Lantern Rite With You. | XiaoLumi

Chapter 3

On that day, the girl fell right back to sleep as her heavy, tired body sank into Xiao's arms.

She was uncertain about how long she had been asleep. But when she had awoken, the yaksha had since been long gone - while she had been tucked back neatly into bed.

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The next few days came and went like a breeze.

As Lumine was recuperating at the inn, she never saw Xiao again since that day. However, she had dearly missed him. He was always in her thoughts whenever her mind went wandering, asking if he was doing alright. 

But whenever she missed the boy's company, she would always head back out to the balcony in reminiscence of the memories with him.

She rested her chin on her palms, admiring the scenery from the inn. The same, old familiar breeze that carried the ocean's scent blew past and filled her up with warmth and joy.

Ever since Xiao left that day, she kept questioning herself why he left and never came back.

Was it something she said, or did?

Or did Xiao just did not want to see her?

No... Xiao wasn't an unreasonable person. He decides and acts out with reason. There must be a reason as to why he left and did not come back.

The girl was in deep thought as she continued staring out the inn's balcony. "How can I find a way to bring him back?" Lumine voiced out, rubbing her forehead in frustration.

She stood there and thought in silence, when an idea finally struck her.

She hurriedly rushed back down to the inn's reception counter almost tripping on her steps. Her fingers traced the banister that followed it down the stairs, and with a slight hop in her step, she landed swiftly and slammed the counter with a racing heart.

"How do I bring Xiao to the Lantern Rite festival?" Lumine asked.

Verr Goldet and Paimon who were initially busy chatting together and were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Lumine, stared at her in surprise. Before they said anything, they blinked at each other as they eventually shrugged it off.

"Well... that boy never really had a thing for festivals, I can tell you that," Verr Goldet replied.

"Why do you ask, Lumine?" Paimon asked, her eyebrow raised. She leaned in closely to Lumine with a smug face, stroking her chin.

Taken aback by the sudden question, Lumine shot a fiery glare at Paimon. "Xiao never visited again after he left that day... And... I just remembered I never got the chance to thank him for saving me when he was around!" Lumine stammered, scratching her head in embarrassment. "And I thought since Lantern Rite is in a few days time, I should use that chance to bring him to the festival as thanks!"

However, to tell the truth, thanking Xiao was just part of the reason she made up on the spot. The real reason as to why she wanted to invite Xiao to the festival was to get the reason on his sudden disappearance.

Her senses were telling her that there was more than to what meets the eye.

After hearing Lumine's hopefully-persuasive reason, Verr Goldet was fortunately convinced as she very intrigued by the idea, as she nodded her head understandingly. "It sounds like a great idea to me."

"But... the only problem is that he never really had a liking for celebratory occasions or large crowds, especially festivals like these. Taking the nature of the Lantern Rite festival into consideration, it would prove to be quite a challenge trying to convince him to go," Verr Goldet stated.