Kidnapped by a Dragon Billionaire - Chapter 30

The next two weeks went by in a blur. Zi Mei was grieving over the child they could have had. She is also filled with apprehension over future miscarriages due to the curse. Thorin tried his best to help her. He held her. Served her. Gave her warm massages. Conjured up her favourite food. Nothing worked to bring her out of her slump. The pain had gone and the bleeding had stopped.

At her insistence, Thorin took her to a human ob-gyn to check her condition. The doctor told her what Thorin had said. She was in her early stages of pregnancy but had a miscarriage, possibly because it was not viable. The doctor couldn’t give any reasons for the miscarriage. He said some miscarriages happen because the foetus had stopped growing. This could be her case. She already knew the reason so she didn’t push for more answers from the doctor. The doctor had reassured her that she seemed strong and she is young enough to try for more.

“Just give your body a rest first, at the very least six months, before you try again,” the doctor had said.

She was glad for the reprieve. Six months is a nice period for her to resolve her mixed feelings about this contract with Thorin now. She knew she can’t back out of the contract. They had made love so many times. Numerous times in numerous positions which led to her conceiving without even knowing. He had given her the sum mentioned in the contract and she had immediately paid off the loansharks. There was so much leftover, she even bought a house in the city. A small little place she can call her own.

Wallowing in her deep depression, she thought of her friends. She didn’t know she could face them. She felt like an absolute failure. She had slept with a man (or dragon) to pay off her debts and she couldn’t even keep her side of the bargain to deliver a baby.

Her rational brain knew that it was not her fault that she had a miscarriage, Thorin had said as much that it was a curse, but still, her heart refused to accept this reason. She kept blaming herself irrationally. She also developed an aversion to Thorin coming too close to her. Even though her blood thrummed, her heart skipped and her core throbbed with desire for him, she shrank away from him, refusing to let him touch her.

Thorin had gallantly respected her wishes. He had kept his distance but sometimes, she can see the sadness in his eyes, the pain of her rejection apparent. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to make love with him again. The thought of accidentally conceiving and then suffering another miscarriage lingered heavily in her mind. The thought of it pierced her heart and made it hard to breathe.

By the end of the second week, Thorin decided to take matters in his own hands to get her out of her depression. He asker her friends over for a small dinner function to cheer her up. Much as he doesn’t like the looks of Darren, he knows Zi Mei now needs her friends the most. She has withdrawn so much into herself, staying curled in bed for days on end, that it wasn’t helping nor doing her any good.

“Little Zi, I have invited your friends over for dinner tonight so I think you should get up, shower and make yourself presentable at least,” he told her the morning of the event.

She was hiding under the blankets in the nice dark and cool air conditioned room but when she heard him say that, she sat up, her hair wild, her face tear stained and the silk pyjamas top she stole from Thorin crumpled and stained.

“What?!?!? I am in no condition to see them!!!” she exclaimed in a panic.

“Exactly. So you have one whole day to get ready,” he told her. He sat on the bed and she instinctively shrank back. He noticed her aversion but did not say anything. He peered at her face without touching her.

“Look at the bags under your eyes and the dark circles…they might think I made you work day and night without letting you rest at all,” he remarked.

She clutched her face and rubbed her swollen eyes.

“No, cancel it! I can’t see them now, I can’t!” she bawled. She flopped back down on the bed and pulled the blanket over her head again.

He pulled it off and threw it aside. She was laying face up. She stared up at the ceiling unblinkingly.

“Little Zi…come on…it is time you rejoin the living world,” he prodded gently.

“No,” she muttered.

“Come on…I know you are sad…I am too…just meet with your friends, I promise it will be fun,”

“No,”

“Sheena will be coming, Jazzmine will be coming, Darren will be coming and even your friend at the cafe, Alfie Lee, will be coming,”

She scrambled to sit up at the names he mentioned and glared at him.

“You have no right!”

“Look, you’ve not seen or talked to them for weeks..maybe even a month or so, shouldn’t you at least meet with them tonight?”

He was right. She was so engrossed and smitten by Thorin that she had spent weeks on end with him and pining for him when he was not around, she barely contacted her friends. She had texted them a few times. Chatted on the phone a few times. And each time, she would give the excuse that she had a lot of work so she had to cut it short. She has not met them in months. A tiny sliver of guilt rose within her. Sheena, Jazzmine and Darren had pooled their savings and gave it all to her to help her and here she was, living a life of luxury and not even bothering to contact them or share her wealth.

Some friend she is. The least she could do was to invite them over to her new little heritage house in the heritage city of George Town. It was exorbitantly expensive but she had grown up in these kind of houses in the inner city so it felt like home. She had even hired restoration architects and interior designers to have it nicely restored and beautifully decorated. It looked like a showhouse with elements of heritage underscored by contemporary lines.

Thorin is right. It is time she meet her friends. Maybe they will take her mind off the loss of her baby. But the dinner function should not be here! It should be held at her new house.

“I prefer it to be held at my new place,” she told the old dragon.

He didn’t look surprised.

“If that is what you want, it can certainly be arranged,” he said.

She nodded. Then she noticed her reflection in the mirror at the vanity facing the bed and gasped. She looked like death warmed over. No, scratch that. She looked like death that was dragged in by the cat during a heavy thunderstorm and had dried while scrunched up in a garbage bin. She tried to smoothen her hair but it continued to stick up in all directions.

“Looks like you better take a nice proper shower, wash your hair and select an outfit while I go get Jessica to help with the preparations,” Thorin said.

She got up from the bed, ignoring him entirely and went to stare at the smudges under her eyes. She was certain she didn’t use any eyeliner or mascara over the last few days or any day actually and yet it looked like eyeliner was smeared under her eyes. She rubbed the smudges but it remained there. She licked her thumb and rubbed the smudges again. It remained there.

“Er…those are your dark circles…I doubt rubbing it will remove it,” Thorin said quietly behind her.

“What?? I can’t meet my friends with dark circles worse than a panda’s! I look like a dead racoon, not even a panda,”

Thorin laughed. He told her that he can help her right after she takes a shower and get some food in.

“You’ve barely eaten and I think the last time you showered was a week ago…I may even have to burn that pyjamas top you stole,” he said disdainfully.

She looked down at the large silk pyjamas top that had belonged to Thorin. It was long and large, burying her small frame in it. She had pulled it out of his side of the cupboard to wear one night because she was sick of the sexy lacy nightgowns on her side. She also liked the smell of the pyjamas. It smelled like Thorin and wearing it felt like him hugging her, without him being physically there to hug her. She wanted to be close to him, to have him hold her and yet she doesn’t want the physical contact. It was a dilemma that she felt was solved by wearing his clothes.

“If you can get Jessica or whoever does the clothes shopping to get me decent clothes instead of prostitute clothes, I won’t have to steal yours to wear,” she responded.

Then, she went into the bathroom to take a shower and wash her hair for the first time in a week.