Chapter Text
There was smoke...in the air..in my eyes...in my lungs. It covered me completely. My ears rang..they wouldn't stop!
So much sound, so..so much..too much..it was getting louder.
Then. Suddenly.
Water.
I'm sinking. The contaminated water? It burns my eyes, my lungs, my nerves, my cuts and bruises...just as the smoke had. I don't know what to do. So I just sink.
Down and down and down...deeper..
Why was I drowning?
Was I drowning? It doesn't feel like I'm suffocating...it feels..calm.
Everything feels calm. But should I be calm?
What's happenin-
And the last thing I see is that white light. Like the sun, burning everything around it.
---End of Jinx POV---
She gasped up for air. Her hands went immediately to her throat. Gasping for something, anything. Her gasping breaths go calm when she realises there wasn't any reason for her to panic. She looks around herself and then hugs her knees, trying to refocus on reality. It takes her a bit but she eventually does start to see things around her more clearly. So clearly that she realises that she is no longer in her bed...or never was in it to begin with.
Where the hell was she? She thought to herself while scratching her head. She attempts to fiddle with one of her grenades but realises that they aren't on her body like they're supposed to be. They're gone. Before she could once again panic, the sliding door to the strange room opens.
Two women appear in frilly lilac dresses? She'll call them dresses. And they were each holding wooden trays with something on them. One had a bowl, that must be food because it smells really good. The other had folded..clothes..she'll assume on hers. Once they placed both trays beside her, they then left without saying a word.
Once Jinx was sure the two women had left, she picked up her bowl and sniffed it. She honestly couldn't tell if it was poison or not but to be honest, she didn't really care. She was too hungry to care and if a good meal was the way she was gonna go out then by all means. She took the bowl, ignoring the spoon and began sipping from it.
She moaned with delight. Yah. If this is how she dies. She was very fine with it. She then took a bite of the bread and practically devoured it after taking one bite.
Okay, maybe she'll spare the cook from her onslaught of blood and death if she had to kill these people. She hummed at the thought. For now she was on good terms with whomever these people were for the time being since they fed her good food. But she still didn't trust them.
She put her empty bowl of soup down and looked at the clothes on the wooden tray versus her actual clothes laying beside her.
She then looked at herself. They must've dressed her in whatever when she was knocked out cold. She touched the material and it felt nice. Smooth even. Very frilly but in a way basic. She stood up and twirled around in it. She then crouched. Ah, and it was breezy. But, she stood back up. It wasn't really her thing.
She began to take off the three layered dress that was on her. Sighing in lazy exhaustion at the fact that there were even three layers to begin with.
After she managed to get them off, she proceeded with throwing the dress aside and bathing in her nakedness. As she was already naked, she decided to examine her body to see if they even went the extra mile and stitched her up. Which they did to her surprise. After checking her body she grabbed her old clothes and of course, noticing that they looked a bit nicer. It seems like they must've fixed it up. She smiled at that.
Another reason not to kill these people.
She started with putting her pants on and strapping the belts and buckles. She was about to move on to her top buckle when the door slid open. She looked up and to her surprise saw a familiar face.
The memories hit her in jumbles, she stood up to get a better look at the man at the door that was staring at her wide-eyed and probably in shock. Then it clicked.
"Chen chen!" She threw arms up as she realised his name.
Said man closed the door or rather slammed it shut. As soon as he did she fumbled trying to get her top-piece on so she just grabbed the thick blanket from the bed and held it to her chest as a way to cover herself even though she didn't really care, it seems that he on the other hand, did.
"Uh...you good?" She asked him. The man in purple was looking at the water, one hand on his face. She moved to his side and saw that his cheeks were indeed red. She smiled at that. "You act like you've never seen boobs before?" She teased.
He just looked at her incredulously, "You're the one that has been wronged, and you're asking 'ME' if I am okay?!" Honestly he just ignored her last comment.
"Well..are you?" She asked once more.
"I- well- I don't know!" He closed his eyes.
"If this is how you act, seeing me naked, you're gonna have a rough time in life. Just saying. How do you even expect me to react?"
"Usually one expects a marriage, as I've ruined you." He said in a matter of point-blank.
"What? That's bullshit?"
"I- what." He looked at her this time, he's calmed down but is still quite embarrassed. He should've asked beforehand. But the maids had told him that she was simply eating, not changing!
"It's kinda bullshit. What you just told me. Marrying me because you saw me naked. If that's the case, I have a LOT of husbands waiting for me back home." She paused before finishing, "And wives if we're gonna be extra detailed."
Jiang Cheng sighs. Honestly not what he expected to hear but then again he was quite relieved. He does not expect to marry just yet even if the other sects put pressure on him.
This woman was...something else, that's for sure.
"So what did you need? Come to return my precious toys you stole from me, thief." She teased but was also partially serious.
"We will discuss this once you are properly dressed." He stated firmly.
"Aight let me go get my-"
"No. Properly. Dressed." He stated once more.
"Ugh. Do I seriously have to wear that frilly dress? The room in it is great but it seems like a lot and that ain't me, Chief."
"Whose Chief?" He asked, now confused.
She rolls her eyes and continues. "I'm not wearing the damn dress."
"If you don't wear it, you're not getting your toys back. And it is not a dress. Whatever a dress is."
"Well it looks like a dress. So im calling it a fucking dress."
"Look. Just wear it for now. And we'll find something more suitable for you later. I can not and will not have you going around my sect dressed like that. If you wish to argue about it some more, put on the attire, the maids will come in shortly to help you with the rest of it and we can discuss this later after we've talked about more important things."
She gave in with a heavy sigh but finally agreed and went back inside to change.
Jiang Cheng finally relaxed as she went back inside. He rubbed between his brows and breathed in then out. Things were going to get hectic in Lotus Pier and he didn't need to guess as to why.
There was a part of him that missed such hecticness…
Or rather someone.