Our Mirrored World

Chapter Thirty - Relief

“What the? What the heck is a tree plant doing here?” Kirstin furrowed her eyebrows after she entered Zarina’s apartment.

There was a slightly huge tree plant in the middle of the hallway, she just shrugged and looked for Zarina inside of her apartment.

She noticed that the kitchen was a mess and noticed that there was a newly cooked soup over there, “Did she cook this?” Kirstin wondered before looking for her inside of her bedroom.

That’s where she noticed Zarina sleeping intently. She gazed at the bedside table and noticed that there was a tray containing a bowl of soup.

“Did she actually cook it or someone was here to do it?” She wondered because how could a sick person cook without getting dizzy?

She thought this woman was truly a robot but then shook her head and touched Zarina’s forehead. She hissed in pain when she felt how hot she was.

“She’s burning, she probably didn’t drink any medicine,” Kirstin clicked her tongue before taking out the medicine she brought from the pharmacy nearby.

“Zarina, wake up,” Kirstin gently tapped her shoulders, so Zarina grunted in pain before she slowly opened her eyes.

“H-Huh? Ugh, L-Lu--” Zarina stopped after she saw who it was right in front of her, “K-Kirstin!” She suddenly raised her body while gazing around her surroundings.

She sighed in relief when she didn’t see anyone aside from her. Was it a dream that she saw Luther a while ago?

“Zarina, you have to lie down, you’re burning and you have to rest, the boss already heard about your state and your people were finishing up your part of work,” Kirstin informed before grabbing the tray from her side.

“I can’t believe that you cooked even if you're sick, you should’ve called someone to help you cook this soup,” Kirstin scolded, so Zarina furrowed her eyebrows at her.

“What do you mean? I didn’t--” She stopped when she realized that it was probably Luther and she saw him a while ago, it wasn’t a dream that he was here.

She got worried for a moment and probably thought that he’s hiding somewhere since Kirstin was acting normal.

“W-What are you doing here?” Zarina weakly asked as she rested her back at the headboard of her bed.

“Like I said, I was worried about you, so I came here after work, don’t worry, I’ll head home after you drink medicine,” Kirstin politely stated.

“But of course, you must be full first before drinking some meds, so here,” She winked at Zarina before raising the spoon at her mouth.

“I-I can feed myself, so just give it to me,” Zarina mumbled, but Kirstin stubbornly shook her head at her.

“Just let me feed you, don’t be embarrassed, I won’t tell anyone,” Kirstin reassured her, so she just sighed before nodding at her.

She wanted her to leave as soon as possible, Luther might have a hard time hiding around her apartment.

Everything must be strange for him, Zarina thought since Luther doesn’t have any background from their world like she is from the novels that she reads related to his world.

He’s probably confused and lost, so she’s wondering how Luther managed to cook from her kitchen. 

It wasn’t long until Zarina finished eating the rest of the soup with the help of Kirstin. She took out the medicine from the paper bag before giving it to Zarina.

“You may now drink that so that your temperature will cool down,” Kirstin informed before giving her some glass of water.

Zarina swiftly drank the medicine with water, “T-Thank you,” She whispered before gazing at Kirstin.

“Why are you always helping or bugging me? I know it’s not for pity, I’m just curious why you’re persistent,” Zarina curiously asked, so Kirstin was caught off guard.

“I didn’t mean for it to be the other way, I’m just curious why you helped no matter how many times I mistreated you as a person,” Zarina added, so Kirstin laughed for a moment.

“When did you mistreat me? You were just annoyed because I was being too annoying and it was normal for people to shut them off or try to get rid of them,” Kirstin commented.

“Plus, I just want somebody to be there for you especially now that you needed someone because you’re sick and I honestly just wanted you to get along with anyone else,” Kirstin admitted and almost chuckled when she noticed Zarina furrowed her eyebrows at her.

“Yes, you told me before that you wanted to be friends with me aside from getting along with anyone, but I can’t help think you may have other reasons,” Zarina firmly claimed, so Kirstin bit her lower lip.

“Okay, maybe I just saw my past self from you before, I actually never got along with anyone and preferred to be alone like you did when I met someone that changed my perspective about that,” Kirstin reminisced.

“He told me that life is short and I should enjoy it, make friends, find love, and be happy,” Kirstin mumbled before bitterly smiling.

“He died years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer, he was the only friend I had that taught me a lot of things in life before he left me,” She added emotionally.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Zarina weakly replied while playing with her fingers, but Kirstin shook her head.

“I’m fine, he was happy when he parted with the world, so there’s nothing else that I could wish for,” Kirstin casually replied.

“So I’m sorry if I’m meddling too much with your life, I just don’t want you to be alone,” Kirstin smiled before reaching out to Zarina’s hands, “I want to let you know that you’re not alone even if you feel like you're alone just like what he did for me,”

“Thank you, I appreciate that, but don’t worry, I’m not feeling alone anymore,” Zarina smiled at her as she thought about Luther and Kirstin.

Kirstin was so surprised that she blinked too many times like she had seen a miracle happen before her.

“W-Well um, that’s what friends do, it’s getting late and you have to rest,” Kirstin coughed before standing up, “Oh um, can I use the bathroom?”

Zarina’s eyes widened before shaking her head, “U-Uh no! It’s clogged and I think it’s locked!” 

