40 - THE HEAT

Fabby was alone inside the room, looking dull. Even though it was around eleven o’clock in the morning, the humidity was high enough to make her sweat, despite the windows being open.

She remembered the time when her mother once slapped her for beating her friends when they tried to bully her. And she still didn’t know the reason why exactly her mother slapped her.

Compared to her mother, Raha looked insignificant all of a sudden. That woman didn’t say a word when her children were running their mouths, having a mouth-day, or maybe a mouth-night.

“May be, I should’ve put my hopes on the baronet instead,” she thought. “If he didn’t mention the Zha family second…”

She remembered the time when the old man from the cloth shop had mentioned the baronet’s name first and then mentioned the Zha family. So she thought that it was safe to go to the Zha family, and by the time she understood that the Zha family were still the real rulers of the town after seeing the baronet attend the event last night, it was already a bit too late. Still she hoped that Raha might be a decent person; however, all her hopes were dispelled last night by that woman’s children.

When she remembered Hornie’s words, she rubbed her bald head and bit her lower lip in frustration.

Meanwhile, in the court of Orseya.

The judge just gave the verdict that what Ashang did to Vino was justifiable, and what’s more, he gave one year jail sentence to Vino.

All Jorga could do was watch from the audience seats. As he was leaving in disappointment, someone came from behind and put their hand over his shoulder. When he looked to his right, he saw Ashang.

“Pain is a pretty thing. It drills discipline into hearts… Let’s hope Vino will be a changed man by the time he comes out.”

Jorga pushed the hand away, making Ashang smile.

“You seem to be feeling a bit of pain, too,” said Ashang, putting his hand over Jorga’s shoulder again, but this time he put some pressure and firmly held Jorga as they continued walking out of the court. “A baronet should act like one. Even three or four square kilometers regions are too big for a baronet to rule, yet you seem to be under the impression that you’re qualified to rule a town that’s easily ten times larger.”

“If you’re trying to scare me, then save your energy,” said Jorga, trying to look confident by making eye-contact.

“Scare you? Why would I do that? If I wanted to scare you, I would have done something like this…” he leaned his head a bit closer and whispered. “The wine glass will soon be in your hands, or maybe it looks nice in the hands of a woman. What do you say? Do you really want Bravo to be raised by a single parent?”

Jorga frowned deeply.

“I’m not that good at scaring people. I hope I lived up to your expectations,” Ashang read Jorga’s face, but he maintained a composed expression. “Anyway...” he lifted his hand off Jorga and then raised his voice. “It was nice meeting you, Mr. Jorga. See you again during the next Red Night. Hopefully, you’ll bring your family next time.” Saying that he walked away at his own pace.

Jorga clenched his fists to stop them from shaking. (This bastard… So the rumors were true.) One of his friends in the past told him about the rumors floating regarding the Zha family in the past that they used to invite people to parties and then gave them all red wine. And afterward, only the Zha family members walked out of that party alive. Whether this really happened in the distant past or not, from what Ashang said, they were still practicing similar ways, though they weren’t doing it as blatantly as in the past. It wasn’t because of this reason that he didn’t bring his wife and son to the Red Night; however, he was glad that he didn’t. Still, given what happened to Vino, it only solidified his doubts. Though he didn’t mention his wife’s name, she was dragged into the conversation just now.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Jorga was still feeling the weight of Ashang’s hand on his shoulder. “With his hand resting on my shoulder, he brought me all this way in front of many eyes, giving them the impression that I’m subservient to him. Two birds with one stone. It’s my first time speaking to him, but this Ashang is frightening. What the hell am I supposed to do?” He tightened his fists as hard as he could. And standing in the middle of the street, he was sweating and looked lost.

At around two o'clock on the same day, at Doce.

The inn had two big trees on either side of its front. Currently, the shade of both the trees were being used. Under one tree, a dog and a rooster were resting side by side. Under the other tree, Edgar was doing pull ups using the lowest branch, covering his arms with Drive. “498… 499… 500.” He let go of the branch and landed heavily on the ground, startling the dog and the rooster a bit. He took deep breaths and brought his breathing under control rather quickly. His biceps and shoulders were so pumped up that their definition was clearly visible through the shirt. “Master told me to do a thousand of these in half-hour without using Drive, but it’s taking me more than an hour to do even half of those while using Drive.” He was sweating madly, so he used a towel. “It’s been awhile since I’ve sweated this much.” He looked in the direction of the other tree. The dog and the rooster were chilling in the shade.

“Those two were always fighting and chasing each other, but it looks like the heat has forced them to forget the mutual hate, at least for the time being. If only humans were so simple and understanding…” he paused for a moment, thinking back on the times he and his sister struggled as a child due to the way the society was. “This makes me wonder who’s more stupid.” He sighed and then stepped out of the shade and was surprised by the heat. He left his footwear in the room, so he could feel the vapor giving off by the soil. “The heat is real today.” Suddenly a thought came to his mind. “Alright. Let’s see how long my feet will last.” He started walking away from the inn. After he walked for about two minutes, he turned and headed back to the inn. However, he couldn’t walk anymore and instead ran his way to the inn on his toes, dancing like a monkey.

Even after entering the inn, he danced for a good ten seconds.

The heat and humidity of late summer was just too much.