Our Mirrored World

Chapter Twenty Eight - Feelings

After Zarina came back to her world, she fell into a daze and didn’t bother about the headache that she was feeling.

She raised her hands to touch her lips that only met the mug, straw, spoon, and fork, and now, it met someone else’s lips.

Zarina immediately covered the mirror with some cloth and ran inside to take a bath, her clothes were also back to normal as she took them off and let the shower cool her down.

What just happened shook her entire existence because she wasn’t expecting that accidental kiss to feel that strange.

Her heart was thumping against her chest as she thought about it intently, “That kiss was soft, warm, and felt fuzzy on the inside,” She whispered before closing her eyes.

She shook her head and decided to clean herself up. After drying her body and hair, she decided to slip into her most comfortable clothes and hid inside her blanket.

Zarina wanted to sleep, but the accidental kiss kept replaying in her mind like a stuck-up replay button.

She knew she wasn’t supposed to be overreacting, so why is she acting like this?! She thought before biting her lower lip.

Is it because for the first time in almost 22 years, she met a man’s lips? And it’s someone not from her world!

She mentally screamed before deciding to forget what just happened, she decided to forget about the kiss and drifted to her deep slumber.

***

Morning came as Zarina heard her alarm ring, it didn’t ring for too long because she was awake already and immediately put it off.

She slept fine but her senses woke her up too early because even in her dreams, the accidental kiss was haunting her.

“Human! Are you awake?” Luther called out, so Zarina flinched in her bedroom. She didn’t make a noise as she decided to fix her bed and make some breakfast.

“You’re awake! You’re cooking breakfast! Zarina please talk to me! I didn’t do that on purpose!” Luther pouted while he’s trying to explain his side. He thought about it last night and he knew Zarina was going to be sensitive about it.

She was just trying to socialize lately and now she immediately got a kiss from probably a total stranger who just became her friend yesterday.

Zarina didn’t mind him as she started munching on the breakfast that she made, she’s going to be late if she’s this slow on eating.

After she ate, she washed the dishes and prepared her clothes for work. Zarina didn’t speak to Luther after all that she had done.

“Please, I don’t want to lose my only friend,” Luther sounded solemn, so Zarina stopped at what he said.

She bit her lower lip as she thought about telling him yesterday that they were friends. Zarina just sighed before she took her towel and decided to open the bathroom door.

It revealed to her that Luther was playing with his wand and looked highly depressed about something before gazing at Zarina.

He was wearing a blue, black, and white combination of wizard clothing, his hat was taken off because Luther didn’t feel like wearing one today because he felt responsible for what just happened between them.

She felt her heart thumping against her chest just by looking at that wizard, why does he look extremely handsome?! Zarina mentally complained.

“I-I know you didn’t do it on purpose, I apologize for making you feel bad about it,” Zarina mumbled before meeting with his gaze.

“I-I’m just surprised and overreacted, I’m sorry for assuming things that I shouldn’t have,” She added.

“I also don’t want to lose you as my friend just for that reason,” She admitted before scratching the back of her head.

His solemn sky blue eyes suddenly gleamed with happiness, “I’m truly sorry Zarina if there’s something I could do, name it,”

“L-Let’s just not talk about it, it’s my first kiss and I didn’t imagine it to be like that,” Zarina admitted, so Luther just chuckled.

Finally, the tension in their air was broken, Luther thought, and he couldn’t ask for more with her just talking to him. She was already asleep last night when he wanted to apologize and talk about what happened.

“Good luck at your work, are you going to take a bath now?” Luther curiously asked while gazing at the towel that was resting on Zarina’s shoulders.

She nodded before placing a cloth on the mirror, “I am, so don’t do anything stupid so that I’ll forget thinking about raising a hammer here to destroy that mirror,” Zarina coldly stated.

Luther’s eyes widened, “What?! What do you mean?” He exclaimed as she secretly sniggered and decided to take a bath peacefully.

He just shook his head when Zarina didn’t respond to him, he smiled as he thought that no matter what she wears or does, he finds her truly attractive.

It wasn’t long until Zarina went out of the bathroom and slipped into her formal attire, she slipped into her heels before she decided to remove the cloth from the mirror.

“I’ll be going now, you better not do anything crazy at my apartment,” Zarina warned him before putting some light color on her lips.

She isn’t in the mood to wear a red one because she’s wearing dark colors of formal attire already. 

Luther, on the other hand, gulped because of what he’s seeing. He couldn’t understand why he’s acting that way just by seeing Zarina put some color on her lips.

“I’m going! I’m going to be late if I don’t go sooner,” Zarina bid Luther goodbye as she locked her apartment securely.

Luther clutched to his chest before smirking to himself, “Oh you’re so screwed Luther, so screwed that now you have to make yourself busy by making potions,”

He just shook his head as he decided to summon numerous things that he’ll need for making lots of potions he needed to sell.

Zarina peacefully arrived at their company, so she decided to finish her work immediately for today. Luckily, no one bothered her until she finished almost half of her work.

