Jasmine petal fallen on cigarette ash

Chapter 6

I woke up early the next morning from a nightmare. In my dream, I was a floating spirit. Nobody could see me. I stood beside my body in The Ottawa Hospital, looking at my mom crying out of her heart. I wanted to hug her, but my arm passed through her body like the wind. I never felt so stuck and useless like that. I could not do anything but cry.

I touched my cheeks to feel the remnants of the tear streak. I sat up, pulling the bed curtain lightly to get out. I walked to the window beside the dressing table. This room was a pretty room for a girl. The wallpaper was pink-beige with tiny pink roses and green leaves on it. Very cottage-core. I loved it. Nearly half of the room was occupied by the massive bed. The bed curtain was pastel pink. I guessed Benedict supposed that all girls loved pink. Well, at least he cared. I pulled the beige curtain aside. The sky was dark grey with some dull sun rays in the distance. The yellow hue of the streetlight danced on the skin of the morning fog. They moved side by side to each other like a happy couple.

I looked at the pack of my dowry and personal trunks near the bed. They were a mess, and I had no idea which trunk had my clothes and accessories. The door was slightly open. I turned around. It was Oi. She appeared like a saviour.

“Răng cô dậy sớm rứa? Cô ngủ thêm một lát đi,” (Ma’am, you are awake already? You should sleep a little more.) Oi sounded worried.

“Không răng hết, em biết rương mô đựng áo quần, son phấn chi không?” (It’s not a big deal. Do you know which trunk has my clothes and makeup?) I comforted her.

“Em cũng chịu.” (I have no idea)

“Rứa chừ mình cứ ăn sáng đi, xong mình lên dọn dẹp. Mình lựa ra đồ nào cần thiết thì chồng lên trên, mấy đồ không cần nhiều thì để ở rương dưới. Chừ mình cứ kiếm cho ra rương đồ cần bây chừ trước.” (We should have breakfast first, and then we can clean. We can pack the trunks with the stuff we use daily on top, and the trunks with unnecessary things at the bottom. For now, we just need to focus on the trunks with things we need this morning.)

“Dạ cô.” (Yes, miss)

We took the key collection from the tea table and planned to open every trunk until we found the one we needed. Luckily, we caught it at the fourth one.

I chose the loose ngũ thân tay chẽn in pale yellow with tiny dragonflies. It’s a colour of luck and wealth. I applied a little bit of phấn nụ to cover the tiredness marks on my face while Oi was brushing my hair and smoothing it with coconut oil. It had been my bad habit since I was a little girl. I could not sleep on my first day at a strange place. I either had a nightmare or woke up sometimes in the middle of the night, or both. I picked the silver hairpin with a tiny lotus blooming bud and gave it to Oi. I told her to make a low bun, about above the neck. I was a married woman then, I should look mature. I wore a silver round necklace and put a milky white stone bracelet on my wrist. I thought it would be better to be as simple as possible on the first day. I didn’t want to make Benedict worry that I would hold him in my hand and control him in everything.

We stepped into a cute, medium-sized kitchen behind the stairs. Half of the wall was painted red, and a white wallpaper with tiny red flowers and brown leaves covered the other half. Kitchen utensils hung here and there. The cupboard with lots of bowls and plates hung on the wall. In the middle of the room lay a big table. A skinny woman was busy doing her thing at the room's far end. She wore a dark grey maid dress with a white apron. Her hair was blonde with some scattered grey strands.

“Good morning, you must be Mrs. Bette,” I approached her and said.

She lifted her head from what she was doing and looked at me.

“Good morning, ma’am,” she responded after a while to think about who I was.

“Would you mind if I used the kitchen alongside you? I’d like to make some biscuits for Mr. Benedict…” Heat flushed my face.

“Oh, yes, please help yourself, ma’am,” Mrs. Bette answered. Her face was flat throughout the whole conversation. I didn’t want to make a subjective assumption about someone I just met for less than five minutes. But I felt a little bit down.

“Thank you,” I murmured in my breath.

Oi and I shared the work of looking for the ingredients. After gathering everything, I worked with the flour, Oi worked with the strawberry jam. She kept asking me how much sugar and strawberries to use, which made me feel more comfortable than the completely silent atmosphere. That kind of environment never failed to trigger my nervous and anxious nerves, especially on exam days.

In my world, I dreamt of being an elegant baker like the girls on i********:. But school and life drove me crazy, so I promised myself to learn baking after graduating from college. The two “training” months before the wedding had fulfilled my dream. I might be able to bring all of that knowledge with me when I come back to my world.

I surfed through every topic I knew to find one to talk to Mrs. Bette.

“How long have you been here, Mrs. Bette?” I asked softly.

“About three months, ma’am,” she said, focusing on the pot on the stove. It smelled like mushrooms. Mushrooms were one of my favourite foods. Looking at the loaf of bread beside the kitchen, I guessed we would have mushroom soup for breakfast.

“Oh, that’s pretty long. Would you mind helping me if there is anything I don’t know?” I stopped my work and looked at her. I honestly hoped that she could help me.

She also put her eyes on me.

“My pleasure, ma’am,” she bowed with a light smile.

I bowed back. Things seemed better.

The front doorbell rang.

“I think it’s the newspaper boy. Let me go check.” Mrs. Bette rubbed her hands on the apron and left the kitchen.

The lovely smell of the strawberry jam filled the room. I put the raw biscuit into the oven and took over Oi’s job. I took half a spoonful of the tasty red jam, wiped a little on my index finger and put the head of the finger with the jam on it to my mouth. A taste of sweet and sour blew off on my tongue. What a heaven. I was so proud of myself. Oi laughed silently at me. I looked at her, then remembered that I had licked my finger like a puppy. My grandma did that whenever she cooked to test if the food was good enough. Her bad habit had infected me.

