She almost tripped down the stairs.
Chan Lee had been in no condition to do heavy lifting, but like a criminal who wanted to stow away evidence—she had carried him over from the rooftop to her room.
And now he was slumbering like a sleeping beauty on her bed.
She groaned and sat on the floor, hugging her knees together. Glowering at the figure on her bed, she bumped her head on the wall.
What exactly was she thinking?
She could have called for an ambulance or an investigation unit to take him away. It was all too suspicious.
She had blacked out and woken up to him on the roof, he called for her and then passed out like her. What did he want?
Biting her inner cheek, she remembered it clearly.
His expression wavered when he saw her. The look of surprise as he reached out and called her name—well not her name.
It was his baby blue eyes.
The doe-eyed look he had given her.
It was a look that had her heart swearing that he didn't mean any harm.
"I'm such a fool," Running her fingers through her hair. Anybody could pretend and try to get her guard down, maybe he was already deciding when to pounce on her.
"Nghh..." a soft groan erupted.
Chan Lee raised her head to look at him, the man tossing in his sleep but not waking up. A part of her knew that this wasn't some set-up, she stood up. But then what was this? Who was he?
Was he even a 'he' in the typical sense?
It was with this query that she found her steps closing the distance between them. She stared at his face, long silver locks framed a soft face of youthful features, a button nose and—she slapped a hand over her face.
"This feels so wrong."
He wasn't an alien, at least what she expected an alien to look like. Han Jing's words earlier still resonated in the back of her mind for some reason. But if this wasn't some sort of foul play, then he really was someone from the—
Or maybe he was the figment of her imagination.
She rubbed her face tiredly, as if that was the case. She had carried him and felt his weight on her—he was heavier than he looked.
"I should have left him at the roof, could have been somebody else's problem—"
Knock.
Knock knock.
"Chan Lee?"
She froze, recognizing the speaker. It was the landlady. "Uh, please wait for a moment." Looking left and right, there wasn't anything she could use to hide him. Chan Lee reluctantly stepped towards the door, tossed one look at the slumbering figure and opened the door.
"What a pleasant surprise, madam Dongxia. Anything I can do for you?" she asked the older woman. The door was open by just a fraction and she was leaning on the door frame and giving her best of smiles.
"Did you feel the shockwave earlier?" Dongxia's forehead creased together, lips curled down. "I was just watching the news when it happened! It had my poor cat leaping out from my lap."
So the meteor had caused a shockwave even without physical evidence? Chan Lee fidgeted for a moment, "Y-yeah, I think so. I was gathering laundry earlier and felt faint for a couple of moments."
Or lost consciousness for that matter.
Dongxia's eyes widened, leaning towards her. "My, do you feel alright? What a stroke of bad luck."
"I'm fine!" Chan Lee stepped back, cursing inwardly. "Though I think I'll be getting to bed soon."
The older woman didn't seem to notice or question her actions. "That sounds like a good idea, better that you res—"
"H-Hello?"
Chan Lee froze at the sound of his voice.
Her landlady blinked for a moment. "Are you with someone right now?"
"Chan—"
"N-not at all!" She raised her voice loudly, vehemently shaking her head. "Noisy television I'd say—"
This time however, Dongxia crossed her arms. "I know you're not living with your parents but I do feel like you're a daughter of mine, so something like this..." It was as if the older lady had reached a sensible conclusion to Chan Lee's actions .
On occasions like this one, she would have invited the landlady into her room and offered her tea.
"I suppose you're at that age already, looking for these conventional relationships..."
Chan Lee felt her face heat up, "You've got it all wrong, I really am heading to my bed."
"Such ambiguous answers, what will you be doing in the bed?" A teasing grin was on the landlady's face. "Or should I say, who will you be doing there?"
"I'll be sleeping actually—so please excuse me... uh, goodbye!"
Without waiting for any further replies, she closed the door. Man, she hoped that the landlady didn't get any funny ideas or even kick her out for being so rude. She spun to her 'guest'.
Someone who chose to wake up at the best possible time.
A hesitant smile on his face, the man not saying anything else. Now that she could stare at him, he stood a head taller than her, he was pulling at what she now noticed to be a layered set of white and light blue robes. They looked a bit flimsy as he kept tugging them up—she tried to ignore the pale skin of his shoulders and chest being exposed every time he stopped fixing them.
She really didn't need to drool right now, pulling her composure together, she eyed him askance.
"Who are you?"
"Do you not recognize me?" He quietly asked, his hands dropping to his side.
Her heart squeezed slightly but she stood her ground, "How did you get on my rooftop?"
"I-I don't know, all I remember was pounding medicine for Chang'e." He fiddled with the sleeves of his robes, looking around her room. "But now I realize that this isn't the moon or any celestial realm..."
Chan Lee stared at him blankly, waiting for him to admit that it was all nonsense and that she was in some kind of gag show. Did they install hidden cameras while she was gone? Was Han Jing and madam Dongxia playing along?
But the gibberish he was speaking of sounded so fam—it was the legend of the moon.
"You look so much like her that I thought we were just transferred..."
She cut him off with a question. "Are you telling me that you're the moon bunny? Moon rabbit?"
He bowed respectfully at her, "Or the Jade Rabbit. A pleasure to meet you, Young Miss."
Both her head and chest were hurting painfully right now.
"You're the one who creates the immortality elixir?"
"I pound the elixir for Chang'e, yes." He nodded with a pleasant smile.
He was delusional, she was sure of that. Or it could be her. But madam Dongxia noticed his presence so she wasn't imagining things... but if that was the case, he really was the—her thoughts were getting all jumbled up right now.
She took in a steady breath, "Alright, let's say I stoop to your level and believe you're from the moon—nearly four hundred thousand kilometers away from the earth... not only that, but you're a bunny." She looked at him from head to toe.
If he had a tail or rabbit ears, she would have believed him. And she probably would have ran away at sight if that had been the case.
His face lit up, "Oh, we're on earth??"
She clutched her head. "I'm going nuts."
"Ah, those sounds like a delectable thing to eat...but are you alright?" his voice tinged with concern.
"Are you some sort of spirit? Should I get an exorcist?" Chan Lee asked herself, pacing back and forth on the floor. "Why did it have to be me? Do I really have bad luck or karma? Please tell me this is a dream."
"I don't think this is a dream...maybe you should sit down first?" He suggested hopefully. "Or drink some tea to calm your nerves?"
Tossing a tired look at him, that did feel like the best course of action right now. Or she could toss him out right now and pretend this never happened.
He didn't seem like the type who'd lift a hand against a girl if she tried to kick him out. And even if he did try something, it was easy enough to scream and fight back—they were in an apartment. People would come and save her.
Hold on.
She forgot about something. She was getting too caught up on what she could do about this situation. She never asked what he could do.
"Uh, Mister Moon Rabbit?" She couldn't believe she was calling him by that name.
"Yes...um, I didn't catch your name, Young Miss?"
"It's Chan Lee." Alright, she could do this.
"Chan Lee." He repeated her name, mulling over it before meeting her gaze once again. "A pleasure to meet you Miss Chan Lee!" He beamed at her.
His smile was immensely effective!
She wanted to clutch her heart, "Thanks...do you happen to know how to get back to the moon?"
There. She said it.
"...oh, I suppose you want me to leave." His smile wavering slightly, "That does make sense..."
"Yeah, you make the medicine for Chang'e right?"