Disclaimer – ½ Prince and all of the characters—aside from my OC's—belong to Yu Wo
"What do you mean, who am I?" the boy standing in front of me demanded, staring up at me in disbelief. "What in the world is wrong with you?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't remember you," I explained hesitantly. Had he already introduced himself in the past two weeks? Perhaps that's why he was so annoyed with me, and I wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case, seeing as how I had to become reacquainted with people in a matter of hours. Then again, if he'd already told me, he wouldn't be asking what was wrong.
His face suddenly fell into one of fury and shock. Stepping toward me, he grabbed my wrist. I flinched at the rough movement, afraid that he was going to hit me, and tried to take my hand away, but he was too strong. Why did he look so angry?
"Al, what happened after you left my house? What'd that bastard do to you?"
I shook my head at him, not knowing what he was talking about. I winced when pain shot up my arm from his tight grip, and once again tried to pry his little fingers off.
"Dib!" a voice called from above us. Relief flooded through me when I looked up at the black sky and saw Jiao finally arriving from the direction of Moon City. The boy immediately let go of me and took several hurried steps backward. She landed on the ground and gave the boy a worried look, folding her white wings against her back.
"Jiū, what's wrong with Al?" he yelled, pointing at me.
"There was an accident," she said quickly. "H-he fell… down the stairs at his father's house."
The boy, Dib apparently, looked up at me again, fear flickering through his blue eyes. "Accident?" he whispered.
I wordlessly stared down at him and rubbed my bruising wrist while his hands clenched around themselves. I wouldn't have called it an accident. More like attempted murder. But I didn't know how much the boy knew about me, so I didn't want to tell him what really happened.
Quickly turning away, I started walking downhill toward the city. The boy had said Gui was here somewhere, and I wanted to see him. Perhaps I'd already met with him at some point, but I couldn't remember anything about it. And apparently he was competing in some contest or another tomorrow. Maybe if I got to him quick enough, I'd have time to see him beforehand.
"Al?" Dib falteringly called after me. I shot him a glance over my shoulder, pausing in my steps. His face paled, uncertainty filling his expression. "You really don't remember me?"
I shook my head, and turned back around to resume my walk to Moon City. Did he really have to ask? As if I'd be pretending like I didn't remember him, I thought with a roll of my eyes. It was already difficult enough trying to act like I knew unknown people whenever they talked to me.
Halting my feet on the dark slope, I stared in annoyance at the distance between myself and the city. Why was I walking when I could fly?
I turned around. The other two stared at me worriedly. Stretching out my wings, I beckoned up to Dib. "Come here, please."
"Why?" he asked, looking suspicious.
"I want to fly to the city. I'll carry you," I offered.
"Why?" he repeated, still standing in the same spot on the hilltop.
I frowned, wondering why the answer wasn't obvious to him. "We will get there faster if we fly than if we walk."
A faint smirk flashed across his mouth. "Why are you so expeditious all the time?"
"Because it's efficient," I answered at once, striding back up the hill toward him through the long grass, since he wasn't coming to me.
Dib looked down at the ground while I stopped in front of him, holding out my hands expectantly. Sighing softly, he tilted his head back to smile up at me. "That's always been the reason, hasn't it?" he asked quietly, finally stepping forward so I could pick him up. Not knowing what he was referring to, I hoped it was a rhetorical question, and didn't answer when I stood up and smoothly launched us both into the night air. Jiū followed us a moment later, and we flew side-by-side toward Moon City.
Glancing down at Dib in concern, I held onto him a bit tighter. His heart was pounding furiously, and I wondered what was wrong. It wasn't like I was going to drop him. Or was that why? Perhaps I'd dropped him by accident in the past. If I'd even carried him before in the first place. Knowing myself, I was sure that I had if it meant I would get to my destination sooner.
Jiū directed me toward the correct area of the moon-lit town, and I let Dib and I down in a small open area. Setting the boy on the ground, I cautiously looked around the silent, deserted area, feeling disoriented at the emptiness. "Where is everyone?"
"Probably at Star City." Though Dib's answer had been quietly spoken, his high voice sounded unnaturally loud in the silence that pressed in around us.
"Oh," I said with a slight frown. "And that's where the…? Um…"
"The Grand Melee is there, yes," Jiū supplied, taking my hand. She led me toward a large platform that was nearby, and halted me in the middle.
