EMBRACE YOU: Presence & Poison
Episode 342

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This morning, the sun rising from behind the mountain looked beautiful as its light changed the color of the deep blue sky to slowly reddish orange. The morning dew fog that covered the mountain looked extremely beautiful the moment the sunlight touched it. The trees, the plants that were there did look creepy, but I couldn't stop staring at them.

“Icha?” The voice of Bayu distracted me. I looked up at him, he was taking down the mask that covered his mouth and nose. Now his face was clearly visible as he frowned.

“Do you get sick? I've been calling you.” We stopped the steps, this man's hand touched my forehead.

My smile expands after one thought comes to my head, “it seems, in the mountainous area, not bad either, yes ‘kan?”

Bayu's facial sharpener is more confused, “What?”

I replied excitedly, “of course our honeymoon!”

“Uhuk!!” my eyes blinked at the sound of a small cough from behind. I turned my head and found two Bayu colleagues who had taken care of me and came with him to look away so as not to look at me.

I turned back to stare at Bayu, hoping to get a response from her. But, this man pursed his lips hard with the corner of his mouth that was held in order not to rise. He was holding his laugh in front of me.

But I didn't care, still looking at her to wait for Bayu's answer. “How?”

“We can plan it.” Bayu nodded quickly while patting my shoulder. But I frowned because it was unusual for his reaction.

“People, now Cilia wait.”

“...Yes.” After hearing my slightly late answer, Bayu's hand moved to embrace my shoulder. My eyes that had been following his face since then, saw that there was a small, silent laughter between his serious expressions.

Our short chat stopped there when I joined the big and tall people in uniform like Bayu. They briefly looked at me before one of the middle-aged men stepped closer to me.

He introduced himself briefly before thanking them for helping with their plan. Looking at how he behaved, I think he was the commander in the team.

He wanted me to hold Cilia for ten minutes to give the other team time to check the bombs around the village. After briefly explaining everything, he directed me quickly towards a small house not far from the previous explosion.

Bayu who did not let go of his hand to me did not say anything. But looking at her tightly clenched jaw, it seemed she was holding back from taking me away.

Before I entered the small house, I could now clearly see the state of the village.

All the houses here are empty, there is no sign of people staying. There were also traces of landslides in some places and parts of the building were damaged. Seeing how the distance from one house to another, this village was once definitely crowded by residents. For some strange thing, my back felt goosebumps because it was in an empty village.

“DO NOT APPROACH!!” The cry of Cilia from inside the house turned my eyes away.

There were three men inside who were trying to calm Cilia down. The woman was pointing a knife at her own neck with her right hand and in the other hand clasped something small.

“Already lowered the knife. We brought Natasha here, okay?” the words of one of the men inside when I entered shifted everyone's gaze.

Bayu walked in front of me, blocking me from Cilia's sight.

I patted her back slowly with the implied intention that I was fine facing Cilia.

Cilia whose face was strained, looked at me sharply. There was a hint of relief in his expression as I began to step up to approach him.

My eyes glanced at the two chairs that were placed face to face and said, “ayo sat first.”

Then Bayu stood beside me and the three men who had persuaded Cilia stood beside me. Seeing no one break this silence, I again pointed another chair with my chin at Cilia.

He slowly retreated to sit down, his eyes not coming off looking at me as he began to calm down. I who folded two hands over my stomach began to say, “do you want to talk to me? What's up?”

My facial expression was serious at the thought of having to share my precious time just to keep her company chatting, while I would rather spend time alone or with Bayu.

Cilia seemed to be putting together what she had to say to me because her gaze looked confused for a moment. However, the sentence he answered made me gasp in shock.

“Why are you okay?”

“What?! Whatchu mean?? Should I not be okay??”

“Wendy... she's already injected that poison.”

“APA!! BRENG—” Bayu yelled angrily, he would have lunged at Cilia if not held back by the two men behind him.

“Obviously Wendy injects that poison at twice the dose while you sleep! But you look really good. You should go straight to the pain, especially because Bayu there—”

“Ha ha ha.” I laughed, cutting out his words. The look on his face clearly said that he would calm down after knowing what was going on with my body. He was obsessed with his research.

Huh! Really not out of thought! It turned out that Wendy had successfully injected that poison!

Actually, ever since this kidnapping, I've been thinking about a reasonable hypothesis as to why the hormone toxin didn't affect me.

“So, Wendy injected me with poison last night? But now I'm very good. Cilia, you are so curious why I am not affected ‘kan? Actually I already know why.” Cilia's eyes opened wide, there was greed in her eyes.

“Why?? Did you previously drink something to resist the poison?”

I shook my head, “not. But I don't want to answer it.”

“What?!” Cilia flinched in shock, she immediately stood up resulting in two of the four men accompanying me, pointing a gun. One of them belongs to Bayu.

“It harms me. I'm the one you've poisoned. I gave you the answers too. Isn't that unfair? The scales are side weight.” Reply calmly. I should lead our conversation.

“A—what do you mean?” cilia's eyes seemed to tremble in despair.

“You have kidnapped me, poisoned me and made it difficult for Bayu to investigate. Three things! If you want to know the answer, I have to get three things from you.” From the corner of my eyes, I could see Bayu glancing at me with a curious expression, but my gaze was not distracted from Cilia who was now sitting down again.

Highlight his eyes that were trembling in confusion like everyone else, because all this time the Cilia I knew had an aura of smartness and confidence.

“A—what do you want?” he muttered softly but I could hear him clearly.

The corner of my eye was raised, smiling slightly as he got into my trap. It's time to dominate the situation.

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