10 The confession
Sabrina stormed into Dashen's quarters when she got home. He was lounging on his sofa while his two kids were running around, playing some game or other. When they saw her, they ran up to her squealing with joy and laughing.
"Auntie Sabrina! Auntie Sabrina! Come play with us!" they squealed. "We are playing catch," they said.
She smiled at them and tried not to snap at them. While she likes them, now is not a good time. She is in no mood to play with Dashen's spawn.
"I need to talk to your papa, can you go play outside first?" she told them. They looked at her expression and then their father's. They are smart kids, they know when something is up.
"Okay, lets go mei mei," Zi An said and grabbed his sister's hand. They ran out, leaving the two adults together.
Sabrina glared at Dashen.
"What did you do?" she asked.
He looked at her as if he didn't do anything wrong at all.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"What did you tell Kavan? Did you go back and warn him to get me to move out?" she asked.
He shrugged.
"I merely told him that you're a married woman and it will be best that he stay away from married women if he knows what's best for him," he said.
"You WHAT?!??!" she exclaimed, half shouting. How dare he!
"Well, you know the clan will not approve anyway. It's okay if you have one-night stands and all but to move in with him and build a relationship, that's a no-no," he said.
"But you said you will release me!" she exclaimed.
"Ah…only if Meera marries me and agree to be immortal and she has not done either just yet," he pointed out.
She is now so pissed she wanted to kick him. Slap him. Throw things at him. All of which she couldn't do because he is still the clan chief. An elder. Her supposed 'husband'. She clenched her hands into fists in frustration.
"You can't do this to me!" she bit out between clenched teeth.
"Ahhh…but I can and I did, so now, be a good girl, continue to pretend to be my wife, get Meera to marry me and become immortal…then maybe, just maybe, I will not let this get back to the clan and you can go play with your Kavan," he said.
So, he's going to play this game, is he. Well, she can play dirty too. Just he wait. A plan formed in her mind. Dashen will get what he deserved. She pasted a fake sweet smile on her face.
"Yes, Dashen, my husband, O great clan leader, of course, your wish is my command," she said drily.
Then she stomped out of the room. The children noticed her leaving the wing and ran up to her but she raised a hand to stop them in their tracks.
"Not now, kids, Auntie is not in a good mood, but your papa did say he is free and wanted to play dragons, go bother him," she said, smiling.
"Really? Yayyy!!! We've not done that for so long!" Zi An said. The two kids ran inside happily.
Ah ha. 'Play dragons' meant taking the children down to the sea palace in the bottom of the ocean where the clan headquarters is. It meant using a large amount of power to turn them into dragons so that they can enter the clan headquarters. It also meant taking them 'hunting' at the bottom of the ocean which actually just meant swimming around all over the connected pathways in the deepest part of the ocean in search of dragon pearls. It could take a few days. That is the best way to get him out of the human realm for now.
Next, she called Meera. She had just finished her sessions at the spa and getting ready to come home.
"Meera, Dashen took the kids to the sea palace, I don't know how long he will be but I heard he is preparing a huge surprise for you," she said.
Meera was beyond excited. The last time Dashen took the kids to the sea palace, he came back with a string of rare pearls for her. She was over the moon with the pearls and Dashen had a blissful few days of sexual fulfilment.
"Did he tell you what it will be? It can't be more pearls….although I wouldn't mind…there's no such thing as too many pearls," Meera said.
"Oh, it's gonna be big. Maybe you should reconsider marrying him and if you do, you get to go there too," Sabrina suggested.
"We will see about that," Meera replied.
After hanging up the call, Sabrina left and headed to Kavan's place. It's now late. He would have finished his evening yoga class by now and is probably at home or getting dinner. Well, she will wait for him at his flat if he is not home yet.
The flat was dark and quiet. It looks like he was not home yet. She let herself in with the spare keys she made. Everything was as how they left it. Her luggage is still in her room. She set about unpacking it and arranging all of her clothes in the tiny cupboard. Since Kavan is not home, she used her magic to clean up the whole flat. A snap of her fingers to get rid of the dust covering every surface and another snap to clean the two tiny bathrooms till the counters and mirrors gleamed. She wondered if he had bought dinner or eaten before heading home. She conjured up some food, curries and hot steamed fluffy rice, and laid it all out on the small table in the tiny nook that was being used as a dining area. She used magic to keep the food warm and set it to stop the moment Kavan walks in.
Then she sat on the sofa in the living room and wait. Kavan came home about 15 minutes later and he was startled to see her sitting there.
"What are you doing here? How did you get in here?" he asked, surprised. He noted the clean space and the food on the table.
"You cleaned up and cooked?" he asked. He went to the food and sniffed. "This actually looked good," he said reluctantly.
"I made this, as an apology for what happened with Dashen earlier today," she said. Technically, she did sort of made the food…with her magic, so she wasn't exactly lying.
He looked uncertain and slightly wary.
"Look, I really don't want to get involved. I mean you are married and no matter the issues you have with your husband, I don't want to be the third party," he said.
She went to him. She so wanted to touch and kiss him so badly.
"You are not the third party!" she declared. "Meera, his mistress and mother of his children, is the third party!" she blurted out.
"What did you say?" he asked. "But, I thought, they were your children?" he looked confused now.
Ah. Dang it. She and her web of lies. Now she is caught in the web. She had also forgotten what lies she fed him. Serve her right. She should keep to the truth as much as possible. She took a deep breath.
"Okay, so, I'm going to tell you the truth…maybe you need to sit down," she told him.
He sat down at the dining table. It looked like he has lost his appetite.
"So, I married Dashen about 12 years ago as an arranged marriage," she said. "We, er, never consummated the marriage, I was just his wife for legal reasons,"
Confusion filled his face. "You were married for 12 years and you never once have sex? I find that hard to believe!" he said.
"No, no, you have to believe me. We have no interest in each other. It was a…sort of…a business arrangement and I had my own quarters, he has his own so we don't even share the same room or the same wing of his large mansion," she said.
"Why should I believe you? He didn't look like he doesn't care about you when he warned me to stay away from you," Kavan was suspicious.
"He met Meera about a year after I married him and she immediately had Zi An, their son, and two years after that, she had Xin Yin, their daughter," she continued. "They all live together as a family in their wing while I live alone in my wing and I sometimes baby-sit for them,"
"That just doesn't make sense. Why don't you just get divorced and he marry Meera? Wouldn't that be more logical?" he asked, perplexed.
"Augghhh…fine! We are dragon shapeshifters and we can only have human matches to produce offspring!" she blurted out in frustration.
He looked shocked, then he narrowed his eyes at her.
"Are you pulling my leg again?" he asked.
She buried her face in her hands. What should she do now?
