Chapter 19 Deleon’s Tainted Secret

[Whoosh!] The cool zephyr that complimented the warm evening gradually became freezing as the night descended. Thanks to the moon not showing its radiance, Deleon had to turn on his car lights to illuminate the dark surrounding.

Anna was sitting alongside Deleon on the car’s bonnet, having a chill moment admiring the kaleidoscopic stars above.

“So Deleon…” Anna waited until she had buttered up her love-struck target before enquiring about the Dark Bloom Orchid which she accidentally discovered during her brief moment in his lab. “I don’t mean to be nosy but I spotted a rare dark flower that time when you brought me to your workplace. You know that I’m a person who admires flowers, right? So do mind telling me what type of flower that was? I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Huh…?” Deleon realized quickly what flower Anna was referring to. He hesitated at first; was going to avoid the topic. However, when he saw the enchanting look in Anna’s eyes which captured his attention, he decided to elaborate about his secret on the basis that Anna kept her adoring eyes on him a while longer.

“I shouldn’t disclose this information to just anyone but I trust that you can keep my secret, Anna?”

“Of course, I’ll be your queen of secrets. You can confide in me, babe. Whatever you say shall stay between us. I will definitely not let my nosy employee be aware of your secret.”

“That’s good to hear.” Deleon slid to the edge of the car’s bonnet. Taking a moment to breathe, he stared at his arm intensely. “Anna the truth is this secret concerns me personally. You asked me earlier why I’m always wearing these specially made gloves. The reason is that I’m contaminated.”

“Contaminated?” Anna’s eyes portrayed an indulgent sense of interest.

“Yes, my arms are contaminated. Telling you this might make you feel disgusted with me and never want to see me again. Everyone that I’ve confided in avoids me later, so are you sure you want me to continue?”

“Please do, I promise not to resent you for your condition.”

“Alright.” Deleon began informing the woman he was infatuated with about his dark secret, knowing full well that he might never see her again. “A decade-plus ago when my parents were still alive, I would regularly go hiking with my dad to strengthen my weak constitution. The last hike we went on was at the rearward region of Mt Venom. They used to have a good hiking spot there that was a regular tourist attraction.

One morning when my dad and I was climbing the rough terrain, we got separated temporarily because I lost my balance and accidentally fell into a ditch. While my dad went around the long path to come to my rescue, I discovered a little girl soaked in blood with rough bruises all over. At first, I thought that she was dead by how brutally she was entangled in strange plants. That was the first time I ever laid eyes on the flower of darkness.

Due to my inexperience in dealing with such a situation back then, I didn’t know how to react. I called out for my dad but after a bit, I felt a strong impulse of hyperventilation. Breathing became so difficult I eventually collapsed beside the little girl. My hand accidentally interacted with her arm. That was when I found out that she was still alive. She grabbed onto my finger, calling out for help. Her voice was weak; her grip wasn’t that strong either. After realizing that she wasn’t dead, I tried ripping off the flower of darkness which entangled her.

I tried my best to set her free but my strength wasn’t enough to rip apart all of those black vines. The laps of my breath got shorter and shorter with every passing moment. Still, I did what I could to free her. As I continued to exhaust myself, a frightening scorpion crawled out of the little girl’s mouth. My panicky state caused me to run away from there.

When I bumped into my dad shortly after my tireless retreat, I tried telling him that there was a little girl in danger behind me but my words just wouldn’t come out. Eventually, I fainted. My father took priority over my safety by carrying me to the emergency centre.

I woke up in the hospital with all sort of medical apparatuses attached to my body. I was battling an unstable condition due to some unknown poison that had affected me. The doctors did all they could to stabilized my condition but they couldn’t cure the poison which had crippled my arms and turned me into a walking toxin. My father would have been affected by the poison as well if he wasn’t wearing his protective gears when he found me.

Later on, I found out from my dad that the cause of my misery was the flower of darkness he found wrapped around my arm when I bumped into him back at Mt Venom. The petals belonging to that rare plant were extremely venomous. They poisoned on contact. I understood that I was suffering because I tried to rescue that little girl.

After regaining my speech, I asked my father to go look for her corpse. He returned saying that there was no such person on the mountain, neither did he discover any traces of the virulent plant.

