서나혜 is different... not just different but very different... a 구미호 surreptitiously living in a very secretive, closed, close-knit subculture that forbids almost all relationships with humans.
She's very intelligent, strikingly beautiful and deliber...
While biding time for sunset I remained seated on the ground. My bruised ribs didn't hurt as much while I stayed still, but when I made sudden movements... yeah... they hurt. Sonia relentlessly paced and constantly examined and re-examined every detail in this small glade that, for whatever reason, attracted her attention. Occasionally she slipped into the thick undergrowth but never for very long. Of course I wondered why but didn't ask.
Shadows became noticeably longer as the sun inexorably moved westward and nearer the horizon. Beyond the clearing, softer waning sunlight streaming through openings in the tree tops brightly illuminated random patches of undergrowth and then suddenly didn't; a distracting phenomenon that constantly induced false impressions of barely perceptible movements. Those same shifting sunrays abruptly betrayed Sonia's partially hidden face; seconds earlier I didn't see her well-concealed behind several cedars and silently staring at me. Again, I could only wonder what thoughts and plans were running around in her head.
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Stepping forward into full view and then ending her silence, she very apologetically said, "Mac, I'm sure you have many questions you want to ask me."
"You got that right!" I interjected borrowing her favourite expression.
"I can't answer you right now." she added.
Rather than say anything else I shrugged and looked away; I'd been expecting to hear a line like that.
Ignoring my indifference she announced, "There's something I need to know before I make my next move."
"Do you have something in mind?" I questioned uneasily, feeling certain she'd thought up her own plan and what to do with her loose end.
"Just answer my question honestly." she insisted, intently staring at me.
"I haven't heard it yet."
"I haven't asked."
"Alright... ask away."
"Were you really going to defend me back there?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I was only hoping to buy you enough time to escape down that ridge... but you didn't go... I guess you didn't really need my help." I replied, feeling like a fool because I'd seen what she was capable of.
"You could've been badly beaten or killed." she admonished.
"I was aware of that."
"And you did that for me anyway?"
"Yes."
"Weren't you scared?" she challenged like she was questioning my sanity.
"I'd be lying if I said no."
Sonia seemed to want to see my body language responses rather than hear my words; that particular searching expression on her face revealed she truly wanted to understand my reasoning for what I'd done earlier.
