Our Mirrored World

Chapter Thirty Nine - History

After she dressed into comfortable clothes, Zarina took all of the solar-powered lights and placed them on her terrace for them to gather the energy from the sunlight that it needed.

She then chopped her needed ingredients in the kitchen for the dish that she’ll be making for lunch. She thought it would be a good distraction from the depressing thought that she was having a while ago.

“Zarina? How does the solar-powered light work?” Luther curiously asked in the bathroom, so she glanced at the hallways before biting her lower lip.

She still thought it's weird to talk to someone that she couldn’t always see around her, especially when that someone is inside a bathroom mirror too.

“Solar lights work because of the photovoltaic effect, these lights gather energy from the sunlight during the day and a photoreceptor on the light detects when it's dark and turns on the light, which is usually made up of several light-emitting diodes,” Zarina casually informed.

Luther furrowed his eyebrows while shaking his head, “Wow, you sure do know how that thing works, I didn't understand a single thing!” He gloated, so she just shook her head and tasted the sauce that she was making.

She’s planning to make tonkatsu for lunch, “Just wait until I finish this lunch, after that, we’ll talk about a lot of things,”

Luther just sighed before levitating on the other side, if he didn’t meet Zarina, he’s probably doing some other mad experiment about looking for his mentor.

He’s not tracking him anymore often because of Zarina, he’s more interested in finding out more things about her and humans.

“I’m almost done frying this meat, we’ll talk later,” Zarina added, so he just smiled and nodded even though she couldn’t see him.

It wasn’t long until Zarina started preparing her small table right in front of Luther, he stopped floating in the air as he watched Zarina do her thing.

He found it adorable how humans take individual work so seriously compared to him when he has magic, he’ll just use it to summon a table right in front of there and fix its setting with magic also.

“How can humans stand on fixing or placing things all the time?” Luther curiously asked, so Zarina raised her eyebrows at his question, “I always use magic whenever I try to prepare things,” He claimed.

Zarina immediately got what he meant before crossing her arms against her chest, “Because, we’re not as lazy as you, plus it became a habit, I grew up knowing to always fix things like this, especially because I’m a woman,”

Luther furrowed his eyebrows, “What do you mean? Can men not do that thing too?” He asked, but she just shook her head at him.

“They can if they want to, but mostly if women and men are living in one house, it’s their wives duty to serve them some food especially if they have kids,” She thoroughly explained before sitting right in front of him.

“My mom used to teach me that because we always serve daddy meals, he loves food so much that he wanted to try out every single food this world could offer,” Zarina shared, not realizing there’s a smile forming on her lips.

Luther saw that and he felt overjoyed seeing Zarina talking about the things that she likes, “Well that’s one story about us humans, here’s your meal, and let’s talk about some more,” She offered a bowl that looks appetizing.

“Wow! What is that called?” Lither tilted his head at it before summoning his wand, “I think I could smell it from here!” He exclaimed, which made her shake her head.

“Just shut up and transfer it,” She scolded, so Luther just giggled before using his magic to transfer it.

After he did his thing, Zarina opened her eyes and saw a pair of thick gloves right in front of her, “Gloves? Why would you give me this?”

Luther mysteriously smiled at her, “I made that a while ago while you were gone, you’ll be needing that to grant my wish after I visit there soon for you to take me to places,”

Zarina was confused as she grabbed those gloves near her, “I don’t understand, why would I need it? I don’t need to touch you, you know?” She claimed.

“You said, you would grant my wish, right? And my wish is for you to hold my hand,” He requested, so her eyes widened.

“W-What? Why would you want that?” Zarina nervously asked, but she fought so hard not to put any emotions on her face. She feels her heart thumping against her chest.

Luther shrugged, “I don’t know, I just thought it would be nice to hold hands with someone I know,”

“Plus, it would make me feel closer to you, I remembered distinctively when you visited here, you were near, but it feels like we’re many universes apart from each other,” Luther claimed, which made her snort.

“Technically, we are universes apart from each other Luther,” Zarina reminded him, so he laughed out loud before sighing.

“You’re right, but please?! Would you grant me that wish, human?” Luther pleaded while clasping his hands against each other.

“I had a pair of those gloves too, see?” Luther raised his own pair that’s similar to what she has with her right now.

She just rolled her eyes before sighing, they’re not technically holding hands too since they’re both wearing gloves? She thought.

“Fine, but not all the time, okay? We still have to take pictures, eat or do something,” Zarina mumbled while averting her gaze at him, so he cheered.

“Woohoo! Oh my wizards! I can’t wait till I visit there!” He continued cheering as Zarina felt like she wanted to disappear.

Holding hands in public might get people many ideas, especially, they’ll assume that they’re in a relationship.

She just shrugged, not all people would think of that, she thought before deciding to munch on the lunch that she made.

“Thank you for the gloves by the way, now, do you have any questions or do you want me to speak?” Zarina gazed at him after she swallowed her first bite.

“Speak then I’ll ask along the way,” Luther smiled at her before he tasted the dish, “Oh! This tastes so good!” He exclaimed.

Zarian just smiled as she started narrating about how the humans were born, she excluded some parts that are confusing, of course, she doesn’t want to make it longer, but she made sure to explain that humans evolved throughout the years that are passing.

