’Huh...on the one hand, I could leave Jin Fang alone and let her process everything that had happen today on her own terms.’
=Which would be a good idea.=
’On the other, I could be a good boyfriend and at least offer to be there if she needs/wants it.’
’Okay, then...now how do I get on the roof?’
=May I suggest getting so warm beverages, first? It is awfully cold out there.=
’That’s a good call...let’s hope Gao Ren has decent cocoa powder...’
_____________________________________________
’Well...this has been a rather eventful day,’ Jin Fang mused as she stared over the cityscape of Willow Scale, the moon, the stars and the lanterns being the only sources of illumination. ’Then again...eventful is putting it lightly.’
In the span of twelve short hours, things had went from exhilarating to terrifying to shocking to cathartic to shocking again but with a twist. Granted, out of everything that had happened today, Jin Fang was more focused on the thing that shocked her the most: the fact that she had more of a past than she could actually rember.
It was actually due to this shocking revelation that she deed it necessary to get out of her room and just breathe in the night air in solitude. That and because she wanted to see what it felt like to sit on top of one of the fruit-shaped suites like a fairy in a story book; it was a novel experience.
But the novelty eventually fades away as she repositioned herself, in order to lie down and stare at th night sky. As she did, the mories of one particular event that happened today, played through her head like a record.
[Forgive us...]
’Ikaito and Grand Blue... I shouldn’t know them, but...why does thinking about them make sad?’
Out of everything that had happened today, being told by two powerful kaijin that they were sorry was possibly the most shocking thing to ever happen to her in this lifeti or the next.
Then again, maybe it was this lifeti or the previous.
For a long, long ti, Jin Fang was certain that her past was rather simple: she was an orphan that was found in an alleyway by Zhen Liu and his mother, she was formally taken in as a personal attendant to Zhen Liu, then she eventually fell in love with Zhen Liu and the rest was history. But now, she wasn’t sure if even the orphan and eting bit was accurate anymore.
’Forgive us for failing you and your mother...my mother, who was apparently a kaijin lord too?’
Jin Fang did find it off how the first ti she ever t the kaijin via Zhen Liu that she didn’t freak out; she figured that it was because she was overwheld with the fact that Zhen Liu sohow ca back from being dead. She wasn’t so sure about that fact anymore.
Was it possible that she knew about the kaijin before that mont?
Was it possible that she actually had a mother who was forced to abandon her, who knows how many years ago?
And if her mories were tampered with in that regard, did that even an her feelings for Zhen Liu were even-
"Heyo."
"Huh?"
In a mont that could only be described as perfectly tid, the subject of her thoughts had appeared right before her eyes. Zhen Liu was leaning over and staring directly into her eyes, a pair of steaming mugs full of sothing that slled like chocolate.
"You look like you could use sothing to drink. Mind if I join?"
"Uh...sure."
Then again, Jin Fang thought to herself, even if the foundations were hinky, their current relationship had to be real...right?
_____________________________________________
=That and because we accidentally ntioned the words, "hot chocolate", Jasper and Janice requested that we make them so. Thankfully, I figured out how to make a vending machine.=
_____________________________________________
"Uh...sure."
"Sweet."
Once he was given the go-ahead, Zhen Liu proceeded to plop his butt down right next to Jin Fang, making sure that the mugs of hot chocolate were carefully balanced in his hands. It would’ve been an absolutely shitty situation if after making the damn things, that he spilled them all over the roof or even Jin Fang just because he got clumsy.
At the sa ti as he sat himself down next Jin Fang, the woman herself made sure to sit herself up as well in order to et him halfway as it were.
"Here you are."
"Thank you."
When they were both properly seated, Zhen Liu handed Jin Fang the mug of hot chocolate.
Jin Fang took a sip of the drink, expecting the bitterness of coffee or tea, only to be surprised by the sweetness of the drink.
"Huh...what is this stuff? It’s good."
"It’s sothing I learned from the library. It’s called ’hot chocolate’. It’s too late in the evening for coffee, so I figured this would be more appropriate."
"It’s too late in the evening for coffee?"
"I say this from experience, drinking coffee this late night will turn it into early morning."
"Oh...are the others going to be okay then?"
"They’ll be fine."
The two young lovers sat there in silence for a mont, taking the ti to drink the hot chocolate and take in the night air.
This mont was pretty damn romantic, even if it was preluded by a whole ton of insane events that would cause most other people to vomit out of stress.
Hell, if Zhen Liu was his old self, he would’ve definitely vomited at least twice over the sight of dead bodies. But that neither here nor there.
Right now, he needed to be there for Jin Fang.
’Wonder how long I should sit here until-’
"Xiao Liu...do you rember the first ti we t?"
’-never mind.’
"The first ti we t?," Zhen Liu repeated, in order to give Jin Fang the initiative. He could’ve repeated how they t, verbatim, but he picked up the feeling that wasn’t what she was looking for right now. Evidently, he was right.
"I’m not sure how much you rember, but...I rember that clear as day how t first t," Jin Fang replied. "I rember the alleyway I was sleeping in, I rember how you and Lady Daria took in and I rember how happy I was that I was found by you two that day. But that’s the problem: why do I rember that day so clearly?"
To better focus on her thoughts and feelings, Jin Fang placed the mug of hot chocolate down by her side. Zhen Liu for his part kept his.
"For a long, long ti, I was certain of who I was, where I was and who I wanted to be with. But now, out of the blue and out of nowhere, a pair of kaijin that I never t tell that I had so other past. So other life that I can’t seem to rember in the slightest," Jin Fang continued. "It’s like...finding out I’m from another world. You know what I an?"
"I...think I do," Zhen Liu replied in a very careful tone of voice, sipping on his mug of chocolate in order to hide his expression. Thankfully, Jin Fang didn’t notice this and continued to spill her heart out, so to speak.
"Those kaijin, they ntioned they were the Storm Queen’s creations. I looked up the Storm Queen when I had the chance in one of the history books the others bought, and when I did, I was shocked to find that she was a figure from so odd three to four hundred years ago. And those kaijin...ntioned that I was her daughter."
At this point, Jin Fang’s expression looked...bleak.
"Does this an I’m actually hundreds of years of old and forgot about everything? Did I sohow...fall through ti?! If that was the case, who was it that sent through it? Was it my mother or was it soone else? Is there so ancient kaijin who secretly took care of for years before I t you?," Jin Fang asked in rapid succession, her feelings starting to take the form of tears coming out of the corner of her eyes.
"And if all of that is the case, and if any of what I ntioned was true...then what does that an about my other mories? How much of it is true? Did soone make these mories for ?"
Jin Fang began to hug her own legs before asking the question that tore at her heart the most.
"How much of is...fake?"
"..."
Zhen Liu was quiet as Jin Fang began to cry over the possibility that most of her existence was the result of a false mory, trying to find the right words that would comfort her.
Eventually though, he figured it out. It just needed to start with a very simple question.
"Do you rember the first ti we went out?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers