A phone alarm was going off somewhere, but Zaria was having difficulty moving. The bed shifted beneath her, and the weight bearing down on her waist disappeared right before the alarm cut off, and then she felt the weight return to her side. Her eyelids were heavy, but she finally managed to get them to open.

She blinked sluggishly as she forced her bleary eyes to focus. Looking downward, she could see that she was still wearing her gown from the party the day before underneath the comforter that was pulled across her. Her eyelashes fluttered down to rest on her cheeks. Her head was pounding, and her mouth felt like it was full of cotton. She did not remember getting home the day before. Nor did she remember having a dark grey comforter...

The warm surface against her back shifted, and her eyes opened again. She looked down once more, staring uncomprehendingly at the arm wrapped around her waist from behind.

"Good morning," a voice heavy with sleep murmured into her hair. The arm tightened just a little, pulling her more firmly back against heat she was now awake enough to realize was the skin of a man's chest pressing against the bare skin where the dress did not cover.

"What..." Zaria licked her lips and tried again. "Where am I?"

"In bed. Go back to sleep."

Zaria struggled to get out from under the arm, but the farthest she could get was rolling onto her back. Warm lips kissed the skin on her shoulder. "You shouldn't move like that, Zaria, or I won't be able to control myself anymore." She felt something press against her hip through the fluffy layers of her skirt. Her eyes were wide open then, staring at the ceiling in scared confusion.

"Why am I here? Why are you here? Why am I here?" Her voice was shaky from trying to control her breathing so she would not move too much.

"That was the same question twice," his warm voice said into the curls on her head. "You fell asleep here in the middle of taking off my clothes, and then you held onto my arm in your sleep and wouldn't let me go. Not that I mind, Zaria."

The words sounded like words, but they made no sense. "Why do you keep saying my first name?"

"I like how it sounds saying my future wife's name when we are in bed together," was his smug response.

"Future..." Zaria pushed at the arm laying across her waist, but it would not budge. "Who is your future wife? What about the woman that you like? Gu Cheng, let me go!"

Gu Cheng did not let her go. Propping himself on his elbow so that he looked down on her from above, he braced his arm next to her waist and watched her startled face. "It has only ever been you, Zaria. Don't you want to take responsibility for the things that you have done to me? The kisses that you have stolen?"

Large brown eyes blinked owlishly. "I...kissed you? No, even if I did I must have been drunk, and you can't marry someone just because they kiss you, kissing is not that serious is it-" She gasped as he rolled over to hover over her, grabbing her wrists and pressing them down into the mattress.

"Who else are you kissing?" He asked harshly, his eyes as dark as coal, cold radiating off of his body.

"I...I am not kissing anybody! I don't even remember kissing you-" Once again, her words were interrupted, this time as soft lips covered her own. Something in the feel of them was familiar, and for a moment, her eyes closed, and she let herself enjoy the feeling of the man that she liked sharing her attraction. When his tongue tried to push between her lips, she jerked her head to the side. "Stop it, Gu Cheng!"

Gu Cheng pulled back. He had felt how she melted into him for that moment, and he grinned down at her. The grin slipped away when she turned her face back toward him, fear in her eyes. He shifted back to lay next to her, pulling her into his arms. "I'm sorry, did I scare you?" He rubbed his hand up and down her back. "I didn't mean to frighten you, Zaria. You kissed me far more forcefully and enthusiastically last night, and the feelings are still lingering. I can go as slowly as you need me to."

Zaria let herself be pulled into his arms, her head spinning from all of the developments since she woke up. Spinning and still pounding, her eyes hurting from the pressure. She closed them and settled into his arms, letting herself admit that they did feel good. Things were different in this world, or maybe just this culture, but falling for someone just because they kissed you seemed a bit extreme. She was sure that once he had time to think about it, he would be angry that she had behaved the way she did when she was drunk. His mysophobia would surely rear it's head soon enough, and she would be pushed away, and it would be better because his arms really did feel good, and she didn't want to leave them.

A few long minutes later, she pushed against his chest. "Let me go. You have to go to work, and I have an appointment this morning, and this is really, really inappropriate right now."

Gu Cheng loosened his arms and watched as she wiggled away, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. The pendant she always wore had worked itself around during the night and was hanging down her back. He reached out and gently grasped it, sliding it around to the front. "I have never asked you. What does that pendant mean? It is so intricate. It almost looks like it is moving." His eyes strained to focus on the pattern within the knots, but it was almost as though they were moving the slightest amount to keep him from doing so. He shook his head and let it go to rest below her collar bone.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Zaria pinched it between her thumb and forefinger and looked at it closely. The lines were indeed moving just a little. "Oh," she said in a small voice. "It is to help me find my way home." She smiled softly, sadness filling her eyes.

Gu Cheng moved up beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. "It is beautiful," he said.

For a moment, Zaria was lost in the shifting pattern. With a shake of her head, she stood up, walking out of the bedroom and stopping only to grab her shoes before leaving the apartment. Her thoughts were solely on the changing pendant. The color was still cold and icy white, but after watching the black mage for that long period as he made it, she knew that it started to move right before it changed color. It was almost time to leave. It was not until she looked into the mirror when she entered her bathroom that her mind was pulled away from thoughts of leaving.

