Chapter 2

"Hmm," Zhang Qing's drowsy self was barely awake. Feeling around her, she found that the boy was not there. "Where'd he go? He normally wakes me up. What's he up to today?" Getting out of the cave, Zhang Qing walked around, hoping to see him. Or at least hear him. "Maybe I'll ask one of the wolves. Awwoo!" Her wolf language had gotten better just as the boy's human language had as well. Surprisingly though, she had not given her name to him yet. She was fine with it though, both of them just lived without names. She had decided that she wouldn't name him and would leave it to the female lead, Ma ZhaiXing.

"Awwooo. Awwooo." one of the wolves walked towards her.

Zhang Qing crouched down to the level of the wolves. "Hrrrrr."

"Hrrr." With that, the wolf walked away. Zhang Qing got up.

"Looks like they don't know either." Zhang Qing shrugged her shoulders and started walking.

"Aaah! Monster!"

"Humans!" Zhang Qing dashed towards the direction of the sound, suddenly remembering that she was in a drama and that she knew there was a scene like this. "How could I forget!" She had gotten so used to this life that she forgot that everything in this world was part of a drama! Blaming herself for her carelessness, she hurried. By the time she got to the scene, she was only able to get a glimpse of two people dashing off the mountain in horror. Finding the boy, she rushed to him.

"What happened! Are you okay?!" she patted both of his shoulders, checking for injuries. The boy remained silent. She slowly looked up to see despair in his eyes. Narrowing her eyes, she questioned, "What happened? Did someone bully you? Or," she paused. "Did you do something you weren't supposed to do?" Zhang Qing looked straight into his eyes. Suddenly, he lunged forward, holding her in a tight embrace.

"Humans are evil," he spoke in a low voice. Zhang Qing was at a loss for words. She was happy that he spoke his first choppy, little words of human language. However, to have that sentence as the first, it would be lying to say that she wasn't hurt. "But, I will protect you." Zhang Qing felt a bit better after hearing the following up.

"It's okay, it's all good." she gave him a pat on the back. Having been living with him for a while, she guessed that he had to unwillingly scare the two men away to protect the mountain. At that moment, she wished she could stay like this forever, having the feeling of being protected and protecting someone else, but she knew she couldn't. The two people that came up this mountain proved that it wouldn't be long before the heroine, Ma ZhaiXing, would go up this exact same mountain and build a relationship with the boy. She would then name him Wolfie on this very mountain and make many memorable memories that would never be forgotten by the two of them.

That night, Zhang Qing spent much time thinking. "I'm fine with leaving him, but would that cause harm for him?" She patted the boy who was sleeping next to her. "He should be fine, right? Before I came, he was surviving just fine," Zhang Qing assured herself. "Plus, with Zhai Xing, he'll definitely be alright. I just have to make sure that when the time comes, I'll tweak things up a bit to make sure that the two of them don't misunderstand each other." The boy next to her wrapped his strong arms around her, snuggling closer. The girl could only let out a sigh. "I'll miss you when I leave."

The next morning, she awoke to find that the boy was already awake, but was waiting for her to wake up. She smiled. "How come you didn't wake me up? That way, you won't have to sit and wait for me." The boy just smiled awkwardly and didn't say anything. He looked like he wanted to say something, but Zhang Qing decided not to pester. The boy motioned for her to follow and she did.

They headed towards a tree that Zhang Qing called "the Butterfly Tree." The first time the boy took her to the tree, he had introduced her to a whole new perspective of nature. This was the exact same tree that the boy would take Ma ZhaiXing to; the tree that allowed the heroine to experience swarms of butterflies flying with just one touch and to experience something called listening to butterflies flying. Zhang Qing had watched this scene, but in person was a whole different experience than watching: all the smells, the sound, and the touch. There was a limit to watching on screen.

Zhang Qing started looking around for any berries or fruits that there could be found, but the boy motioned for her to sit with him under the tree. "How come we're not going to look for food?" Zhang Qing thought in her head. "Is there something special about today?" She raised her eyebrows in secret. Questioning the boy wasn't of much use as the boy was a man of few words. He was more comfortable with body language. Over time, Zhang Qing had learned and respected this side of him and didn't ask him many questions. Whatever he did always had a reason and she trusted that his motives weren't evil.

Sitting down, Zhang Qing looked at the boy expectantly, wondering what he was up to. To her surprise, he reached over his neck onto the necklace that he always wore and took it off. "I give to you," His dark eyes pierced right through Zhang Qing's soul. He reached over her neck, placing the necklace gently down. It felt nice and warm around her neck. "Let this replace me if I am not around you." Zhang Qing's eyes widened only to quickly cover it up with an awkward smile.

