Chapter 33: His Half Truth

She waited for his reaction. Was this the moment she would be sent back home, or would she have a bit more time.

"Since that is the case Miss Vaughn, then can I safely assu…" he saw her frowning and a smile crept up on his gorgeous, chiselled face yet again "believe" he quickly corrected himself seeing her reaction "believe that you will not harm me?"

She considered his question again. She could harm him but had no interest in doing that. Reason dictates, if he expected her to harm him, then it would not be a surprise, thus not a good choice for her way to return.

"That is both correct and incorrect Mr. Li. You have reasonably deduced I am interested in staying here a bit longer, however it is not enough to believe I will not harm you if I want to leave at some point. The reason I will not harm you is simple. Since you seem to expect it, it would not be a sufficient action to shock you, thus sending me home. "

His expression contorted into something akin to confusion and hurt. 'So she's not harming me because I won't be surprised, not because she doesn't want to?' He slowly shook his head in disbelief.

"You're not one for flattery Miss Vaughn, but I accept your theory. As long as you would like to stay here, I will do my best not to be shocked by your actions or words. I cannot guarantee it, but I will try. "His tone was stern and reassuring. "Now, tell me why you want to stay here, and why I should accept your initial proposal." As he said that, a look of gentleness and concern shown in his eyes. He really did not like the idea of her being away from him, but if this was the way to keep her here, he would. The more time he spent with her, the more interested he was. There was such a strong, magnetic pull about this woman, he felt like he could never let her go. It was dangerous. His feelings were very dangerous for his plan, but maybe, just maybe, he could get the best of both worlds.

Raven could see the wheels turning for the man sitting in front of her and she was getting concerned with the second part of her request, before she started telling him her truth.

"Mr. Li" she suddenly broke the silence "whatever you're thinking, you'd better not conclude it is time to alter your path. If you do so, I believe I will be pulled back to reality and will not be able to do anything to prevent that. "

"Hmm? Why do you think so?"

Raven took a second to consider her words, before laying out her second hypothesis.

"I cannot be sure, but from my observations so far, limited as they are, there are certain rules in this world, and there is a particular… " she took a deep breath not wanting to affect this man's reality too much. "let's call it story line. It seems that if I challenge the story line, I disappear."

He frowned, unsure of how to move forward with this. He wanted to agree with her, but something was nagging at the back of his mind. In the end he decided to bite the bullet and say it out loud. If she thought he was wrong, she could say so.

"I don't believe your second hypothesis stands Miss Vaughn. A month ago, I would have agreed with you, however, seeing how you are being pulled back by my need for…of you" he corrected himself quickly "I believe you might be brought here exactly to help me alter my path." He couldn't be sure of this, but what other reason could there be.

Raven was listening to him, but in the same time, she couldn't stop feeling like something was wrong. Why wasn't he more upset about this being a fantasy world. Any human, being told they were designed for just a specific purpose and with plenty limitations, by another human, would be rebelling at this point; denying and refusing to accept a shackled reality. This man was calm, unfazed by her references to the real world and fantasy world. A thought then dunned on her… 'Could it be that he…'

"You're not part of this world either!" she exclaimed loudly when she finally pieced it all together. She started an entire tirade of French trying to organise her thoughts quickly. It was half vulgar half scientific but her entire speech ended with a big sigh and a "Merde!"

She was standing now, pacing back and forth annoyed, confused, worried… every possible emotion in one go. Before she could organise her thoughts she felt the pull of the light again.

'Merde! I shocked him with my revelation. Here we go again…' she waited to be thrown back into reality.

Before she felt completely sucked into the void that would leave her panting and hurting everywhere, yet again, a pair of strong muscular arms enveloped her, and she was brought back, now tightly held against a sturdy chest.

She could hear his racing heart booming and he was panting from the effort.

She wanted to turn around but was held too tightly for her to react. Raven started to speak "How…" before she could finish, she felt the man's hot breath on her neck, and she froze. Close contact, too close contact. Her mind was starting to scream, to get out, but before she could react, he gently whispered in her ear "Don't leave me." And he let her go.

Panting just as hard as he was, Raven couldn't get a grip on reality. She was still in his office, but he somehow had pulled her out. Could he see the light phenomenon as it was happening, could he see her?

Slowly regaining his composure, Naihe walked back and sat on the couch, catching his breath. "I'm sorry" he said, his tone remorseful.

She didn't know how to react to that. What was he apologising for, she was the one who forgot all sense of reason and blurted out something that shocked him.

She was finally able to pull herself together and regain her composure.

"Not your fault. I should've been more careful with my words." He smiled, but it didn't seem to feel genuine.

"You are French? Back home I mean." He decided to drop all pretence. She had clearly figured it out. He was like her but not quite. He didn't want to reveal too much of his true self to her in case it would scare her away. He wasn't a good man where he came from.