I looked downward at the prettily carved jade-colored pavement underfoot. "What's this thing?"
"It's for teleporting between cities," she explained while Dib stopped on my other side. My eyebrows drew together when I vaguely remembered the compression that came with teleporting. That horrible, suffocating feeling like getting sucked through a drinking straw.
"I don't like teleporting," I hastily announced, watching Jiū while she hurried toward a NPC standing beside the platform. I may have been a very expeditious person as Dib had observed, but I would have gladly traded teleportation for flying, or walking. Even crawling all the way to Star City sounded like a nicer option.
"You said that the last time, too," Dib commented, smirking up at me.
"It'll be over in a moment," assured Jiū when she walked back over to us after paying the fee for using the teleporter. She took my hand again and squeezed it. "Since the competition is tomorrow, we don't have nearly enough time to fly all the way to Star City, or I'd suggest that."
I reluctantly nodded at her words, but I still didn't want to do it. Before I could attempt to talk her out of it, I was abruptly squashed into blackness, and then thrown out in a different city. Breathing heavily, I clutched at my chest and ran my eyes over the bluish-black, star-studded sky where the giant moon had just been resting. I felt as though I'd been run over by something. At least it really had been quick. She could have warned me, though.
Stepping shakily off the jade platform, I let Jiū lead me along the road. As I wove through the crowded area, getting pressed from all sides, part of me felt as though I was still teleporting. I hoped most of the people were teams competing in the Grand Melee, so I would get to watch the fight while being able to breathe. Then again, that would mean Gui was at a bigger disadvantage.
Disadvantage…? My eyes widened in realization.
"Dib!" I suddenly exclaimed, letting go of Jiū's hand and turning around, feeling annoyed at my thoughtlessness. He looked up at me with a very dissatisfied expression while he got hit upside the head by some passing player's cloak, causing his curly hair to stand on end in disarray. "I'm sorry," I said, quickly picking him up and anxiously patting his hair back into order.
"It's fine," he grumbled when I turned back to Jiū and took her hand again. Inwardly kicking myself, I hoped he hadn't gotten too pushed around in the crowd before I'd noticed. Though he really could have just asked me to continue carrying him.
We walked for a few minutes, and Jiū pulled me into a dark little alleyway. "This should be close enough for now."
"Yeah," I agreed, setting Dib on the ground now that we were out of the flow of people. "I don't suppose Gui Wen would be online yet?" I asked a bit hopefully, though it wasn't even afternoon. But it was the weekend, so there was still a slight possibility.
"No," Jiū answered with a slight frown, "but I'm sure we'll be able to find him later. Shall we log off?"
Sighing with disappointment, I nodded, hoping the day would go by quickly.
"Wait a minute!" Dib grabbed my hand and tightly held on. "You're leaving?"
"Yes," I affirmed, staring down at him in confusion. "There's nothing to do until Gui Wen logs in, so I'll just log on again tonight."
His face flickered with hurt for a moment, but was then replaced with a hesitant look. "…May I come visit you in the mean time?"
"Visit?" I repeated. "In real life?" He nodded, and I glanced questioningly at Jiū. Even if I was living there, I still saw it as her family's house, not mine, and I wasn't about to invite people over without her consent. Once I thought about it, I realized I didn't even know the address.
She quirked a pale eyebrow at me, looking somewhat amused. "Of course. He may visit whenever he wants. He's your friend, after all."
I gave her some sort of a nod-shrug mix, and then paused for a moment, mentally asking myself why I was friends with a toddler. Earlier he'd mentioned my office. Was he the child of one of my employees? Why would I befriend someone like that?
Jiū told him the house address, and he then turned back to me, smiling widely. "See you in a bit, Al!" He then logged off.
Wondering if I'd be able to recognize him, I frowned at the spot where he'd just been standing. Well, he'd tell me who he was when he arrived. I hoped his parents wouldn't think it was weird, having their little boy go to some random person's home.
I didn't even have anything a child would think was entertaining, at least that I knew of. What were we going to do? Perhaps Jiū would be able to find something to occupy him with. And I'd seen a little girl in our house, maybe she could play with him. He didn't look to be much older, after all. Though the way he spoke was a bit odd for such a young child.
