Min Li woke up cold.
Min Li decided that she was tired of this. Again, she had woken up to dark and that was not because the lights in her room were turned off.
This time was a bit different however, Min Li had a little bit of strength. She could wiggle her toes and slightly move her tongue though it did protest it was so dry.
There was about ten minutes of total silence.
No one had come in like they usually did to visit her and the crown prince, and she had nothing to do.
She heard some loud, colourful snores from the corner, probably from the doctor, but that wasn’t enough to pique her interest.
Being bored beyond her imagination, Min Li decided that it was due time she did something about it.
Mustering all the strength that she had at her disposal she resolved to wake up her new roommate.
She moved the arm closest to Fenhua in that direction by sliding it along the bed sheet. She had no strength to actually pick up her hand.
To her surprise that side of the bed was totally cold and Fenhua was nowhere near her.
Being as bored as she was, Min Li decided to play a little experiment to figure out whether she was right that she could feel the crown prince’s emotions and vice versa.
She decided to start with the first emotion she could drum up, happiness.
She thought about all the good things that had happened to her recently. She thought about finding out that she was the chosen one’s chosen friend. She thought about her having completed a lot of work.
She was stuck for a minute as she wasn’t sure what else had happened that she was happy for.
She tried to approach happiness from a different angle. Not the good things that had happened to her recently, but rather the good things in general that she was thankful for.
Min Li thought about her friends and family, she thought about the fact that she had a job, a roof over her head and always had food to eat and water to drink. Min Li thought about the fact that she had a nice comfortable bed to lie in.
And it worked. Fenhua didn’t come in, but Min Li felt genuine happiness within her heart and soul.
Min Li remembered that Fenhua was staying far away from her on purpose. He wouldn’t come in for a little thing like happiness.
So next she tried to figure out if her feeling anger was good enough motivation for Fenhua.
She thought about all the things that annoyed her.
She thought about Fenhua purposely avoiding her. She thought about Jess crossing boundaries with the crown prince. She thought about Kit confessing his love for her when she wasn’t even in a position to rebuke it.
It was much easier than pinpointing things that made her happy, but there was nothing on Fenhua’s end.
Min Li wondered whether maybe her theory was wrong and there was no real mental connection between herself and Fenhua.
But maybe what had gone wrong was it could be that Fenhua was used to her feeling frustrated so it wasn’t sufficient motivation for him to come and look for her.
Min Li decided that she was going to give it one last shot and then she would hang it up.
There was one emotion that she knew that he would most definitely come to look for her if she expressed it.
She had been trying to be nice and give him other opportunities to prove there was a mental connection between them with happiness and anger, but the man just wouldn’t bite.
She just needed to prove her theory was right and if it wasn’t then she would put down everything about powers once and for all.
Desperate measures call for desperate times.
Min Li thought about things that made her scared. She thought about how much her reoccurring nightmares frightened her. She thought about the possibility that she wouldn’t ever find somewhere that she could fit in forever. She thought about how losing a friend or someone who she would consider a family member would make her feel.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
A tear nearly fell from her eye from the amount of sadness and fear that the very last thought brought up.
I am so sweet, she giggled. I really care about people. Whoever picked me picked correctly, I truly am the chosen one’s chosen friend.
Focus. Min Li admonished herself. if her own emotions were confused, she was sure that the emotions that Fenhua felt through the bond were also not stable.
Min Li focused on the main thing that could conjure up fear inside her. She focused on the nightmares and walking to lay on the cold metal table by herself with no one to save her, not being able to control her own body.
The arm that Min Li had tried to search for Fenhua with, started to move frantically.
Min Li’s brain had seemed to have realised that something about her position now and her position in her nightmares was the same and it was throwing her into panic mode.
She couldn’t control her body in her nightmares, and she was also struggling to control her body here.
Fear had gripped her, and her brain was now throwing her body around hectically in convulsions and rebellion of the situation she had put herself in.
That will teach me. I should have never had tried to play with somebody else’s emotions.
From the yelp, the old snoring doctor had woken up and realised that there was something wrong with Min Li. To be honest it wasn’t hard, even the blind would have known by the way she was moving that there was something wrong with her.
