With You Forever
Matthew didn’t go to work the next day. Instead, he went to Lakeside Garden alone to visit Natalie, then
he went to Jinny’s place. More of her skin healed up, and she could show her arms now. Her skin was
porcelain smooth, just like a child’s. If it weren’t for the pus, she would have been a lovely girl.
Seeing Matthew, Jinny came up to him happily and mumbled, “Matthew!”
Matthew smiled and handed a bag to her.
She opened it to see what was inside. When she realized it was a dead toad, instead of backing away
in fear, she put it in her hand happily and took a closer look.
If the Lachs were here, they’d be shocked by what they saw. Anyone who touched that toad would die in
an instant, but Jinny held it in her hands like it was nothing.
Then Matthew took the bottle out and released the centipede. The centipede seemed to adore Jinny, so
it crawled up to her arm and wouldn’t come down. It was as if the centipede was kissing her arm like a
happy kid.
Jinny loved the centipede too, so she touched it, and the centipede stopped moving. It stayed on her
arm, letting her touch it freely.
Matthew was surprised to see that, but he kept quiet about it, then he said, “Jinny, I found out about your
past.”
Jinny stopped for a moment, and she became crestfallen. “A-Are you chasing me away, Matthew?” She
looked at Matthew.
Matthew smiled. “You got it all wrong, Jinny. I found out about your past, but that doesn’t mean I’ll chase
you away. You can stay here for as long as you want.”
A smile broke out on her face. “I’ll stay here as long as you want me to, Matthew!”
Matthew forced a smile. He’d love her to stay, but some people out there wouldn’t. “Oh, do you have any
memory of your father, Jinny?” Matthew asked.
Jinny shook her head. She was just a baby when her mother left Orleans, so she had no memory of her
father.
A moment of silence later, she said, “Mom said Dad wanted to kill me. He thinks I’m a jinx. That’s why
she took me and left the clan.”
Matthew sighed. Yeah, it matches with the file. Jinny was born with pus all over the body. The whole clan
thought of her as a bad omen, so they wanted to kill her and appease the gods. She only lived because
her mother escaped Orleans with her.
Matthew chatted with her for a while and left with a couple of bottles. As for the centipede, he left it with
Jinny.
Sanchez hit the bullseye when he said the centipede had come in contact with Jinny. Over the last few
days, Matthew left all the poisonous creatures he got with Jinny so she could rear them. Every night,
he’d go to her place and take one creature to defend himself. Luckily he had the centipede last night, or
it’d be hard to kill the toad.
For Matthew, it would be an easy task, killing the toad. He had that power, but there were too many
people around. If he killed it with his bare hands, the toad’s poison would spray everywhere and kill the
Lachs. That wasn’t what he wanted, so he used the centipede to minimize the casualties.
He had to admit that Jinny was a great trainer. Ever since he left the creatures with her, they’d come
back more poisonous or venomous than ever. For example, toads were supposed to be more poisonous
than centipedes, but after Jinny trained it for a couple of days, the centipede killed the toad easily, much
to his surprise.
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