Exiting the game, I slowly opened my eyes and stared at the unfamiliar-looking ceiling for a moment. It was just a ceiling, but it looked so different from the one in my bedroom. When was I going to get used to waking up here, rather than at home? Everyone was doing their best to make me feel welcome and I really didn't dislike living there, but a part of me felt like I was out of place.
Jiao shifted beside me, pulling her headset off and stretching slightly. With a smile, she leaned over me, slipping my headset off for me and giving me a kiss. "Good morning!" she greeted.
"Good morning," I returned, grinning up at her and laughing slightly. I definitely didn't dislike living there.
Eyes flickering between hers for a moment, I let my gaze drop to her lips as she lowered them onto mine again. I deeply breathed in her scent as her soft hands caressed my face, and I sighed against her mouth, trying to imprint the moment into my brain so I wouldn't forget.
She'd been very cautious with me when I first came to live there, since I forgot her every few minutes, but now that I'd gotten a slightly firmer hold on things, she was quite a bit more intimate with me than before.
I found it a bit curious in these new, unfamiliar situations, how breathless I'd feel. Sometimes my mind go blank when she would look at me or touch me, and I knew it had nothing to do with my head injury.
It was odd. In the past, those things actually had happened quite often, always when my father was around. The blinding suffocation of his presence. But somehow this was exactly the same while being the complete opposite. I supposed it was like the difference between drowning and swimming underwater. Unlike my struggles to resurface when trying to deal with my father, whenever Jiao kissed me, I didn't really care that I couldn't breathe. In fact, I thought perhaps I enjoyed the feeling quite a bit. I certainly didn't want it to stop, whatever was going on with my lungs.
"Mm," Jiao hummed for a moment, and then gave me a hug, careful not to jostle my arm. "I should go study," she said with a reluctant frown.
"The curse of being a university student," I mused, smiling up at her annoyed expression.
She smirked slightly and gave me another quick kiss before climbing off the window seat we'd been laying on. "I'll have someone show Dib inside when he arrives," she said, helping me up into a sitting position. "Do you want more tea, or anything to eat?"
"No. Thank you, though," I answered. "I'm just going to unpack for a bit."
She stared at me briefly, a concerned look on her face, but she nodded. "Don't hold yourself back if you want something, okay? This is your home, too," she ended softly, running her hand down my cheek once more before smiling again and walking away.
I watched her leave, and then sighed, slowly standing up. I wasn't holding myself back. I honestly didn't want anything, but people always seemed not to believe me whenever I said so.
Grimacing briefly when my arm shifted in its sling, I walked over to the open boxes in the corner. Bending down, I plucked a black, long-sleeve shirt off the top of the pile in the box of winter clothes, and walked to the closet. With some difficulty, I managed to one-handedly put it on a hanger.
Going back to the box, I pulled out another shirt and hung it up as well. Wanting to drag out the process, since I didn't have anything better to do, I didn't bother pushing the box closer to the closet while I continued walking back and forth. With as long as it took me to hang everything up and sort them all by color and type, the box still emptied rather quickly.
Pushing that box out of the way, I reached into the next and opened the long, thin box containing my ties, hanging them up one-by-one on the pegs across my closet wall, once again taking as long as I could in arranging them by color and shade. I then lined up all of my shoes on the floor underneath my hanging clothes.
Using my feet, I slid the box containing the remainder of my odds and ends into the closet, and then shut the door. Quickly scooping up my laptop out of the one remaining box, I walked over to my desk and carefully set it down on top. Lifting the screen, I pressed the power button, and watched the screen flicker to life.
Ten minutes later, I had all the rest of the computer equipment scattered across the top of my desk—at least, everything I could easily pick up with one hand, since I didn't want to drop and break anything—and I leaned back in my office chair, sleepily staring up at the ceiling while I absently turned myself back and forth, listening to the soft music playing out of my computer speakers.
That soon got boring, so I stood up and walked to the window seat. Awkwardly moving the tea set Jiao had left there onto the floor, I flopped down onto the fluffy cushions and buried my face in a pillow. It smelled like Jiao. Smiling into the soft fabric, I stretched myself out and slowly fell asleep, feeling as though she was still there with me. It made me feel safe.
The sunshine beaming down on me was nice and warm. The soft breeze played across my face, making my hair tickle my skin slightly. I lifted a hand and scratched at my cheek for a moment before letting my eyes open. The blue sky hovering over me was breath-taking. Laying on my back in the flower-dotted grass, I felt as though I could fall forward into that blueness and just keep going forever. I wondered how far I could fly before the blue would swallow me up for good.
