Part VI (Revised)

Sally got off Wufei's embedded bed. He had not slept there for long, but still, the sheets were impregnate of his scent, a sweet melange of his shampoo and of his own body scent. Sally sat on the bench used as a stair to climb in the bed holding the sheets in her arms. Leaning her back against the wall, she closed her eyes. The rain was pouring hard on the rice paper. She was so tired. She would have given anything for an hour, only one hour of sleep. Adding to that, her sinuses were killing her, giving her an enormous headache. Her nose was not flowing anymore, but instead of that, she was coughing and it was getting worst by the hour. At least, she was not hungry anymore. When she arrived in the kitchen, Mother was there waiting, furious. She slapped her on the face and told her to respect her engagement. As a punishment, she had to make the dinner without attending to it. The only thing she ate was rice porridge, but that did not bother her since she did not feel like eating fish for breakfast anyway. Mother gave her other chores to pass time while the others were eating, but since there was not much to do, Sally ended up having to change the sheets in Wufei's bed because he would have to sleep in the same room as her since there were other guests coming. The other orders of Mother were to take a bath and get changed. Sally could not have wished for more. Slowly, she lifted her eyelids half-way to take a look at her watch. Only twelve thirty, the guests were not coming until two, she had time to sleep. Sally closed her eyes again; holding on to Wufei's sheet and quickly fell asleep.

Wufei closed the door silently. Seemed like he had gotten rid of her. He sighed, this day was so awful. First there had been this altercation with Yuen, which left him bitter, then, when he got to the dinning room, Sally was not there. And since Wu Feng was taking care of Meilan, he had to sit between Sally's "mother" and Yuen, having the first one trying to match him with her daughter and the second one kicking his tibia under the table. Before Yuen's mother realised it, Wufei's had a big bump. And now, she was coming after him, on her mother's demand, to apologise and play him some flute. She probably sucked at it too. When she had gone to retrieve her flute, Wufei had silently escaped from the boudoir.

Still quietly, Wufei walked toward to bed. His sheets had been left on the little bench used as a stair. He snorted. The maid had not done her work. Always with the care of being silent, Wufei tried to pick up the sheets when they started to moan. Wufei raised an eyebrow. He drew them to discover a sleeping Sally.

"Now what is she doing in MY room, with MY sheets…" He thought. "Could it be…? Ho! Ho! I didn't know that…." An evil smile crossed his lips. He shook Sally carefully; ready to put a hand on her mouth to prevent her from screaming.

"Woman!"

Sally opened her eyes.

"Wufffw !" She screamed, ending with his hand on her mouth. She looked at him; he had his finger in front of his mouth. Sally freed herself.

"What is with the silence thing?" She murmured.

"I didn't know you were so perverted, Woman!" He murmured too. "If you wanted to smell my scent so bad, you should have asked me. I would have been happy to lend your my shampoo and cologne." He ended with a sly smile.

Sally's eyes widened with anger. Wufei put his hand on her mouth, preventing.

"Shhh, don't scream, Woman, or she'll find me."

Wufei released her again.

"Who?" She asked murmuring.

"Your sister."

"Half-sister." Insisted Sally a bit too loud.

"Shhh! Whatever! She must not find me!"

"Why?"

Wufei told Sally about the altercation in the garden, the dinner and everything.

"I just can't stand to be near her!"

Sally laughed silently; she felt the same about Yuen.

"Don't laugh, Woman. It's your entire fault. Where were you?"

"I had some things to do; like changing your sheets. Seems like I fell asleep while taking a pause! " She murmured.

"MISTER CHANG?" Screamed someone in the hallway.

Wufei started to look around, panicking a bit.

"Oh no! She's going to find me if I stay here! Help me Sally."

She looked at him, eyes wide open.

"Sally? Who's that? My name is WOMAN, don't you remember?" She asked with a devilish smile.

"MISTER CHAAAAAAAANG?" Screamed the voice, closer.

"Jodan janai ! I'm not kidding! Help me"

"Since when do you ask perverted women to help you?"