I began losing my mind wondering if that little girl was even real. It took me years to overcome my dilemma. Because I couldn’t risk infecting anyone else, most of my childhood was spent inside my father’s lab where he worked tirelessly trying to find a cure for my disease. He sowed a stem of the toxic plant and used the remnant to synthesise a serum for my condition. His desperate attempts to save his son caused him to die from exhaustion.”

As Deleon continued his story, tears of sorrow began pouring from the corners of his eyes. “After my father’s death, I decided that I wouldn’t be such a burden on anyone else. So I took to the path of medicine to find a remedy for myself. I lied when I told you that both my parents had passed away earlier. My mother is very much still alive but I don’t know where she is. She abandoned me and my dad after I was diagnosed as contagious. And do you want to know the funny thing? I don’t blame her for leaving us, life has a cruel way of progressing sometimes.”

“Oh, so that’s why?” Finished listening to Deleon’s story, Anna started thinking to herself: ‘So that’s how they have a lab of those unfathomable Dark Bloom Orchids. He stumbled over it accidentally and ended up suffering badly from its poison. I’m amazed he looks as healthy as he does. A regular person would have died in minutes after contacting Dark Bloom Orchid. That little girl he spoke of… I wonder who she might be…’

“Hey, Anna. Are you repulsed by me now, why aren’t you responding?” Deleon’s shaky voice roused Anna from her pondering trance.

“Hum? Sorry about spacing out on you there. I was just thinking about what happened to that mysterious little girl that you came across. Did she have any distinctive properties? For example her clothing or hairstyle?”

“Why are you so interested in that little girl? I already told you my father found nothing. Probably she was just a product of my stressful imagination.”

“I’m just curious is all. What if that person was actually real? It proves that you weren’t delusional. So do you remember anything?”

“I don’t know, she was covered all over in blood. My mind wasn’t operating correctly.” Deleon forced his memories to recall the events which took place that day. “She was… she was entangled in that flower of darkness, drenched in blood... I don’t remember what she was wearing but her skin was dark. Her hair, her hair was also dark. I can’t remember anymore.”

Anna realized that Deleon’s was entering an early stage of dementia by how he griped his head in agony, she quickly prevented his pain from advancing further. “Okay, okay. Don’t force yourself.” Anna scooted closer to Deleon, tossed out her arms, quickly capturing his head in her grasp. His face was pressed firmly against her soft bosom.

Due to this delicious booby intimacy, Deleon quickly calmed down and regained his senses. “Huh?” When he realized that Anna was embracing him too closely, he quickly withdrew his face from her sweet-scented bosom and retreated several steps. “No! What are you doing? You can’t be so close to me. Have you forgotten what I just said? I’m contaminated!”

“I didn’t forget. You said your hands were poisoned which is why you covered them up correct?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Then it’s fine. You didn’t embrace me with your naked arms. So stop being so defensive and get back over here. I want to see your arm in its trueness.”

Hearing this, almost made Deleon popped a head vain. “You can’t be serious, Anna! You actually want to peek at my arm even after what I just told you? Most girls would have got scared off by now. How come you’re still so calm and understanding?”

Anna smiled coquettishly and replied: “That’s because I’m not like other girls. You must have had a rough childhood growing up, the same could be said about me. I won’t scorn you for your illness so hurry and show it to me. It’s not like I’m asking you to pull down your pants and dangle your excited boy.”

“Ms Anna! Where did you learn to speak like that?” Deleon was surprised by the lewd words that spilt out of Tainted Scorpion’s mouth.

“I’ll tell you all about it later if you show me your hands.” Anna crossed her knees. With her elbows pressing into her legs along with her face resting in her palms, she gave Deleon a flirtatious glance. He got affected quickly by her Lure of Lust and succumbed to her request.

“Okay, I’ll show it to you. But you have to promise me not to touch, alright? I would hate to lose you too, Anna. You’re the ray of hope which illuminates my sea.”

‘Pft! What a cheesy line.’ Anna thought internally then said out loud: “Okay, I promise not to touch, so show me already.”

“Alright, stay right where you are and look from there.” Deleon carefully rolled down the long covering from his left arm. He didn’t pull it off completely, he stopped when the glove reached the extent of his fingers. “Here it is.”