"You came back."
Slowly turning my head, I stared into the blue eyes of the boy laying in the crook of my arm. His eyes looked just like the sky. Blue and deep.
He gazed at me, looking hopeful. I ran his words over in my mind, wondering if they had been a question or a statement.
After a moment, I shook my head and looked upward again. "No, I didn't."
With a slight sigh, the boy lifted himself off my arm and bent over me, disbelievingly raising a golden eyebrow. "You're here, aren't you?"
"I won't come back," I answered, glancing away from him. "I don't want to go back."
He stared at me for what felt like days, when a tear slid down his face and landed on my cheek. I silently looked back at him, not moving to comfort him. After all, there was nothing I could do for him anymore.
He brushed the tear off my face, and dipped down to gently kiss me, tailing his fingers over my skin. But before I could tell him to stop, he did on his own, moving away from me and smiling. I watched somewhat apprehensively while he stood and walked away from me across the bright green grass. I sat up and blinked slowly, watching him fade out of sight.
"Well, I suppose it's better this way. Huh, Al?"
I suddenly felt as though I was falling forward. My eyes finally flew open, and I abruptly attempted to sit up. "I DON'T WANT TO FALL IN THE BLUE—OUCH!" I yelled, more out of surprise than pain when my forehead crashed into something very solid. Though it didn't hurt at first, a moment later my entire head began to ache as the discomfort stirred up the injury on the back of my skull where the stairs at home had clobbered me.
My eyes watered with pain as I one-handedly clutched at my poor, throbbing head. "Ow, damn it…!"
"I-I'm sorry! I wasn't expecting you to sit up like that… Are you okay?"
Cracking open one eye, I peeked at what I'd run into. Much to my bewilderment, one of my employees was sitting beside me on the edge of my window seat, holding his own forehead, a worried expression on his face. I glared at him in response to his question, since I didn't want to shake my head. Of course I wasn't okay after getting unexpectedly bonked. Why'd he been bending over me, instead of waking me up? And why was he here, anyway?
"I didn't mean to startle you," he hurriedly continued, and then a tiny laugh puffed through his lips. "What kind of dream were you having? 'Fall in the blue'…"
When he raised a hand to put it on my shoulder, I quickly slipped off the window seat and stepped across the room to a safe spot out of his reach. Turning around, I let go of my forehead and stared at him suspiciously. When he didn't move to stand up and chase after me or anything, I calmed down slightly.
"Shi Heng, why are you here?" I asked, then paused and looked questioningly down at the small blue tea set on the floor beside my window seat. Two tiny, rounded tea cups and a fat little tea pot were there on the wooden tray, yet my mouth was mysteriously full of the sweet, cinnamon-like taste of… donuts.
"Y-you remember me?" His eyes widened hopefully. "Jiao and the others warned me that you might not, but you do?"
"Yes, I remember you," I softly confirmed. "We work together."
With a small frown, he agreed, "Well, yes. That's… part of our relationship. A very small part. Not the part I would have preferred you kept, but I guess I'm just glad you remember me at all."
"Did my father send you?" I briefly glanced about his hands, wondering if he'd brought me a message.
"No, he didn't send me." Heng rubbed his reddening forehead again, a grimace of discomfort briefly flashing across his mouth. "I just, um, wanted to see you. I don't think he knows I'm here. I sure as hell didn't tell him that I was coming to visit."
I was filled with a mixture of disappointment and relief, disappointment far outweighing the other, and dropped my eyes to the floor, managing a small nod. Even if it had been for some work-related purpose, I would have been happy to hear anything from my father. It had been two weeks already, why hadn't he come to see me? He hadn't even sent me any messages, that I knew of. It was like he'd forgotten all about me.
Sighing, I looked back to Heng. "What business do you have with me if my father has not sent you? Has something urgent happened at the office you wished to speak to me about? My father must have temporarily replaced me with someone while I am not able to go to work. Whoever that may be should be capable of answering your queries."
"Um, well, I didn't come here about work. As I said, I just wanted to see you, because I was worried about you." He smiled faintly at me. "Also, I-I asked you earlier today if I could visit you, and you agreed. Remember? I'm Dib."
