The Lost Moon [COMPLETE]

7: The Honesty of the Moon

It was a good couple of days since I've arrived to find my moon in Arxan. We had some quiet down time, just enjoying the beauty of Arxan, going back to the Wolf peak, going on forest treks, and of course enjoying dinner with our Wolf town family every night. Aside from that, we have our own night routine of getting into bed, Shen Yue reading her book while I listen to some radio, and after that we'd turn off the lights and just talk about random things until one of us passes out.

It was few days later when I woke up at dawn to find the other side of the bed empty. This made me get up right away and to call out, "Shen Yue?" and with no reply. For the past few days, I would wake up with either Shen Yue still asleep or awake reading a book waiting for me to wake up, then we'd go make and have breakfast together in the main house. So to see her gone brought a rush of panic inside of me, thinking of almost just a week ago when she disappeared to come here, especially since the sun wasn't even up yet. Before I could have a full on heart attack, I saw a note at the corner of the bed and I hastily jumped towards it, almost falling on my face in the process.

"充电堡 (Chōngdiàn bǎo, charging fort)." I read out loud and breathed out in relief.

I got off the bed and put on a hoodie, forgoing a shirt. I slipped out the door, put on my AJs and trudged down the steps. I shivered as a blast of wind greeted me halfway to the charging fort. As I got nearer, it seemed to get colder, and I curse myself for not grabbing a jacket. I was happy to see the steps of the fort a mere few seconds later, and I rubbed my hands warm once I finally managed to get inside.

The charging fort as Taojie would like to call it, was a round building encased in glass windows. At nights, it was a perfect spot to look out to spot the stars looming in the sky, shining bright together with the moon. As I turned around, I didn't see her right away, maybe because she was tiny-a fact that would earn me a slap regardless-or maybe, as I walked to the other side, she was hidden by the pillar-like structure in the middle that encases the tree the fort was built around on. I smiled in relief when the latter was right.

Shen Yue was illuminated by the small light from outside. She was on her side, lying on the floor on a makeshift mattress that looks cozy and warm. I didn't know whether she was sleeping or not.

"Did you not wear your jacket again?"

I chuckle lightly, guess she's not asleep then. I walked to where she was and lied down behind her as she tapped the spot with her hand. I sighed in content as I sank into the warm covers and enveloped my arm around her and buried my head into the crook of her neck.

I felt her release a breath and tangled her hand in one of my hands covering her stomach, entwining our fingers and bringing it up to cradle to her chest. "You were always so stubborn to wear anything warm. Always thinking about fashion first, necessity second."

I huffed out a laugh, "Not always."

She shook her head and giggled, "Most of the time then."

They became silent after that, just enjoying the quiet together. The presence of the other. Even when they first met, it has always been like that. They had no trouble just lapsing into silence because it was comfortable. They could just sit together and be silent and there was never a time when it was awkward or that they had a need to talk. Because most of the time, they held conversations silently, in their heads. It was one of the things other people hate when being in the same room together with them because they always seem to be communicating even without words.

It was moments later when I felt like I was drifting off to sleep when she spoke up.

"I left because I was a coward."

I stiffened at that because of all the things to describe her, coward was never and will never be one of them.

"怎么可能 (Zěnme kěnéng, how can it be?)" I ask her, bewildered at what she just described herself. I was tempted to turn her around and give her a piece of my mind.