5. Mutual Attraction.

I slowly raised and bowed to the old couple to thank them for their cares and hospitality. The old woman raised and took my arm. “ Come with me , I will show you your bedroom for the night. “ She smiled to me and dragged me outside the room. “ Excuse us , gentlemen .  “ She bowed to the still eating men.

She dragged me outside and we walked in the hallway silently. I coughed lightly. “ Don’t worry , everything should be alright. “ She suddenly said and I looked at her surprised. “ Pardon me? “ I asked. She looked at me and smiled. “ As I said, they are just men. This stupid Emperor made them promise not to have any women. We can’t blame them when they saw one. “ I looked down. She stopped in front of two closed doors. “ You will stay here for the night. I hope you will find it comfortable. “ She smiled and I bowed to thank her. “ Thank you Madame. Thank you for all your care and your great advices. “  She smiled and walked away. She had this kind of aura that put you in trust with her.

I slowly opened the door. There was some covers on the ground with some candle. It wasn’t my old bedroom but it was better than sleeping outside on the cold ground. There was a big window that showed the magnificence of the garden under the moonlight. The rain had stopped but I guessed , after all the liquor consumed , they considered it to be better if we still stayed the night. I installed the covers on the ground and blew off the candles. I needed this good night of sleep.

I my side , facing the near wall. There was a little hole in the wall and I could see on the other side. There was probably another bedroom since I could see the covers still fold. Nobody was there yet.  I closed my eyes slowly, waiting for my dreams to take me away.

I heard a door sliding. I immediately raised and looked to see if someone was in my room. I walked to the door , that was still closed and opened it. Nobody was there in the hallway. I stayed like that , skeptical and finally closed them again and walked back to my bed and closed my eyes again as I was now facing the other side of the wall.

“ Meiying? “ I heard a familiar voice say. I raised on my elbow? “ Who are you? A ghost? “ I said afraid. I heard someone laugh and I fell back in my initial position on the ground. It turned around to face the wall again and I froze.

In the small hole , I saw his face. He was facing me also. We looked at each other like that for a moment. “ Yixing? “ I asked. He smiled still looking at me.  “ Sorry if I scared you. “ He simply said biting his lip. I looked around. “ It’s nothing. Sorry , I didn’t expected your bedroom to be this close to mine. “ I said finally looking back at him. He was so close to the hole and so was I. The only thing separating us was the actual thin material used to built the wall.

“ We should sleep now. “ I said. “ I guess tomorrow will also be a long day. Goodnight. “ I added. I smiled to him and turned around. He was now facing my back through the small hole.

“ Meiying? “ He still added. I stayed in the same position. I faked to sleep so the conversation might stop. It’s not that I didn’t like talking to him, I just had nothing to say. All was said by the way we were looking at each other. There was no need to deny it. He was attractive. Physically and mentally. He was handsome, sweet , caring, kind… The perfect man. The only thing was that I didn’t even know why I was there with him. I didn’t even know him this much. I wasn’t from this era and having a crush wasn’t the best idea since I might have to go back at any time. I closed my eyes and tried to think of something else but nothing worked. I still had those butterflies in my stomack each time my name was coming out of his soft lips. I couldn’t let myself having a crush for him. First I was from 2015, also , I already had a boyfriend. Things were complicated enough with him that I didn’t need another man to come and put me in even more troubles.

Another important thing was the vow he made himself.  Not only I couldn’t let myself being attracted to him but so couldn’t he. Still… Why were we always ending looking at each other this way?

“ Meiying? “ He repeated. Stop it please. He sighed. He waited a couple of minutes. “ I don’t know if you are really asleep or not… but I am sorry. I am sorry for embarrassing you this much. You were so stunning tonight… I couldn’t keep my eyes out of you.  I think neither did the rest of my men. I should have been more professional and showed them the example. For the embarrassment I am truly sorry. I am not usually the type of men to be affected by those type of things … I will try my best to work on that. “ He said sadly. I shivered lightly at what he said. Something in what he said made me really sad … but what? And Why?

I heard him moving and I looked over my shoulder. He was , also, facing the other direction. “ None on the less… “ He started from the other side of the wall. “ You were stunning. Never did my eyes saw something or someone as beautiful as you were tonight. I just wanted you to know that. Not showing the example to my men was my lacking as a General but not telling you how beautiful you were tonight was my lacking as a man. “ He sighed again. I smiled unconsciously when he told me that.

Yixing was truly the perfect man. Simply just a man from another century…

I finally closed my eyes once I managed to calm my racing heart. I needed to have some rest since tomorrow was a whole new day.

I woke up when the maids came into my bedroom. I noticed the sun was already up. What hour was it? Did they even know what hours, minutes