"Oh," I murmured. So he and I had spoken, and just today, too. But when was it? I'd been unpacking all morning. And sleeping.
"I am sorry, but I do not remember."
The smile faded from Heng's face while I spoke. "He really didn't hold back this time, did he?" he questioned icily, an angry expression replacing the one of worry as he ran his eyes over my broken arm.
When I didn't answer, Heng's face twisted in pain and he leaned over, resting his head on one hand. "Al," he said, his voice cracking slightly. "I'm so sorry… I'm sorry. I'm so stupid."
"Why are you apologizing?" I asked, feeling extremely confused.
"Because!" he yelled. "This is all my fault! If I hadn't moronically asked you to stay the night at my house, none of this would have happened! You told me ages ago that he warned you to stay away from me, but I just… told myself it'd be okay… And if I'd just kept my big mouth shut in the first place, you wouldn't have even come to find me. I'm so sorry, Al…"
I stayed silent and uncomfortably shifted from one foot to the other while he repeated his apology over and over. He looked so despairing, I didn't know what to say to try to calm him down. Why was he acting so friendly with me, anyway?
Glancing at him awkwardly when he finally looked up, I shrugged. "W-well, I will heal in a month or so, and then I will go back home. Whatever has happened, it is fine."
Heng abruptly stood and shook his head, a look of utter disbelief on his face. "No way! Why in the world would you even consider for a second going back to that hell hole? He'll just hurt you again!"
My eyes widened with perplexity at his violent response. How did he know about that stuff? I'd never told anyone about anything that went on at home.
"That does not matter to me. It is still my home, regardless," I told him, trying to sound firm through all of my confusion and wishes that he'd go away.
"It matters to me," he snapped, walking forward, "and it matters to Jiao, and to Gui, and to everyone else! Why are you so care-free when it comes to him beating you to a pulp all of the time? Why don't you ever fight back? Just because he's your father doesn't mean he can do whatever the hell he wants."
I shook my head when he stopped in front of me, placing both hands on my shoulders. "I am grateful for your concern, but you do not have to worry. It is fine."
"Stop talking to me like that, damn it!" he angrily commanded, shaking me slightly. I drew back from him in fear, and he took a deep breath, looking somewhat calmer afterward. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean… It's just that, well, you're here, and yet you're not here, it's… aggravating."
He paused to take another steadying breath, faintly smiling at me. "I know you don't remember, but I'm your best friend. Well, secret best friend, since your father doesn't want me to have anything to do with you, seeing as how I'm your lowly employee and all that crap he thinks is so important. But you don't have to be so guarded, okay?" Raising one hand, he gently placed it on the side of my face and stepped closer to me. "I already know everything that's happened, so please… don't hide things from me, Al…"
Staring up at Heng, I silently contemplated everything he'd said thus far. We were best friends, and I'd stayed over at his house for some reason… With that in place, everything that had happened was quite a bit clearer. My father would never want me to get close to my employees. Though his reaction still seemed a bit over the top.
Dropping my eyes, I looked past Heng to gaze at the wall instead, quietly answering at last, "He'd only get angrier if I tried to stop him. And besides, it's because of my own mistakes that this happened. It's not the fault of anyone else but myself."
Heng suddenly glared at me, and I winced when his hand gripped my shoulder tighter. "What am I supposed to say to you when you constantly tear yourself down like that? It was not your fault. Just because your father said it was doesn't mean you have to believe him."
The corner of my mouth twitched with a humorless smile. "What else can I do when that's all he'll ever say to me?"
Heng froze at my words and I detached his hand from my shoulder while his eyes darted about the floor. I left him there and went to sit in my office chair, feeling very tired. I wanted him to leave already yet so I could go back to bed. My daily medication made me so sleepy, and that little nap I'd just had wasn't nearly enough to wake me up.
Curiously glancing toward Heng, I watched while he sat himself down on the corner of my bed, leaning forward to bury his face in his hands again. Someone getting so upset over what was going on was, in a way, even more confusing to me than forgetting things all of the time. After so many years of being forced onto a pedestal by those whom I thought were my friends, it was strange to see Heng so genuinely concerned.
"Why do you keep calling me 'Al'?" I asked after a long, silent moment of watching him.
