The girl instantly stopped dead in her tracks. She slowly turned to look at him. The black haired man regarded her with a grin as flashy as his neatly coifed hair or his silken white and gold attire. The grin was actually more of a triumphant smirk.
"How do you---"
"Hm. Mi Na Seung. Sounds---and correct me if I'm wrong---Korean?" Blanched, Mi Na nodded to the man. "Oh," he grinned again, "so should I call you Seung Mi Na, then?"
"You don't have to call me anything!" Mi Na angrily jabbed the man's shoulder with a sparrow fist. "How in the world do you know my name!?"
"Oh. Chee. Don't act so surprised," the Dandy said. His grin was gone and he rubbed his shoulder with a frown. "Didn't the statement I made of you and Xianghua gave you somewhat of a clue?"
"Oh," Mi Na suddenly reddened, feeling embarrassed for letting her stubbornness cloud her train of thought. "Guess I overlooked that..."
"No kidding."
"But you don't strike me as familiar," she confessed. "How do you know about the situation between Xianghua and I?"
"It would make sense to say that I was with Kilik when you locked swords with her."
"Kilik?" Seung Mi Na whispered. Her eyebrows arched so high, the man before her thought they'd raise into her scalp.
"Yeah. Kilik. The young man that stepped in between you two to stop the fight? He stood about yea high," and he demonstratively held his palm parallel to the floor at about his nose level, "maybe shorter. Brown hair in a small tail. Tiny X-shaped scar on his left cheek. Mirror---"
"I know who he is!" Mi Na interrupted, growing irritated with the man's patronizing way of speaking.
One of the man's daedally cut eyebrows tipped in response to that. "Oh really now?"
Mi Na's face flushed again, but she fought to regain her composure. "A-as in, I remember him! He was the one who gave me my misplaced earrings..." Of course, to Mi Na, Kilik was exactly that, among other things she wouldn't dare reveal to anyone.
The man, somewhat satisfied with the Korean girl's response, shrugged and flagged down a passing barmaid. He requested some bier for himself and for Mi Na, which she kindly refused and gave to him instead.
"So what's your name?" Mi Na asked after some time.
"Maxi."
"And what're you doing in this country?"
"Hey. What, are you trying to do some husband research?" he teased.
Mi Na's foot swung into the man's calf, causing him to nearly leap out of his chair in pain.
"Ow! You really oughtta control that temper of yours! Otherwise, I'll feel sorry for the man that you marry!"
Again, she kicked him.
"Ow!"
"Are you doing okay?" Kilik whispered to his friend Xianghua, who rested her head on his bare shoulder, half asleep.
"Mmhm," she replied, stifling a yawn thereafter.
"We're almost at the town Heinz told us of," he paused and gave her a smile of reassurance. "Don't worry. We'll find an inn and you can sleep peacefully."
Earlier that day, while on their trek further north from where they reconciled, Kilik and Xianghua came across Heinz, a farmer and trader heading in the same direction with his daughter Hilde. He offered them a ride on his large, two-horse drawn cart, provided they would not mind being seated admist piles of hay and hearing the endless thudding of turning wheels against the ground.
At first, the noise didn't bother either of them but as the sunny day faded into night and as they passed through trail after trail, it was beginning to give them headaches, especially Xianghua.
"And I'll make you some Oolong tea for that headache of yours. I promise," Kilik added.
"That's fine---but really, you don't have to make anything for me," the Chinese girl said with a sleepy smile, "just be with me..."
It took Kilik a brief moment to register his friend's words. He looked to her. And even in the darkness, he could see the faint signs of a blush over her nose and cheeks, and the innocent yearning in her eyes. "Xianghua..."
"Oh! Listen to me," abruptly, she lifted her head off his shoulder and shook it, still blushing madly. "I'm starting to sound so silly!"
She laughed a forced laugh. And Kilik too, forced himself to laugh. However, his thoughts remained on the side of Xianghua he had never seen until a few moments prior. Scratch that. Ever since he met up with her after their separation, she had been acting a little strange around him. And as time progressed, so did her strange behavior. He considered telling her his thoughts on the matter, but changed his mind after telling himself that he was being paranoid and just plain ridiculous.
****
A/N: It's been a long time and this [chapter] doesn't make up for it, I know. Sorry! I have tons of excuses as to why, but I'm sure you don't wanna hear 'em. I'm going to try to make chapters longer. Next Chapter should be up within a week or so! AND, be on the look out for my reviewer sheet which I'm going to post on my profile soon. It'll help me with my writing, as it is more reliable (help-wise) than the reviews on ffnet---but that's not to say don't write reviews, because I most certainly appreciate them! =)
