She couldn't believe what she had seen, and for a moment, all the loneliness, longing and pain that was hiding in heart burst out freely together with the tears that were falling down her face.
The surprise in front of her moved to close the book he was holding in his hand. He glanced toward Xhemin, full of smiles as if he knew by then she had arrived. However, his smiles turned into confusion when he saw her crying.
"Hey, what's wrong?" the boy asked, his long black midnight hair was tucked neatly at his back and his well chiseled face looked upon the girl who was all in tears.
"Huzey…" She called, crying like a baby and ran into his arms. She landed on his chest, and the warmth it gave melted all the undesirable feelings away so was the gentle expression of his voice.
He welcomed her in a tight hug and kissed her head gently, his ocean deep blue eyes looked down to her with intensity as if he was not pleased with the tears that messed up Xhemin's pretty face.
"Did you miss me that much that you were crying tremendously upon seeing me?" the prince whispered, enough for Xhemin to hear.
The girl answered Huzey with sobs. She was crying endlessly, pouring all the emotions that almost drowned her under his arms. The boy's presence made her break down uncontrollably, as if he was the key to the door that lead to her heart. His arms felt like home, a safe place for her to become vulnerable and weak.
"What's with all the crying?" Ziggy's voice broke the two's emotional reunion. Xhemin didn't know why but hearing Ziggy made her laugh. Knowing that Ziggy was around, everything turned comical in an instant. His presence sure does lighten up every dark empty soul. The girl was now laughing between her sobs.
"And now you are laughing" he commented, also not pleased when he saw her tears. Although he was not directly pointing out why she was crying, Xhemin knew he was annoyed with it.
"Hello young sire…" She drew her face away from Huzey's chest to welcome the other boy who just mounted from the stairs. She gave him a sweet smile, although her face was all wet.
"Your face is a mess!" He said as if disgusted by her ugly façade.
"Come give me a hug too" She requested, stretching out her arms longing for his warmth.
"No way. Yuckie!" he answered back, intentionally passing through her without confiding to her plea. However, before he could make enough distance from her, Xhemin plunged a tight hug at his back.
"Lil thug! Let go of me! You are so dirty!" He protested trying to pull off her hands from his hips. "Ewwwwiee!"
Ziggy's screams flooded the whole living room and it made professors Shun's household sparkle with happiness and loudness.
"Oh such a pretty sight" Madam Selina who was watching the friends at the entrance couldn't help but giggle, so were the maidservants at her back.
"Madam the little Missus was very pleased with the boy's visit" one of the servants couldn't help but say.
"Oh yes. Look at her face, they shone brighter than they were before" The old lady answered back adoring the lively view before her.
"So true Madam" the servants agreed.
****
"You are as careless as ever!" Ziggy chided on Xhemin.
They were now in her bedroom, exchanging sentiments and stories about the weeks they spent apart from each other. Xhemin was sitting on her bed, while Huzey was sitting beside the window finishing off a book and Ziggy was walking to and fro, stressing over Xhemin's story.
Xhemin pouted over Ziggy's reaction. She told the boys everything— about the forest mansion, the beast, the Staw serum etc. She was very careful not to miss out anything even the fact that she was sent home without saying goodbyes.
"You are digging your own grave, I tell you. How come you make someone find out about the Staw serum!" exclaimed Ziggy again upon her.
"Ziggy your voice…" Huzey interfered, reminding him to be calm and to kept his voice low.
"Seriously Huzey? You are just going to sit there and act as if this thing was simple?" The young sire now was lashing on Huzey "Talk to her!"
Huzey let go of his book and faced Ziggy, his eyes were flooded with seriousness and Xhemin knew by then he had something in mind.
"Xhemin is a botanist…" Huzey started. "Just like a doctor, a botanist cannot just go blind over the fact that someone needed her cure. You both come from a medical field, you should understand her better"
Huzey's words shut Ziggy off. For someone who wanted to become a doctor, Ziggy like everyone who wanted to pursue medicine already engraved in their hearts the principle to save life first, not matter what comes next.
"But it was granddad's orders" Ziggy answered back, his voice was calm now than he had previously.
"Sometimes we had to decide for ourselves" He sighed and looked to Xhemin's direction "I think you did a pretty good job"
"Thank you" For the first time a smile formed on Xhemin's lips. Ziggy's nagging had quieted her for some time.
"Huzey why do you always go easy on her?" Ziggy asked the prince, sulking in bitterness. "Her mistake is bigger this time—who knows what's going to happen next?"
"Sometimes your overprotectiveness makes you so unreasonable" Huzey withdrew his attention to from Ziggy and focused again on the book that he was reading.
"Ziggy by the way…" Xhemin turned to asked the young sire when she noticed something odd "Where's Sam?"
The question caught Ziggy off guard and right then he kind of lost for words.