Volume 1 - CH 30

“I don’t care what kind of monster you are, I just want you.” —— On that day, I was seriously crazy.

The light of the match was limited, and as I was reaching the place where I was once held captive, my steps slowed down.

As the sound of something rustling that I heard long ago entered my ears, I confirmed that this was the place where I first came into this world.

“Ergh……”

I heard a soft female voice. No matter how small the sound, I could make out that it was from my wife.

Knitting my eyebrows, I slowly advanced towards the sound. Still, the echoing rustling sounds made it hard to find the source.

“Xifu…is that you?”

My question changed from “ Where are you” to “Is it you”, showing how scared I was.

What was I afraid of? Was I afraid of seeing something scary? Or was I scared that she would gobble me up? Why would I be scared of my wife, who shared the same bed with me?

Oh Chen Lao Wu, how disappointed I am in you.

“Don’t…”

“Xifu?”

With what bit of light I had, I could only make out a slithering tail on the ground. The browns weren’t visible as usual, but the glistening shine it had was undoubtedly the tail that had wrapped me up tightly.

There was a pile of white stuff laying beside the tail. Based on my knowledge of biology, it looked like it was shedded skin. 

Wait, shedded skin…that means!

It was by luck that I could keep myself from retching. I didn’t know if I had the courage to call the organism in front of me as my wife.

It was something you would only see in a monster movie. Although she still had the shape of Medusa, every inch of her skin was covered in scales, even her face and hands. Even her hair became a mess of ferocious snake heads.

When was the last time I felt fear? When I had a blade on my throat? No. 

Was it when Medusa had pressed me against the wall. No, not that too.

To me, I hadn’t experienced true fear yet, because the worst fear wasn’t the fear of death, but the fear towards the unknown.

The match fell onto the ground, as a gust of air filled with stone debris flew towards me. It must have come from the swinging of that tail.

“Don’t look……”

The voice of my wife sounded so bleedingly painful.

I escaped from the cave without turning my head back, with my limbs moving as if on instinct. With my ragged breath that won’t slow down, I numb mindedly put a cigarette in and out of my mouth repeatedly, as I paced repeatedly at the cave entrance.

What the hell was I doing? Why do I always do this to myself? Why couldn’t I understand?

……

Squatting down outside the cave, the raindrops flowed down the hands that I had placed on my hair, onto my clothes. As a sizzling sound was heard from the damp cigarette, I could see her coming out of the caves between the wisps of smoke.

A pair of eyes could be seen on her face that was covered with scales, with it’s thin sleek pupils reflecting the me who was standing in the rain.

The sounds of booming thunder behind me were mixed with my ragged breaths, with the sudden appearance of arcs of  thunder illuminating and colouring the brown scales with a scary colour of white.

Does she hate the thunderstorms today too?

Other than the shape of Medusa, the face which didn’t seem like a human one, looked as if it was laughing at me.

Didn’t you hate the silence? How about you do something?

Didn’t you swear to always say I love you to her? Do you dare to say it again one more time?

Didn’t you always dream of passing the days happily with her? Do you still have the guts?

Chen Lao Wu, you’re nothing but a coward.

“No, I’m not a coward!”

Saying the words in Mandarin that she couldn’t understand, I imitated what the movies did and ran to give her a hug.

Yet the ones welcoming me weren’t her arms, but a tail that sped through the cold, humid air.

“Ugahh, she’s still as lively as before. COUGH!”

After being hit rolling onto the ground, I coughed after getting my breath cut short. Standing up, I wiped the rainwater off my face and once again ran towards her.

“You fell in love with a cultureless, useless, and weak human……Sorry……”

“GO!”

As if the tail had its own mind, I couldn’t even get near her and got sweeped out of the cave once again. 

Even though I managed to block it with my arm this time, I still got covered in mud.

“After so long, it was because of you, that I could only have these experiences that I’ve never had.”

“GO AWAY!”

I failed to block the third one. My pelvis was seriously hurting.

“So what if there was a language barrier? So what if the lifestyles were different? So what if the appearance became scary?!”

“JUST GO AWAY!”

With the fourth hit, the risk of a bone fracture was skyrocketing.

