The Other Side of the Mask

Two hours pass, and I scream for the third time.

XiaoLong looks at me, "Bruh, how did you even make it to Eclipse Palace and back."

"Well, two hours is nothing compared to four hours! Besides, I was too nervous about being found out!"

He moves to sit beside and puts my head on his shoulder. I can feel his hand somewhere around my back, and I unconsciously blush in this awkward position.

Then he whispers, "Sleep," and freaking knocks me out!

I wake up once the carriage stops in a town in the North.

The moment I wake up, I scream, "XIAOLONG!"

He covers my mouth and apologizes, "Okay, okay, I'm sorry but it's not as bad of a ride when you sleep."

I fume and glare at him. My anger doesn't stay too long though, as I look outside at the white plains and ice capped mountains.

"Wow…" I muster out, speechless.

I could feel XiaoLong's smile as if he was saying, 'See? I told you so!'

I walk around on the snow, feeling the coldness and the crunching sounds beneath me. I bend down and touch the snow. Super cold! XiaoLong suddenly comes over and grabs both my arms. He blows warm air from his mouth which wisps up like smoke.

"Don't do that, or else you'll get a frostbite!" he scolds me.

"O-ohh… ok…"

Suddenly, the pure white snow starts to fall from the sky. I glance at the beautiful snowflakes and smile. XiaoLong was right, I do like them.

"Wow, it's snowing," he comments, holding his hands out.

Finally, after getting over the fact about snow, we check in at the hotel for the night.

"Ugh," I mutter in disgust, "Why one room? I know it's less cheap but…"

XiaoLong hugs me from behind, catching me surprised which leads me to almost dropping our room card.

"Wow, money's not the problem here, QiLing. Of course we're only getting one room~"

We settle our stuff down and head to explore the town. I open the map.

"Hmm, so this is the biggest town in the north of Yue Kingdom… famous for warm clothing, mines, and … bunnies?"

I look over at XiaoLong with a what-is-with-this-kingdom look.

He just laughs in response and comments, "They're really cute."

My face darkens by instinct.

"Ah, of course not cuter than you~," XiaoLong corrects himself.

I give him an I-don't-believe-you look and a I'm-going-to-kill-them-all-bunnies look… however that looks like, and I start to walk away.

Of course XiaoLong tries to make me believe him, doing all sorts of stuff, but I stand unwavering… until we see the bunnies.

"Awww! They're the fluffiest, cutest, most adorable thing ever!"

This time, it is XiaoLong's turn to get jealous. His face turns red with fury as he retorts.

"Huh, these things huh…"

His eyes are blazing, as he actually pulls out his sword. I immediately drop the bunny and hug XiaoLong from his back. Shocked, he drops his sword.

"D-don't kill them, you were the one who first said they were cute so now we're even!"

He puts his hands on mine, "Yeah, ok fine."