Healing effect

"What are you doing here?" She asked and Li Xuan wondered how ridiculous it would sound to tell her that he came here with the mission stalking.

"Same reason as yours, getting some fresh air." He replied casually and she nodded her head. The rain was getting heavier. "Seriously, you should go back to your camp." He reminded her and Lucy didn't argue with that. She stood there for a moment before heading toward her camp, his coat still hanging on her shoulder.

He kept watching her until she was out of his sight. A subtle smile played on his lips as he recalled some incidents of the past.

....Six years ago....

Time always flys in its own pace. But if you are happy, you won't realize the passing days. Because you are too busy in creating beautiful moments.

One month had passed in the snap of a finger. Lucy and Li Xuan grew closer like never before. For Lucy, their new bonding was the symbol of the faith they had found in each other. And as for Li Xuan, well he was confused between his heart and mind. He had to remind himself again and again that whatever he was doing was nothing but a game. But sometimes, his heart just ignored all the signals and warnings of his brain.

It was his birthday. He wasn't exactly a person who was interested in being gifted anything, but today he was looking forward to it. He was eager to know what his junior was going to gift him. She had asked him to wait for her in front of the Sora Museum. And it made him wonder if she was going to take him to this museum...? On his birthday? Well, whatever!

He glanced at his watch– just a few seconds and it was going to be sharp 9 O'clock. He wondered if she forgot to come here? But then he heard the voice of the girl who was ever so punctual. "Hi, Senior! I hope I didn't make you wait for me. But if I did, it must be your fault to come earlier than expected time." Hearing her voice, he sharply turned to the girl who always left him with conflicted feelings.

"Yes, you made me wait. And yes, it's entirely my fault." He accepted everything without any hesitation. Then said, "Anyways, what are you gonna gift me, Señorita?"

"Follow me," she said as she started to walk in the opposite direction of the museum. And it left him puzzled.

"We are not going to the museum?" He asked.

"You want to?" And he shook his head. "Thought so," She murmured before saying, "We needed to rent bikes for us, and bike renting service is available here. That's why I asked you to wait here." She tossed a key to him and pointed at the bike which she had rented earlier. He caught the key effortlessly and hoped on the bike. She also keyed her bike and jumped on it. After a few minutes, Li Xuan found himself following her in an unknown path while paddling his bike.

There were beautiful flower plants from both sides of the street. Dry leaves occasionally rained on them as they passed by the big trees. As a foreigner she surely knew more about this city than him, Li Xuan thought in his mind.

"Ah! Talking about the gift, I tried to come up with lots of ideas. But in the end, I dropped all of them. I mean you are filthy rich who can afford any material thing. Then I thought I'll give you something handmade! And guess what, it turned out I have zero knowledge about handmade things." Lucy spoke as she continued paddling her bike. "And finally I came to a conclusion,"

"Which is?" He urged her to complete her sentence.

"That I will try to gift you a beautiful memory." Was her simple reply.

SCREECH!

"What's wrong?" She asked him as he had stopped paddling and had clutched on the break. He smiled as he thought how cluelessly smooth she was with her words.

"Junior, do you know the effect your words hold?" He asked and she flashed him a bright smile.

"Krish says it has healing effects." And he is damn right to say so, Li Xuan thought in his mind.

"Krish and you have been best friends since childhood." He said and she nodded. "Then did it ever occur that what you guys feel for each other is more than friendship? Such as... you guys like each other or maybe have a crush on each other?" Hearing his question, she burst into laughter.

"I get where are you going with this one, but is there any relation which could be calculated as more than friendship? I don't think so." She said as she believed friendship was above all the relations. "And as for like and crush... these are very small words for us. Because we simply love each other. After all, I'm the only one he has got as his family." As she was speaking those words, her eyes sparkled with nothing but the purity of truth.

Whenever she met with Krish, she did everything to annoy him. But that was only because she treated him as her own and he knew that. That's the uniqueness of friendship, you can treat them as trash and jewel them as the crown at the same time. But if someone else dares to point a finger at your friend, then you would be ready to break that finger apart.

How rich those people are who manage to get one genuine friend... Li Xuan thought. He had plenty of friends but he never felt that kind of emotional attachment with any of them. And he knew none of his friends was emotionally attached to him as well. After all, he knew he wasn't like Lucy to get a Krish. "You know, I think now I understand your friendship. It's like Tom and Jerry! You guys will fight endlessly WITH each other, and then fight FOR each other."

Lucy gave him a side glance. "Strange description, but it's true though." Then she asked him, "Do you know fishing, Senior?"

"No. I have never tried it before." He responded and it made her laugh, a nervous kind of laughter.

"It's going to be an epic fishing..." She muttered under her breath.