The Princess and Ming-huá

Chapter 9(a)

Ming-huá went about her day but the vision of Aimee's face was ever present in her mind. Aimee served the evening meal to Ming-huá and her parents. As usual, Aimee's Nyonya cooking style was delicious. She certainly lived up to the glowing references she had presented when seeking employment.

As Ming-huá arose from the table, she told her mother she was going to her room to read. She also bid Aimee good night before she departed. Aimee's attitude had certainly softened toward her. Her face no longer had the cold stare that it had when the pair first came in direct contact.

As Ming-huá climbed the staircase to her room, Aimee's face again came to her mind.

She went to her room and closed the door behind her. There were now times when she wished she had never insisted in choosing this room for her own. Since the change of attitude had overtaken her last night, she was no longer frightened, but it would be a lot less stressful if she did not have these strange occurrences had not taken a hold on her life.

As she lay back on her bed thinking about Aimee's appearance, she suddenly recalled a photograph in her album. Her mother had kept photographs of her since she was a baby and had assembled them into an album. Ming-huá took over the album and added photographs to it progressively.

The first photographs were taken when she was a small baby. There was one photograph of when she was christened. There were a group of relatives standing behind her mother and father. Her mother was holding her in her arms. The photograph was taken at her grandma's house. There was the Pastor from the church and his wife as well as some of the house staff all grouped together. Then Ming-huá recognised her. Aimee was standing inconspicuously to one side in the photograph. She looked exactly the same as she did on this very day. She appeared not to have aged one bit. Ming-huá turned to another group photograph. This time it was a school photo when she was in primary school. She carefully looked at all the faces of the staff. And there, in a very inconspicuous position, right to the outside was Aimee.

As she flicked through the photographs, whenever there was a group public photo, Aimee would be in it. She was always in an inconspicuous position to the side and back.

Why?

Ming-huá closed the album and lay back on her bed. Her mind was becoming overwhelmed by all that was happening. Every time she closed her eyes, she would have a vision of one incident or another. She would sleep only out of sheer exhaustion.

After tossing and turning, Ming-huá eventually slept.

She awoke sometime after midnight. She realised she was not alone. Hang Li Poh was sitting at the end of her bed. She realised who it was and through exhaustion, she did not raise herself. She just looked at Puteri Li Poh.

"I was waiting for you to wake up. Ming-huá, you were dreaming about the staff Aimee, Ming-huá."

"How do you know I was dreaming about Aimee?"

Hang Li Poh did not reply to Ming-huá's question but instead replied,

"Come. I will show you something."

As Ming-huá swung her legs over the side of the bed and got up, Puteri Li Poh had begun to walk to the end of the room.

To her surprise, Ming-huá saw the double closet doors were now the curtained covered teak doors.

Was this also a dream? Was this really happening?

She followed Puteri Li Poh through the doors and into the room where she had the first encounter with the Princess.

Puteri Li Poh walked to the window that overlooked the rear garden. She beckoned Ming-huá to follow.

Ming-huá walked to the window and stood beside Li Poh. She looked down to the court yard and patio on the ground floor level. Although it was a few nights past the full moon, the waning moon still cast light onto the court yard. It was still bright enough for Ming-huá to see all the details.

She gasped!

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Sorry for the spasmodic postings of the story folks. Have had a bit of turmoil in day to day life of recent. Will try to get back to regular postings soon.