She nervously stated as she purposely shouted the word lock for Luther to lock the door from the bathroom or wherever he is right now.

Kirstin furrowed her eyebrows at her statement, “Really? Then where do you do your things?” She wondered while shaking her head.

“Nevermind, I’ll just take the bathroom outside of your unit, I’ll see you soon okay? Just call me if you need help,” Kirstin bid her goodbye as Zarina nodded at her.

“Thank you, Kirstin, I’ll pay you back for these medicines you bought me,” She mumbled, so Kirstin chuckled at what she just said.

“You don’t have to, dummy! Just rest and be better, we can’t have many days not working with our ice queen,” She playfully winked, so Zarina rolled her eyes. There she goes again, being annoying, but she kind of likes it now.

“Just go, and would you please lock the doors for me when you get out?” Zarina requested, so Kirstin just saluted her.

“Yes, ice queen! See you soon! Oh by the way, why is there a small tree plant in the middle of your hallway towards the living room?” Kirstin curiously asked, making Zarina flinch.

“Well, never mind, I have to get going! See you!” Kirstin bid her goodbye as she heard the opening and closing of the door.

She decided to raise her body and slowly walked towards her main door to make sure that it’s locked. She feels a little bit better since she drank the medicine.

After she made sure that it was locked, she leaned her back on the main door before collapsing on the floor as she closed her eyes.

“L-Luther, are you still there?” Zarina called out before opening her suddenly heavy eyes again.

She noticed the bathroom door slowly went wide open as it revealed to him Luther that was smirking at her playfully.

He heard the conversation that she had together with Kirstin, “So, you probably gained a new friend aside from the handsome me,” Luther winked and stopped when he noticed that Zarina was out of her bed.

“Why are you out of bed?!” Luther complained. He was about to carry her to her bed when he remembered that he couldn’t touch her.

“Come on, I’ll take you to bed,” He used his magic of levitation, Zarina gasped when she realized her butt was floating above the air.

It wasn’t long until those floating, shimmering glitters placed her gently on her bed, “So how was the soup?” Luther curiously asked before sitting on the edge of her bed.

She couldn’t find the right words she needed to say, she just couldn’t believe that she’s seeing Luther right in front of her in her world.

“H-How did you cook?” That was the only thing that came out of her mouth despite a lot of questions that’s been lingering on her mind.

“Oh um, I summoned my cooking materials, your equipment here is a bit difficult to use, how come you have um electricity? I thought there was an outage?” Luther confusingly asked.

“Ah, the owner wanted us to have decent meals, so I heard he bought a generator for us to buy goods from the market, though it’s only for a day, tomorrow it will be gone again,” Zarina just sighed.

“Also there was this strange cabinet that emits cold energy that probably tries to make your foods um, refreshed?” Luther tilted his head while massaging his chin.

Zarina got confused at what he said for a moment, “That’s probably the refrigerator, it keeps food at the proper temperature, preventing it from spoiling and slowing the growth of hazardous microorganisms,” She explained.

“The soup was great by the way, thank you for making it for me,” Zarina sincerely stated before closing her eyes.

“No problem, the good thing is you have ingredients, or else I may have not done anything to whip you something up to make you feel better,” Luther mumbled while playing with his wand as he noticed Zarina was grunting again.

“You should rest, I’ll wake you up when it’s dinner time already,” He whispered, so she just nodded and decided to relax on her bed.

It wasn’t long until Zarina woke up again when she felt that her face was getting wet by some droplets of water, she slowly opened her eyes and saw Luther was using magic to wake her up.

“W-What are you doing Luther?” Zarina grunted before looking for some towel to dry her face and raised her body to rest her back at the headboard of the bed.

“There we go! You’re awake! As much as I wanted to shake your shoulders harshly, I can’t do that so I used magic to wake you up,” Luther playfully smirked, so Zarina glared at him.

“What now?” He pouted, “It was hard waking you up! I even tried using your alarm thingy but I don’t know how it works,”

Zarina was about to say something when her eyes landed on the tray that was placed on the table beside her bed.

It was a warm dinner and it looks appetizing as well, “How are you feeling?” He curiously asked so she looked at him intently.

“I-I’m actually feeling better, the medicine work and your soup too of course,” Zarina didn’t know that she was smiling as Luther looks mesmerized at what he was seeing.

“G-Good, I cooked you dinner, can I feed you?” Luther requested, so Zarina raised her eyebrows at him.

“I can feed myself, you know?” She stated a fact, but Luther shook his head before sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I want to try it! You allowed your new friend a while ago to do this to you! I’m jealous!” Luther pouted as she glared at him.

He’s probably talking about Kirstin, she just grunted when Luther didn’t stop bugging her about it.

“Pretty please?” Luther pleaded numerous times, so Zarina had no other choice but to abide because she was starting to get annoyed with it.

“Fine, only one scoop,” Zarina sighed, she thought she had to give him that chance since he cooked dinner for her after all.

“Three? How about three?” Luther bargained once more, so she just rolled her eyes before glaring at him.

“Whatever, just do want you to do want Luther,” Zarina got pissed off, so Luther successfully cheered as he raised the spoon to Zarina.

“Say ah!” Luther smiled happily, so she gazed at his sky blue glinting eyes before she ate what he offered to her.

Her heart thumped against her chest for some unknown reason as they stared at each other intently.

To be continued...