Chapter 2

Wufei came out of the bathroom and spotted Lillie sound asleep already. He sighed to himself and tried to make himself comfortable on the couch. His attempt failed so he decided that maybe having something to eat would put him to sleep faster. He made a small sandwich because he didn't like falling asleep on a full stomach since it was unhealthy to do that. He found himself wondering why he had rescued this homeless waft. She had a look about her that was defiant and dared anyone to try and bring her down. Her pride was probably the only thing she had in the world, she certainly didn't have any dignity considering the occupation she was into. He ate his sandwich in silence and took that opportunity to study his guest, since it was quite obvious he couldn't do that while she was awake and wary of him. She was blonde, though her hair could do with a bit of washing, in fact the whole of her could use a good scrubbing. She was slight in build, so it was no wonder that she ate as much as she did that night, she was also short in height, but he was sure that if she had the strength, she would fight a man twice her size. But it was her eyes that showed her inner strength, eyes that got ice cold when she tried to deal with a situation that was against her, eyes that danced when she was happy, he preferred the happy eyes. He got angry thinking of the thugs that tried to ravage her. It wasn't fair that they would gang up on her or any woman for that fact. He was glad he had the chance to teach them a lesson, he only wish that this sort of thing didn't happen in the world, but it did, and he was powerless to help every single woman that fell victim to these circumstances. He grit his teeth when he remembered the words he had said so long ago to his wife, the words that women should be protected and not fight, and here was another woman who wanted to fight for herself but could have failed or have the same ending as his wife, so he was glad he could help out this time.

He placed his empty plate with the others and deposited the tray outside the room to be removed in the morning, which would be in a couple of hours. He went back to his place on the couch and willed himself to fall asleep, which wasn't easy considering the state of the couch, which wasn't bad, but it really wasn't made to be slept in.

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Lillie woke up in mellow mood, and stretched to get all the kinks out of her neck. She looked over at the clock on the night table beside her bed, she gaped when she saw that it was nearly 10am. She didn't expect to have slept so late. She wondered why Wufei hadn't run her out by now. She looked over to her left and smiled when she found Wufei sitting up in the couch, sound asleep. His neck was tilted at an angle, and his mouth was slightly open, he didn't snore, which was obviously a good thing for any man. His hair was loose since he had washed it the last night, and he had left it undone to allow it to dry naturally.

She couldn't help herself, no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't resist. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and tiptoed over to Wufei's side. She reached her hand out but hesitated at the last second. But then her curiosity got the best of her and she reached over and put a hand on his cheek. Soft, she thought, but before she could move her hand she gave a yelp as Wufei grabbed her hand and in seconds was up off the couch and held her in a chokehold.

"What do you think you're doing?" He growled into her ears. He had her back against him, one arm under her neck, the other holding her hand behind her back. When he realized it was her, he slowly loosened his hold.

"I uh… " Telling him that she had just wanted to feel his skin was not a good idea. " I woke up and saw you on the couch. You didn't look comfortable, so I figured I'd wake you up and tell you to used the bed."

He released her finally. "So you had to wake me up by touching my cheek?"

"Would it be better if I placed my hand lower down?" She replied cheekily, hands on her hip.

Wufei stared at her, and his face slowly turned red, and she realized that she had probably shrugged her coat off and was now wearing her job "uniform". It was a skimpy purple lingerie piece with black frills outlining the borders of it.

"It would seem that clothes are a must for you as well."

"Yes, it would seem that way." She frowned when he turned his back to her. "Are you still tired? You can have the bed now. I think I'll go take a nice long bath now."

He looked at the bed while tying his hair back into a pigtail, then, with his back still turned to her, he said, "No thank you, though the offer is tempting, I have other things I would like to accomplish."

"Fine, I'll go now, and remember, no peeking!" She smiled brightly when he turned around to supposedly scold her, but he stopped when he realized that he did exactly what she hoped he would. She grabbed up her towel and trotted into the bathroom.

Wufei placed his hand on his head and left the hotel room. He figured more or less that she wouldn't leave until she had breakfast.

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And he was right, but it wasn't because she was waiting for something to eat, it was because she was still in the bathroom. Wufei marvelled at how long women stayed in the bathroom. And to think that they do it every single day was astounding. He placed the bag he was holding on the bed and carefully laid out the purchases that he had bought.

Lillie came out of the bathroom, finally, with a towel wrapped around her hair and she was wearing one of the terrycloth bathrobes, courtesy of the hotel.

"Sorry to take so long, but it took a while to get my hair all clean. I kept finding bits of this and that even after 3 washes. Imagine that? Hey what you got in the bag?" She was peeking out at him though a curtain of semi-dry hair.

"Look for yourself. Breakfast is on the table." He went to the bathroom and stepped back when steam poured out of the room. He looked at her for an explanation.

She shrugged. " The hotel is probably out of hot water by now." She grinned at him wickedly. He blew out exasperatedly and fanned himself as he went in.

She was still grinning when she opened up the bag, then she covered her mouth to hold in her squeal. She dropped the towel she was holding and dug into the bag, drawing out a sheer, dark blue sundress. She saw something else at the bottom of the bag and reached in to pull out underwear and brassiere. She could only stare at them for a moment, and then shrugged. She held them against her and was surprised that they looked to be a perfect fit. She shrugged again and figured she would ask him how he knew what her size was. She eagerly threw off the bathrobe and hurriedly put on her undergarments and the dress. She twirled once then twice in front of the full-length mirror and admired how much the dress complimented her eyes.

