Week 22.4 – Hiding Out

Previously: Yi Fan told Twain she was helping him because he told her he loved her. And now…

“When did I tell you that?” Twain asked.

“A couple of weeks ago,” she said. “You told me then that you wouldn’t know me the next time we met. I found that hard to believe at the time. Now I see you were right.”

“And did I tell you why I wouldn’t know you?” Twain asked, though he suspected he knew the answer.

Yi Fan nodded. “You said you had traveled back in time, and that the present you hadn’t yet learned to love me.”

“Did I?”

Yi Fan blushed. “It sounds boastful, doesn’t it? To say that you’re fated to love me.”

“Not if you’re repeating someone else’s words,” Twain said. “Especially my own.”

“So you believe me?”

“I didn’t say that,” Twain answered.

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”left”]“You said you had traveled back in time, and that the present you hadn’t yet learned to love me.”[/blockquote]Her expression hardened, and her face flushed. The scar stood out stark against her reddened face. She put her fingers up to it as she turned away. “Of course not. No reason you should. The sun’s going down and I have things to do. I’ll have food brought to you. You may think it’s safe to leave this building and wander around under cover of darkness. I assure you it’s not.”

“You’re telling me I’m your prisoner, then.”

She paused with her hand on the door handle. “I’m telling you not to be an idiot.”

She left Twain alone in the shed.

He wanted to leave immediately, but he decided to wait until they’d brought him food, at least. A couple of the old men who’d helped him out of the crate returned just as the last light was fading away. They brought a lamp and some bedding–a sleeping mat and some heavy quilts– and a bowl with rice topped with sesame-flavored beef and cooked lettuce. If Twain had needed any more evidence that Yi Fan’s family was well off, the food proved it. Rice was scarce this far north, unless you had money and connections.

Twain waited a respectable amount of time after he finished eating to walk out the door. One of the servants was waiting for him, to keep him from wandering the grounds. It took a while for Twain to make him understand “bathroom,” but finally the guy called someone on an intercom and jabbered at him in Mongolian. A few minutes later, another servant brought him out a chamber pot. Twain retreated into the shed to use it in peace and contemplate his next move.

A couple of hours later, he turned out the lamp, then waited a half-hour more before slipping out the window. He crept silently away to a stone wall that surrounded a sizable estate with a mansion in the middle. It wasn’t huge by American standards–a little smaller than Caveat’s house in Connecticut–but signified incredible wealth and importance out here.

If Yi Fan’s father’s house was this lavish, it could only mean that the man was highly placed in the Czar’s organization. If so, this was the last place Twain wanted to be.

Where will Twain go? Is it safer to stay or to go? Learn more in tomorrow’s exciting episode!

To read from the beginning, click here…