Part 2, Chapter 8

Morning after

Ch 8

Leng Zai opened his eyes to see Xun’s sleeping face. She was pretty in the morning light, but then she was always beautiful to him. He remembered working with her in the kitchen now as if he were watching through someone else’s eyes, but even so each time he saw her in his memory he found something new that captured his attention. Now he was seeing her sleeping face and he was entranced by the light blush on her cheeks and the rhythmic sound of her breathing. Then he realized, if he could see her face without the lamp then it was past time for them to report in the kitchen.

“Xun... Xun, wake up,” he whispered, shaking her shoulder.

Xun opened her eyes slowly, rubbing at her face with bleary bewilderment. “Huh? Leng Zai? What is it?” She stretched lazily.

Leng Zai smiled, so Xun was slow to wake up, he had learned something new about her. “Xun, we’re late.”

Xun shot up. “Mother will KILL me! I promised her I wouldn’t fall asleep in random places anymore!”

Leng Zai paused. “This is a normal thing for you?”

Xun glared at him. “Not for a long time now... but I might have been know to fall asleep in different places around the palace when I was younger and went exploring.”

Leng Zai stifled a laugh. Somehow that seemed so typical of the type of mischief Xun would get up to. Then he realized Xun was staring at him. “What?” He asked, genuinely confused.

“You can talk!”

Leng Zai thought for a moment and then realized he seemed to have two sets of memories. In one he was with Xun in the kitchen, working at various daily tasks, and in the other he was drifting around the palace almost aimlessly, moving things here and there and just, well existing from moment to moment with no real purpose. Both sets of memories seemed like they belonged to someone else and it was giving him a headache. Uncertain of how to explain all of this to Xun without seeming crazy he just said, “Yes.”

Xun’s forehead wrinkled, “But how? Why? You seem... different, but also more... familiar?”

Leng Zai didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “Late for work,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her behind him towards the kitchen. 

Xun tugged her hand free. Leng Zai looked at her, she looked away. “It’s different,” she muttered.