Chapter Two

The memory made him sick, so he managed to not think about the first betrayal that befell him for days and days. But it was only a fool who would ignore that their own family sold them into captivity.

When he returned that afternoon from the field to the small wooden hut he called home; there were pouches of coins valuable only to those who lived on the outside of Wenyan, sitting around his uncle’s feet. The man was greedily palming at the coins as if he hadn’t seen anything so shiny in his entire life. His own uncle, who had been his sole companion and family after his mother passed, didn’t even bother to hide what he had done. He didn’t offer any explanation or bother with platitudes of remorse. He only continued to count his coins after offering him the same smile in greeting that he always did whenever he returned home. 

As if everything was normal. 

He didn’t want to dwell on the memory, actively avoiding doing so whenever it resurfaced in his mind, but he could’ve sworn there was an unmitigated glee in his uncle’s eyes. He seemed happy, thrilled in fact, that he made the decision he did to sell his own nephew into the hands of people who only meant him harm. 

While his uncle was busy reveling in his newfound profit, he was busy fighting off the hands that were trying to subdue him. 

The villainous men were stocky and strong, taking hold of him with their calloused hands. What he lacked in strength against four men of such stature, he tried to make up for with speed and agility. But, unfortunately, that only worked for a short while before they tased him and got the Prohibitors around his wrist. Confused, he begged for his uncle to help him, shouting at the man in case he had become momentarily deaf but receiving no reply, no assistance, nothing.

A sigh escaped his lips while he shook his head, knowing that wasn’t completely true, no matter how much he tried to alter the memory or forget it altogether. 

His uncle did glance up, that same contented smile and thrill shining in his almond-shaped eyes, to offer him a wave goodbye. 

Wriggling his hands in fury, he bit back the scream that was welling in his throat. He regained strength to break his bonds, not caring if the men in front heard him. His eyes were drowning in the shame of that memory, but he continued to thrash. Pushing with his feet against the wall, he struggled for a reaction from the Prohibitors though the answer was always the same in the end.

~

It was raining the next time the back of the transporter’s doors were opened to him, revealing a muted grey sky. Even though the sun was hidden by gloom, the light was too much for his eyes. His head stayed bowed as one of the shorter men climbed into the back to disengage him from the transporter wall. Though he was slender with lean muscle and half-starved, he was still strong enough to fight one man at a time, no matter their size. He was the type to use all the sharp edges of his body to his advantage. 

Springing forward, he forced his shoulder into his captor’s nose; the man yelped, falling onto his back as his nose gushed with blood. He took that moment to launch himself out of the transporter, passing the other man waiting for him. He was a fast runner, and all he needed was the chance to get his feet on sure ground.

There were shouts behind him, but he focused on the feel of his bare feet smacking the wet cobblestone path as it took him further from the man pursuing him. There was no plan if he made it far enough, but he could taste his freedom. He pushed his legs harder, straightening his back to put more distance between him and his pursuer.

Then he felt his knees buckle under him, a painful reminder of why he needed to rid himself of the Prohibitors, as he fell stiffly onto his side, landing in the wet grass beside the pathway. His jaw automatically clenched, pain shooting through his gums at the force of his body reacting to the torturous pain. Though he was writhing in agony because of the currents running through his arms and throughout the rest of his body, he somehow found himself grateful that he didn’t fall on the cobblestone.

The tattered and urine-stained clothes on his body became soaked through with rainwater as the currents subsided and left him trembling in the grass. The shockwaves only lasted a few seconds, though the pain lingered far longer. He eased his eyes open to a blurry image of what looked like trees, colored grey by the pouring rain. He stared off into the distance, not seeing anything in particular, while trying to regain his senses. There was a painful tug on his scalp as his head was raised to look at one of the bulkier men above him. The man had his hand wrapped in his drenched hair, vigorously tugging him to sit up, “You want to embarrass me in front of Lady Hwang, do you?” the man practically growled.

He was too weak to reply, still reeling from the shock of the Prohibitors, though he had one on the tip of his tongue, it was better for him not to say. Besides, he already knew what his remarks would get him, and he wasn’t too keen on being shocked again.

“Get up,” the man growled again, yanking him to his feet as he stumbled back onto the pathway. His feet felt numb on the wet pavement as the man forced him to steady himself. For a moment, the idea of escaping again crossed his mind, but his body was numb and felt out of his control, so he resigned to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. 

There was a heavy metal chain hooked onto the Prohibitors by one of the men. It was rusted and old and had the appearance of being well used. Like some leashed animal, he was led up the house's stairs he barely got a glance of and pulled in through the front door. His foot stumbled over the threshold, causing a minute pain to run up his leg. 

Everything was indistinct, like trying to see through mist. 

The sound of a woman's voice entered his ears before he made sense of the words she spoke, “Is this what we paid money for?”

