Every Lifetime I Fall {COMPLETED but undergoing revisions}

Chapter 5: First Life - On My Way to You

I awoke in a carriage moving down a rocky path. My feet and hands were tied. I tried to scream but found my mouth to be wrapped with a cloth!

Bad men! Bad men! 

I was shivering from fright. Two other women were bound and unconscious right next to me. Suddenly the driver stopped the carriage, and I pretended to fall asleep. The driver was a man. I could hear him talking with other people. They approached the carriage and took the two women away. One threw me over his shoulders. It hurt when his shoulder stabbed into my belly, but I kept still. He put me in a dark room then untied me. When I heard the door closed from him leaving, I opened my eyes to see other women staring back at me.

"Hi sisters, where are we?" I asked trying to be friendly.

"Don't you know? We've been sold to a brothel," a pretty one snapped at me.

"Brothel?" 

I didn't know what kind of place this was. 

"It's a place where they make you sleep with men. It's a bad place," a nice one explained to me.

Oh no. I can't sleep with other men. 

I've only ever slept with Yi Huai because he would often softly pat my back as I slept. It was comforting. I liked Yi Huai's sweet smell. Grandma said I could only sleep with Yi Huai after marriage too.

But we weren't getting married anymore, so would that mean it doesn't matter if I slept with other men?

An older auntie with a pale face came into the room scaring all of us to death. Her breasts were popping out of her robes, and her double chin moved up and down as she looked at us. Her stubby fingers examining our face, holding our chins and poking our bellies.

"No matter what walks of life you came from, now you are a beauty of our establishment," she told us. We all stood still while she continued to talk. I was very distracted by the amount of powder on her face. Too white.

"If you work hard then you should be able to pay off the debt of how much we lost for buying you."

"We were kidnapped! We didn't come here willingly!" The pretty one yelled at the woman. The older auntie looked into Pretty's eyes and quickly slapped her face. Pretty fell to the hard floor.

"You're going to have a hard time in here."

I stepped out to protect Pretty. I said, "Auntie, I'll work hard on Pretty's behalf. And then you will let us go?"

She stared at me for a minute then laughed evilly, "Why of course. If you work hard, I will let you leave once you've paid your debt."

"Stupid..." I heard Pretty muttered under her breath. 

"Now, you will all bathe and change into new clothes. You start work next thing tomorrow night!"

With her dress flowing behind, the old auntie left the room. Two older sisters showed us the way to the bathing room, and after we took off our clothes, the older sisters took it and gave us new ones. I picked the pretty purple one. 

We slept in a new room with three other girls. The other girls were quiet and didn't care to greet us when we came in and found our beds. I slept in between Nice and Pretty. 

Whispering to Nice, I asked, "Nice sister, do you think I can find someone in the capital city?"

"Who are you trying to find?" She sounded tired.

"I'm looking for Yi Huai. He is my husband. No. He was meant to be my husband."

Her eyes opened, and she said, "Wu Yi Huai? The Prime Minister's son Wu Yi Huai?"