Unexpected Love
Chapter 2
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Xiang
leaned over the back of the couch the older woman was napping on and
grinned. No one else was around at the
moment so she could finally find out what had been on Ying’s mind that had her
so distracted. The other generals
didn’t seem to notice it, but Ying was her best friend…only friend really in
Shu. She reached down and lightly
traced a fingertip across the other woman’s forehead as she spoke softly to
her.
“Hey sleepy head, time to wake up”
Ying peeked an eye open to see the grinning face of
Xiang. With a groan she rolled over
turning her back to the girl.
“Aww, did I wake you up from a good dream?”
Ying didn’t answer her hoping she’d go away.
near impossible to keep anything from her.
“I did didn’t I?!
Come on, who was it about?”
Ying sat up so Xiang could sit down and ran her fingers
through her hair to straiten it.
“I’m married, isn’t that clue enough of who it was
about?”
Xiang cocked her eyebrow and turned to lean back against the
couch arm.
“Uh huh, sure….I’m not Jiang, I’m not going to buy that
bullshit and being married don’t mean shit when it comes to dreams.
about him.”
“Maybe that’s because you’re always screwing the man silly.”
Ying couldn’t help but grin when Xiang started laughing.
“Ok, so I’m a nympho...sue me…I blame that one Tai.”
“Zhou Tai, huh? And
when did that happen?”
Xiang gave her a sheepish grin.
“Uh….before I came here…after I was told I was going to
marry Liu Bei I snuck into Tai’s room…and no, it wasn’t out of spite….I really
wanted him to be my first...I love him, nothings ever going to change that…I
mean Bei’s a sweetheart, but still…”
Ying smiled and turned to face her.
“I know what you mean…and I didn’t think you’d do something
like that out of spite.”
Xiang watched as a shadow past through Ying’s eyes.
seemed to be hurting her. She turned
and looked around the room as she listened carefully to see if anyone was close
before turning back to Ying.
“Ying, what happened when you went with them on that
mission? …you haven’t really been the
same since you came back. Kongming
didn’t hurt you did he?”
Xiang knew the man had changed a lot since the two had been
married and she wasn’t sure if Ying knew, but he had another woman visiting him
when she wasn’t around…or he managed to send her away without drawing attention
to himself. Ying looked down at the
floor and went quiet.
“You know I won’t say anything…I’m your best friend after
all!”
She said with a grin, but it quickly faded when Ying looked
back up at her.
“No, he didn’t hurt me…I..”
Xiang sat quietly while she waited for her friend to find
the words for what she was trying to say.
“I went for a walk to get away from all the men for a while
and…I had a rather personal encounter with Xiahou Dun…”
Xiang eyes widened at the mention of Cao Cao’s cousin and
right hand general.
“Personal? Ying did
he..?”
Ying shook her head slightly and looked down at her hands
folded in her lap.
“It started out that way…but…gods Xiang, he’s nothing like
the rumors about him...least he wasn’t to me..he was actually gentle..”
Xiang couldn’t help
but notice the small smile that played across her friend’s lips and grinned.
“Ah, so THAT’S who your dream was about….woo, very
nice!”
Xiang laughed when she saw Ying blush.
“Damn it, why can’t something like that happen to me when I
go for walks?! Er, my luck it’d be
Zhang Fei.”
She shuddered and wrinkled her nose,
“or worse, Huang Zhong!”
Her plan had worked; the older woman was holding her sides
laughing by now.
Ying leaned back against the cushions and closed her
eyes. What was she going to do?
been two weeks since she had been with him and she still couldn’t keep him off
her mind. ‘Some dreams aren’t meant
to be chased though…” She couldn’t
help but sigh as the thought crossed her mind and she realized it was
true. She’d never have him…it was impossible.
the room she and her husband shared as she called back to Xiang over her
shoulder.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to finish that nap you
interrupted.”
She said with a small smile as Xiang grinned.
Ying stopped with her hand on the doorknob and closed her
eyes as she leaned her forehead against the door. Soft moans and gasps faintly echoed from the room as she stood
there listening. She started to turn back when she heard the woman call her
husband’s name. Ying quietly opened the door and glared at the couple on the
bed as she slammed the door behind her effectively getting their
attention. She nearly snarled in
disgust when she noticed the woman lying under her husband was one of the
maids.
“Was I really so bad that you had to sneak around with
another woman? I’ve had to listen to
the rumors that you were sleeping with someone else praying that they weren’t
true…that you’d never do something like this to me, but they were right and you
had to bring your whore into our room..in OUR bed…and you didn’t even have the
balls to tell me yourself! I got to
hear it from everyone else in the castle!”
She knew what was about to happen when her husband rose from
the bed and walked over to her. Ying
turned her head with the slap and held onto the doorknob to keep from
stumbling.
“Never treat me with such disrespect again!”
He shouted at her.
Ying glared back up at him completely ignoring the other woman.
“Did that make you feel more like a man?
whore.”
She gritted her teeth as he grabbed her hair and jerked her
head back. He leaned closer to her, his
face merely an inch from hers as he spoke.
“If you keep on with this it’ll be far more than a slap, my
wife.”
“Beat on me all you want, it’ll be a cold day in hell before
I ever show you respect again!”
Ying bit back a pained cry as she was forced into the floor
and her arm twisted behind her back.
Gods why didn’t she just keep walking…what was he going to do now?