The Divorcee Is A Wicked Black Belly 53 The Trouble With Sam

The twins were delirious with their discovery. They took pictures and videos using a video cam An Ning thoughtfully bought with her before they left the house. The twins then decided to let their mother take over the plan to make it more people-friendly while they lazed around the pool flipping thru the pictures and videos they took.

An Ning, who learned from Han, was very thorough. She hired the same contractor who renovated her grandmother's cave with the word 'safety' as her only design edict. The kids were forbidden to visit the Capo until work on it was done so the twins had to content themselves with playing in the maze and going to the village to visit Doctor Peng.

An Ning went back to work via video con with her design staff. The compet.i.tion had come and gone without her active involvement in it. But she was pleased when Matt told her that the Pacman-inspired game they submitted for the compet.i.tion had won first prize. In fact, the team had been approached by a gaming company about it.

An Ning told him to ask the team to start working on further developing the concept. He could then present the result to the gaming company and come to an agreement about it later. Matt nodded then became silent. He seemed to hesitate.

"Is there anything else? We're doing good with the marketing, right?"

Matt again nodded.

"You look like you have something on your mind," An Ning said, frowning. "What is it?"

"I've been seeing Sam," Matt said, quietly gauging An Ning's reaction. "She's really in a bad place."

"When you say seeing, are you dating her?"

"No..no. G.o.d, no," Matt was red-faced from embarra.s.sment. "It's just that I called her after that Yu Yan thing was over and she didn't sound right."

"And?"

"I asked if we could meet. She was distraught and crying and seemed out of it when I finally saw her...."

"Wait a minute," An Ning interrupted. "We're now calling her with a different p.r.o.noun. Did she tell you she's a girl?"

"Well, I didn't want to lie anymore, so I told her I knew about her s.e.x. She didn't seem bothered by it though. She just said, ah. I mean, is that even a proper reaction?" Matt was obviously baffled.

"What reaction were you expecting then, that she'll cry on your shoulders and tell you you're a good guy for seeing thru her disguise?" An Ning said wryly.

Matt flushed.

"I don't mean that," he said. "If you were in her place, would you react like that?"

"Yes."

"No...what?" Matt was confused.

"It's none of your business if I disguise myself as a boy or not. Why would I cater to your expectations of me?"

"I can actually imagine you having a reaction like that but not Sam."

"Oh? Why?"

"Because she was crying when she said it."

"Oh."

"An Ning, would you do me a big favor?"

"What?" An Ning was suddenly cautious.

"Can you talk to her and ask her what's wrong?"

"Why me? I'm the enemy remember? I fired her for spying on us. That's tantamount to betrayal in terms of military conduct."

"I know but she doesn't hate you for that. I know she likes you a lot and I think she will listen more to you than me about what's bothering her."

"I'm not really interested...."

"Please?" Matt said softly. "Maybe you can get through to her better than I can. She looked to me like she's already in that place and I won't be a good friend if I don't at least try to help."

An Ning was silent. She didn't really want to get involved in Sam's personal life but Matt was another matter. He looked up to her like a friend and big sister. And she trusted and like him in return. She knew it would wound him deeply if something bad happened to Sam and she just stood by and did nothing. She sighed inwardly.

"Why don't you invite her to visit me here this weekend? You can come to, if you like. I'll tell Nyra to contact you."

"Who's Nyra?"

"She's a friend. You'll need her to go with you because we only accept people here with prior invitations. Talk to Sam. Tell her she doesn't need to bring anything. Just herself. And that I'm no longer mad at her and that I forgive her."

"Thanks, An Ning," Matt said softly. "I owe you one."

"Alright, enough with the chit chat. Go back to work. See you this weekend."

Sam and Matt arrived late evening on a Friday. Nyra escorted them to see An Ning who asked Sarai to take them to the main house and prepare them something to eat. Sam was quiet. Except for shyly greeting An Ning she didn't speak anymore. Matt was quiet as well, watching her when she's not looking at him.

Looking at the two of them, An Ning suddenly regretted her decision to invite them down. There's obviously something going on between them than a mere bad situation, something that she was sure she really didn't want to get involved with. But it's too late now as she saw the grateful look Matt threw at her when they arrived.

"Rest for now. We'll show you around tomorrow," she told them. "If you need anything, just tell Sarai here. She'll take good care of you."

The following morning, the twins and Sam and Matt met over breakfast. The two outsiders looked on with stunned faces when An Ning introduced them to the twins. Afterwards, they gawked even more disbelievingly when the kids called An Ning 'Mom', which made An Ning laughed. She decided not to explain. Let them think what they want. They wouldn't understand anyway.

