Reincarnation Romance: Miking & Ho Yung

Part 3: Dragged To The Past

The juicy flesh of the mango suddenly tasted like ash in his mouth. Jiang Bao—or was he Ho Yung?—froze as the yellow glow of a flickering oil lamp illuminated the cave’s jagged walls.

Xing Lie stood before him, but she was no longer wearing the modern attire from the Hawaiian hotel lobby. She wore a simple, faded linen robe, her dark hair cascading damply over her shoulders. The sharp, guarded look she had carried at the reception desk was gone, replaced by a raw, fragile hope that seemed to pierce right through his chest.

"Xing Lie?" he croaked, his voice sounding deeper, weathered by a lifetime he didn’t fully understand.

She took a step closer, her eyes welling with tears. "You call me by a name I do not know, my love. It is me, Miking. Did you truly forget your way back to the shore? I have kept the lamp lit every night since the storm took your ship."

A violent jolt racked Jiang Bao's mind. The physical pain from his fall in the hotel lobby seemed to echo across time, throbbing behind his eyes. Images flashed with dizzying speed: the sound of splintering wood, towering ocean waves, and this very woman screaming his ancient name as the sea swallowed him whole. It wasn't a dream. This island wasn't Hawaii. He had stepped directly into the pages of his own forgotten history.

"Miking..." the name left his lips naturally, like a mantra he had repeated for a thousand years. He stood up, dropping the half-eaten mango into the dirt. "I didn't forget. I... I fell. I fell a long way to get back to you."

Miking set the oil lamp down on a flat rock and rushed into his arms. The moment her body pressed against his, the freezing chill of the cave vanished. The familiar, sweet scent of her skin—the exact same fragrance that had triggered his collapse at the hotel reception desk—enveloped him. It was an anchor pulling him out of the chaotic turbulence of his modern memories and locking him firmly into the past.

As the storm raged violently outside the cave, sealing them away from the rest of the world, Jiang Bao realized the terrifying truth. His escape to Hawaii hadn’t been an escape at all. Destiny hadn't just brought them together at a checkout counter; it had violently pulled the rug of time out from under him, demanding that he finish the story they started lifetimes ago.

He held her tightly, burying his face in her hair, while a dark, lingering dread from his other dream whispered in the back of his mind. If he was Ho Yung again, then the shadow of the betrayal that ended his last life wasn't far behind.

To be continued... Part 4: Echoes of the Past

Don't forget to subscribe for more free stories!

Related links:

Part 1, Miking & Ho Yung

Part 2, A Fated Meeting