“And so, I’ve thought it through. I will change for you, and no matter what happens, I will never leave your side.”

“WHY? WHY?! GO AWAY!!”

The fifth strike was accompanied with her fierce voice, though it sounded like she was gonna cry.

“Hey, although you don’t understand Mandarin, I still wanna say it out loud.”

“GO! WHY ARE YOU NOT GOING!?”

Instead of her tail, the sixth attack of hers were the messy clothes and the journal. What a coincidence, since I had no more strength to take another hit from her tail.

“I love you, the one I love is you! I don’t care what kind of monster you are, I just want you! I don’t care if you will be like this in the future, or even become a snake, or maybe even turn into a scarier monster! I would still hug you, kiss you, and put on the wedding dress for you!”

At this point of time, it was as if God broke the language barrier between us, as she stood shaking in her spot. I could only barely support myself to stand as the rain poured.

“Why…why…why you don’t go……I’m…the Medusa…”

The one that called herself Medusa, walked into the rain and softly rested herself on me.

“Hmm, because I’m Medusa’s husband.”

“Uwaaah……”

The sound of her crying came from my chest. I wonder what colour would Medusa’s tears be?

I slowly raised the scale-covered face. Her cute, transparent eyelids blinked repeatedly. Because of the rain, I couldn’t tell if she had tears, but there were mine falling for sure. 

My breath slowly fogged up as my hands slowly caressed her face. The small snakes on her head in return affectionately wrapped their bodies around my hands as my wet hair stuck more and more to my forehead.

Am I crazy? Heh, when did I ever say that I was ever normal?

The wet but passionate kiss lasted long. Her tongue had become one of that of a snake, with the clashing of both our teeth egging the freaking agile tongue slowly entering my throat.

The rapid breaths only brought our bodies closer, with every scale of hers digging into my skin, as if with one, small push and they would join into one.

I had no idea who started pulling the other first, but we took turns dragging one another along the walls of the cave. 

As I watched her pupils rapidly expanding and shrinking, we somehow ‘rolled’ onto our bed. What happens next needed no explanation, with something called lust guiding our next move……

(TLN: HUEHUEHUE SEGGS)

“I love you.”

“En~~~”

She made an ecstatic voice which she had never made before, felt as if it lit a fire that could immediately dry up the humid air in the cave.

No matter how I recall it, I couldn’t help but feel that day made no sense at all. If I invited Discovery Channel’s camera crew here, we probably would have made an excellent animal documentary.

I didn’t jot down all the details that happened on that day, with only one sentence written down in my journal: 

“She is back.”

Because even if I didn’t write it in my journal, I wouldn’t ever forget what happened.

I don’t know how much time passed, but she was tired, and even more so was I too. Just like that joke I heard some time ago:

[Hubby, you’ve only touched me 7 or 8 times since our marriage. Do you not love me anymore?]

[Oh my wife, we just got married yesterday afternoon, and it’s only the afternoon today. We didn’t even sleep last night. Your husband is a human, not a cucumber!]

Still, having sex for so long was detrimental to a mere human’s body. The scene of me having to support myself with the cave walls the second day gave quite a shock to my Xifu, so I lied down the whole day instead.

Staring at the jagged grey ceiling of the cave, I massaged my waist. As the image of my wife’s body being covered in scales entered my mind, I couldn’t help but laugh. 

Had I gone mad? My basic sense of beauty was totally gone. I had no idea if she would be able to change back. If she couldn’t, well, it honestly felt kind of exciting.

In the end, it would be my fault wouldn’t it? To disturb Medusa in the midst of shedding, would it be akin to be peeping on a fair maiden when she changes her clothes?

Just as she said: “ After seeing me like this, why would you still want to be together with me?”

This probably was the last wall between the monsters and humans.

Still, it didn’t matter. All the walls were destroyed on that rainy night, with the only thing remaining is a pair of connected hearts.

To this world, I was something of an abnormality. But to me, this world is abnormal as it is. In this world filled with magic, werewolves, Medusa and giant rabbits, you want to talk common sense with me?

Forget about it. Love needs no common sense. Look, you can even see the greenish split tongue in the smile of my wife.