His Perfect Wife Strikes Back

63 To The Dock, Quickly!

When I woke up the next day, there were two flowers on the head of my bed. A white rose and a poppy. There is still crystal-clear water on the petals. Two flowers intertwined, the petals in full bloom as if smiling at me.

Daley's not with me. I can't even remember when he left. I was tired last night. I woke up feeling as if I were drunk and my head was still in a daze.

Rita brought me breakfast. She came into the room with a dark and silent face. She put the breakfast tray on the table and turned away. I don't understand why she is so cold to me. I feel a little guilty. Did she suspect an unusual relationship between me and Daley? Was she jealous?

Since the windows were not closed in time last night, there were traces of rain on the window frames and the floor. I went out to the balcony and looked at the gray sky. It was only one night, and the temperature seemed to drop sharply. The wind blew from the window and I couldn't help wrapping my arms around myself.

It's cold.

I had a cup of coffee and went down the stairs. I was a little disappointed that there was no one in the living room. I'm looking for Daley, but if I run into him, what am I supposed to say to him? Do I need to tell him that what happened last night was a one-night stand, not love? Maybe I should just pretend like nothing happened, like it was a drunken fling.

I finally found Daley in the garden. He is making an awning for the flowers in the garden. He put the white plastic film on the shelf and nailed it down to prevent it from blowing away. I don't think he noticed that I was right behind him. He turned his head to see me after he finished his work.

"Good morning!" I said to him, bracing myself. "I didn't expect you to be here."

He stood up, and the silver mask returned to his face. I saw him clap the dust on his hands, and then casually said to me.

"It's stormy season. I'll have to build a shelter for these flowers." He glanced at them. "They're delicate, you know."

"Will the storm last long?" I asked.

"At least for the next month," he said, looking out to sea. "From tomorrow, people on the island will be banned from sailing, and the docks will be closed."

I can't help thinking of what he said last night.

The storm is coming. You can't go back.

"No, you promised to send me back." I trotted over to him. "Have you forgotten your promise to me?"

He looked at me calmly. "But I told you that you could only stay with me, didn't I?"

"You lied to me." I beat his chest angrily. "You must find a way to send me back."

He let me beat him up, and he looked at me as if I were a naughty child. When I was tired and stopped, he said to me calmly.

"Pointless anger only makes you look like a fool."

"I just want to know when I'm getting out of here," I asked.

"One month. If you decide to leave after one month, I'll give you what you want," he said.

That means I have to wait another month. Will Fred forget me? Did he try to track me down?

"I'm going out. Rita will be home with you. If you need to go out, tell her. She'll call the driver to pick you up," he said, heading for the garage without looking back.

After a while, I saw him drive the car out of the house. A huge black cloud floated overhead, and I looked up. It was going to rain again.

I went back to the house. As soon as I walked in, I saw Rita in the living room playing with a lot of green oval-like flower bud plants. So I walked up to her curiously and asked her.

"What is this?" I pointed to one of the green buds on the table.

"This is the fruit of the poppy flower," Rita added. "It's the raw material for making h.eroin."

"Do you guys do this a lot?" I asked. "I mean, dealing drugs."

I heard Daley say that the natives of the island grow poppies for a living. Watching Rita's skilful movements, I wondered if Daley was making the same trade.

"We used to grow only poppies and then trade the pulp from the fruit to outsiders. Daley built a lab where he would sell the finished product to drug dealers. Sometimes they sell cigarettes laced with pollen," Rita said, glancing at the boxes on the table.

I looked into Rita's eyes, then picked up a cigarette from the pack and asked her, "Do you mean this cigarette is laced with poppy pollen?"

"Yes." Rita nodded at me. "Daley smokes them sometimes."

I froze and dropped my cigarette. All at once I understood everything. I finally understand why I can face the bloody images in the warehouse after I finished smoking. It's all because of this cigarette. It made me hallucinate.

Even what happened last night was manipulated by that feeling. I may have made love to him in a frenzy of irrational excitement.

I feel like my head is spinning, I'm angry, I want to scream.

None of this is real!

No, I can't be mad. I have to be patient. I can't let Rita read my mind. Then an idea came to me and I told myself I had to do it.

"Rita, I want to go out." I tried to sound normal.

"I can call the driver for you," Rita said. "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere. I just want to get away and get some fresh air." I lied to her.

Rita made a phone call in front of me, and soon a car was parked outside the house. Rita insisted on staying with me. She said it was Daley's orders. So Rita and I got into the car. I told Rita I wanted to go shopping, so Rita gave the driver an address, and the driver in the baseball cap immediately drove down the street.

The driver drove to a place with a row of white shops on either side of the road. Rita says this is the heart of the island and the main market. Here, people can not only buy daily necessities, but also carry out drug trade. Rita had the driver pull over and she and I walked down the street.

"Where's the pharmacy?" I asked Rita.

"It's just up ahead," Rita said, pointing to a drugstore sign in front of her. "Do you see it?"

So we kept going, and I stopped outside the drugstore. Rita looked at me quizzically.

"Miss, the drugstore is right in front of you. Aren't you going to go in?"

"I'm looking for something, but I'm not sure if it's there," I said to Rita, pretending to be embarrassed. "Could you go in and ask the pharmacist for me?"

"What are you looking for?"

"Birth control pills, a special brand," I told her.

She looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, and I saw the doubt in her eyes quickly turn to disdain and scorn. I'm afraid even she thinks I'm seducing her kind master.

Then Rita pushed the door open and went into the drugstore. Through the clear glass door I saw her talking to the pharmacist. So I took the opportunity to hurry back. I ran back to the car as fast as I could. On the way back, I knocked down a middle-aged man with a cloth bag in his hand. If he hadn't grabbed the electric box by the side of the road in time, he would have fallen to the ground.

I saw bright red fruits falling from his sack, and a red fruit was crushed by my shoes. The man cursed behind me and I had to run back regardless. The white car was right in front of me. I'm getting close.

"To the dock, quickly!" I got in the passenger seat and shut the door immediately.

"I only take orders from Rita." The driver in the baseball cap was alarmed when he saw the knife in my hand. "I advise you not to do that, miss."

"Go to the docks and cut the crap!" I held the knife to his neck.

As the car sped down the road, I soon saw several cargo ships at the docks not far ahead. Several workers in blue jeans were loading goods onto one of the ships.

The urge to leave rippled through my mind like a wave.