𝓑𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓣𝓸𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 | ℤ𝕙𝕦 𝕐𝕦𝕒𝕟 【×】 𝕆ℂ

Prologue

"Gooooood morning, New Eridu! It's a bright, new, and beautiful day in the city, and today, we have something special..."

The words of the radio soon began to drown out. Her vision black for but a moment, her vermillion, orang-ish-colored eyes began to flutter awake. She groaned loudly, almost humming along with the slight chirping of the birds outside, the slight sunbeams of light permeating through the blinds of the window. Heaving a breath as she rose up, she took a glance to her left.

Expecting someone to be there, their silhouette was no more. But rather, the remnants of a person in a lie down position was once there. A slight indent to the mattress, evidence at the fact someone laid there, and a well sizable divot in the pillow to show that someone had indeed put their head there. The girl seemed to have frowned, a bit bothered that they didn't feel the warmth of their presence (and overall body) to be there. Rubbing her eyes and tucking some of her bed-headed black hair, with some red highlights in them, behind her ear, she reached over to the nightstand next to the bed.

Grabbing the phone that was there, sitting on the stand of the lamp, she checked the time. It was about the midday of the early morning, between eight thirty to nine. Because of the time, she let out a deep sigh and flopped back onto the bed.

She groaned into her pillow. As much as she loved what she does throughout the day, there were times she wished for the simpler pleasures of life. One such thing being to lie down in bed and bask in the company of her partner.

---

Light humming could be heard coming from the other room, as well as the delicious smell that had slipped through the slight crack of the door. Zhu Yuan smiled as she hopped off the bed, but not before fixing it up and making it look tidy and neat.

First heading to the mirror, which stood right next to the wardrobe, she had to step over the numerous small piles of clothes around the room. She frowned, mostly because she and her partner had been rather busy that they hadn't had time to fix up their own room. But such was the life of their busy careers. While his wasn't as serious as her's, this past week, the closing time of the establishment he worked at seemed to be getting late into the evening by the hour.

Putting her long hair into a ponytail with a simple hair tie, and fixing up her shirt a little (a simple white tee that was over-sized and reached all the way down to the bottom of her waist), Zhu made herself at least a bit presentable. Well, this was still a bit scandalous in some people's eyes, but at the very least, she was covered up in the right places. Poking her head out of the room, hearing the hum a little bit louder, she stepped into the hallway that led toward the living area.

Poking her head around the corner, she looked through the doorway that connected into the kitchen, where she spotted her partner by the sink. The range was just to his right and it seemed that he was cutting something up on the chopping board, evident by the parable and thunking "chunk" of the knife hitting the wood as it cut through whatever he was cutting. The young man himself was of average height and build, nothing too special, but from her angle, it did seem that he had quite a bit of muscle. Short white hair that reached to about the top of his neck, a bit wavy and spiky itself, and light blue highlights in his own hair. Unironically a contrast to her own hair.

However, the smile she kept was still one of admiration. They first met each other in high school. The two were part of vastly different worlds, so to speak. She was a star student with the highest marks possible, athletic and smart, almost like she was the perfect student. Back then, he wasn't necessarily the most exceptional student there was. Most would consider him average. He didn't have the best grades nor was he the most athletic. Part of their school's basketball team, but he wasn't a starter or a regular, or anything of the like. He was more of a substitute, subbing for any of the starters/regulars if they couldn't participate any longer during any games. Even though he wasn't the most ambitious there was, there was one thing that Zhu Yuan noticed.