Kǎi said "We should leave, break will be over soon."

Ai nodded with a slight pout. She didn't really want to leave his side just yet, but they had a job to do. "You should leave first, I'll follow after."

He nodded then flew out of the kelp forest. After Ai counted down from 10, she swam out of the kelp forest. Although the two arrived at the gathering place at different times, the rest of the group could tell they came from the same direction.

Ruǎnyù swam near Yìngyù and whispered, "Looks like they made up huh?"

Yìngyù smiled. "Well, if anything, her aura certainly seems really happy."

This made Ruǎnyù smirk at Yìngyù since he had a feeling the angel actually followed through with his advice.

The mermen weren't the only ones who noticed that Ai arrived at the gathering place after Kǎi did, but Mei could not care much about Ai's emotions since she couldn't help but feel strangely irritated that Ruǎnyù was next to Yìngyù for the second time that day. She knew that they were close friends so why did she feel so bitter at the sight of them together? Was it because she was so used to the blonde merman being by her side most of the time?

They lined up to combine their water manipulation abilities and this time, Yìngyù stood next to Mei. Mei closed her eyes, turned her head to the side, and said "Hmph."

"Have I displeased you?"

Mei narrowed her eyes. "What exactly have you done to displease me?"

"I'm not sure which is why I'm asking you." Yìngyù looked at her with concern.

Mei huffed. "Why are you so sure that I'm displeased?"

"Well, for one your attitude makes it apparent, and I can tell from your aura."

Mei snapped. "Then, stop reading my aura."

Yìngyù replied with his usual calmness. "You know as well as I that I cannot simply control that ability to the point that I can simply stop reading auras whenever I wish to."

Mei noticed that her water manipulation abilities were starting to heat up a bit which would not be good for the corpses they were trying to gather with the flow of the water. She took a deep breath before replying with a tinge of bitterness. "Then why don't you move back next to Ruǎnyù?"

Yìngyù wondered if that was why she was mad at him? Because he lined up next to Ruǎnyù earlier? He never really thought that Mei would actually notice and care about it. Did that mean she was jealous because he directed his attention to someone other than her for once?

Yìngyù sighed. "Fine, I do not wish to displease you. I shall speak to you about it later."

After some time, Mei did fully calm down so no one had to worry about any corpses boiling after all, but she did feel upset that the blonde merman didn't even bother making conversation afterward.

Why did she care so much anyways? Sure, he made sure to not disturb her when she's praying, meditating, or doing a divination for trivial reasons after experiencing one of her fits of rage and he couldn't talk to her when he switched places to guard the outside of the temple, but he always tried to talk to her when things weren't busy in the temple, and she wasn't engaged in her tasks. Exactly what was he to her? More than a friend… But even the terms "best friend" or "close friend" wasn't the kind of word she would use to describe Yìngyù. Mei shook her head as she mentally told herself not to dwell on the merman next to her with beautiful blue-gray eyes… Did she just think of him as beautiful? She shook her head while redirecting her attention to Kǎi who was in the process of dissolving the bodies with his golden light.

Yìngyù tilted his head into Mei's field of vision. "You didn't think I forgot, did you?"

Because Mei had been obsessively thinking about Yìngyù earlier and was currently distracting herself with looking at the human souls floating upwards, she was rather startled to see him appear before her and leaned back as she exclaimed. "Eee!"

Quickly realizing that others might've heard her, she covered her mouth and nervously giggled "Eee hee hee!"

Those who did hear Mei just smiled out of humor and shrugged it off as Yìngyù doing something that made Mei really laugh.

Yìngyù raised a blond brow as he asked, "Did I startle you?"

Mei crossed her arms as she closed her eyes, turned her head to the side, and said "Hmph."

He took that as a yes then he bowed his head and apologized. "I apologize."

Mei couldn't help looking at him even as her head was still turned to the side and blushed a bit. His formalities and serious nature could be charming, she had to admit. She shook her head to get rid of that thought.

Yìngyù tilted his head as he furrowed both of his brows. "You seem perturbed."

Mei simply glared at him as she thought "And who's fault is that?"

Yìngyù replied "I'll take that as a yes."

Aside from the fact that he was decent when it came to sensing auras, he was well-acquainted with reading the high priestess's mannerisms by now. Mei was irked by the fact that he could simply sense her aura unconsciously and know her emotions that way.

He stood next to her side then whispered. "We haven't exactly been dismissed for break yet, but I would prefer to address our issue earlier as soon as possible."

Mei angrily thought. "It's an issue because you're making it an issue!"

Yìngyù sighed. "You know, it's not good to keep your emotions to yourself. There's only so many emotions one can hold. Eventually, it will become too much and overwhelm you."

Mei scoffed as she side eyed him. "You know I'm the High Priestess. I have to keep decorum. Showing emotions are a sign of weakness."

Yìngyù shook his head. "If you think showing emotions are a sign of weakness because it can cause you to act out of decorum then think about it this way. Being aware of your own emotions and being able to show them when it is safe for you to do so is a sign of strength."

She hated to admit it but maybe he had a point. Mei couldn't really wrap around what she was feeling about Yìngyù but even if there were moments when she felt angry or bitter at the fact that he was not next to her, overall, she couldn't think of how she felt about him as something bad…

Yìngyù whispered. "So, were you mad because I was next to Ruǎnyù earlier?"

"You!" Mei exclaimed while her face got red.

Yìngyù chuckled while closing his eyes. "I'll take that as a yes. Just so you know, I was only next to him earlier because I noticed Ai was upset and I figured he might know something about it."

She hated that she couldn't completely detest him for being right even as he chuckled. The sight was endearing somehow. Hearing his reason for not standing next to her made her face get redder as she looked down at the sand.

Yìngyù smiled. "But I really didn't expect you to care about such a trivial matter. I never thought you liked me that way."

Mei closed her eyes shut as she yelled "So what if I do?!"

Yìngyù widened his eyes and Mei looked dumbfounded as the words she just yelled struck her. So that's why she was upset earlier, she liked him…