They halted for a minute, during which he strove to collect his thoughts, while the men holding him began to explain the hardships they faced transporting someone like him all the way to Wenyan. He could have laughed at the cowardice in their voice, glad that he gave them trouble. He wanted them to tell these people who “paid” for him how much trouble he was truly worth. 

He slouched against the men holding him up, using them to regain his strength instead of putting pressure on his own two legs. 

“I don’t know if you’ll receive the rest of your payment,” the woman said, sounding disappointed. “I’ll let my Lord husband decide that. This boy is our property, bought for the purpose of assisting my niece. He was not to be damaged in any way but look at him. Is this what ‘not a scratch’ means to you?”

“I assure you, Lady Hwang, any damage on his person was self-inflicted. My men took the utmost care. We fed him and even washed him when it was necessary. He was well taken care of despite how difficult he made it for us.”

Lady Hwang eyed the ragtag boy in front of her. The smells he admitted were awful, making her nose scrunch up. 

It was her idea to get her niece a personal servant, but her husband's idea on who to get. Now, as her Lord husband’s choice stood before her, she could hardly tell what her husband was thinking. When she requested a personal servant, she at least wanted him to be kept, but she could not see where this boy fit in that category. Between the terribly unkempt, lengthy hair, dirty skin, and face decorated with spotty placements of hair growth, she could not find one thing she liked. 

Not to mention, he smelled awful. 

Of course, she knew once she had the servants polish him up, he would be more presentable. Yet still, she at least thought her Lord husband would purchase a personal servant from one of the boutiques in the city, someone trained.

“My Lady,” a sweet voice reclaimed her attention. 

She immediately turned to face the young woman addressing her, “My dear sweet niece, please, how many times must I request of you to call me Aunt Nairobi? Now look,” Lady Hwang smiled, directing her attention back to the men in front of her. “It is your personal servant my Lord husband purchased for you. I know he doesn’t look like much right now. He’s ill-fitted and of sullen appearance. But he’ll be like your very own pet once he’s all cleaned up if you wish it. Men, get him to greet her,” she demanded with a quick snap of her fingers.

The men gave him a jolt, tugging on his long, damp hair to get him to lift his head. He tried to avoid looking at the people who claimed to “own” him, hating the way they talked about him as if he was an inanimate object for their pleasure. He wished he could've closed his ears to their words, even shut his mind down for a moment of ignorant bliss. But the men held his head still, and another pinched his back to keep him from closing his eyes, forcing him to look at these people who dared to subjugate him. He took in the two women before him, one being a more mature version of the other though neither looked to be too much older or younger than he was.

The less extravagant and shorter woman was rubbing her hands through her dark curls as she kept her brown eyes on his frame. Something about her looked frightened though he thought she had no right to be.

“Why don’t you greet her, boy?” one of the men demanded near his ear, giving him a harder pinch. He gritted his teeth, closing his eyes and jerking his body away from the pinching pain. He still hadn’t recovered all his senses. He wasn't even sure which women they wanted him to greet, but he refused to do so at their behest.

“Oh, forget it, he isn’t trained anyway,” Lady Hwang laughed, waving her hand in dismissal. “Servants, take him away and make him presentable, then show him to his room.”

The men took him by the arms and shirt collar to shuffle him off to the servants who all but carried him from the room. The men who transported him faded into the background, and he was silently thankful that distance was finally put between them. The only problem was that he was being dragged deeper into the fortress they called a house, which was the opposite direction of freedom.

Lady Hwang turned to face her niece, a smile on her red painted lips, “My dear Amahle, I hope you find joy with your new boy toy.”

Amahle forced a smile in return, knowing it would be futile to repeat that she never wanted nor asked for a personal servant, “what are we to name him?”

“Of course, it is up to you to name him, but my dear Lord Husband was adamant about keeping his given name the same while he would take on our household name of Hwang.”

“What is his given name?” Amahle looked patiently at her Aunt, watching as the woman, who was only a few years her senior, tried to remember the name told to her.

“Dimitri!” Lady Hwang exclaimed with a snap of her fingers. “Yes, yes, that was it,” she put her hands on Amahle’s shoulders, giving the girl a gentle squeeze. “He is to be called Dimitri Hwang from now on, my dear.”

The younger lady smiled once again, nodding her head in agreement while pulling away from her aunt's grasp. The way her aunt spoke about the stranger that just arrived in their home was like she hadn’t seen the pain on his face nor the hatred in his eyes when he was forced to look at them. Did she not see the limp way he hung off the servants as he was shuffled away? 

Dimitri Hwang, a human, was to be hers like a piece of jewelry, or an outfit, or the pen she wrote with. 

Just like that, she owned him, a person and her aunt thought nothing of it.

A/N: I hope chapter 2 is continuing on in an interesting manner! I wil be uploading only the first 3 chapters onto this site. If you would like to continue reading as the story is updated, you can click the highlighted link, Kindle Vella, to read.