Sights | Zhongli x Reader [Vampire AU]

• Chapter Thirteen •

Zhongli's POV
The night before, after a while of convincing, Y/N got me to go home and rest. As soon as I woke up the next day, I had an idea.

"Why, good morning, Zhongli."
Madame Ping saw me, after gazing at her glaze lilies.

"Good morning."
I replied, taking a seat. She stood behind her table and gave me a kind grin.

"What brings you here so early? Would you like a taste of my sweet cup of tea to energize you for the day?"

I shook my head, before clearing my throat.
"Ah, no thank you. I came to greet you, but I also have a question to ask..."

She sat down across her small table.
"Is that so? It has been many moons since we have had a good discussion, care to elaborate?"

I peered around the area, to make sure that nobody was around to listen in.
"I recently met a good friend of mine, and she-"

Madame Ping smiled at me, like she already knew what I was going to say. It threw me off a little bit, I admit.

"And she... has been confusing my emotions for some time now."

"Confusing your emotions? My, that might lead to something big. How do feel around her?"

"I feel like I want more. From her.
As if I want to be more than just her friend. I do not understand it."

She chuckled and shook her head.

"...What is it?" I asked, practically sitting on the edge of my seat. I had been feeling that way for many days, and I urgently wanted to know the answer.

"You are in love, my boy."

Upon hearing it, my eyebrows furrowed. Both Baizhu and Madame Ping had told me the same piece of information... so I knew they were probably right.
"Then... what do I have to do...? To make the feeling perish?"

"The feeling will not go away, as long as it is true. Do you think it is true, real?"

My vision averted to the floor, and I thought hard about it.
There was no way what I was feeling was false. I was in love, for the first time ever.
"It is definitely real." I confirmed.

"You should tell her, perhaps she feels the same?"

"How would I do that?"

She sighed softly.
"Just tell her everything you have felt, from the second your eyes met till now, okay? And buy her some flowers... here, take some of my mora."

"Thank you, Madame." I started, standing up. I was feeling some sort of... confidence. "I will be sure to spend it well."

I bought some glaze lilies and qingxins for Y/N, because they are my favourite flowers. I did hope that she would like them.

Everything was going ever so smoothly, and it was a comforting feeling.

I got to the hospital and spotted Dr. Baizhu. He was pinching the top of his nose; when he noticed my arrival, he basically ran towards me.

"Zhongli! Have you seen Y/N?"

Those words hit me like a meteor.

"What...?" I whispered, almost dropping the flowers. "She is supposed to be cared for right here?"

Baizhu's eyes widened. He muttered something to the nurses behind him and they gave him a nod, then ran off.

"She wasn't in her bed for her first checkup this morning, and we have searched the entire place. She is nowhere to be seen."

My heart dropped, and I gulped. My mind quickly fogged with bad outcomes.
"Y/N was stabbed in the stomach, and will not be able to walk. Are you sure?"

"Yes, we're sure. The window in her room was wide open, she must have got out." He looked down.

"...Yet none of your nurses or doctors spotted her leaving?"

He didn't reply.
I took a deep breath, but took it upon myself to try and find her.
Baizhu watched as I left the reception and to Y/N's room. He was right, the window was open.

There was also a pool of blood stained on the mattress cover.
My fingers ran across the stain, ans it was dry... meaning she left a good few hours before I got there.

"This... does not make sense. She would not just leave... especially after being injured so severely." I spoke to nobody, and put the flowers I brought into the vase next to her. How come the one time I was to say something important, everything goes wrong?

I opened the drawers on the bedside table. There were a few magazines, not much else.

I peeked under the bed - nothing except a few unused tissues. I remembered she placed her bag there... but it was gone.

A few doctors walked in to the room, holding her bag.
"May I ask what were the contents of this bag?"

"I'm not sure if I'm of the authority to say."

"Please." I begged. "The patient here is my friend."

The main doctor cleared his throat.
"Empty and unused blood bags, as well as some mora. This belongs to the most recent patient who was in this room."

"Right... thank you."

I left the room, and then the hospital. I was not going to rest until she was home, until the girl I had fallen in love with was safe.