Bride of the Moso Prince (27 page)

             
“Oh heavens.” He mumbled and shifted his position such that he was shielding her with his body.

             
“I’m here. And don’t come closer!”

             
“All right I won’t.” Urcher said after a moment’s pause, “Charlene is here to see her sister… She’s waiting for her in the yard. Take your time.”

             
“
Oh no
.” Sharon quickly got out of the water, dried herself and put on her clothes, all the while feeling ashamed of herself.  What was she doing!

             
“That dress looks good on you, Sharon,” Charlene met her sister at the stairs.

             
It was a simple sleeveless light blue satin dress with crossover V-neck and an empire waist. Sharon usually preferred fabrics with patterns, but this dress, although looked plain in first sight, was quite gorgeous when she put it on.

             
“Well it would look good on you too.”

             
“Yeah right,” Charlene took her sister’s arm as they went up the stairs. “I’ll look like an extra long bucket.”

             
“You’re exaggerating.” Sharon laughed and rolled her eyes, “you’ll look sexy in it.”

             
“How’s your leg?” Charlene changed the topic.

Sharon felt embarrassed. She had found out about the accident after all.

“I’m fine. Getting better. Yourself?”

“Couldn’t be better. My dizziness is gone for good.”

“Thank goodness.”

“So you’re staying in Empress’ bedroom? Wow!” Charlene exclaimed as they went in and looked around at the interior, “what a luxury!”

“Yeah.” Sharon nodded, “you should look at the view.”

Charlene looked out at the window and gasped, “Awesome! Ten times better than the view we get in Shangari-la!”

Sharon made her sister some tea and they sat at the balcony.

“My god, Sharon. I wouldn’t want anything else if I could live here for the rest of my life!”

“I agree,” Sharon nodded, “but then, that is a lot to ask for.”

“Well,” Charlene gave her a significant look, “it shouldn’t be that impossible for you.”

“What do you mean?” Sharon blushed.

“Don’t pretend,” Charlene teased. “And don’t tell me nothing happened between you and Nobul. I don’t know how exactly
you got a snake bite, but I kno
w that you couldn’t get it unless you were in the water. And then, you wouldn’t
normally
go swimming without a swimsuit…”

“It’s a horror to have an anthropologist for a sister.” Sharon shook her head while covering her face with her hands.

“Confess!”
“What’s there to confess?” Sharon protested, “you’ve

guessed everything
already.”

“So there was indeed a little argument between you, and you attempted to leave him,
nearly got drowned
, and then rescued
by him
?”

“Yes,” Sharon’s cheeks flamed.

“How romantic!” Charlene giggled, “and then?”

“What then? I’ve told you…everything.”

“No you haven’t.” Charlene gave her a look as a mother looked at a lying child, “But I can guess the rest.”

“You naughty child.” Sharon tickled her sister and made her scream.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying your vacation,” Charlene said after the both calmed down, “and I hope you can stay longer. Especially your leg is still healing.”

“No, I have to leave. I want to go with you. Wait for me I’ll go packing.”

“What’s the hurry?”

“Well, I finished the project.”

“Oh that’s easy. I can email it to Web Genius for you.”

“But it’s time I should go back to LA.”

“What? I don’t think it’s a good idea to limp your way to the airport. Besides, aren’t you going to help Nobul to set up the exhibition room?”

“Says who?”

“Uh…”

“No, I’m not. I don’t know how to set up a museum…”

“But you have the talent. I remember how you always set up the apartments.”

“It’s different.”

“No, it isn’t…tell me Sharon, why are you so eager to get away, are you afraid of Nobul?”

“What gave you that idea? Of course I’m not.”
Sharon raised her chin.

“Then why do you want to get away?”

“I, just…”

“You’re afraid that you’ll fall in love, aren’t you?”

Sharon was silent.

Charlene put her hand on
her shoulder
. “Sharon, please, stay for a few more days. Enjoy your adventure, for me.”

             
Before sunset Charlene and Urcher took leave. Sharon and Nobul saw them to the dock. Sharon gave the flash drive to
her sister so she would email the contents
for her.

             
As they were walking towards the path back to the house Nobul put his arm around Sharon’s shoulder.

             
Sharon shunned from him. “I can walk by myself.”

             
“Are you sure?”

             
“Yes.” Sharon assured him. In fact, it was difficult to walk upslope without straining her leg. But she needed to keep a distance between them. What had happened earlier in the hot spring shouldn’t happen again. She couldn’t believe she had let him to step into the water with her and take control of her like that, after what he had done to her!
Didn’t she almost get drown
ed
because of him?

             
Unconsciously she walked faster, but not without limping a bit. A rock hidden under the pine needle paved road almost tripped her, but before she lost balance Nobul grabbed her.

             
“What’s the hurry? Why are you running?” Nobul’s asked softly. He had been following her closely in spite of all her attempt to be away from him.

             
“Well, it’s dinner time,” Embarrassed by her clumsiness, she laughed, “I’m getting hungry.”

             
“Talking about dinner,” Nobul said, “I’m actually planning to go to the lake for some fish. Want to come along?”

