Whenever Nora asks how Yang fell in love with her, Yang answers that it was at first sight.
But that is a lie.
She did not think much of Nora when she first saw her. Just as she did not think much of her the second time. Yang ended up being too stunned to think by the third. But that tends to happen when someone rides out of the woods on the back of an Ursa. The Nevermore and Death Stalker arriving when they did had not helped things either.
Even still, Yang says that this is when she realized that she had fallen in love with her. The adrenaline pulsing through her had blurred everything at its edges. Nora had been no more than a bright streak against the stonework of those ruins. For a single moment, Nora's wild grin had been so sharp a shape. It cut a space out for itself in her mind.
This is also a lie.
Whenever Yang says this, it turns Nora completely red. It seems to melt the words in Nora's mouth too. But it also makes creases appear across her forehead. Yang thinks that Nora does not believe in love at first sight.
Neither does Yang.
Her father does though. He has told her as much at least three times a year. He says that a single look had been all he needed to know that his heart and his life was no longer his own. Sometimes he adds how small Yang had been. How delicate she had looked. How hairless. But all it took was just one look for him to fall in love with her.
It had not been enough for her mother.
There is a hole in her heart somewhere. Yang does not like to think about it. She thought about it enough as a kid. Probably too much. Yet it does help to know that it might match the one in Nora's heart.
Yang does not know when exactly she fell in love with her. Only that it took more than the first three looks. Her love is nothing like a photograph: it is not a complete and clear image. She thinks it is more of a jigsaw puzzle. Every day, new pieces fall into place. Yang would find a piece when Nora sang commercial jingles and popular songs in the dormitory showers. Find another when she would catch Nora mumbling to her reflection in the school's enormous fountain. Would find one more in how Nora could make the atmosphere quake with just her hammer.
Even still, Yang tells Nora that it was love at first sight.
Nora probably knows that she is lying. If Yang is right, there is a hole in her heart too. One that might just match her own. But Yang hopes that someday Nora will believe in love at first sight. That she will believe that she was enchanting from the moment Yang first saw her. Believe that she is so clearly something to be cherished.
Yang hopes that someday Nora will believe she could be loved at first sight.