Some did not, some did, and humans are working so hard to make lives easier like before, they could only cook using rocks, woods, and dried leaves.

Now, humans can use electricity-dependent things to cook foods, store them, or sometimes clean things, in which she thoroughly explained to Luther, “So you mean like your phone?”

Zarina nodded at him before raising her phone, “Yes, it’s called technology, technology is also evolving just like us, so we're all trying to adapt with it,” She mumbled.

“Now everyone is rattled, complaining, especially now that the electricity is gone, we can’t use technologies much often, so everyone is having a hard time since we’re already adapted to some of it,” Zarina informed.

Luther got what she said before nodding, “It must be hard for those humans out there especially when they’re used to having lights,” He sighed.

“I just can’t believe that humans were this amazing! They invent things, and those people must be pretty smart, especially since they invented the refrigerator that can release ice element!” Luther exclaimed, so she secretly chuckled.

“That is not an ice element, because when the air reaches the expansion valve, the liquid expands as it converts to a gas and as it travels through the evaporator coils, the vaporized refrigerant absorbs heat from inside the refrigerator, cooling the air inside the refrigerator in the process,” Zarina casually explained, which confused him for a moment.

“I know I always point this out, but you really know a lot of things Zarina, it’s like you're so smart too,” Luther claimed, so she just shook her head.

“I just like to read, I was curious how things worked before,” Zarina admitted, so he was so impressed with her aside from the stories he heard.

“Then love, do you know how love works?” Luther wanted to slap himself for asking that question, it was too personal that even he couldn’t answer.

“Love huh? I just think that love is a coincidence, not like those mysteries and magic those people were always talking about,” Zarina made weird gestures using her hands before drinking some glass of water.

“What do you mean?! Love is a mystery! Not everyone can understand or even solve it!” Luther exclaimed, but she just shook his head at him.

“Love is not a mystery, love works normally when two people get to know each other, like each other's quirks, then fall in love, it is a coincidence,” She claimed, “I mean you’ll never fall in love with a person you don’t like, right?”

Luther gasped at her, “That’s not true! Opposites attract too you know?! Like the magnet that you were talking about a while ago, that exists there?”

Zarina just shrugged at what he just said, “I had my own understanding about love and you probably have too, let’s just respect each other’s opinion,” She mumbled just to end their conversation about it.

He shook his head, he just couldn’t believe what he was hearing from her, “No wonder you don’t have any friends! Don't you know that love also exists in friendships?!” Luther scolded her, so she just glared at him.

“I have friends now, you and that...annoying woman,” She hissed before resting her back on the chair, “And all because it’s just a coincidence too,” Zarina claimed that surprised Luther for a moment.

“What do you mean by coincidence?” Luther clutches his chest, he feels like it’s being pricked by thousands of needles on the inside.

“Kirstin and I became friends because my mother accidentally got her number from my boss and because she was very pushy, things happened, and we just suddenly spoke heart to heart with one another,” She mumbled.

“She took care and worried for me because it’s natural for people to do that for the sick and it was also a coincidence that I met you because there was a strange power outage and you suddenly appeared, that is also purely because of a coincidence,” Zarina casually claimed, so he bit his lower lip.

He doesn’t like what he just heard from her, how could she say that so casually? Luther thought while clenching his fists.

“For me, when I met you, it was a mystery Zarina, I don’t know anything about you and your world is unknown to me,” Luther’s tone changed, so she raised her head to meet his gaze but his head was lowered down.

“Kirstin probably doesn’t feel the same way as you do, I heard her speak towards you not just here, but also back there on your outing, her feelings about being friends with you were genuine,”

“And she would be hurt if she ever heard you say that especially because that’s what I’m feeling right now,” Luther coldly admitted before meeting with her gaze.

“Meeting you was the greatest mystery that I would like to solve Zarina, much special compared to how I am going to look for my mentor, it was not a coincidence or an accident because it was meant to happen,” Luther firmly said before turning his back on her.

“I-I have to go first,” After he said those words, he left quietly as he started looking for things he needed to distract himself.

Zarina, on the other hand, was confused, she thought, what just happened? Did she say or do something wrong?

Hours have passed and Luther still hasn’t come back to the mirror, she keeps on glancing over there while pacing back and forth.

She thought about what she said and she feels like there’s nothing wrong with it, so why does Luther sound hurt about it?

“She took care and worried for me because it’s natural for people to do that for the sick and it was also a coincidence that I met you because there was a strange power outage and you suddenly appeared, that is also purely because of a coincidence,” What she said lingered on her mind.

She bit her lip when she noticed that there was something wrong with her statement, in her perspective, it’s what she would really say.

But how about theirs? She bit her lower lip when she thought that it would probably hurt someone’s feelings.

It wasn’t right for her to tell it that way, she just doesn’t know how to use words that are very affectionate, heck, she can’t even be sweet to her parents. She thought.

But in reality, she just doesn’t realize that she was sweet to them for a specific reason, especially if they are in need of help.

“Things really happen for a reason and a coincidence,” She just shrugged before sighing, she thought that Luther might probably come to bother and talk to her tomorrow.

But she was wrong because even after tomorrow came, Luther didn’t come back to speak to her and that worried her so much.

To be continued…