Chapter 32: Her Truth

Li Naihe was thinking about her proposal. He was eager to learn about her but wasn't sure if he could really trust her with information about himself. He did want to reassure her that very few things could really alter his state of mind to such extent, but then again, when it came to her, he wasn't sure he wouldn't be shocked again. She managed to disrupt his calm every time. Her request wasn't out of the ordinary, except for the last part. Altering his path… he had no idea what that meant, so he was reluctant to agree.

Finally, he decided he would try, after all she only asked him to try.

"Very well Miss Vaughn. Although I cannot make such guarantees without having more context, I will do my best to listen to you."

She seemed pleased by his response and relaxed even more.

"Very well Mr Li. First thing you need to know about me is that I am not Liehen." He nodded, indicating somehow that he already believed that to some extent. "I also hope you can accept that I am not a reflexion of another personality Miss Jisuanji might have. I am an entirely different person, unrelated to her." He nodded again for her to continue, this he already knew, and he didn't feel the need to explain how he knew it.

Having his agreement and acceptance, Raven felt a bit more at ease. She had figured out several things after she was pulled back into the real world and was eager now to get on with her exploration of this world. She had such a strange experience in the span of a few minutes while she was back, it was a whirlwind, but now she thought she was getting the hang of how to access this world. It was unfortunate it wasn't related to her, but in the same time, she was excited to discover and learn more. Anything in the name of science she supposed.

It was now time to reveal more about who she was but not a lot. She didn't want to give him potential ammunition against her, after all, fantasy world or not, she wasn't sure she could trust him.

He wasn't a scientist, so she needed to dumb down her observations a little bit, but he didn't strike her as someone lacking strong reasoning and logic skills, so she was hoping he could follow her hypothesis and conclusions till the end.

Raven proceeded to explain how she did not belong in this world. She was pulled in from the real world, in what she thought was a fictional world, a book she had read. She quickly explained that might not be the case, not wanting to overload this man's sense of reality, but he seemed to somehow accept that easily. Too easily, Raven thought, but maybe he was still digesting it all before shock would settle.

Seeing him unfazed by her current explanation she continued to explain her theory about how she came to be in this world. She would be giving him a lot of power over her comings and goings but she needed the man to trust her to some extent.

Her arrivals and departures were strictly linked to him she had concluded. She would be pulled into this world when he needed her and would be thrown out when he was shocked and unable to accept her behaviour or reactions, like a reset button. She offered a bit of context on her background as an engineer and computer scientist and left it vague on purpose. No ammunition.

When she was done with her explanation, she waited for the shock to settle in and for her to be pulled back to her reality. However, that didn't come. To her surprise, he was handling this very well.

"So essentially, what you're saying Miss Vaughn, is that you are currently inhabiting my assistant's body because I need you."

It was a fair conclusion.

Raven was taken aback by his calm demeanour. Either he was a psychopath, or he knew a lot more than he was letting on. There will be time for her to learn all of this, or she could just as well decide to stay away from him. The issue was, if he needed her, she would be pulled back in. He was also the key to her escape from this world. She wanted to tell him how she found all of this out, but something in the man's demeanour made her stop. She didn't trust him fully yet.

"You are right Mr. Li, I couldn't have put it better myself." Raven said with a cold steady voice. She didn't want to give away her suspicions, not yet anyway.

"Fine, let's assume I can accept all of this…" She put her hand up to stop him from speaking.

"Never assume Mr. Li, it makes an ass out of you and me."

He laughed at her childish remark. Whether she was trying to lighten the mood or not, she managed to do that. He let out a full blown laugh at her choice of words.

Raven liked the sound of his voice and his laughter. He looked like he hadn't done that in a very long time and he was letting out a lot of frustration. To her surprise, she was quite in tune with this man's emotions, and for some inexplicable reason, she even cared about him a little. Not enough to count him as a friend, but enough not to see him dead.

"Let me try again Miss Vaughn. Can I keep calling you Miss Vaughn?" he had a look of expectancy on his face now. 'Is he asking me that to see if I can be friendlier?' she wasn't sure of his motives, but she allowed it. She nodded for him to continue.

With a sigh of relief, Li Naihe continued his train of thought about what she had discovered. The only reason he asked was to see if she was a Miss or Mrs but clearly she did not understand.

"If what you say is correct, and you get pulled into this world, which you claim is a fantasy world, by my need for you…" She put her hand up again to stop him. He was surprised, did he say something wrong already?

"It's not your need for me, I would not expect you to have a need for me in any way Mr. Li. It's your need of me and that's very different."

He coughed to clear his throat and continued, being corrected yet again. If only she knew he was starting to crave her… her proximity…

"Right. Need of you… then how are you able to leave. If what you say is correct, and now I have need of you…" he punctuated the words need of you "then how were you able to leave in the middle of our conversation?"

Raven considered his question for a moment and couldn't decide whether she should make fun of him or not. In the end she decided to go with the truth, rather than a sarcastic answer, it was not productive, and she needed this man to get on board with her plan.

"It's easy. I shocked you so I was able to leave. Every time my action or words cause you some form of shock or distress, I get pulled back – literally- into reality."