             
The suggestion was tempting and Sharon hesitated. “No, I uh, have some thing to… a book to read…”

             
“Oh you can read it tonight, or tomorrow. What you need right now is a boat ride.” His voice came to a whisper as his arm at her waist tightened.

             
The sensors in Sharon’s ear fired up and the next moment she was in Nobul’s arms again, being carried back to the solar boat to gather the fishing net that he had set in the morning.

             
Lugu Lake was astonishingly beautiful in late afternoon. The sun was platinum and the water of the west shore shimmered with diamond specks. The rest of the lake turned to a darker hue of blue. Branches of willow trees on shore swayed languidly in the evening breeze, and flocks of birds flew home to their nests. Like the birds, villagers were also returning home from gathering fish or harvesting algae.

             
Sharon stood silently by the rail, let the scenery absorb her entire being, and let the breeze caress her hair. She was glad that she had taken the advice of Charlene to stay here for a few more days.

             
From the cabin Nobul stared at the water nymph on board. The setting sun cast a silver glow on her blue satin dress, which fluttered slightly in the wind, along with her long black hair. She looked as if she had just risen from the lake water below. It was hard for him to keep a distance from her, while the image of her standing naked in the hot spring was still fresh in mind, and he had to summon all his strength to not to remember the sensation of kissing her. It was there in the middle of his gut and it was threatening to explode at any time. If he went to her now, just the touch of her skin and a brush of her hair would fire him up. And he would want to have her right here on the boat.

             
It took no more than ten minutes to get to the site where the fish net had been laid, but it was the longest ten minutes in his life. As soon as he spotted the bamboo mark underwater, he dashed out to the deck.

             
“Feels like something big!” As he was pulling the net he shouted with excitement.

             
A carp about two feet long jumped in the net, along with some tiny silver Ji.

             
Sharon was impressed. They put the carp into a bucket and dumped the small fish back to the lake.

             
“How would you like it cooked? Stew or fried?” Nobul asked when they were heading towards the shore.

             
“Hum,” Sharon considered, “what about frying it first, then stew?”

             
“Good idea. Ah, the problem is, there isn’t any vegetable left. I’ll ask Urcher to bring some tomorrow, but tonight, we’ll have to do without.”

             
Sharon was going to agree but seeing the tuft of algae in the fishing bucket, she asked, “Why can’t we eat algae?”

             
Nobul was amused by the idea. “Yeah. I wonder why we never eat algae. Usually we feed them to the livestock. It isn’t poisonous, I know that since my friends and I had tasted them when we were little…hum, you know what?” He put down the bucket, “Let’s go back to the lake to get some algae and stew them with the fish!”

             
“Are you sure?” Sharon shouted, “what if you ruined the fish?”

             
“Then you’ll have to eat everything.” Nobul said and dabbed a kiss on her cheek.

             
Luckily, the algae carp stew was a success. The carp was tender and sweet and the gelatin substance from algae made the soup of the stew thick and savory. Besides, Nobul was an excellent cook. He had spent a considerable time in the kit
chen. First
clean
ed
the fish, then chop
ped
it and coated the pieces with flour before deep-frying. Even after he had closed the lid of the stewing pot he went in and out of the kitchen to make sure that the fish wasn’t overcooked or the soup wasn’t dried out. Sharon, who had thought herself a pretty good cook, gave the dish two thumps up.

             
“The second best fish dish I’ve ever had!” She said, after the two of them had finished the entire dish.

             
“What? The
second
best? What was the best?” Nobul feigned an angry look.

             
“The fried Ji fish that your mother made.” Sharon smiled and waited to hear what he had to say.

             
“Well,” Nobul nodded with
resignation, “what can I say?”

             
Sharon laughed. She didn’t want him to be smug but didn’t want to hurt him either. “Actually, both are good and I can’t really compare them to each other.”

             
Nobul grinned like a little boy who had received compliments that he deserved, “I like hearing that better. Guess what, for that, you deserve some dessert.”

             
He went back to the kitchen and came back with two bowls in hand.

             
It was boiled sweet rice wine with gluttonous rice pearls. It was a local dessert and her favorite when she was a child.

             
“Oh! Nobul,” Sharon shook her head, “You’re spoiling me!”

             
He sat down across the table to her. “I like spoiling you.” He said in a husky voice that made her heart rock. 

             
After he was done with the dishes, Nobul carried Sharon out of the yard and they sat on the edge of the hilltop to watch sunset. Nobul had spread a Tibetan rug over the mat of pine needles and brought her a yak skin throw against the evening chill. The setting sun had changed its color to bright red over the interval of their dinner. Its crown lingered on the top of the lion mountain, dying the water around it to a crimson red.

             
“Beautiful!” Sharon sighed. It would be nice to spend the rest of her life here. She had thought that no vacation would be nice if it was over a week, and she had always been eager to go back to work after the unproductive Christmas holidays. Yet at that moment, sitting snuggly next to Nobul, she knew she wouldn’t be bored watching the scenery of Lugu Lake all day everyday
…
But clearly she couldn’t. Few more days here and she would be packing and leaving for LA, back to the mundane routine of her lonely life.