"Ok! I'm So-rry. Now I'll go on the balcony, just tell her you didn't see me." He said already opening the outside door.

Sally rolled her eyes.

"I get the concept, no need to explain." But the door was already closed. She pulled her tongue at it and began to cough uncontrollably.

Somebody knocked on the door.

"Is it you mister Chang? I'm coming in." She said, opening the door. The only thing she saw was Sally coughing hard with watery eyes. She looked relieved rather than deceived.

"Nice, it's just you." Yuen said.

Sally stopped coughing and looked at Yuen her Chinese flute in hand. She approached the young girl and touched her forehead. Yuen stood back fast, hitting Sally's hand away.

"Don't touch me!" She exclaimed, touching her forehead, probably looking for dirt or something disgusting.

Sally smiled.

"Now that's the Yuen I know. Since when are you happy to see me?"

Yuen rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't happy, I was relieved, and that's different. You haven't seen that jerk Wufei, have you?

Sally shook her head.

"That's good. Mom sent me after him. She wants me to play the flute for him. Like I really want to!"

"Don't you like Wufei?" She asked, hoping for a negative answer.

Yuen was about to answer when she saw the look on Sally's face. She smiled hypocritically. "Seems like it's time to play…" She thought. "Of course, I do like him. I mean he's very handsome and his way of respecting ancient traditions is so nice. I just don't like to be pushed in the back. I didn't want to play the flute 'cause I'm afraid he would say I'm bad at it." She ended with a fake shy face.

"You lie. You called him a jerk." Opposed Sally with a quite serious look on her face.

"I did? Oh, it's just that I was so used to call your father a jerk that when I see a man, I just can't help it." She replied with a cruel smile.

Sally's jaws clenched. She was shaking, her eyes filled with anger.

"He was your father too."

"So what? The fact of being my father doesn't change anything about him being a jerk. And what do you know about it, you barely knew him. The last time you saw him you were twelve, so don't talk about things you don't know." She said, angry. "Anyway, if you see Mister Chang, tell him I'll be waiting for him in the boudoir."

"You lie" Replied Sally.

Yuen rolled her eyes.

"No it's true, I'll be waiting…"

"I'm talking about you liking Wufei…" She interrupted. She knew that she was looking stupid right now, but she had to know, to be sure. Yuen sighed.

"OK I don't ! You are happy now? Well don't be too much. I can see right through you Sally Po. I intend to have fun with you and him…" She added with a detestable smile on her face.

"You're a snake!"

"Maybe." She replied walking toward the door. "But if I am, then you're my prey…" She ended closing the door behind her, leaving Sally with her anger.

Sally was totally pissed off. That girl would need a lesson, and a good one. She waited till she did not hear Yuen footsteps anymore then opened the balcony door to let him in. He was soaked and looking angry. He stepped in.

"Great! Now my clothes are all wet, what am I going to wear!" He said, starting to unbutton his robe. "What is it with you, Woman? Couldn't you tell her I wasn't here without starting a conversation?"

Sally started to walk away, this was too much.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, Woman! Where are you going?" He asked grabbing her shoulder to make her stop. Sally turned around and punched Wufei in the face. He fell down, surprised.

"GO TO HELL, WUFEI! IT WASN'T MY STUPID IDEA TO GO HIDE OUTSIDE IN THE RAIN! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S STUPID SO LIVE WITH IT. AND I WASN'T CONVERSING! SHE WAS GIVING ME SHIT THERE! OK? YOU WANTED IT TO BE DONE THE RIGHT WAY? THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU DO IT YOURSELF SO IT WOULD BE PERFECT SINCE YOU'RE THE PERFECT MAN! I JUST DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT YOU WEAR, I JUST DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK, I JUST DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOU EITHER. TO BE FRANK, I HATE YOU, I DESPISE YOU. YOU'RE LUCKY I DON'T HAVE A GUN RIGHT NOW 'CAUSE YOU'D BE ALREADY DEAD! LEAVE ME ALONE YOU MACHO FREAK AND DON'T TOUCH ME!" On this "sweet" note she left the room slamming the door. Wufei was still on the floor, stunned.