"Imagine if someone sees us," the woman whispered.
"At this hour? Who's around?" the man replied. "Besides, who'd bother watching such a thing?"
The village was small, and Tabitha recognized most of its inhabitants. But the couple before her were neither married nor lovers.
The woman was the sister-in-law of the man, whose husband had been paralyzed in a fall two years prior.
Unable to bear her loneliness, she had taken up with her brother-in-law.
In the city, affairs were common—discovery might lead to divorce. But in the village, divorce was unheard of; if discovered, her punishment would be death.
That's why they sought privacy in this secluded spot.
People usually returned home by this time, leaving only Tabitha and Derek, who were clearly not thinking straight.
Derek began to speak, "Tabitha—"
Before he could finish, Tabitha clamped a hand over his mouth.
Derek had only recently arrived and was unaware of the village's customs.
The girl in question was barely twenty, kind-hearted and warm. Tabitha didn't want her to die innocently.
Gently tugging Derek by the hand, she pulled him behind a cluster of cornstalks.
In a hushed voice, she warned, "Stay quiet!"
Derek nodded.
The woman's voice rang out again, "I'm still uneasy. Check around."
The couple poked their heads out, scanning the area. Tabitha, fearing discovery, pushed Derek down and lay on his chest.
They rested on freshly harvested rice, hidden beneath the cornstalks.
"I told you you were paranoid. There's no one here. I'm about to suffocate—help me," the man grumbled.
"You rogue, always pushing me to the edge," the woman teased.
"Did you enjoy it?" the man asked.
Without preamble, the couple began their intimate encounter.
Tabitha, pressed against Derek's chest, dared not move. She wondered why she had chosen this moment to harvest corn!
The irony of hiding with her blind ex-husband behind a pile of crops was not lost on her.
It was absurd.
She wanted to disappear into a crack in the ground, especially with Derek's innocent eyes fixed on her. He must have known what was happening.
Tabitha shoved two blades of grass into his ears.
The sound didn't block out the noise, nearly deafening Derek.
Derek caught her wandering hand and pulled her closer. His lips brushed her ear as he murmured in a barely audible voice, "Tabitha, do you...?"
Tabitha's face flushed crimson. The couple's fervor was palpable, their words raw and unfiltered.
She lay on Derek's muscular body. After working for so long, Derek was drenched in sweat. His tight shirt showed off his muscles.
She was also dressed lightly and could easily feel the heat from his body.
Tabitha glanced at him shyly and said with a bitten lip, "I don't want that!"
Derek nibbled her earlobe and whispered like a devil, "But I do."
Tabitha could feel the heat radiating from Derek's body beneath her. His taut muscles and the thin fabric of his shirt revealed the contours of his physique. The air was thick with sweat, and the scent of herbs from Tabitha's body mingled with the heat, intoxicating Derek.
She glared at him, embarrassment tinging her cheeks, and whispered harshly, "Behave!"
But Derek wasn't listening.
He needed a catalyst, and this moment was it.
The couple's passion was undeniable; they'd likely been restrained for too long. As the sky darkened, they showed no signs of leaving.
The atmosphere and setting only served to stoke primal desires.
Derek's breath warmed Tabitha's ear, the evening breeze carrying a suffocating heat that fanned the flames between them.
He sighed, "Tabitha, if you won't move and won't let me, I can't control myself. Get up."
Derek pushed her away, and Tabitha quickly resettled, sternly hissing, "Don't move."
"You won't let me move, but you won't act either. Listening to them is torture," she muttered.
Blushing, she explained in a hushed tone, "She cheated on her husband. If someone finds out, she'd be so ashamed she'd kill herself. If you go out now, you'll be responsible for a death."
Derek sneered, "Her death means nothing to me. She's not you."
In that instant, Tabitha realized the depth of Derek's coldness.
"In our village, there's no divorce—only widowhood. Her husband is paralyzed. She's tried to leave three times but was always brought back," Tabitha reasoned.
"So that excuses her infidelity?" Derek retorted. "Tabitha, I've stayed faithful all these years. True love isn't just about legal constraints—it's about moral integrity. Cheating is cheating, whether in spirit or body. Don't make excuses for her."