On the Petals of a Flower, I found something that does not belong to me

32

For those people and friends who are always there.

 My friend and I both ran and hugged each other. She hugged me and I hugged her so tight that we almost were out of breath. Tears of emotion appeared on the tips of my eyes.

 As we parted, I looked at my friend. "What are you doing? How ...how did you get here? Are you real?"

 My friend laughed. "I am fine. Joystick, how did you get here? Have you also noticed that we speak Chinese? Isn't it awesome?"

 I exhaled and rolled my eyes. 'Joystick' was a nickname given to me by my friends because of my ringtone.

 "Are you serious?" I did. "I'm asking you how you got here and you're telling me how perfect it is to speak Chinese."

 My friend laughed again. Des was a terribly impressive girl. Blond hair, green eyes, tall and a little chubby, she was a goddess. And among all of the people there, she seemed unreal. The only one who could possibly 'compete' with her in some way was Lan Xichen.

 "I read your letter," she replied. "In the Lan Library. It was in English, but I understood it immediately. And I realized it was you. When Lan Xichen saw me and I explained to him how I got here, he led me there immediately. I told them to look for you. And you are here now."

 I tapped her lightly on the shoulder. "Are you stupid? I can't believe it. How... why? Why did you come here? I've been trying to go back for so long and... " I looked at her. "Are they looking for me? What is my grandfather doing? Laila? Andy? The others? Do you know anything? Are my parents looking for me?"

 My friend crossed her arms over her chest and her face seemed ready to burst out laughing. "You are a great friend. You didn't even ask how I am."

 "I asked that at the beginning. You are just deaf. Tell me."

 "And you are blind," she said and put her hand inside her robe. Then she threw three objects at me, which I barely managed to catch. My reflexes were not good, due to the fact that I had not fully recovered. "You forgot your glasses at home, you know that? So I brought them to you. Along with your lenses and the liquid. Ever since you disappeared, I've always had them with me. Just in case. They came in handy in the end."

 I opened the case of my glasses and put them on. Suddenly, the world became clear and I felt like I was seeing in 4K resolution. The faces that had been cloudy around me for so long cleared up and I could see everything. I wanted to scream from joy.

 "Well, you are a goddess," I said.

 My friend smiled. "I know. But why don't we go inside to sit? I'm not cold and I'm fine. But you on the other hand..." she said and looked at me from top to my feet. "You look terrible. Plus you have to take a bath. You emit a weird smell like acid. What happened to you?"

 I smiled this time and it wasn't a sad smile. "A lot. A lot has happened."

***

 Lan Xichen welcomed us to his room. And when I say to his room, I mean in his private apartments. Where he sleeps and eats and whatever he does anyway.

 That's what Des was telling me, after all, who hadn't stopped fangirling for Lan Xichen since we decided to go inside.

 "Will you stop at last? They are looking at us" I whispered to her. The Sect leaders and Wen Ning didn't leave us out of their sight. My eye caught Lan Xichen talking to them, when we were coming to his room. They should have understood that we knew each other. From there on, everyone was silent, but they sat in the room where we were, without any apology or hesitation.