The Dead Groom's Bride

Home not so sweet home

Ling Ling knew there was something eerie and strange as soon as she and Junjie made it to her home.

She knew she had woken up from her dream hours ago, but somehow, it still felt like she's inside a dream.

What the heck is going on?

"Do you feel anything strange?" She asked turning over to Junjie as they walked together inside the gate.

The pale moonlight continued casting it's soft glow from overhead. The moon reigns over the sky although the morning dawn was quickly chasing it. Sunrise is not too far away, and yet, the eerie feeling of being trapped in a nightmare gripped Ling Ling like inescapable cage.

She didn't like this feeling. It felt like she's walking into a different home. 

Perhaps, she had not woken up at all. Perhaps, she's still in a dream and couldn't tell the difference anymore. 

Junjie shook his head, his hand shot and barred over to Ling Ling's chest. "You're right." He said wearily, observing the dark yard around them. "Don't go inside your house, I have a bad feeling about this."

But Ling Ling was not one to listen. She kept her slow stride, walking inside when she began hearing a trickle of silent conversation from the living room.

"For crying out loud, can't you ever listen to me for once?" Hissed Junjie quietly, holding on to her hand. 

Ling Ling shook his hand off and shot him a glare. "I literally just me you yesterday, what're you talking about?"

Junjie pressed his mouth thin. He dared to disagree but didn't want to get in an argument with her. If only you knew, Ling Ling. 

He followed Ling Ling without a word until a thought got him distracted. "You know, I've always wondered what it's like to sneak into a girl's bedroom."

Ling Ling paused at the sudden thought. She looked at Junjie piercing blue eyes stared back at her with playfulness.

"So, you going to take me to your bedroom like a little teenage girl hiding her boyfriend in her room?"

Ling Ling crinkled her nose, she's hardly a teenager anymore.

"First of all, you're not my boyfriend. And second, I don't do that sneaking around stuff. I'm better than that."

"Oh?" Junjie's lips pursed.

"Yes!" Ling Ling heaved as she started heading back to the main door. Of all the times to bring up something like this, Junjie picked up the worse. "You need to leave before my mother sees us. I can't be bringing a strange man home. I don't even know you. I only met you last night, you can't be coming home with me like that."

"It's okay, Ling Ling. I would like to meet my mother in law." Replied Junjie. 

"Mother in law?" Ling Ling scowled. "That would imply we are married."

"We very much are...we've been married for almost a century." He said proudly. "It's quite a feat, you know. Most couples don't last that long."

"Is this part of your plan? Do you have a bouquet of wives you suckered into marrying you by saving their lives?"

"No, actually, she's the one who suckered me into marrying her." He laughed. "You're a mess, Ling Ling. I love you."

Ling Ling pushed Junjie shoving him out the door way when a voice interrupted them.

"Ling Ling, you home!"

It was her mother, there was a glimmer of smile widely pressed on her lips. She watched Ling Ling with amusement. "What you doing? Who you talking to?"

Ling Ling blinked and paid closer attention, she noticed her mother's eyes seemed to focus only to her, unaware of the man with her.

"Is that your mother, Ling Ling?" Asked Junjie, straightening up. He suddenly made a conclusion that Ling Ling took her good looks after her father.

"Yes, isn't it obvious? Now go before you get me in trouble."

"Worry not. She can't see me at all."

Her mother raised an eyebrow as she watched her daughter with amusement. "We so worried about you, where you go? We looked for you everywhere, you nowhere to be found."

"I was at the Lao's mansion, ma!" She said in a shaky voice. "And, I need to tell you something about them."

Her mother tilted her head sideways and spoke in an eerie tone. "What you talking about? Don't lie, Ling Ling. Bolin was here looking for you."

"That's impossible! Bolin is dead ma, he can possi..."

Her voice dropped and the color on her face vanished when she saw Bolin surfaced like a ghost from the living room and stood right beside her mother.

"Bolin?...w-what...?"