that he would lost control if Senja kept taunting him.

"Just that?!" w.a.n.g Yu asked, he didn"t believe that was the only thing that Senja had told her grandfather.

"Just that." Senja said with finality. "What else should I said to grandfather? That you have sent a bunch of bandits to kill me or the fact that Carye had tried to sell me to the black market?" She mocked her father for the first time. "Don"t worry father, I didn"t say any of that."

If she said all of that, there would be chaos inside the mansion and her father would go all the way to save his precious woman then Senja"s life would be more in danger. She didn"t need all of that unnecessary troubles for now.

Moreover, Gong Xu had said to not draw attention toward her and didn"t prolong this matter, Senja did what he told her to do.

Subconsciously, Senja became more inclined toward Gong Xu rather than the rest of the people that she had known for as long as she was alive, including her grandfather.

"Good." w.a.n.g Yu said sharply. "Just remember, if grandfather has wrong idea about this matter, you will not be able to bear the consequences."

"As long as you don"t touch me and don"t bother me, I will make sure grandfather will not add more punishment to your wife and daughters." Senja"s voice was laced with derision. "You can beg to grandfather to release them as I have said that Carye has no involvement in this.

w.a.n.g Yu slapped Senja hard when she finished her words as she saw stars when she fell on her knees.

"You better watch your mouth." w.a.n.g Yu remarked sharply. "Begging? I will never beg to anyone."

After saying that, he left Senja alone.

Senja was still befuddled about the thing that just happened. She touched her ears that slightly ringing.

w.a.n.g Yu didn"t slap her on her face because it would leave a mark, instead, he slapped her on her ears and head. That spot wouldn"t leave any trace of his violence act.

Probably, she had stepped his limit by her words earlier, she shouldn"t provoke him further like that, after all, he has zero tolerance.

"Are you all right?" Gong Xu"s voice sounded behind Senja before she could feel his hand on her shoulder and raised her face. "I thought he slapped you."

He was witnessing what had happened earlier, Senja seemingly took his advice and made a counterattack as he could see how w.a.n.g Yu"s expression turned unsightly as he clenched his fist tightly, but wasn"t able to figure out why suddenly w.a.n.g Yu slapped Senja, however there was no fingers mark on her face.

"He slapped the side of my head, not my face." Senja rubbed her head and her ear that slightly turned red. "Look, what I got when I follow your advice." She complaint pitifully.

And Gong Xu was only chuckled lightly when he heard that. "He is quite creative with his method."

"You praised him?" Senja was in disbelief with Gong Xu"s reaction.

"I am not praising him." Gong Xu replied offhandedly as he rubbed the place where Senja was being hit. "But, I am not right about one thing."

"What is it?" She asked sullenly and let Gong Xu to ma.s.sage her head.

"He didn"t kill you." He stated the fact with shrugged.

"Do you count that as achievement?" Sonja was really at lost by the way Gong Xu"s mind working. "He will kill me next time."

"He will kill you right here and right now, if he wanted to, no, he really wanted to kill you. I can see it from his eyes and the way he grip his sword." Gong Xu explained. "But the fact he didn"t do it, and he had hit you on the spot that no one could recognize it immediately, it show that he took your words seriously."

"I don"t think he will think that way…" Senja hugged her legs and rested her chin on her knees.

"Forget about that. You will be all right as long as your grandfather is still here, but when he leaves, you have to make sure that your grandfather brings your father along with him." Gong Xu suggested.

"Oh, you are right…!" Senja"s face beamed. "Then my concern will only be my step mother and her daughters!"

"They will be easier to handle." Gong Xu tousled her hair.