Part 2, Chapter 14

Ch 14

Leng Zai waited for Xun to return. He was feeling quite content with the expression that had been on her face as she had walked away. She had looked happy and shy in a way that made his heart flutter. 

He was watching her return through the crowd when she was stopped by two men. Instead of keeping a distance or moving away from them she embraced each of them in turn, laughing. Anger surged in his ears. How could she smile at him like that and then go hug other men? With furious strides he approached the group.

“Tomorrow?” Xun asked. “I can meet you anywhere near the South Gate of the palace.”

“Sure,” the man on the right said. 

“Anything for you,” the one on the left said.

Leng Zai saw red. He pushed between Xun and the men, accidentally causing her to stumble, drop one of the lanterns she held, and step on it.

“Hey!” One of the men said, moving towards Xun. 

Leng Zai made a noise deep in his throat.

“It’s ok, Yu’Bo,” Xun said, Leng Zai felt pressure as she took his arm. “He’s,” she hesitated. “With me. Leng Zai, these are my cousins, Yu’Bo and Yu’Luo. Yu’Bo, Yu’Luo this is Leng Zai, he works in the kitchen with me.”

Leng Zai wanted to protest. He was more than just another kitchen helper to Xun, but he didn’t know what word would be correct. Friend? Suitor? Lover? He was uncertain.

Yu’Bo and Yu’Luo relaxed. “As long as he isn’t bothering you, cousin,” the one on the right said.

“He’s not bothering me,” she replied, patting his arm. Then she seemed to remember the lantern she had dropped. “Oh no,” she said in dismay, looking at the torn and dirty wreck on the ground.

“Don’t worry, I can get you another one,” said the one on the left, who may have been Yu’Bo or possibly Yu’Luo.

 Before Leng Zai could protest that he should replace the lantern, since it was his fault it broke Xun replied, “It’s ok, there were only these two left. Leng Zai and I will just have to make due. It’s getting late though, we should find our friends and go back to the palace before mother worries. She won’t let me stay at her place if I get back after the dorm curfew. She says it serves me right.”

The twins laughed. “That sounds like our auntie!” 

The twins sauntered off into the crowd and Xun dropped his arm. The two of them walked a little way in silence. They hadn’t gone far before Xun stopped and said, “Why did you do that?”

“What?”

“Come charging in like an angry bull.”

“I was angry. I didn’t like seeing you smiling at those other men.”

“It’s only my cousins.”

“I didn’t know that at the time.”

Xun looked up at him. She was very close and he could smell the sweet odor of the sugar man she had been eating before. This far from the Main Street her eyes sparkled with starlight instead of lantern glow and Leng Zai found he couldn’t look away. 

“You were jealous?”

He nodded, words didn’t seem important right at that moment.

“I was jealous in the brothel. I didn’t like the way those women were touching you,” she said. There was a pause. Leng Zai felt the night air on his skin and the soft heat of Xun. “Leng Zai, I think I like you.” Xun said so softly he thought he might have imagined it. He just looked at her, trying to engrave the moment in his heart, even though he knew it wouldn’t last. 

Then without warning Xun rose on her toes and pressed her soft lips against his cheek. Heat raced through him and his heart thundered in his chest. Nothing in his short memory had prepared him for this sensation, but before he could understand what was happening she pulled away. Her dark, dark eyes looked up at him through her lashes, glimmering with something he didn’t have the words for. Neither of them noticed when the fireworks began to boom overhead.