He faintly laughed at my question. "It's an abbreviated version of your name in Second Life. When we first started playing the game together, I asked if you would mind if I gave you a nickname, and you said you didn't care. So I always call you that whenever we're in-game or alone," he explained fondly. He slowly straightened, looking at me again while he leaned back on my bed, propping himself up on his hands. "Does it bother you? I'll stop if you don't like it."
"No, I don't mind if you call me that." I quickly shook my head and relaxed into my chair slightly. "It's just that no one has ever given me a nickname before, so I didn't know what you meant by it," I quietly admitted, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
We stared at one another, silence falling through the room again, aside from the continued music playing out of my laptop behind me. After several minutes had passed, Heng shrugged one shoulder, shaking his head. "What I meant? Well, it's just a friendly little nickname." Smiling after a moment, he then added, "On the surface, anyway."
I continued to look at him, wondering what he meant by that. He sure was hard to understand.
Before I could ask him to clarify what he'd said, a loud knocking on my bedroom door made us both jump. The door suddenly burst open, regardless of how I hadn't given entrance to whoever it was, and a man strode inside, carrying a wide, food-covered wooden tray.
"Hey, Dib, Zian," he greeted, walking toward me. He carefully slid the tray on the top of my desk and looked down at me, raising an eyebrow. I stared back in silence, wondering what he wanted.
Nearly a minute crawled by and he finally sighed in exasperation. "Did you forget me again?"
"Um, yes." I looked at him apologetically.
"I just introduced myself to you for the millionth time this morning over breakfast!" he snapped, slapping a hand on the corner of my desk in a very annoyed way as if I'd forgotten on purpose. "I'm your brother!"
It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "You are not," I disagreed, frowning at him. I may have lost bits of my memory, but he was clearly not Gui Wen.
He rolled his eyes. "Brother-in-law, Delun."
"Oh," I murmured, nodding. He could have said that in the first place, I thought with a huff. Was he just trying to confuse me? Not that it took much to do so, but really.
"Anyway." He cleared his throat, straightening up and turning to Heng. "Dib, maybe you can get him to eat something." Delun waved a hand at the food. "I don't think he's eaten since yesterday afternoon. Jiao-mèi'll yell at me if I don't try to persuade him, but he keeps refusing whenever I ask. Maybe you'll have an easier time."
I stared down at the food for a moment, eyes snagging on a small cinnamon donut sitting on a napkin, and remembered that sweet taste, which was still lingering in my mouth. We really did have some, yet I couldn't recall eating one.
Delun pushed the donut closer to me. "Want it? You've been staring at it for a while now."
I pushed it back at him in rejection. "No, I was just… Did I already have a donut this morning?"
He shook his head, then gestured toward Heng. "Dib brought them. According to Jiao-mèi, you haven't eaten anything today. So, no, you haven't had a donut. Why?"
"Never mind," I quietly ended, then slid the whole tray in his direction. "Thank you, but I'm not hungry."
"You're like a twig." With a glare, he firmly grabbed my right wrist, rolled my sweater sleeve away, and held up my arm like he was using it as evidence, waving it in front of my face. "It doesn't matter if you're not hungry, your stomach is still empty."
"I had some tea earlier," I explained, taking my arm back from his clutches. I pointed at the tell-tale tea set sitting by the window. "See?"
Delun rolled his eyes a second time, then pushed the food tray at me again. "As if you could survive off of tea. Eat, or else I'll cram it all down your scrawny little throat."
I was somewhat taken aback at his unexpected threat. He looked like he'd do it. And very willingly, at that.
But, much to my relief, Heng came to my rescue, standing up and striding toward us before Delun had a chance to "feed" me. "It's okay, I'll get him to eat."
With a nod, Delun sighed and turned away, waving a hand. "Good luck. Be sure he eats a lot. All of it, if possible. It'd be bad if my little sister's ridiculous fiancée wastes away because of his own stupidity."
I watched in annoyance as he left, and glanced down again at the food before looking back up at Heng. "I'm not hungry," I firmly repeated.
Heng ignored my refusal and grabbed a pear off the tray. Frowning, I silently watched him cut it up for me. He picked up one of the slices and began poking my defiantly closed mouth with it, smiling widely. "Say 'ahhh'!"
I glared at him and snatched the pear away. "Give me that."
He laughed as I bit into it, scowling in at getting forced to eat. He went back to cutting up the rest, shaking his head slightly. "Geeze, Al… So mean."
