On the Petals of a Flower, I found something that does not belong to me

6

To each and every one who's starting this journey called 'life'.

 The voices and the crowd diluted as we entered another place where in the front were some young people in purple uniforms waiting for us. The young people did not say anything as they saw us; they just gave me some surprised looks.

 "Come," said Sect leader Jiang, as he led us into a large room. Everything in the room was wooden, just like in the house where I 'lived' before. The buildings looked new and imposing, but warm and welcoming from the inside.

 "Sit down, please," Sect Linder Jiang said and sat down in a chair. I followed their example and sat in a chair next to Wen Ning, who looked quite upset.

 "We need to discuss this today," he said.

 "Is 'this' about the night hunt?" asked Jin Guangyao.

 "Yes. And for the other issue" said Sect leader and looked at me.

 As if all eyes were on me, I lowered my head. No. I didn't want them to look at me like that. With pity. I had not asked anyone to feel sorry for me.

 There was a war of emotions inside me. My anger was so great that I wanted to cry.

 My body moved on its own and I got up from the chair.

 "I will kill them, for God's sake" I said.

 "What? Whom?" did Jin Guangyao. For some reason I noticed a slight smile on his lips. When I opened and closed my eyes, the smile was gone.

 "Those people who threw stones at me. I will tear them apart" I spoke angrily. Then I turned to Wen Ning. "Do you have any swords to borrow? I will open their throats. I will not use it unless the situation is absolutely necessary. I will kill them only with my fists."

 Wen Ning looked at me in shock. Then he opened his mouth to speak.

 "Sit down."

 I looked at Nie Mingjue who had spoken.

 "Not..."

 "Sit down."

 I exhaled and listened to his orders. If anyone was scary in here, Nie Mingjue had already won the prize.

Knock, knock.

 "Come in," said Sect leader Jiang.

 The door opened and a young man in purple, somewhat similar to Jiang's uniform, entered. In his hands he was holding a tray with cups and a jug.

 "I brought some tea Sect Leader" he said in a calm voice, went ahead and left them on the table. Then he started handing out the cups and pouring the liquid.

 "Thank you," Jiang replied. When the young man went to leave a cup in front of me, he seemed quite hesitant. In the end, he decided to leave one without pouring me tea.

 "Call Jin Ling for me," Sect leader Jiang ordered.

 The young man bowed his head and without talking, left the room.

 Zewu Jun turned to me. "It would be wise to rest tonight, Maiden Charlie. It was a tiring day."

 I looked at the cup in front of me. It had no tea.

 "And how will I know that you will not kill me in my sleep or that none of those outside will do it?" I said.

 Nie Mingjue sighed as if he could not believe his ears. "A while ago you wanted to go out and hit them or 'kill them' and now you're scared?"

 Zewu Jun coughed. "Maiden Charlie" he said and looked at me. "If we wanted to hurt you, we would have already done it yesterday."

 "And how do I know you didn't want to bring me here to hide my corpse more easily? Out there, in nature, someone would find me. This is your area. You could do anything to me and not be heard even a millimeter outside this door of this specific room," I replied.

 Silence fell again. For some reason every time I spoke the silence seemed to follow. Either they thought I was stupid and nobody wanted to explain anything to me, or I was just spitting nonsense that seemed quite embarrassing to them.

 Or it was both.

 "You have a great imagination and you are very suspicious," said Jin Guangyao.

 "Do not worry," Zewu Jun reassured me. "You can sleep in the same room with Wen Ning tonight. You seem to feel safer near him, since you did not leave his side for a moment all the way."

 For some reason I was ashamed. He said it as if it were something different!

 Before I could open my mouth to speak, the door slammed open.

 "What do you want, uncle?"

 A young boy, younger than me, appeared at the door frame and went inside. He wore the same color clothes as Jin Guangyao did and had a red mark between his eyebrows. His features were smooth and sweet, as befitted a boy his age.

 "Jin Ling! How do you talk like that?" Sect leader Jiang raised his voice. "Behave, before I break your legs!"

 This thing with the legs again. He had told me the same thing more than twice.

 The young flinched and murmured a 'sorry'. Then his gaze fell on Jin Guangyao.

 "Uncle!" he said enthusiastically. The 'uncle' he said before, with this 'uncle', had a huge difference. If they were both uncles of this boy, he seems to have liked Jin Guangyao more. Although in his place I would not do it. Jiang looked a bit like a bitch, but he was not scary. Jin Guangyao looked good, but he was too good. Too kind, Too helpful. To the point of disgust. And I did not like things that were 'too much' at all.

 Jin Guangyao smiled. "I'm glad to see you well A-Ling," he said.

 Jiang scoffed. "A-Ling," he said. "Take the girl and go to another room to sit. She is closer to your age, so you will have things to say."

 The boy looked at me and I looked at him. It was obvious that I was not his age. Okay, we didn't seem to have a huge age gap. I was twenty-two. How old was he? Eighteen?

 'A-Ling' seemed to blush a little. "Why should I take her with me? And where should I go? Who is she? And why is he here with you?" he threw questions boldly.

 "Jin Ling!" the Sect Leader shouted. Everyone in the room was silent. A cold breeze passed through my neck.

 "Take the girl and leave. Now."

 Without a second thought and after realizing that they wanted to evict me because they wanted to say something they didn't want me to hear, I stood up. But I wouldn't leave the matter like that. They may plan something about me. I had to find out what they were saying.

 "Okay" I went with the flow. Then I turned to the young man and gave him a light and polite smile. "Shall we go?" I showed him the door to go through first.

 He clenched his teeth and stormed off the room.

 I followed him from behind, almost running, like some kind of an abandoned dog.