"Uh okay. I-nevermind," Zhang Qing was about to reassure the boy that she was never going to leave but remembered that in the drama, the boy hated lies. Instead, she smiled, trying to hide her mixed feelings. "I really like it." The boy grinned.

Zhang Qing's eyebrows turned up. She had felt that he was a bit off the moment he sat down instead of searching for food. She also felt a bit suspicious about the purpose of the necklace. Now, the smile. It looked fake. All three things gave Zhang Qing the conjecture that the boy might know that she might be leaving, but there was no way that could happen. The boy was asleep when she was talking to herself. Plus, in the drama, there was no way that the boy would act this way. Or, maybe it was because she wasn't the heroine, so there was no need for the boy to get too overwhelmed with her leaving. But, why give the necklace away? All these thoughts puzzled Zhang Qing greatly. She clutched the necklace tightly. Nevertheless, the necklace still made her feel a bit more special.

"Search for the wolf monster!!" To Zhang Qing's disappointment, Zhai Xing's brother and his men had come earlier than she had expected. She was hoping she still had about two days before she would leave, but the men had come searching that afternoon following the morning she got the necklace. Hoping to keep the necklace safe, she tucked it under all the layers of clothes, touching skin.

Just as she expected, Zhai Xing came. Knowing what was going to happen, Zhang Qing decided to hide in one of the nearby bushes and watch the show. She grinned to herself. She watched as all the men freaked out with the hallucination caused by the medicine. When Zhai Xing's brother's leg got stuck in one of the traps, she couldn't help giving out a sneer. "That's what you get for breaking Zhai Xing's leg later. And, also tricking the boy." she cursed under her breath.

With the scene closing, Zhang Qing prepared herself for the next scene. The one where Wolfie will catch the heroine after she falls off the tree. "One of the first romantic scenes between the hero and heroine; must be good." she thought to herself.

Seeing one of the younger wolves, the boy started playing with him only to find that the pup only whined and turned in Zhang Qing's direction, hoping to lure her out to play with him as well. All the other wolves started to arrive as well. "Oh shoot, how could I forget that the wolves have an amazing sense of smell. Please don't expose me," To her horror, she found the pup continuing to tell the boy that she was there and the boy was coming closer. "Better not expose myself. Let's make a dash for it." Zhang Qing scampered off with a sound no human could hear. Well, except for the boy. The boy was the exception.

One of the skills that Zhang Qing had learned in the forest was running off quietly and hiding. It was her secret weapon to escape. With her small figure, she could easily crouch down and run around the level of the tall bushes without being seen. This skill helped her massively at the beginning when the wolves were still wary of her. Now, there was no need as she was quite familiar with pretty much the whole pack. Some were still hostile, but that was enough for her. By having wolves to talk to, her wolf language actually improved faster than the boy learning the human language as she was the only one who understood how to speak it.

The boy decided not to chase after her, to her delight and disappointment. She didn't run far; she still wanted to watch the good scene between the hero and the heroine. At the opening of the romantic scene, where Zhai Xing sits on the tree, she thought to herself in amazement, "Wow, she's so pretty. She looks even better than on screen." she sighed. Knowing that Zhai Xing was going to fall and the boy would catch her, she watched on, not interfering.

As all the wolves started to leave, with the pup being one of the last, Zhai Xing spoke, "All your wolf family and friends have left. Can I get down now?" the boy hesitated, and just as Zhang Qing expected, Zhai Xing lost her footing. "Aaahhh!" the boy hurried to catch her. The romantic scene flourished as the girl landed perfectly in the boy's arms. Zhai Xing beamed. "I knew you were going to catch me."

For some reason, Zhang Qing couldn't watch anymore and left in a hurry. The boy, feeling that she really ran off this time, wanted to chase her back, but the motion of putting Zhai Xing down and running after her gave Zhang Qing too much of a headstart. In this mountain, there were many places that were good for hiding, and with Zhang Qing's small figure, once she's out of sight, it'll take forever to catch her. Instead, the boy howled. "Awwooooo!"

The running girl struggled to hold back her tears. "They'll be fine." Zhang Qing assured herself as she took the route that the men had taken. When they had left before, Zhang Qing purposely lingered longer to see which direction they went to prepare for leaving the mountain. Though it had never come to her that she would leave this soon, she couldn't watch it anymore. One of her hands reached to wipe away a tear that had escaped from her eye. "Shoot, why am I crying at this moment. I have to get down! Almost there!" At this point, her body and mind were all over the place; all she was doing now was just running down. Whichever area was going downwards, she went. Faster and faster.

As she wiped her face once more, she suddenly lost her footing and tumbled, rolling straight down to the bottom of the mountain where she landed into a bush; the prickles giving tiny cuts across her arms as she protected her face. She could hear wolves howling at the top of the mountain, but slowly, it got quieter and quieter...till she could no longer hear them.