An Eye for News Chapter 26
The second floor bathroom was
rolling in shower mist and the calming scent of lavender.
In the middle of it was a black
marble spa with 4 stone sculptures at each side that poured out water.
The spa tub was family-sized and
could easily fit 3 to 4 people.
Xin Yu selected a few pebbles of
bath salts from the rack before wading into the spa with them.
The multicolored bath salts
fizzled in the warm water instantly to create a perfumed, colorful pond of
bathing water.
Xin Yu had a penchant for taking
long bath, and with luxuries like these, who wouldn’t be?
She leaned back into the water
and sighed in satisfaction. Then, she caught herself.
“Oops, Se Cai is still waiting
for me downstairs… I better hurry.”
She pulled her hair up into a
bun with a hair clip and started lathering up the soap.
“This Se Cai… He doesn’t look
like much… but who knew he could step up to the plate so nicely when the
situation calls for it.”
She thought back to the misadventures
that they had had that day and shivered.
“Then again, was I being too
forward with that kiss?”
It was hard to tell whether it
was caused by the heat of the bath or something else but a blush crawled up to
her face.
She submerged her body back
underwater and relaxed under the bath’s warm embrace.
She was too at ease to notice
the flicking shadow outside her bathroom window.
The shadow belonged to Se Cai.
After he left the front door, he went round the yard following the sound of
water.
Thankfully, the wall of the
house was decorated with many motifs that he could use as foothold to get up to
the second floor.
The bathroom had a design that opened
to nature so its French windows were seldom closed and the only cover was a
curtain of Venetian blind.
The house sat in a corner that
was isolated from other residences and had a verdant woodland around its
compound so normally privacy wasn’t an issue.
However, if a person could get
past security, he could easily gain access into the house through the bathroom
like Se Cai did.
“Should I go in? But if I do, it’ll
be really hard to explain to her that I’m not a s.e.xual predator.”
Se Cai hesitated as he listened
to the sound of water gushing within.
The bathroom was heavily misted
by the steam but he was certain he saw Xin Yu’s silhouette inside.
“I shouldn’t be wasting time or
else I might be too late…”
Se Cai steeled his nerves and
pushed himself in.
He looked left and right and
realized with a sinking feeling that there was no one there.
Se Cai ran to the door, praying
that he wasn’t too late.
The door opened to a dimly-lit
walk in closet. Xin Yu wasn’t there either.
Se Cai was heading out of the closet when he
heard a series of footsteps coming from the corridor.
“Miss, I’m here with some new
towels…”
It was Sister Xu’s voice. Se Cai
quickly rushed back to the bathroom since she was coming his way.
The moment Se Cai stepped back
into the bathroom, Xin Yu emerged from the water. She shook her hair out and
wiped the water from her face. She chirped, “Sister Xu, you shouldn’t have brought
them in here yourself, you can just left them in the closet. I don’t want to
trouble you…”
She blinked the water out of her
eyes and meant to thank Sister Xu but she realized with a start that it was
someone else standing there.
“Who… Se..”
With desperation, Se Cai rushed
to her side and covered her mouth. He didn’t want her to alert Sister Xu.
“Please keep your voice down!
Trust me, I’m not here to spy on you!”
Se Cai whispered.
Xin Yu though had far greater
things on her mind to worry about to hear what Se Cai was whispering. She
struggled initially against his grasp before calming down enough to nod cooperatively
at Se Cai.
“Help me keep Sister Xu out! Don’t
let her in here!”
Se Cai released Xin Yu when he
felt her body relaxed. He said hurriedly while pointing at the bathroom door.
“Sister Xu, one moment, I’m
almost ready!”
Xin Yu called out as she pulled
her hands in front of her chest. In a lower voice, she asked, “Why are you here
in my bathroom?”
“I… It’s a long story but
believe me, I’m not here to harm you. In fact, I’m here to save you!”
Se Cai stammered in his
desperation to explain.
Se Cai didn’t know where to place
his eyes but it would be weird if he didn’t look at Xin Yu while he was talking
to her.
Xin Yu, in her vulnerabilities,
felt Se Cai’s lingering gaze. She had half a mind to lecture Se Cai when Sister
Xu’s voice came back from the door.
“Miss, is everything fine in
there? I thought I heard you screamed. Anyway, I’m here to bring you the towels
and we’ll need to move on to the packing soon. We have to leave early tomorrow!”
Sister Xu’s voice sounded closer
and closer.
“Quick, hide!”
Xin Yu hissed.
“Hide? But where?”
The bathroom was huge but it was
ascetically furnished. There was no object big enough for him to hide behind or
in.
“Well… Down here!”
Xin Yu tilted her head at the
spa.
This time it was Se Cai’s turn
to blush. He really didn’t expect things to turn out this way.
The sound of footsteps drew
nearer.
“Get Sister Xu out and I’ll
explain everything later!”
Se Cai kicked his shoes out of
sight, sucked in a deep breath and jumped into the water.
It is common knowledge that the
human body has natural buoyancy. Therefore, Se Cai felt his body pushed to the
surface by the water.
Furthermore, he went in
fully-clothed. The air bubbles in his clothes only added to his buoyancy.
Se Cai waved his hands around
wildly to find something he could grab on to pull himself deeper into the
water. His hands found a pole-like object and he pulled on it hard. Little did
he know it was Xin Yu’s leg.
Dragged by the unexpected force,
Xin Yu slipped and fell with a splash.
At that moment, Sister Xu burst
into the room.
She carried a stack of towels
and looked at Xin Yu curiously.
“Sister Xu… I’ve asked you to
leave the towels in the closet, you don’t need to come in here.”
Xin Yu lowered her blushing face
and said softly.
“Miss, why are you acting so
weird tonight? Come, I’ll help you get dried.”
She took a few more steps
towards the spa tub.
“No, it’s okay. Thanks, Sister
Xu, I can do it myself.”
Xin Yu said hastily. When Sister
Xu didn’t stop, she gathered herself and uttered with authority.
“Jin Feng, didn’t I tell you
stop? Put the towels down and leave me alone!”
Sister Xu stopped midstride. She
looked at Xin Yu with equal measure surprise and wariness.
“Yes, miss…”
She set down the towels and
retreated out of the bathroom wordlessly.
[I've edited this chapter for quite a bit since this is a blog that is open to the public of all ages. The deleted scene doesn't detract from the overall plotline so don't worry.]