The Divorcee Is A Wicked Black Belly 40 A Love Stronger Than Death

Han flashed a bitter smile.

"I am d.a.m.ned, you know that, don't you?"

Ceres didn't answer, just looked at him and waiting. Han looked out into the moonlight with a grim face.

"We were attacked. Someone blew up the helicopter I was in. My brother Richard and An Ning were there, waiting for me to land," Han began. "I saw them fire two missiles. I looked at An Ning before the missiles reached the helicopter. She was looking at me like I was going to die and she was crying. When the helicopter blew up, I felt my body melt but I didn't feel the pain because I was flying.

"I woke up and I didn't know where I was. I could see myself walking, hear myself talking but it wasn't me. It was someone else. Someone else doing the talking. Someone else doing the walking. My old commander came to visit me in the hospital and in a moment of panic, I fought my way out to regain my own consciousness.

"I spoke to him but I can feel someone watching me in confusion. I realized then I was someone else. Someone else in someone else's body. My brother's body. Then I remembered what happened and I wanted to go see An Ning.

"She was sleeping and I saw him, Richard, looked at her with such longing, such desperation. He told her that he loved her and I...I never felt so much anger, so much hatred. I didn't know where the thought came from but I wanted him gone. I clawed my way again to regain my consciousness and took over."

There was a long silence after that. Han's face was grimmer, any hint of softness gone. He looked unseeing at the garden bathed in clear moonlight. It was so bright the entire garden, the house and the nearby waterfall seemed to have fallen into an enchanted dream. There was no sound except the deep breath Han took as he continued his tale.

"He didn't want to go," he said, a catch in his voice. "We fought but I was stronger. I started chomping at him, my entire consciousness beating at him until he started slipping away. I don't know how to describe it but my soul consumed his and it gave me so much power, so much strength. I suddenly felt invincible, triumphant because I was winning and he was going to be gone and An Ning will be mine forever.

"He didn't want to go," Han repeatedly harshly, "but I was stronger. When it was about to be over, I suddenly saw An Ning's face. Richard was looking at her with such a heartbreaking sorrow. It was like ice sliding down my spine and it brought me back to my senses," Han said, hands balled into tight fists. "Richard was barely conscious this time. He was slipping away so I stopped and did the only thing I thought I could to end it and forcibly expelled him from his own body. I took over and that was that."

The silence this time lengthened. Han transferred his gaze to Ceres, a hint of shame and guilt in their depths.

"I killed my brother," he said. "I killed my own brother so I could be with the woman I love," he laughed derisively. "That makes me lower than a dog, right?"

Ceres looked at him with calculated eyes.

"Are you the father of her child?" she asked.

The change in topic was so unexpected that it momentarily confused Han.

"Yes," he said, recovering from his confusion. "She and Richard never consummated the marriage. He met this woman on his wedding day and fell in love with her and started sleeping with her not long after. An Ning demanded he give her a divorce. She and I....we've never been apart since the day we met. She's never been with anyone," Han said, a hint of red creeping up his tanned cheeks.

"She was a bit apprehensive about the tangled relations.h.i.+p but I didn't care. I would have taken her away from Richard even if she had been happy with him. When she told me she was pregnant, we spent an entire day looking up baby stuff online. I asked her to marry me and we were preparing to do so when the...the attack happened," Han's voice trailed off.

"Why were you attacked?" Ceres asked.

"I worked for this secret organization that monitors terrorist activities worldwide. I was recruited by my commander, the one who visited Richard in the hospital. My cover was that I was his a.s.sistant, doing army stuff. But in truth, I was secretly undercover, investigating the prime minister's office which we think harbored some hostiles."

"Did An Ning know? About your job, I mean."

Han shook his head.

"I never told her. It would have been dangerous for her if she knew. But in the end, it didn't matter, did it? They still got to her."

"You should never have given him an iota of compa.s.sion. You should have devoured him then and there but that one moment of pity...we'll, we don't know what's going to happen yet so we have to wait and see."

"What are you talking about? And what did you mean he's coming back?"

"You don't understand any of it yet, do you? You are a soul-eater, Han. Like Yu Yan. Dread and the fear of being parted from the woman you love awoke something in you and it acted by instinct. Richard never had a chance. He was doomed the moment your awareness strengthened and you took over. There was only one outcome when that happened."

"But you said he's coming back? How?"

"I'm just speculating but soul-eaters usually overpower the souls of the original body by consuming them. Eating them if you will. That's the only way they can take over. Two souls cannot live in one body so the stronger soul initiates the other's destruction. But you departed from that. You actually expelled Richard's body instead of devouring it and that could have consequences."

"What do you mean?"

"Richard is not dead. He's just a wandering soul without a body. Not a spirit but a soul. What do you think will happen if he starts doing as you did? If he starts jumping on people's bodies and taking over? You said he didn't want to go. That's his motivation. He didn't want to go so he wants to come back."

"How? He was almost dead when I pushed him out. There was just a tiny consciousness left in him. Not enough to harm a child."

