Torrential Love

Chapter Eight

~YAEL~

Yael cried out as the book in her hand dropped to the ground beside her bed. Duncan turned around and stared at the book on the ground. He seemed like he was on high alert but he calmed down. He went over to the bed to bend over and pick the book up again. He gave it back to her, and she took it from him with a slight smile.

Well, she had threatened to hit him with it earlier and he had just handed the weapon back to her. Him doing that was another piece of evidence that he would not hurt her, but she couldn't chase the fear away from her mind. Other pieces of evidence were how he had fed her with so much care earlier and how he had purchased the undergarments for her. Maybe she could trust him after all.

His name was Duncan. And she knew they did not speak each other's languages. She grew up in a Jewish family and spoke Hebrew all the time, but she learned a few English words, and that was it. She did not know of conversational English and she knew it was going to be difficult to communicate with Duncan about everything as she recovered.

Duncan.

He had light hair which was slightly curled. His complexion was a little tanned and his jaw strong. There was scruff along his jawline and his arms were thickly muscled and covered in hair. His eyes were kind, his hands oversized and calloused.

She still remembered the first moment she saw him. She was in pain and had opened her eyes, and assumed she was looking at the angel who was bringing her to Heaven. She blushed as she thought about that. He was handsome, that she knew, but surely he did not know that she mistook him for an angel, did he? That was so embarrassing...

She sighed as she lay on her side. He had switched off the lights for her to sleep. He was in a bundle of cushions on the floor not too far from her and she felt guilty for having taken his bed away from him, but she knew she needed it more.

She replayed the events of the day in her mind. There were many instances where things became difficult for the two of them because they were of opposite genders, and she felt uncomfortable being unclothed in front of him. How she hoped a woman would turn up soon!

Oh, why had she even boarded the ship in the first place? She was walking around her town about to meet her friends when out of nowhere, a cat darted out in front of her. It stopped before her, its back arched. She inspected it and saw its skeleton poking against its fur. The cat was malnourished.

In that instant, compassion overwhelmed her, and she reached into her bag to remove some carrots for the cat. But when she extended it towards the cat, it hissed and pounced away.

Still worried, she ran after it. The cat was incredibly fast, and she chased it down many streets, until finally, she saw it running onto a ship. She thought nothing of it and boarded the ship hoping to find the cat and feeding it. Part of her wanted to bring it home, but she knew she shouldn't go that far because she had no clue what germs the cat had on its body.

She walked around the ship, heading down some steps into the lower deck. She called out for the cat and spent a long time searching for it. To her horror, the ship suddenly lurched forward, and she saw it moving from the harbour through a window. She found the stairs again and ascended it, but was greeted by a line of people in handcuffs with some guards in front.

"You! How did you escape?" a guard said to her.

"No," she said. "I'm here to feed a cat which came onto the ship - "

"Liar! You're another criminal like the rest of this bunch!" the man pointed to the line of people behind him.

Crap. She was in deep trouble. This was a ship for transporting criminals! It had fallen out of favour with many countries but in hers; it was still a practice. She wanted to smack her head for not thinking about that earlier.

"I'm not," she tried, but the man wanted to hear nothing. Instead, he grabbed onto her arm and forced her back down the stairs and locked her up in a cell. She tried to reason with him but her words only fell on deaf ears. Her situation slowly sank in for her as she sat on the ground of the cell. How was she going to return home?

But she did not even have a chance to think at length about that, because when night fell, a thunderstorm raged in the sea outside. She was thrown about like nothing as the ship fought hard against the churning waves. She prayed for everything to turn out alright, but the wood cracked and her head slammed into the side of the ship, causing her to black out. When she came to again, she saw Duncan and now she was stranded in his home, with not one clue to where she was.

She closed her eyes, wondering if she would ever see her parents or siblings again when she drifted off to sleep. When she woke up again, she sat up in the bed and saw Duncan at the table, reading the newspaper in his hands. He lifted her head to her, warmth in his expression. Peace settled onto her as it hit her that she couldn't have been saved by a better person. She was feeling safe in his hands.

She rested her back on the bedrest, wondering how she could communicate with him. As she thought further, she felt her empty stomach growling. She pictured an apple in her mind. If only she had one right now, she wanted so much to eat one -

And before she knew it, Duncan came over to her side to drop an apple into her hands.