After a while, Mrs. Bette came back with a fresh-smelling newspaper in her hand. I asked if she could give it to me. I wanted to keep myself up-to-date. No matter where I am, I always keep a habit of reading or hearing the news to know what is happening in that place, so that I can act as quickly as possible when problems come.

On the front page, Major Keyworth positioned himself confidently with his thumb forward. Well, people could find it cool, but it looked dumb to me. A big title stated: Major Keyworth’s campaign to wipe out illegal weapon dealers and insurgents in Brasshelm. I was a bit worried. That Benedict could win him once didn’t mean he could win again. As I remembered from the last few episodes, two years ago, Major Keyworth was only an inspector. The Senator assigned him to investigate the illegal activities at Brasshelm and used it as a credit to the King. However, Benedict was a hard-to-deal-with enemy. After several failures, Major Keyworth thought of a plan to use women. Cressida was the beloved daughter of the last Major who died in a mission dealing with a crime gang.

When Senator Ledwell offered her a mission with Benedict, she accepted without hesitation. What was unexpected was that she madly fell in love with the man she was supposed to put in jail. But her reason had won her heart, although she couldn’t imprison Benedict. She had betrayed the man she loved, and he also loved and trusted her with his life, and left him with a broken heart to marry a more noble man. From the reels I watched on t****k, later on, Cressida would meet Major Keyworth again, using his love for her to persuade him to release and excuse Benedict. Then, she waited for Benedict in front of the prison gate and told him that she loved him, not her husband. After Aunt Lily shot Major Keyworth when he loved her the most, Benedict and Cressida married and had a beautiful son a year later. They lived happily for three years until Leo Lucas murdered Cressida. But then, I was still alive, and Benedict had married me before he met Cressida. I was unsure if this world would continue as written by Jay Miller, the scriptwriter. But I thought it was no use worrying. We’ll cross the bridge when we come to it. I tried to do what I could, and let God decide.

“E-em, good morning,” Benedict’s hoarse voice pulled me out of the stream of thoughts. His masculine body deodorant and cigarette smell made me blush. Only God knew how much I loved this combination.

“Uh, good morning, Mr. Benedict,” I shily said after Oi and Mrs. Bette had given him a morning salute.

“Uh, I am making some strawberry jam biscuits. If you don’t mind, you could bring them to work as snacks. You know, just in case you’re so busy that you cannot have lunch on time and you are hungry…” My voice got lower and lower when it came to an end.

“Thank you, I’ll take it with me,” Benedict smiled. I blushed at his pretty little smile.

“I’ll finish the last few steps of the biscuits. You could have breakfast first. You don’t need to wait for me,” I whirled my hand toward the oven and said.

“Totally fine.”

I sighed in relief when I turned toward the oven. I didn’t know why, but I always felt super shy whenever I saw or talked to him. My heart pounded as if it would fly away from my chest, and my palms sweated uncontrollably. I worried that I might develop a crush on him. That was the most stupid thing that I could ever do. I should know my position and who I was. If any seeds mistakenly budded in my heart, I had to use the most toxic chemicals to kill them to their roots.

“Mr. Benedict, could I ask you for a favour?” I asked while applying the jam to the tiny hole on the biscuit.

“Yes?” Benedict raised his head from the soup bowl.

“Could you teach me how to use a gun?” I thought about it last night. I should be independent instead of relying on Benedict. When things really happened, I would be dead waiting for him. Besides, his business was exhausting enough. I shouldn’t be his burden.

The sapphire pupils set on my face, his lips opened a bit, and his head was slightly up. I could never understand those eyes.

“I just…Your business is dangerous. I don't want to be your weakness…” I jerked my head down.

“Yes, I can,” he cut my words, “I’ll tell you when I'm available later. And you two,” he pointed toward Mrs. Bette and Oi, “you should also learn to use guns. I'll ask my men to tutor you.”

I looked at Oi and Mrs. Bette in excitement. Their broad smiles and sparkling eyes were obvious enough.

·•—–٠✤٠—–•·

I spent half that morning clearing the trunks and putting them in order. Based on the number of books I had stacked unconsciously into the trunk, I might have to ask Benedict for another favour. I also found a golden Buddha standing on a lotus statue. After twisting my brain to think where to put the statue, I decided to display it on the top of the to-be bookshelf. The other half of the morning, I used the time when Mrs. Bette did a grocery run to jog around the house. If she were there, she would think my brain had an issue. Mom’s words still echoed in my head: “If you have a strong body and a clear mind, you are halfway to success.” I was her good daughter. I urged the tears on the edge of my eyes not to fall.

There was a click on the front door. I held Oi's arm, looking at the door on alert.

It was Mrs. Bette with a bulky basket full of fruits. She looked at my sweaty body in surprise, and disgust.

“Hi, Mrs. Bette, how are you doing?”, she replied that she was all good, “Is there anything new in town?”

“Oh yes, ma’am. It happened right in front of my eyes,” a mild shock covered her voice.

“Could you tell me, if you don't mind?” She had successfully triggered my curiosity.

“Of course, ma’am. I was on my way to the market. Major Keyworth and his men stopped every car on the street and checked their parcels. He found the illicit weapons hidden under the boxes in the trunks of five trucks. He arrested the men driving those trucks and said he would defeat the darkness and bring the sun back to Brasshelm.”

My stomach twisted. The veins in my neck throbbed. The battle had begun. Mrs. Bette was shaking. Her face turned pale. It seemed that everybody knew about the Brass Jackals’ business.

“It’s gonna be alright, as long as we're united. We should stand on our feet. Try not to distract Mr. Benedict from his business,” I tried to be strong.

I should train my nerves to be tougher and react faster.