"I'm sorry. I'm afraid of the dark." Beryl struggled to get up and was full of apologies as she continued,
"Dylan, did I hurt you anywhere?"
"No, no, it's okay," he answered quickly. He pushed himself to his feet, flushed with embarrassment. He
noticed that she did not seem to register anything wrong with the situation. Beryl did not appear at all
disturbed by the unseemly moment. It was as if nothing had happened.
Though still young, Dylan knew clearly what "inappropriate for children" meant, so naturally he knew
what a first kiss was and what it meant to people as well.
He felt a great sense of disappointment upon seeing that she did not find anything wrong with the kiss.
However, he considered it lucky that his mother knew nothing about the kiss. Otherwise, he would
surely receive a severe beating...
"Beryl, let's keep this a secret. What happened just now didn't happen, okay? Do not let anyone else
know about it, especially my mother, okay?"
"Secret? What secret are you talking about?" she asked.
"I meant that...just now... I kissed you... No, wait! You kissed me... No! Ehmm..." Still flustered he had
managed to even confuse himself. Finally, he blurted it out, "I meant the secret was that we kissed by
accident just now!"
"Oh, like this, right?" she said innocently. Blinking her big eyes, she stood up on tippy toes and kissed
him quite deliberately on the cheek, to show that she knew what he was referring to.
He stared at her in disbelief. His face flushed like a ripe tomato, " You...kissed me, again!"! !
"Is there something wrong with that?" She seemed confused too and tried her best to explain, "Mommy
once told me that only people in an intimate relationship can kiss each other..."
"No, you are a girl. You can not kiss others so casually like this." Struggling to remain calm he fought to
keep a straight face like a grown-up, as he continued sternly, "Have you ever kissed any other boys,
except me?"
She shook her head slowly, "No."
The sudden happiness he felt was confusing, yet it also filled him with pleasure. 'She kissed only one
boy, and that's me!' he thought, inexplicably happy.
"Anyway, you can't kiss others so casually in the future," he cautioned.
"Dylan, am I an outsider or a stranger to you?"
She asked seriously with her watery eyes searching his face. Tears seemed very close as she
continued, "Are you not already my intimate family?"
Her sudden tear fall made Dylan panic, and he hurriedly wiped her face with his sleeve explaining, "Of
course not. You are not an outsider or a stranger. I did not mean that..."
Beryl's eyes were red from crying, just like a bonny, full of sadness.
Dylan felt his heart pulled painfully tight as he saw her distress. He did not want her to cry. He wanted
her to be happy always, and such was the power she had over him.
"Don't cry please!" Pondering what to do for several seconds he finally had an idea. Moving in closer to
her, he kissed her cheek, "Don't cry please. You see, I kissed you now. I've never kissed anyone else
before you, except my mother."
Finally she stopped crying and asked, "Really?"
Wiping her tears with his pudgy fingers he soothed, "Of course. So promise me that you will not kiss
others or let others kiss you, okay?"
"So what about you?" she demanded.
"I...I'm the exception. Right! I'm the exception, the only one allowed to do so!" he instructed sternly.
Nodding her head she said, "Okay, I got it!"
Relieved by her agreement, he thought happily that he would be the only special person for her from
now on. Other boys would not be able to compete for her affections now!
"This is our little secret. Let's pinky-swear on it," he suggested.
...
In the Misty Mountain.
The Yang family had became the laughingstock of the whole village. The bride they bought for their son
at such a high price was stolen away by a bare-handed foreigner! What was more, there was nothing
they could do about it, but accept it silently.
Mrs. Yang was so furious-her husband was still lying in bed seriously injured, and his son was just an
idiot, and as for the villagers, well, they were just fence-sitters!
She could do nothing but curse Jacob and Emily in her mind!
Mrs. Yang really had no idea that Jacob was such a good fighter. Besides, Mr. Barefoot was the best
and the only doctor in the whole village! She couldn't afford to offend either of them!
But what annoyed her most was not Jacob or Emily, but rather her own son, Donny.
Since Emily had left with Jacob, Donny kept himself secluded in his room and did not want to see
anyone. Every day, he just stared at those grass woven dragonflies and grasshoppers.
They were gifts Emily had made for Donny. Therefore, he cherished them tremendously, and he saved
them carefully, despite the toys made of grass and leaves having turned from green to yellow.
Angry and heartbroken, she had not expected that her son would become so infatuated with Emily.
"She must be a evil witch and has stolen your soul! If I knew it earlier, I would definitely have asked
your father to sell her out! She proved a disaster for both you and your father!" Mrs. Yang cursed.
"No, she is not!" Finally, he responded to her ravings and seriously refuted her accusations, "She is my
Miss Beauty. She is a good person, very very good..."
"So what? She ran away with another man! I should never have found you a beautiful wife! Beauty will
only bring trouble for us!" She continued yelling.
He fell into silence once again upon hearing her words.
He knew clearly that his Miss Beauty abandoned him and chose the most handsome guy in his village.
"Mom, am I really so ugly?" he asked seriously.
Stunned she said, "Who dared to say that? My Donny is a handsome man!"
"Then why did Miss Beauty not choose me? It must be because I'm ugly. Cherry told me that girls all
prefer handsome guys."
He was rather depressed as he spoke, and his eyes were red as if he was going to start crying.
Mrs. Yang could not help feeling sad seeing her son like this and she comforted him, "My dear Donny,
forget your Miss Beauty please. I promise to find you another girl, one who is more beautiful than her.
That Miss Beauty does not belong to you..."
He lightly stroked the grass dragonflies and grasshoppers. A sharp edge of the dried grass cut his
hand, but he seemed not to notice and answered numbly, "But I want her only..."
"Ah, you got yourself cut!" Mrs. Yang chided. She could see the blood drip from Donny's finger and
hurried to dress his wound. "Throw them away right now! You will not feel so sad when you do not see
them any more!" She tried to persuade him.
"No! Do not touch them! Those are the gifts she sent to me!" he yelled. His eyes were full of
stubbornness, as if he would fight for them if anyone dared lay a finger on them.
Deciding not to push him anymore, she let him put the gifts into a clean wooden case and set it beside
his pillow.
"Alas!" She had never expected that her husband would prove such a weakling, or his son such a
single-minded boy.
As for Emily, she would definitely not let her get away so easily, especially after having hurt her son so
badly!
Clenching her fist, resentment flashed through her eyes. She swore to have her revenge!
Suddenly, she remembered that the son of the Huang family had caught a viper earlier, and he had
asked her to help sell it in town. Now, however, she had a better plan for it.
Meanwhile, Emily knew nothing about this. She had planned to visit Donny, but was stopped by Jacob
who said that all of that family were dangerous.
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