[ DISCONTINUED ] Reborn: Runaway Bride

Chapter 25: Demons from the Past

...She knew this person...

Ai Shizuka stood frozen as her blood ran cold from head to toe.

This person... dressed in dusty pink... was exactly as Ai remembered. Gentle and delicate with a small frame, an expressive set of blue eyes with a beautiful heart-shaped face and a soft light brown hair that flowed past her waist. A perfect representation of feminine excellence.

Yet this person... this person... was also the beginning of everything that went downhill.

Ai Shizuka clenched her eyes shut in pain, unable to withstand the flood of emotions roaring to break free, fighting to gain control of her rationality.

Please stop, Ai begged incessantly in her mind. She couldn't think, she couldn't see, she couldn't hear and she lost the sense of where she was as the waves of unforgiving memories flooded her mind, cutting her off from reality.

"Ai, Rini will be staying with us for a while", Jin's masculine voice spoke to her as he brought out a delicate woman from behind him.

Ai Shizuka subconsciously raised an eyebrow at the sudden proposal. The young woman that appeared from behind him seemed timid and extremely nervous. But she was also very beautiful, dressed in pale colours and exuding a gentle demeanour. Her small delicate frame was shaking slightly with heaving breaths as she stuttered out a greeting.

"She is a family friend of mine. She will be receiving medical treatments here...", Jin proceeded to explain, telling Ai about the sudden arrangement here.

To be honest, Ai was not comfortable then. Call it female instinct or what but she slightly felt wary about this. But at that point, she just simply brushed off her feelings, thinking that she was possibly intimidated by Rini's alluring beauty and was in fact too possessive of Jin. Either way, as a person who was also born with the weak body constitutions, she also felt sympathetic towards Rini for having such burdens.

Plus, due to Ai's adamant request, Jin was already doing a favor to her by having her as his one and only wife despite the fact that it was not a social norm to agree to such requests. So to give a refusal over something small and invalid as instinct would simply mean she was going too overboard...

Ai Shizuka nodded in agreement.

Time flew by. A week turned into a month, a month turned into a few months. The short stay continued to linger longer. But nothing seemed to be amiss since the young woman that they took in was sickly and feeble, with even worse constitutions than Ai. But unlike Ai, who was sheltered since young and had always received the top grade medical care, Rini's family background then had seen much more humble. She and Jin took care of Rini together and at one point, Ai felt like she found a new sister that was close to her and trusted her.

"Madam! You can't enter!", a young servant girl rushed forward and blocked her way. She wore a simple uniform of the Omaru household and seemed to be very flustered.

Ai Shizuka frowned in confusion, "Why not?".

"M-my lord is b-busy currently...", the girl bit her lips as she stuttered out, averting her eyes away guiltily.

The frown on Ai deepend. For the past 2 years that she had been married to Jin, the man had never turned her away no matter how busy he was. Even though he never really showed his approval, he also never showed his disapproval either. To put it simply, he just let it be.

Ai found it weird, she was about to question the girl again when suddenly she heard a soft moan and the sound of things falling down. The servant girl grew even more flustered and started trembling.