Sudden loss

The man did not look the slightest bit offended on the contrary he looked rather amused, his eyes seem to be twinkling as he looked down at her. " Little firecracker do you know who I am?"

" Do I have to?" questioned Yin Zhu back as she took a couple of steps back to create some distance between the two of them. " I only know decent men who know how to be a gentleman, so of course, I wouldn't know someone like you."

" Interesting," was all the man said before he raised his hand and Yin Zhu eyed him warily as if expecting the man to hurt her but the man only brushed the locks of hair from the front of his eyes and didn't do anything else. " I haven't seen anything like this…" he murmured.

A frown appeared on Yin Zhu's face as she looked at the man, she wanted to turn around and leave but then she heard the man say, " You will forget everything that happened here."

" What?" How was she supposed to forget what has happened to her? She raised her head to tell the same to the man but then her gaze met with the man's eyes. They were no longer golden, no..now they were glowing a dangerous shade of red causing sweat to trickle down Yin Zhu's spine. " You are going to forget everything that you have seen and heard right now, little firecracker. You did not see me ..you did not talk to me and the injuries on your body are because of your lack of attention."

The man spoke in a slow, sensual voice and Yin Zhu felt like she was drowning in some sort of spiralling abyss. Her eyes glazed and then her mouth dropped open as the man took a look at her dazed-looking face and swooped down before smirking at her. " We will meet again soon, little firecracker …until then … keep on agonising."

He snapped his fingers and Yin Zhu's eyes closed at once.

"What just happened?" Yin Zhu's eyes fluttered open as she looked around the street. Wasn't she standing at the mouth of the alley? How come she came here? She was slightly annoyed and confused.

Annoyed?

Why was she feeling annoyed? Confused she was able to understand as to why she was feeling confused but why was she annoyed and at what?

Unbeknownst to her one of the rings of her ring on her neck was glowing slightly and the street despite being bare of any rose bushes was now lingering with a sweet and seductive scent of roses.

" Zhu'er!" A familiar voice called Yin Zhu from behind and a second later Yin Xia who returned from the black market came running towards Yin Zhu. She stopped beside her sister and then glared at her sternly, " Didn't I tell you to stay put and not go anywhere? Then what are you doing here?"

" I … I don't know," replied Yin Zhu quite honestly, her heart was telling her that she may or may not have forgotten something but no matter how hard she tried, she could not remember what she has forgotten. It was as if a part of her memory was lost, she remembered standing at the mouth of the alley but how she came to stand here, she could not remember it.

She didn't even remember walking away from the alley!

" Oh my god, what is this?" Yin Zhu was snapped out of her daze when she heard Yin Xia shriek, her sister was looking at her palms which were all scratched up and the bloody spots on Yin Zhu's skirt that looked extremely glaring given that she was wearing a pastel bluer dress. " What in the world? How did you hurt yourself?"

" I..might have fallen?" Yin Zhu could not tell her sister that she couldn't remember anything about this fall that led her to get hurt like this as far as she knew, her sister was already overprotective of her enough as it was, and if she was told Yin Xia that she was now having a sudden lapse in her memories, her sister will tie her to her side.

" Seriously, Zhu'er?" sounding a bit exasperated Yin Xia shook her head. " I only left you for like fifteen minutes at the most and you got yourself hurt like this? Come with me now, we have to tend to your wounds."

The two girls turned around and left, the older one was nagging her sister as she pulled her along with her.

The man who was hiding in the dark corner of the street stepped out and then curled a side of his lips as he stared at the sight of the silver-haired woman, who was being forced to wear the veiled hat by her elder sister.

He understood why the older woman wanted the younger one to wear the hat, having glanced at the petite and beautiful face he has to admit that she was indeed one of the prettiest women he has ever seen.

And more importantly, her blood smelled enchantingly divine.

He stared at the woman's back for quite some time, the tip of his tongue pressing against the back of his teeth. It would have taken not more than two sweet words to enchant the girl and bring her to this dark corner but killing her would have been such a shame.

…

" You two are late," Father Yin raised his head from the stove, poker in hand as he stirred the fire with the sharpened end of the poker stick. " I was going to come looking for you if you didn't come back in half an hour."

" The carriages did not have enough seat father," replied Yin Zhu as she walked inside the cottage and then sat down on her bed. Snatching up the matchbox that was sitting on the bedside cabinet to light up the room brazier, the sky of the first cycle where they lived was always covered with rainy clouds.

She couldn't even remember the last time she stepped into the sun to enjoy the warmth of the summer!