I felt relief and relaxation flood into my bones as I slipped into the steaming-hot water. It felt so nice to have a luxury like this after being held in captivity for two days. It was also the first moment of privacy I had had since the Westerners took over the village. Yesterday they split the women up from one house into several, with a half-dozen or so in each, but still I had almost no time to myself, except when I slept.
The number of women in the houses had dwindled over time. I wasn’t sure why until I saw Fushen walking through the street with one of them, their arms interlocked. I had looked closely and had seen that it was the same man who had carried her away the first night we were here. She seemed unharmed, from what I could tell. The expression she wore wasn’t that of fear or terror—the look on her face was that of contenfulness—and I found that haunting. She had to be sleeping with him, but was it wholly willing, or did she do it just to avoid harsh punishment? Was that what would befall all of us? I had so many questions to ask her, but I wasn’t allowed to move freely, and I doubt she was either.