“Huh? Those markings…” Anna identified some bulging black veins wiggling all around Deleon’s exposed arm. ‘His arm has already lost its natural colour to the corrosive element, moreover, those dark veins are signs of intent poisoning. It’s a miracle he’s still able to move his limbs. These are definitely symptoms of being affected by Dark Bloom Orchid’s virulent properties. To survive all these years must have been extremely painful. This man might not be as weak as I thought he was.’

“Are you satisfied now? You look disgusted so I’m going to cover it back up.” Deleon began rolling up the covering over his unsightly arm which made even my skin crawl.

“Wait just a moment.” Anna reached out towards Deleon’s arm but he quickly dodged her hand stopping her from touching his exposed flesh.

“You can’t! What are you thinking, Anna?” He continued to scold her. “If I hadn’t stop your hand just now you would have been contaminated!”

“Oh, sorry. I forgot that I shouldn’t touch it. It’s a good thing you stopped my hand, huh?” Anna acted as if she wasn’t fazed by the reality of the situation.

“Where did you acquire this fearlessness from?” Deleon quickly covered his arm then stared bewildered at Anna.

“I’m not fearless, my curiosity got the best of me. So your arm does it still hurts?”

“Not every day. Sometimes I feel worse pain when the full moon is out.”

“Full moon?” Anna thought to herself. ‘Figures, the Dark Bloom Orchid shares a mystical resonance with the full moon. Because I have so much of that stuff coursing through me, I also feel a heightened lust for blood whenever the full moon is out. At least we have something in common. I wonder…’

Anna slid off the car bonnet and walked closer to Deleon. “If your arm is as deadly as you say it is, how come you’ve been living for so long with it?”

“Ah, that?” Deleon leaned his back against the century-old Elij-Plum then took out a small vial from a case in his pocket. “This is the latest stage serum based on the original formula that my father developed just before he passed away. It helps stabilizes the ferocity of the toxin and mitigates the spread. I’m close to a breakthrough that will completely alter the course of medicine. Remember that plant of darkness I told you about? Not only does it has a deadly potency but also mind-blowing healing properties.”

“I see, so you will be able to cure your arms soon?”

“I believe so.” Deleon’s face revealed a stage of glee as he pocketed back the beta-serum. “When my arms are finally cured I no longer have to worry about keeping my distance from you Anna.”

“Oh, so you want to close the distance between us?” Hearing this, Anna couldn’t help but advance closer to Deleon who had his back pressed against the tree. [Step! Step!]

“Anna, what are doing?” Perceiving her seducing approach, Deleon tried to retreat but found it difficult with his back already captured by the robust tree.

[Step! Step!] Anna smiled flirtatiously as she cut off Deleon’s escape route, moreover, she pressed her bosom against his chest as she stared directly into his bewildered vision. “What if I don’t care to be poisoned by you? Would you take me here?”

“W-What do you mean, Anna?” Deleon became stammer to the point where he found it difficult to breathe. [Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!]

“Hm? Are you getting excited?” Anna felt the heavy pulsation of Deleon’s heart beating through her breasts. She took advantage of his confused state to grasp his ear with her tongue then whispered: “You want to know a secret? I forgot to bring an extra change of panties on our date.”

“W-What?” Deleon understood full well what this meant. Anna’s golden va-jay-jay was unclothed and ready to be appraised. His heart started racing like a mad horse. [Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!]

“Fu-hu. I see that got you aroused. You’re such a naughty boy Deleon. Did you think I actually wasn’t wearing any panties?”

“You mean you were joking, Anna?”

“Yep, just a joke. You don’t believe me? Why don’t you see for yourself what colour my undies are?” Anna flicked up her skirt to prove to Deleon that she wasn’t wearing any panties but he clamped his eyes shut before he could see if she was joking or not. What a wuss.

“Stop that Anna. I don’t like to be teased.”

“Alright, I’ve lowered my skirt. You can open your eyes now.”

“Are you sure you’ve covered up?” Deleon peeked through his fingers to verify if Anna had put down her skirt. Confirming that she had done so, he opened his eyes fully. Deleon didn’t expect Anna to be such a perverted person. He didn’t dislike her either. In actual fact, he liked her even more. She wasn’t like the previous girls he courted who ran away the moment they discovered his poisonous secret. Anna was more accepting of his imperfections. It’s a pity he wasn’t aware that she was quite tainted herself.