"Good grief, I slept in my makeup?" Smears of cream eyeshadow and dark flecks of mascara lay underneath her eyes, giving her a vague resemblance to a circus clown. Her lipstick was long gone, but her lips were slightly swollen and red, a clear confirmation that Gu Cheng was being honest about her attacking his lips. "Oh," she said softly, touching her lips with her fingertips. She could not remember the deeds of the night before, but she did recall those of that morning.

Her eyes shuttered, and she thought of warm breath against her skin and dark eyes that made her mind go blank. A tear slipped out of the corner of one eye. The pendant was almost ready, just a day too late. If she had left the morning before, there would not be such a large pain in her chest. She wondered if she would be gone before she had to hear him say that it was all a mistake. It hurt to think it,but she hoped that she was.

The morning went in a blur. Instead of walking, she took a cab ride to the hospital, no longer concerned with conserving money. As the morning passed, the color of the pendant changed from white to rosy pink.

There was no need to go to the grocery store. Instead of returning to work, she took another cab to the sporting good store and purchased a durable messenger style bag to hold more vitamins and stable food products and feminine products. By chance, the shop assistant knew of a place where she could buy reusable sanitary pads that just needed to be washed out, as well as MREs. She went to that little surplus store in an area of town she had never been to and filled up her new bag with whatever it would hold that she thought she could use.

By the time she made it home, the sun was falling, and the pendant was red. The 'snakes' were writhing so much that she could not look at it. She made sure not to touch it so that it wasn't accidentally activated before she was ready. As she stepped from the elevator and turned toward her own door, she heard Gu Cheng's door open and his voice call out to her to wait. She resolutely walked forward and began to key in the code for her own door. His hand reached around her to stop her from opening the door when the beep sounded.

"Why are you avoiding me?" He asked roughly, his fingers wrapping around her hand and turning her around to face him.

"I'm not avoiding you," she said, blinking slowly up at him.

"You haven't answered any of my calls or messages all day, I thought something happened to you. Is your wrist okay?" His hand slid down her left arm and gingerly picked up the wrist that was wrapped with a compression bandage.

"Oh, I -" She looked down at her wrist in confusion. "I guess I didn't notice my phone going off. I have been busy today."

"Is your wrist okay," he asked again, tapping lightly on the bandage.

"They told me to wrap it for a while when I would be using that arm to keep it secure and to let it rest as much as I can. It's fine." She pulled her hand gently out of his and opened the door to the apartment behind her.

Gu Cheng followed her inside, frowning when she did not pause to take her hiking boots off before walking across the carpet. "Your shoes -" he started to say, but she was already passing around the corner into the hallway. He slipped quickly out of his own and put on his slippers before hurrying after her.

He found her in the main bedroom, pulling a backpack with a tent strapped to the top out of her closet. He watched as she pulled clean undergarments and a pair of jeans from her dresser and neatly rolled them up before securing the bag and walking into the bathroom. "Joseph Zaria, what are you doing?"

She did not close the bathroom door, so he followed her and stood in the doorway. Bathing products and a barely used bag of sanitary pads went into the messenger bag slung across her body, followed by her toothbrush and toothpaste. The bag was zipped up, and she walked past him into the bedroom again. His hand darted out and caught her arm as she passed. "Talk to me. Please."

Zaria stopped but kept her eyes trained on the backpack sitting on the bed nearby. "It's time for me to leave."

"Why? Because of last night?"

"Because it is time," she said softly. She held onto his hand with her free one, gently loosening his grip on her arm.

Gu Cheng let his hand drop to his side. "Why? Why do you have to leave now? Just stay here with me. We can take it as slow as you need."

The messenger bag went onto the bed while she pulled the backpack onto her back and tightened the straps so that it rested well and felt balanced. Then, the messenger bag was slung back over her shoulders. A small pink item that looked surprisingly like a stun gun was slid into her front pocket, where it bulged out comically. She finally looked up to meet his eyes. "I have to go, or I will never make it back to my home. I am sorry, Gu Cheng."

"Then I will follow you," he said confidently, striding toward her bedroom door. "Wait here, and I will pack a few things."

"You can't follow me," She said sadly. He turned back around, watching as she idly touched the pendant hanging around her neck. His brain registered that it was a different color, but he was frozen by the look of distress on her face. "You should go, though. Thank you, Gu Cheng."

"I'm not leaving if you are going to leave as soon as I do. But even if you do leave, I WILL follow you, Joseph Zaria, so why not just wait for me to go with you."

Zaria stared at him for a long moment and then smiled brilliantly. "You are going to make some woman very happy some day, CEO Gu Cheng. Thank you for everything you have done for me, I will never forget it." Then she turned and resolutely walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Gu Cheng stood still like a statue, staring at the closed door. The light from around the door brightened and then flared, making it look as though an explosion went off, but there was no sound. Gu Cheng finally felt his feet begin to move, running to the door and knocking on it. "Joseph Zaria, what was that? Are you alright?" There was no response, so he put his hand on the doorknob and called out frantically, "I am coming in!"

The doorknob was cool to the touch, and no heat was present when he stepped into the large bathing room. His eyes darted across every space and surface, but his mind could not process what he was seeing. There were no windows, no other doors, but Joseph Zaria was gone.