CHAPTER 9: WHO AM I?

Cecilia stood in front of her bedroom wall, staring at the drawings that she drew from her dreams. They filled half of the wall, making it looked like a montage for her to look. There was one particular image that she fixated on. It was an image of a faceless couple, a man putting the heart necklace on the woman’s neck, and she reached to touch it. Her fingers traced the outlines of what she drew, pondering who they might be that visited in her dream.

Xing Fu entered into her room to check on her. He saw her stood across the room, with her back towards him, like a statue. Ever since the incident with Guo Jing, Xiao Xing had withdrawn herself from him and hadn’t been eating for days. He felt bad and wished that they had never gone to the clinic in the first place if he knew this was going to happen. On the wall, he saw her drawings; she had turned his wall into a wallpaper of art, making it unrecognizable to him. He walked toward her and stood next to her.

“You drew these?”

“Yes,” she answered sadly.

He saw her hand placed on the drawing of the couple and scratched his head. “Why didn’t you paint any faces on them?”

“In my dream, they were faceless.”

“Oh…” Then Xing Fu saw something on the wall that intrigued him. It was a picture of the heart necklace and he pointed at it.

“Hmm…I’ve seen this before.”

She raised an eyebrow and turned to look at him. “Where?”

He remembered something and hit his forehead with his hand, “Stupid me! Wait here. I needed to give it to you.”

He turned around and left her bewildered by his strange behavior. What does he mean ‘give’? Unknowing what it may be, she waited patiently for his return. A couple of minutes later, Xing Fu came back with a wooden box in his hands. He placed it on the table and lifted the lid up. Inside were her folded set of clothes and boots that she wore before she came to Mortal realm, and in the center, was the diamond heart necklace. It was the exact duplicate from her dream.

“You wore these when I found you,” he said.

She slowly picked up the necklace and felt the smooth texture from the small diamonds against her fingers. Besides seeing it in her dreams, there was something familiar about its meaning, but she couldn’t grasp what it was.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about this earlier. I had forgotten about it when I was…” He started to blush and continued, “…worrying about you…”

Cecilia gave him a warm smile, “I understand.”

With one hand still holding on to the necklace, she touched the folded outfit with her other hand. She felt the smooth leathered shirt against her hand and just like the necklace, it felt familiar to her.

“I must say, I’ve gone to many vast lands but had never seen any clothes like yours. You must be from somewhere far.”

She thought about what he said and remembered the different ethnic groups of people she saw at Mu Village, wondering if she was also from a similar place like theirs.

Xing Fu continued, “…and as for the faceless couple that you drew, I believed the woman is you and the man must be…” he hesitated to say it and took a deep breath. In a low tone of voice, he continued, “…someone that you loved.”

“loved?”

Her smile got wider, knowing that there was a little hope for her. The mystery man was the only one that may know who she was.

“I need to find him.”

His heart dropped to his stomach for a bit from hearing her words. For the past week of knowing Cecilia, he had developed feelings for her and hoped to know more about her. Now that he knew she might have a lover, it became hopeless for him. Xing Fu valued high respect for others, so for him to take another man’s woman, especially in Cecilia’s situation, was unfair and too cruel.

He faintly smiled, “I will help you then.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

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In her bedroom she wore her black outfit and necklace and looked at herself in the small mirror. The clothing style looked very different from what she used to or anyone else that she had seen. They were tighter and single layered. She touched the necklace and asked herself, “Who am I?”