She read the middle part and stopped when she realized that the same sentence that she was trying to proofread happened to her yesterday.

It was about two characters that we're riding a horse on a huge field. The girl was terrified of riding horses, so the boy suggested riding it with him to be comfortable with it.

The time when the boy unmounted the horse and was about to help the girl down, the horse neighed forcing that girl to fall on the other side where the boy decided to immediately help her not to hit the ground.

Their fall was so harsh that they didn’t realize their lips met, their eyes were widened as their heart was thumping against their chest.

Zarina tapped her cheeks to pull herself back from reality, she could feel that her cheeks and ears were heating up just because of what she just read.

“Woah is the ice queen blushing?” Zarina almost flinched before gazing at the woman that was standing on her side.

She didn’t mind Kirstin as she decided to continue on proofreading, “Ice queen come on, you can hear me right?” She playfully smirked before leaning in to read what Zarina was proofreading.

“Oh, they kissed after that cliche fall! That was actually nice,” Kirstin commented, so Zarina squinted her eyes at her.

“What are you doing here? Go back to your station,” Zarina scolded before re-editing those grammatical errors that she just saw.

“No way! You blushed after you read this for sure, so I’m going to bug you about it!” Kirstin exclaimed so she glared at her.

“Oh that doesn’t work on me anymore, I know how nice you are no matter how much you decide to kill me with those stares,” Kirstin giggled before pulling some recliner near Zarina.

She was keeping in touch with her parents about finding out if Zarina truly has a boyfriend and this could be a lead, “So why are you blushing?”

Zarina continued glaring at her before shaking her head, she just had to be calm so no one would find her suspicious. Especially if it’s for the sake of Luther’s existence.

“I don't know what you are talking about,” Zarina replied, she felt her head getting heavy before typing something from her computer.

“Oh come on, there must be some reason why you reacted that way,” Kirstin bugged her, so she glared at that insane woman.

“I just feel sick okay? Will you just leave me alone?” Zarina furiously complained, so Kirstin chuckled amusingly.

“Really if I touch you and you’re not hot then that means you’re lying!” Kirstin exclaimed and reached out to touch Zarina’s forehead.

“Oh my, you're not lying, you're burning up Zarina,” Kirstin suddenly became serious as Zarina furrowed her eyebrows at her.

“What do you mean? I’m fine,” After she said those words, she suddenly felt her body heating up as something felt burning on the inside, “I-I need to finish my work that is just a headache,” Zarina was about to continue typing again when Kirstin stopped her.

“Fred, Eon, and Miranda take over your manager’s work today, she’s going to take a leave,” Kirstin called the people under her department as she guided her to stand up.

Zarina complained, but her head felt so heavy that she decided to hold onto it before grunting in pain.

“Zarina, you have to get home,” Kirstin worriedly said as she helped her walk, “I’m going to take you home,”

Zarina immediately thought about Luther before shaking her head, “N-No please, I’ll just go home by myself,”

Despite what she’s feeling, his identity’s secret is what’s coming inside of her mind, “I prefer to be alone when I’m sick,”

Kirstin was confused, but if she pushed it, Zarina might shout and it will not be good for her headache, “At least allow me to accompany you to the entrance of your apartment,” 

Zarina has no other choice but to abide since she feels her head being squeezed by two boulders, “A-Alright,”

She didn’t know what happened because Kirstin fixed all of the things for her to get home. She was also the one who asked for their boss to allow her to go home since she was heating up so badly.

After all that Kirstin did at the company for Zarina, she decided to get some help from her coworkers at her department for her to have help on having Zarina escorted from the taxi.

“Thank you guys, I’ll be back later,” Zarina heard Kirstin bid her workmates goodbye, so she opened her eyes and noticed that Kirstin sat right beside her.

“To this apartment please,” Kirstin requested to the driver and she wondered for a moment why she knew her address.

“If you’re wondering why I know, your parents gave it to me just in case they force me to check up on you,” Kirstin admitted.

Zarina wanted to hiss and curse, but she was too exhausted and drained for her to do that and she felt bad for having Kirstin look after her.

“J-Just right in front of my apartment and I’ll be fine,” Zarina mumbled before she decided to take a nap.

A light tap from her shoulders was to be felt as she decided to open her eyes and gaze at Kirstin with the doors of the taxi opened.

“We’re here, are you sure you don’t want me to help you up?” Kirstin worriedly asked, so she just nodded at her.

“I’ll be fine, you may leave and go back to work, thank you,” She sincerely said before walking out of the door.

She felt her head being squeezed after she got out of the car, Zarina then gazed at Kirstin who was watching her intently on the side.

“Go on, I’ll be fine,” Zarina mumbled as she decided to pace towards her apartment. Luckily, Kirstin didn’t follow her as she left.

Zarina shakingly looked for her keys in her bag and she cursed mentally when she couldn’t even fit the keys into the keyhole.

After several attempts she finally entered her apartment, that’s where she fully collapsed and fell on the floor, “Oi? Human, is that you?”

Those were the last words she heard after she felt that the darkness consumed her.

To be continued...