Li Mei was furious with Jiaoshu and Manchu. It had taken time, but Chu Hua and her had managed to get out what Manchu had been hiding. Giving that poor man such threats! No wonder he had taken so long in showing up, and then ran at the first glimpse of Manchu! Men! They were all thickheaded idiots!

As punishment, since she couldn't very well make them do chores, she refused to give either one dessert, and sent Jiaoshu to sleep in another room for the night. That she had not insisted that the two apologize to Edward let Jiaoshu know that she didn't want the idea of the threats recalled. She could see the benefit of having such a warning hanging over one's head.

The problem was the time when the threat had been given. It hadn't been when they first met the man. It had been after Xiaohu had let the man bed her. All of them knew how seriously she took such an act, and that she would not have done it if there had been any doubt that he did not love her.

But Li Mei sighed, and made Chu Hua swear not to repeat what Jiaoshu and Manchu had told Eddie, especially to Dee. Chu Hua had readily agreed, knowing that Dee would be very angry that they had interfered in such a way. Still, unlike her, Li Mei and Chu Hua had listened to Edward's words, instead of treating him so shamefully.

{Dee Lemma, you open this door right now!} Li Mei demanded almost a full week later.

{I just want to be left alone!} came the reply.

{Dee, I know you are depressed about this. But you are worrying all of us, and you are acting like a spoiled brat. You will open this door and let me in to talk to you, or I will have Manchu break it down. It is your choice.}

It was always her choice, wasn't it? Which meant exactly the opposite. It was Li Mei's way, or else. Since seeing Eddie, Dee had become more withdrawn. She would only eat if food was set in front of her. Whether she tasted it or not, they didn't know. She would spend hours and hours in the practice room, going through movements until her body could not move anymore. At those times, Manchu would carry her up to her room, where Li Mei would scold her, while forcing her to drink some nasty concoction to get rid of the burn of her muscles.

The door slid open, and Dee stood there, once again looking disheveled. Li Mei covered her nose as she walked in and to the window. Throwing it open, she turned on Dee. Sitting on the dresser was a glass vase with the rotting remains of the tiger lilies inside. The water they sat in was a murky brown.

{This is disgraceful, Xiaohu! I raised you better than this! Look at this room! Look at you!}

{Li Mei, I want to be left alone to deal with this in my own way, ok? You, and everyone else always forcing me to come out is not helping! If anything, it's making me feel even worse!}

She shook her head. {You are acting like a child! Though when you were a child, you were at least easier to handle and make listen to sense! Xiaohu, he came here to see you, even though he was scared to do so. You know that he was scared. You saw that.}

{He had every right to be! He knows I would've hurt him if he did anything to me!}

Frowning, Li Mei smacked the back of Dee's head.

{Why did you do that?!} she spat, clutching the stinging back of her head.

{Because you needed the advice,} the woman replied simply. Leaning against the dressing table, Li Mei folded her arms across her chest, giving Dee a look that made Li Mei seem taller. {Now listen to me, Xiaohu. You know what you just said was a lie. You would never hurt that man because you love him. You love him so much it has made you sick not being with him! And you know very well that he would not harm you, and that you cannot harm him.}

It was true. That was the reason she had simply left. She couldn't hurt him, and that frustrated her. Dee wandered over to her bed, sitting down amongst the nest of sheets and clothing that covered it.

{But he hurt me,} she said softly.

{Love hurts, and you must learn to make sacrifices to keep it. You love him, and you have to accept him all. Good and bad.}

Dee nodded, rolling onto her side and pulling a blanket around herself. In doing so, she exposed Tangram, who was sleeping soundly through the entire thing. She had run him ragged the day before in the practice room. Seeing him, she pulled him up to her like a child would take hold of a ragdoll.

{Let me sleep. Please?} she pleaded.

{Very well, Xiaohu. Sleep. Sleep the rest of your life away if you want.}

She heard the door slide close, and voices start up in the hallway, talking too softly for her to make the words out. They kept doing that, holding their little meetings outside of her room. Everything about her was being discussed, and she hated it. It was the times like this that she regretted coming back. But she hadn't anywhere else to go, and she had hoped that her best friend would at least comfort her. He hadn't. He had used every opportunity to tell her that she was the one being stubborn and a fool.

"So I'm a fool. At least I haven't slept with every man I've worked with," she grumbled into the tiger's fur.

Tangram wiggled out of her arms. Standing on the bed in front of her, he sniffed her hair, and sneezed, batting his nose with his paw. Dee watched as he trotted to the window, hopping out of it.

"Tan!" she called, getting up and running to the window.

Sticking her head out, she was in time to see him leap through Manchu's window a couple of rooms down. The next moment, she heard the jingle of his collar as he trotted down the hallway. Standing in the middle of her room, she frowned and looked at herself in the mirror. Everyone was right. She looked terrible. Her hair was knotted, her clothing dirty, and she had bags under her eyes from crying so much.

"Fine. You win. You all win. I'll get cleaned up," she sighed. If she smelled bad enough to her tiger, she didn't want to know exactly how bad she smelled to the humans. From her closet, she pulled out a clean robe, changing into that as she gathered her dirty laundry and stripped her bed.

No one said a word as they watched her wander back and forth from her room to the laundry room to the bathing pool. Only when she went to the kitchen to ask Chu Hua to help her brush the knots out of her hair, did anyone speak.

{This is more like you, my daughter,} Li Mei smiled. She brought over a plate of steamed buns and another cup for tea, setting it in front of Dee. {You are looking much better already.}

{Once we evict these rats from your hair, and get rid of their nests, you'll look even better,} Chu Hua added.

Nodding silently, Dee picked up a bun and began to eat while Chu Hua tugged away at knots. It took a while, but eventually her hair was brushed straight, and Li Mei insisted on putting it into a queue. At least then it would stay knot free for a while. Or so the women hoped. When they had finished they all headed up to Dee's room and helped her finish cleaning it. Only when Dee was tossing the clean pillows onto the bed did Tangram come back.

"There you are, you miscreant," she said, kneeling down to greet him.

Like a child, he came to her and squeezed himself into her lap to lie down. She hugged him, kissing his head.

{You have the forgiveness of your pet, I see. Now perhaps you can take care of him instead of making us do so,} Li Mei said.
Next / Onus Main / Back