When they drove to the village afterwards, they discovered that the villagers were in the midst of celebrating the Festival of the Four Queens, in which four of the most beautiful women in the village were selected to represent the four seasons. The villagers seemed to have really thrown themselves into the celebration because every house on the street they pa.s.sed were decorated merrily with colored vines and twigs, fruits of different kinds displayed on doors and windows and colorful paper banners strung from house to house.

An Ning bought the twins colorful tall hats which they wore on their heads like crowns. The villagers were familiar with An Ning so they asked her to be one of the judges, along with Sam and Matt. Some fifteen young girls partic.i.p.ated in the contest and it was really a difficult choice because everyone of them was truly beautiful. So, the final four was decided by a show of talent, which became quite compet.i.tive since the contestants were all good in fighting, archery, combat skills, and weapons management.

The contest reached a deadlock so in the end, the final winners were determined by a skill An Ning suggested out of frustration. The fifteen contestants will enter Li Cheung's maze tomorrow morning and the first four contestants who finished fastest than the rest will be crowned as Festival of the Four Queens. Everyone was surprised by her suggestion but n.o.body disagreed since they were all familiar with the legendary maze, which was rumored to be really difficult to get out of.

So, the five people who set out that morning to take a simple tour of the village but ended up involved in a convoluted beauty contest all went home tired yet happy. The twins especially were too excited to sleep. Sarai was already in bed so An Ning and Sam took over the kitchen and grilled burgers and made french fries and milkshakes for the kids, who, after eating their fill, were finally persuaded to go to bed so they could wake up early tomorrow refreshed and recharged.

The adults meanwhile stayed late into the night planning for tomorrow's event. An Ning on the other hand was thinking that if this maze thing becomes a success then it wouldn't be long before it becomes a regular feature in future events. She wasn't really sure if she was okay opening the Grove to the public but then the village was changing and she, as the tribe's presumptive leader, must also change with the times.

The morning started really well. The entire village trooped to the Grove to take part in the event. The fifteen contestants looked enthusiastic and lively. The maze race was going to be a different kind of showcase for their talent so they were a little apprehensive yet excited as well. An Ning invited her fellow judges to climb the watch tower so they could better see the activities down below. The fifteen contestants entered the maze one after the other and a bell rang somewhere, signaling the start of the race.

An Ning's eyes immediately focused on the movements of the fifteen contestants, some of whom were deliberating whether to follow left or right. Two girls who were a little way ahead of the rest fell into a trap which opened when they turned a left corner. They fell into a pool of water and had to be rescued, which trapped the rest of them in the same spot. They were arguing where to go next when An Ning's eyes suddenly caught a movement to her left, in a thick copse that dropped to the river behind the house.

It was Sam. She was too far away by then for An Ning to see what she was carrying but she recognized the red t-shirt she wore this morning and the white cap which sets off the purple hair. An Ning frowned, her eyes looking for Matt in the crowd. She saw him standing inside a tent looking at her. She gestured at him, mouthing Sam's name. He immediately understood what she meant. An Ning pointed to the direction where she saw Sam heading. Matt nodded and immediately left. An Ning looked at his departing figure for a minute then turned her attention back again on the fifteen contestants struggling awkwardly inside the maze.

It took nearly two hours for one of the girls to reach the exit. Another forty five minutes pa.s.sed before the second girl followed the first girl. The third girl exited the maze after another hour. The fourth girl followed behind her after thirty minutes. When the fourth girl reached the exit, the bell again rang, signaling the end of the race. The organizers then entered the maze and helped the remaining girls to the exit.

The fifteen contestants exited the maze completely exhausted, their beautiful faces streaked with gra.s.s and mud; the naked legs visible under the short skirts stained with sweat; their pony tails untangled. They looked like a sorry lot. An Ning didn't know whether to congratulate them or call for an ambulance.

The girls were given a short time to rest and freshen up while the rest of the throng sat around the river and under the trees to take a nap. An Ning went back to the cave where Matt met her with shocking news. Sam seemed to have suffered some kind of a mental breakdown. Matt followed her down the river only to see her swim to the deepest part, stop, then threw a heavy rock tied around her neck into the water. She went down in seconds. It took Matt five minutes to fetch her out. But he seemed to have aged during that time. The young man who used to look with confident eyes towards An Ning was gone. In his place was a confused adult, gazing at An Ning with bewildered and frightened eyes.