Half an hour later, Heng was leaning against the side of my bed and turning his head this way and that, inspecting the interior of my bedroom while he slowly chewed on the pear slice sticking out of his mouth. The pear slice I was technically supposed to be eating, along with all of the other food Heng had nicely cleared off my tray for me when I adamantly refused to eat anything else after a whole pear. Though he had left me another pear half, ordering me to eat it even if I was full.
"It's a nice room," he remarked around the fruit, "but kind of bare. A bed, a desk, a dresser, and that's it." His eyebrows lowered in a confused sort of way when he glanced in my direction. I had nothing to add to his words. So what if it was bare? It wasn't like I needed anything else.
"Where's all the fun stuff?" he inquired after I didn't reply. His head turned in the direction of my closet door and he smiled, standing up and stuffing the remainder of the pear into his mouth and quickly chewing while he walked toward the closet and threw open the door. A moment went by while he looked over the small space, then he looked down. "A-ha! I found a box of goodies."
My eyes widened when he disappeared from view, and the sounds of him rummaging around started crashing through the room. "W-wait, Heng. Please–"
His head popped into sight for a split second so he could command, "Call me Dib!" before he promptly vanished again.
Frowning, I hurried over to the closet and fretfully looked down at him while he picked through my box. "Well then, Dib. Please, stop going through my things." He gave my request a thoroughly disappointed stare when I snatched my camera out of his hands. "You and I may be friends, but I can't remember anything about it, so stop digging around in my closet. You're invading my privacy."
Heng let out a long sigh, but nodded. However, he then scooped up my old sketch book out of the box and ran from the closet, chuckling mischievously. "Give that back!" I snapped, carefully putting my camera back into the cardboard box before hurrying after Heng. He jumped onto the top of my bed, bounced across it, then hopped to the floor on the other side, flipping open the book as he went.
"Don't look!" I yelled in annoyance, running around the edge of the bed. Heng simply scrambled over the top of my bed again, laughing the whole way and leaving my blankets in a rumpled mess.
"I didn't know you liked to draw." Heng eagerly flipped through my sketches. He paused on one of the pages. "O-o-o-oh, you even wrote little diary thingies! 'Saturday; I have a piano lesson today. I have always hated playing the piano, it is so bothersome and tedious.'"
My mouth dropped open in horror and I quickly resumed my pursuit, face burning with embarrassment. I didn't care that he now knew that I didn't like to play the piano, but what if he read some of the more personal things I'd written? That idiot, why was he so annoying? I knew he was rather audacious, but what he was doing now was on an entirely different level than how he behaved at the office.
Shakily sliding to a halt, my stocking feet slipping over the smooth floor, I grabbed at his hand, which he was holding aloft over his head. "GIVE THAT BACK! DON'T READ IT!"
Heng frowned down at me, lifting the sketch book out of my reach when I took a swing at it. "Geeze, have you always been so aloof? Even writing this, you–"
"GIVE IT BACK TO ME RIGHT NOW!" I glared at Heng with all of the anger I could muster in my sleepy, foggy-minded state.
Rather than obeying, he stared at me for a moment as if he was surprised, and then suddenly burst into laughter again, holding the book even higher when I weakly attempted to snatch it from him. "I don't wanna give it back! I WANNA LOOK AT IT SOME MORE!" he loudly declared, swatting away my hand and running from me again.
"I DON'T WANT YOU TO LOOK!" I screamed, chasing after him.
"TOO BAD, 'CAUSE I ALREADY DID! HA-HA! WHAT'RE YOU GONNA DO NOW, AL?"
"SHUT UP, AND GIVE ME THE BOOK!" I grabbed his arm, twisting him around. He lost his balance, tripped and fell on top of my bed, yanking me down with him. I landed beside him and finally managed to grab a corner of the thin book. Tugging it toward myself and ignoring the stabbing pain in my left arm, I gave another glare to the still-laughing Heng. Instead of letting me have the book, he effortlessly pulled it out of my grasp and threw it onto the opposite side of the bed, where it fell off the edge and landed on the wooden floor with a soft thud.
"WHY ARE YOU SO IMPOSSIBLE?" I yelled, punching Heng's shoulder.
"YOU'RE THE IMPOSSIBLE ONE, YOU JERK! I JUST WANTED TO LOOK AT IT!" He grabbed me around the middle and pulled me back onto the blankets when I attempted to slip off the bed to retrieve the book.