Min Li wondered whether the queen’s threats to the doctor had done a number on him emotionally. Nothing he was doing was at all effective in helping her. She carried on buzzing around on her bed. She could feel the doctor moving a little faster than he usually did around her.
Perhaps because of the pride of the doctor or his confidence in his abilities, he hadn’t yet called out for help.
Bless the old doctor’s heart he was really trying.
He was turning her on her side. He was removing some of the blanket around her that was irritating her. He was supporting her head some more. But none of it made Min Li feel a stitch better.
“BOOOMMMM.”
Min Li’s door had been thrown open and she could tell just through the pace at which he had come in and the panic in the steps that it was the crown prince.
The crown prince cared not one bit about the doctor’s pride or his abilities. He cared not that the old doctor was trying his best to help her.
Min Li could practically see Fenhua throw the doctor away from her and take his place.
Automatically Min Li felt relief.
His smell filled her senses. He smelt woodsy with a slight hint of vanilla, peach blossoms and cocoa. She had forgotten that a man could smell so light and comforting.
The servant men, though they did try, didn’t smell that good. Though their scent was usually greatly masculine, it was also usually a little bit musty, but not in the best way. It must have been all the baths that the crown prince lavishly took that made him smell so different.
Min Li was again warmly hit with the scent of the crown prince as the hem of a cloth, which from the smell Min Li’s was sure was part of the crown prince’s garment, touched her face. With the garment, the crown prince cleaned off the sweat from Min Li’s face as well as the drool that she hadn’t even known that she had released.
“You haven’t even fully recovered yet. You can’t be next to her. It may be good for her now, but later it could open up a whole can of worms.”
Min Li hadn’t realised but Joe had come in with the crown prince.
“I don’t care.”
“You two have been too close recently. The more time you spend with her, the more chance that she will be able to break the barrier-”
“I Don’t Care.”
“But prince, the prophe-”
“I SAID I DON’T CARE.”
It was the first time Min Li had seen Fenhua get so angry that he couldn’t control the pitch of his voice, especially against his best friend.
Fenhua, as a good crown prince should be, was always calm and collected, well apart from the time she had ruined his food. He was always in control of his emotions and he never acted on whim, well apart from the time Kit was proposing marriage to Min Li in front of the sleeping crown prince.
For little old me. Min Li was flattered that the man was displaying such a lack of control for her.
For a second she wondered whether liking such a thing was a toxic trait, but she dismissed it thinking that the crown prince had deprived her of so much of him when avoiding her that she was bound to get happy at the littlest of love he showed her.
“Prince-” Joe was sounding completely desperate now.
“SILENCE. SHE CAN HEAR YOU.”
Exactly. Can you not leave me and my man in peace?. Min Li was surprised with her own thoughts; she sounded much like Jess but on a lighter note she was now sure she could kind of control her facial expressions.
She had frowned hard at the disruption of her and the prince’s little love cocoon by Joe.
Min Li’s body was now only twitching very lightly but the crown prince continued holding Min Li close in his arms.
At that point Min Li knew that the connection that they had was like nothing else. The crown prince had come in desperately to save her just by notice through their now obvious emotional link. On top of that, through Min Li’s mark she could feel a flow of love, happiness and peace.
The crown prince had been whispering in Min Li’s ear for some time now.
Who am I to deserve the crown prince whispering sweet nothings in my ear? Min Li thought.
“Wake up soon Min Li, you don’t smell too good.”
“Don’t worry, I am here for you, but it is hard given the amount of drool you have let out.”
Min Li’s favourite line was that while rocking her gently and stroking her hair softly, Fenhua had said, “Your hair is an absolute mess, if the queen saw this, she would have a fit, just like you are having now.”
It may have not sounded good to anyone else, but it sounded good to her. Fenhua must have known by the happiness she was sure that she was releasing through the bond. When they had been young and were told to compliment each other or they had to comfort each other, they had always done the very opposite.
And when others had looked at them like they were mad, they were happy and content that they had a bond that although no one else could understand, couldn’t be broken.