Wufei came out of the bathroom to see her trying to see the back of the dress. He stopped and stared for what seemed to be an eternity for him, until she spied him in the mirror's reflection and spun around smiling.

"You bought all this for me?" He nodded. She smiled wickedly, hands on hips. "Even the undergarments?"

"NO!" He blushed and pretended to fix his shirt collar. " I had one of the sales women pick out something for you."

"But you would have needed my measurements to get them to fit right. How'd you accomplish that?"

"If you think I took a free look of you last night, you are seriously mistaken. I just told the woman how you looked and she probably made a lucky guess of the sizes. I had no say in whatever you got under there, I just bought them."

"Oh. Well they're a perfect fit, which is surprise since you must have bought these while I was in the bathroom. You're an expert at assumptions." She put her hands on his shoulders. "Thank you, you're sweet to have done all this… for me." She turned away from him, tears in her eyes.

"Oh not with the tears again. Come on woman it's just clothes. You don't have to cry over clothes."

She used the bed sheet to wipe at her face. " You're a man. You'll never understand."

"So you saying all women cry over nice gestures?"

"No." She swallowed. "But I just can't help it, and I can't explain it, so you will never understand."

"Fair enough. Now if you'll eat up. I'm leaving today." He started packing up.

"What? You're leaving? Where're you going?"

"Back to my colony. I'm going to finish the rest of my vacation there. I guess you'll go back on the streets." He looked up from folding one of his shirts. " I'm going to do some more nice stuff to you, and no more crying, please."

"Ok, what're you going to do?" She took a seat on the bed edge.

"I'm going to give you some money, and I don't want you to spend it on trifle stuff." She held her breath when he paused to try and get everything in the single suitcase he had. "I want you to use it and see if you can get a decent job. You seem smart enough, and there is enough money to buy food for a week, but you have to try and get the job to pay for an apartment or something, don't go for any thing expensive. You're not crying?" He was looking at her.

"No, I guess I'm not. I feel kind of numb, like I'm going into shock. I can't believe this is happening." She stepped towards him. "Is there anything I can do for you to repay you for all these kind deeds?

He gulped. She was too close for comfort, and she had look in her eyes that he had not seen very often, but he knew what it meant " Please, don't do this. You don't have to do this anymore."

"But you don't understand." She reached up to cup his face. " I'm doing this out of my own free will, and if you think about this really hard, you did pay for me.

He pushed her away. "No! You mistake my intentions! I will never pay for a woman's services, and I won't start with you!" He grabbed her hand that was caressing his cheek. He was breathing heavily now.

"But I already said I'm doing this in my own free will. Forget what I said about you paying for me, you didn't. But I have no other way of repaying you, and this is the only way I know of." She leaned forward to kiss him, but he stepped back suddenly so she kissed air instead.

"I said stop! Don't do this! I can't, I won't." He pushed her off him and she landed roughly on the bed. I'm sorry. But please, don't do this to me."

"And why not?!" She demanded, because it was strange and a first time that any man, or woman for that matter, had ever turned her down. "I offer myself willing to you, yet you refused! Tell me why!"

Wufei turned his back to her and stared out the window. A small pigeon landed on the ledge of the closed window of the hotel. It peered up curiously at Wufei, knowing that he couldn't harm it, but yet waiting to see if he would give it something that it could eat.

Several minutes passed by quickly, with neither Wufei nor Lillie willing to give in or back down. Impatient, the pigeon flew away leaving a few feathers behind. Finally Wufei opened the window and plucked the feather from the ledge and twirled it between his fingers for a few moments, the he slowly turned to face Lillie who was sitting impatiently at the edge of the bed.

"You will have to forgive me, but I have to go now. The money is on the bedside table. If you want it, take it, if not, the maid will find herself with a very large tip.

He didn't even have time to react, as he felt the tap of her fingers on his shoulders, when he turned to her he was surprised by the quick flash of her hand, then the stinging sensation of being slapped across the face. All he could do was look at her with shock. A woman had never in his life slapped him, nor has he ever let his guard down to allow this to happen. What was happening to him? He should have at least been able to sense it, but he felt nothing, he was more caught up with escaping her prying questions.

"You coward!" she screamed in his face, her hand red from the amount of force she had put into the hit. " In the short time I had known you, I had thought you as many things, but never a coward, so why act like one now? Why not just tell me why you won't make love to me?"

"First of all, it wouldn't be 'making love', all it would be is just plain sex, nothing least."

Now she like she had been slapped in the face as well stabbed in the back. She raised her hand again to give him another piece of her mind, to make him have an idea of how hurt she was now. But alas lightening does not strike in the same place twice, at least where Wufei is concerned, it doesn't, this time he caught her hand and held it in a fierce grasp.

"You really want to know why I won't make love or even have sex with you?"

She nodded.

"Well have a seat and listen, and don't say a word till I'm finished."

"But…" She was silenced by a finger on her lips, the soft pressure rendering her completely immobile much to her surprise.

"Not a word, understood?"

She nodded again, at least that simple movement she could do.

"Good, now give me a few moments for me to figure out where I should begin."

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To Be Continued!! -^__^-

~ Author's Note ~

Ok, second chapter is done. And if you're being really critical, you'll have realised that the writing style starts to sound different near the end. Well that's because I was kinda trying to get over a little writer's block. And it's also because of the lack of sleep I've been getting and the many exams/tests I've been doing these days. But enough of my problems… I hope that the second chapter meets your approval like the first one did. And thanx for the reviews, I really wasn't expecting such praise for the first one. -^__^- Thank You!!! Hope to have that third chapter ready for you all soon. Just remind me to write it when you review ;)