Yawning, I rested my head on Zhongli's shoulder. He was calmly talking about his favourite flowers, and what they remind him of. Even if I didn't completely understand, the feeling of hearing his soft tone made the moment even more sweet.
"Are you getting sleepy, love?" Zhongli had noticed my constant yawning and held back his eager love of plants. He ran his hands through my hair and gazed down at me in awe.
"A little... but I want to hear more about the flowers, I like listening about them." I gave Zhongli a warm smile and intertwined my fingers with his.
"Oh? You like the plants or just the sound of my voice?" Zhongli teased while holding my hand tight.
"The plants." I jokingly replied. Morax chuckled and pulled me closer to him.
"Darling, if you're tired, then you should rest."
"..But Morax, I want to listen to you." I pouted and tried to seem more awake than I was.
Zhongli simply smiled at my response.
"Well, we have tomorrow, the day after, the day after that, and so on. That's a benefit of time, we have lots of it." Soon enough, I gave in.
"Okayy... fine, I'll sleep... but do you promise to be here when I wake up?"
"Of course, I promise."
Soon enough, we both fell asleep.
♡◇♡
In what I first thought was the middle of the night, I woke up suddenly. As I was about to turn over and hug Zhongli, I noticed he wasn't there at all. It was not like him to wander off on his own, especially in the night - so I went to search for him.
"..Zhongli? Where are you?" I spotted Morax sitting on his own downstairs. His expression seemed serious, unlike usual.
"Are you okay, love?" I asked in confusion. Zhongli did not even make eye contact with me.
"Leave."
His words pierced me like a dagger.
"..Huh?"
"Leave, Y/N. Go." He used my full first name, not even a nickname.
"What..? What do you mean?" My heart was beating very fast. Zhongli never acted this stern.
"I don't love you, and I never will... Fine. If you don't want to leave, then I shall." Not even a goodbye.
"...You.. you promised.." Was all I could spit out, before Zhongli left the room.
I couldn't move or say anything, couldn't even plead for him to come back. I felt like a statue.
♡◇♡
Before I even knew it, I snapped awake from the horrible nightmare I had. Tears were streaming down my face as I lay back, staring at the ceiling.
Zhongli, on the other hand, was watching me. His heart was shattering piece by piece.
"Bad dream..? You kept shouting my name, dear." Zhongli pulled me into his arms. He wiped the tears off of my cheeks with his thumb.
"I-.. I had a nightmare... that you left me." I pushed my face into a pillow and tried not to cry anymore.
"I would not and will never leave you." Zhongli pulled my closer to him again and reassured me of this.
I slowly wrapped my arms around Zhongli's stomach and leaned against him, like a hug. He kissed me on the head and I sighed in relief, acknowledging that I'm safe with him.