Ash [Prince Zuko - Book Two]

❃Chapter Thirteen❃

"Really?" Jet whispered, cocking his head to the side. "It looks weird."

"It's lychee tea." His whole body froze just for a second before his face broke out in a smile. However, the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Asake didn't want to ruin the moment between the two of them, though, so she ignored it. "It's really good."

"I know." He let out a breath, like he was holding it or something. Asake wasn't sure what was going on in his mind right now, but his smile finally reached his eyes again. "I've had lychee nuts before, and I made lychee tea out of them. It wasn't that good, though."

"Really? I don't think I've ever had lychee nuts."

"They're really popular in the Earth Kingdom." Jet shrugged. It was Asake's turn to hold her breath because she was worried that he was putting two and two together that she really wasn't from the Earth Kingdom since she hadn't had lychee nuts before. "Back where I used to live, there were hundreds of thousands of lychee nuts covering the forest floor."

He didn't seem to think about what she just said that much, so she let out her breath that she was holding. "Where did you live before coming here?" She picked up her chopsticks when the man came back with Jet's food, pretending to eat some noodles. When he was gone, she asked, "Is it far from here?"

"It doesn't matter anymore," he said, shaking his head. His hair fell into his eyes, covering the look that appeared on his face. It seemed like she struck a nerve. "It's in the past."

"I understand." Asake nodded encouragingly. She was kind of glad that he wouldn't tell her where she was from because she didn't want him to ask her that question. "I don't really like to talk about my past, either."

He gave her a short smile, eating one of the noodles. He frowned, swallowing hard. Asake held in her laughter when his face scrunched up. "Ugh, you're right," he said, making her laugh. "Hey, I don't know your name, do I?"

"No," she said, grinning at him. "Maybe I want it that way."

"No fair!" Jet narrowed his eyes. For some reason, a shiver traveled down her back at the sight of that. "I know you know my name."

"I do."

"Come on!" he whined, the dark look falling off of his face. "I want to know your name."

"Why?"

Jet had a lopsided grin on his face when he said, "Because I think you're an awesome person. Plus, you're really cute."

Asake smiled, feeling the tips of her ears burn. She brushed her short hair out of her face. She liked the feelings she had whenever he was around. It was easy and simple being with him, not loud and angry and so hard. He was a different boy than the one she had in her mind. Maybe that was why she found herself saying, "Mo."

"Mo?"

"That's my name." 

"Mo," he said slowly. It didn't sound right coming off of his tongue. "That doesn't really fit you."

Asake wished she could tell him her real name, but then he'd know that she wasn't from the Earth Kingdom. No one here in Ba Sing Se could know where she truly was from. "Well, it's my name. I can't really change it, can I?"

"You're right," Jet said, nodding. "But I can give you nickname." He tilted his head to the side, staring at Asake. She fidgeted under his eyes, but she held his gaze. His eyes were quite pretty; they were dark brown, a creamy color. Almost the same color as the lychee tea. "I have a couple nicknames I could call you. The first one is Lychee because it's the tea we're drinking." Asake let out a laugh, shaking her head. "The second one is Spark because you have a certain spark in your eyes."