"Let go!" I ordered furiously, trying and failing to pry his hands off my waist. I had to hide the book somewhere so he wouldn't read it.
"I'm not letting go until you agree to let me see what's in the book!"
"No!"
Heng pulled me backward again and pouted up at me. "Please? C'mon, Al! Let me see!"
"I said I don't…" Pausing, I squeezed my eyes shut, attempting to blink away the little floaty dots swarming in front of my eyes. The light-headedness had caught up to me, making my vision swim. I could feel the beginnings of a new headache coming as well.
"Are you okay?" Heng hastily asked, all of the playfulness gone from his voice when I swayed to one side, catching myself with my right arm. He sat up and took hold of my shoulders, gently laying me down in his place. "What's wrong, Al?"
I cracked my eyes open and frowned up at him. Closing my eyes again, I rubbed my face with my hand. "I got dizzy is all, it's nothing serious. It happens all the time."
"Are you sure you're okay?" he frantically pressed. "Should I go get someone? Do you need anything? Are you in pain? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so rough with you! I got carried away!"
"The medicine I have to take every morning makes me drowsy," I slowly explained, attempting to regulate my breathing after spontaneously running around so much. "You woke me up earlier, and I'm still tired."
"You should have told me to visit some other time if I was interrupting your nap," he grumbled, flopping himself down beside me. He pushed the rumpled blankets around for a moment, getting himself comfortable. "I would have left if you'd asked, you know."
"That would have been rude," I murmured, "turning you away just because I was sleepy, after you troubled yourself and came all this way."
Heng laughed for a moment. "It's not like I had to travel for days to get here. It took ten minutes by car, if even that."
"Still," I continued, sighing slightly, "at least you did. My father's house is about that far away, yet Jiao told me he hasn't come to see me even once. I know I'd simply forget about it after a while, but it'd be nice if he would, anyway."
"Isn't it a good thing that he hasn't come?" Heng asked quietly. "He'd probably only upset you if he did. Or do something to make your condition even worse than it is already."
"Perhaps, but I still miss him," I admitted slowly, squeezing my eyes shut even tighter. "Now that I'm not there, he's all alone in that house. I mean, I doubt he's lonely or anything without me there—he's probably happier now that I'm gone, really—but I still don't like the thought of leaving him alone."
Heng rolled himself closer to me, lightly rubbing a hand on my shoulder. "Because Gui left him already?"
In surprise, I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at Heng. "You certainly know a lot."
"You said a lot," Heng added, smiling at me over a fold in the fluffy blankets.
I silently stared at him for a long minute. "We must be very close if I said things like that… You're the only person I've told," I mused sleepily. "I wish I could remember."
"So do I," he softly agreed. My eyes closed again nearly by themselves while he wordlessly fiddled with the blanket, and I fought to stay awake. Though in my memory Heng was still just one of my employees, I felt very comfortable in his presence. Until just now, I hadn't even noticed how ridiculous my behavior was earlier. I never would have acted like that around him or anyone else in the past.
"Al, did you fall asleep?" he whispered, gently prodding my shoulder with one finger.
"No," I muttered, groggily cracking my eyes open again.
"Oh. Well, you can if you want," he offered with a chuckle, slowly lifting his hand and brushing my hair off my forehead. His cold hand felt nice against my skin, warmed from running around.
"Are you looking for another opening to peek into my sketch book?" I questioned half-jokingly.
He laughed deeply. "No, I'm not. I promise I won't look if you're that against it. I'll put the book back in your closet, no peeks, before I leave." After giving my forehead another gentle pat, he took his hand back. "Go ahead and sleep. You need it."
Worry slipped over my face, making me frown. "I might not remember you when I wake up."
Heng's own face darkened at my words, but he nodded. "Maybe not. But," he added, looking a bit cheerier, "I'll come visit you as often as I can and I'll keep reminding you about us. I'll tell you so often that you can't possibly forget me ever again."
Smiling, I closed my eyes once more and laughed. "That sounds nice. Though you're a very annoying person, I'm happy you came to see me. It means a lot." I shifted myself into a comfortable position, giving Heng one last glance. "Goodbye, Dib."
"See you later, Al," he choked out, fighting to keep a smile on his face. Sighing, I tried to ignore the loneliness welling up and slowly went to sleep, listening to his unsteady breathing beside me.