Ceres was silent, thinking about something. Her face was perturbed, her eyes a bit worried when she met Han's confused gaze.

"I started studying soul possession when I realized Yu Yan was using magic to prolong her life and keep herself young," she said after a while. "She was a very good student of my father. She studied his books and was privy to his personal files, some of which she took when she left Saravia. A chapter in one of the books I read talk about soul possession in terms of longevity and youth. Every soul has its own unique power and consuming one is equivalent to acquiring an additional fifty years lifespan and the slowing down of aging."

"Only Yu Yan took a step further by creating her own ready-made body in case something happens to her own," Han finished, finally understanding the implication. "It doesn't regenerate in case something happens to the original body?"

"No. It keeps it young and prolongs life but if the body is damaged then she can just jump to another body and live forever."

"What you're saying is Richard must have discovered a way to prolong his own life. How?

Ceres smiled.

"How do you think? By consuming and devouring another soul of course. In my estimation he needs between 200 to 300 souls to fully get his strength back then he would find a host, a body to use."

"Between 200 to 300 souls?" said Han, stunned. "But that means...."

"He needs to kill about that number before he can attempt to make a jump. Then he will come back."

The ominous words hang in the silence.

"What happens when he comes back?"

They started. The voice came from An Ma, who was staring at them by the open door. He walked towards Ceres and held her hand in his. She smiled at him in welcome and squeezed his hand.

"What happens when he comes back?" he repeated, looking at Ceres.

"I don't know," Ceres said. "He wants to come back for An Ning. He'll eventually find a body and return to her."

"That won't happen," Han said grimly. "I'll kill him again before that happens."

"You don't understand," Ceres said. "He'll come for her because he thinks she's waiting for him, too. His mind is stuck somewhere when the two of them were both young and she still loved him. He sees you as this intruder who came between them. Basically, you're the person who stole his life and his wife."

"I didn't stole anything from him," Han said. "It was over for them when we got together."

"I can't believe you're that other idiot stuck in this idiot's body," An Ma said. "Why the h.e.l.l do you continue to circle around my daughter like antsy wolves, I'll never know. That other idiot abused my daughter's love and you have the nerve to have her pregnant. I hope she wakes up and realizes you and your brother are unworthy of her, that's all," An Ma said spitefully.

"An Ma..." Ceres said, putting a hand on his arm.

"I'm sick and tired of the Liu boys hurting my daughter. She's finally done with that idiot Richard and now she's stuck with this other idiot Han. And you're telling me Richard is coming back because he thinks she's still in love with him? I've always known he was stupid but not this stupid."

Ceres laughed.

"You don't like Richard," she stated amused but not surprised.

"I don't understand what she ever saw in him. A spoiled brat, thinking of himself as G.o.d's gift to mankind. Thank G.o.d it was all Yu Yan's work. And An Ning had enough sense to break the spell. Who falls in love with another woman at their wedding, for the love of G.o.d? Only Richard apparently."

"An Ning is carrying my child," Han said, anger in his voice. "She belongs with me. We would have been married by now if that attack didn't happen."

"You're living with her pretending you're Richard," An Ma pointed out angrily. "You don't even have the guts to tell her the truth. I call that deceit, don't you?"

"What am I supposed to tell her then? That Richard is dead and I killed him and that I, Han, took over his body because I'm a b.a.s.t.a.r.d who didn't want to die and leave her?" Han was equally furious, his voice rising with his anger. "Can't you see her laughing at me when I say that with a straight face?"

"So you intend to just continue deceiving her then?" An Ma was as furious as Richard by this time. "Richard deceived her by pretending he loved her then cheated on her and now you're doing it, too. You and Richard, you're bad for my daughter. When all of this is over, I'll send An Ning away. The three of us will travel together and never come back to this country ever again!"

"You do that and I'll destroy you," Han answered furiously. "You're not taking my wife and my child away from me. I'll kill you first."

"She's not your wife and she'll never be your wife if I have anything to say about it," An Ma shouted angrily.

"You don't have a say in it so f.u.c.k off!"

"He doesn't have a say in it but neither have you."

Han's head whipped around. An Ning was standing on the landing looking at them with inscrutable eyes.

"An Ning," Han was startled. "What are you doing here?"

An Ning's brows were raised in surprise.

"Don't I have a right to be here?" she asked.

"I mean I thought you were asleep."

"It was a bit cold in the cave so I came over to get some blankets."

Han picked up the bag he left on the floor.

"I was coming over to give you these," he said, slinging the bag behind his back. "Come on, I'll take you back."

"I'll be fine. You can just give me the bag."

"No," Han said firmly. "I'll take you back. I don't want you walking in these woods at night. You might hurt yourself."

They were still arguing when they went down the stairs and went around a patch of rose bushes that led to a narrow path down to the cave. An Ma and Ceres watched as An Ning seemed to stumble. Han hurriedly picked her up in his arms bridal style. They could hear her protests and his answering laughter. They vanished inside the cave and the night went back to its unperturbed silence, the moonlight sweeping over the waterfalls as if finally nodding off to sleep.