His Destined Luna

Chapter7

Chan’s POV…

I woke up to see the sleeping beauty right next to me. Her skin glowed like the bright sunlight escaping through her window blinds. She was golden, pure, and heartbroken, and I had just taken advantage of her vulnerable state. I felt like s**t for doing that.

This woman seemed like she’d been hurt by the people she’d trusted the most, the people who’d let her down. She had given me her trust by letting me be with her, but now I had to try to show her that I wouldn’t turn out to be one of those people.

I could try, but heck! I didn’t even know who I was, to begin with. How do I know I won’t let her down when I regain my memory?

I felt a movement beside me, and then I looked down to see her open eyes staring at me. She’d woken up.

“Good morning,” she greeted me with a smile.

“Good morning, Fiona.”

***

None of us said anything to the other about the previous night as we prepared for the day ahead. We washed our bodies and then had breakfast from the leftover bread and cheese from last night. I swear by my name that I will try to find something suitable for us to eat today. I don’t know or care how I’ll do it!

“Here.”

Fiona disturbed my thoughts by handing me a set of fresh clothes. They were peasant clothes, and that’s when it occurred to me that I was still wearing undergarments. Of course, I couldn’t go out like this.

“Thank you.”

“They were my dad’s clothes. I’m sorry I couldn’t get you anything new. I can’t afford to.”

“No. It’s okay. Hope your dad won’t mind?”

“He won’t; he’s dead.”

I watched how she shrugged off those words like they were ordinary. Something like that was meant to hurt, but this woman seemed indifferent about it; she must have been through a lot in life.

Fiona disturbed my thoughts again. “I must go now, or I’ll be late for work. I don’t like you to have to do this, but it seems I have no choice.”

Her words made me worry; what was she talking about?

“You will have to find some labour, Chan. I am in debt as it is, and I spent all of my last money on your treatment, so I can’t earn any more until two months’ time. We have to eat before then, and you still have some costly medications.”

Oh, was that the problem? Why did she look so worried about it? Of course, I would do well to try to find a way for us to fend while I’m here. No way will I be eating dried-up bread and cheese again!

“There’s no problem about that, dear. You don’t have to worry yourself too much. I will do all I can to find labour today.”

The lines on her face eased. “Okay, but please, not too much strenuous work! Doctor’s instructions. You don’t need to work the whole day or earn too much; just enough for us to fend at least.”

“No problem, Fiona. I will try my best today.”

“Thank you. I will be heading out now, but before I go….” Fiona was about to walk out of the door before she remembered something. She turned around and went to a large chest of clothes near her bed. Retrieving a full attire of shiny blue fabric and a pair of thick pants, she handed them to me.

These were the clothes you wore when I found you in the forest,” she said. “They were stained with blood, and the shirt had a small hole from the stab wound, but I washed and stitched it all up for you. Now it’s as good as new.”

I took them from her, holding my other hand to my heart. Were there any lengths this woman would not go to prove to be so angelic?

“Thank you, Fiona. I really appreciate this.”

***

I stared at the marketplace, not knowing where to go from my left or right. This whole place seemed so strange to me. After Fiona left, I thought that by moving around or exploring the village, something could click in my head or help me remember, but no, nothing. I definitely wasn’t from around here.

I watched as the common folk carried about their daily lives. As I passed, I noticed a lot of stares; they probably looked at me that way because I appeared strange. This was a small town, so of course, anyone would be weary about a stranger appearing suddenly.

I passed by folks who engaged in all kinds of trades, selling goods, services, wares and even jewellery. It was a busy place. Of course, I had not come here to trade but to find labour, so after seeing what was going on, I left through another path to a dock nearby.

The dock must belong to the village, I reasoned. In the watery distance, I saw a few boats heading out and some making their way to the shore. There was a small boat parked by an edge where I spotted fishermen offloading their catches to take to the land. There was my chance to find labour! I hurriedly walked over to the fishermen.

“On with it!” The labourer in charge yelled at the men stuffing fish from a large net into smaller baskets. “The market people are waiting for their fish! We haven’t got all day, you know!”

“Excuse me,” I called his attention from the two men he was yelling at.

“Can I help you?” The fisherman asked me.

“Are you the one in charge here?”

He looked at me from head to toe like I’d just asked something dumb, “what does it look like to you? Like I work for these men instead?” He referred to the men who were transferring the fish.

Seeing he wasn’t the patient type, I went straight to the point. “I came here to find labour.”

“Great. I was just in need of a person to carry these baskets to the market. These lazy goats here have been worked up from fishing all night,” he referred to the men again.

“Does this mean I get the job?”

“So long as you can handle it. I’ll pay you 5 gold pieces if you can deliver all these baskets by evening. And make sure you don’t waste my time. Have to head out to sea again by then for night fishing.”

“Oh, that’s good. Thank you, sir.”

The fisherman didn’t give me a response before disappearing into the boat house. I wasn’t sure how much 5 gold pieces would be worth around here, I know it did seem small for all the work, but at least it would suffice for feeding Fiona and me for a few days. From the prices I heard in the market, food seems to be cheap around here.

It wasn’t until I dropped my sack and folded my sleeves to work that I realized I didn’t think this job through before I accepted it; there were about 12 baskets that the fishermen had loaded their catch into, and these baskets might have seemed smaller from afar, but now they were not looking so small, and I had to carry them all the way to the marketplace! This seemed like more of punishment than paid labour.

As I lifted one basket to place on my head, I winced when I felt a sharp pain coming from under my belly side, where I had been stabbed. The pain at that moment made me drop the basket by mistake, not just damaging it but letting over 50 fish escape into different corners of the boat. Some even made their way back to the water.

“Oh, no!” I gasped.

“What’s going on here?” The labourer came out of the boat house with a loud voice. Immediately, the other two workers who had witnessed what happened pointed fingers at me.