Glimpses

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The dawn is breaking
A light shining through
You're barely waking
And I'm tangled up in you

Photo taken from YouTube

Shancai stirred in her sleep, as the first rays of sunlight shone in through the broken window. She tried to get up, but gasped as she realised that she was cocooned in a pair of strong arms, rendering her unable to move.

She gave a second gasp as she realised that the owner of those strong arms was naked from the waist up, and she was stunned to find that she too, was wearing nothing on top except her thin, flimsy camisole. His legs were also entwined with hers, and she could still feel the warmth radiate from his entire body to hers.

The memories of the previous night came flooding back as she lay there in a panicked state. Daoming Si had saved her life by risking his own. She blushed as she thought about his suggestion on how to warm her up so that she didn't die of hypothermia. Hence they were now tangled together, semi-naked, in this god-forsaken broken-down hut.

Even though she could still feel his warmth, after some time, he still lay there, unmoving, and the heat she felt emancipating from his body was beginning to feel rather unusual. She hesitantly put a hand to his forehead, and to her alarm, he was burning up. Her sudden movements had shaken him from his deep sleep, so he shifted and wrapped his arms around her tighter, pulling her closer to him. She could now feel that his whole body was hot with fever and she struggled to release herself from his grasp.

I'm open, you're closed
Where I follow, you'll go
I worry I won't see your face
Light up again

"Daoming Si! Daoming Si! Wake up!" she urged him. "You're having a fever!" Tears began to pool in her eyes as she gently shook him, he had tried so valiantly to save her, would it be at his own cost?

He half-opened his eyes and spoke in a delirious whisper, "Shancai, Shancai, you mustn't fall asleep, you need to stay awake!" He had urged her not to fall asleep the night before, and now she was doing the same to him. Shancai was too frantic to notice the irony of the situation as she tried to rouse him, her tears now falling in earnest.

The wooden door of the hut suddenly burst open and Ximen and Meizuo gave a collective gasp. They raised their eyebrows at each other, noticing the compromising position that Si and Shancai were in, as well as their state of undress. At any other time, they would have launched into their old tricks of imitating the two, but looking at Shancai's tear-stained face, they knew that something was terribly wrong.

"Ximen, Meizuo, you have to help me wake up Daoming Si! He's having a high fever and burning up!"

There was no time to waste. The two young men gently pried Si free from Shancai and wrapped him in some old blankets, hoisting him on their shoulders as they began the drudging walk all the way back to the lodge.