Siren Song

"We can take multiple trips, there"s no need to break your arms." Lightly admonishing her he took the two large, heavy bags and started to make his way up.

"That"s a waste of time!" Grabbing the last remaining large grocery bag as well as a couple of the shopping bags from earlier, she teetered behind him. Justin slowly towed along after her, grateful for the fact there was an elevator where she lived, as she was on the sixth floor.

Fumbling for her keys with her heavy awkward load, she eventually got the door open and rushed to drop her load on the dining table.

"Was that truly necessary?" Lifting an eyebrow at her puffing after setting her stuff down, Liang Jian Amal lightly set the bags down.

"Yes, yes it was." Taking off her coat she hung it up before returning to store the groceries away properly, and a.s.sist Justin with dinner. Inside the dining room she saw Liang Jian Amal was still standing there, eyeing the bouquet sitting in the vase on it. Seeing her enter he looked up and smiled at her while holding one of the roses that had opened while in it"s bed of water.

"Did you like the flowers? I got them for you with a special thought in mind."

"They"re pretty, but they caused me some trouble." Biting her bottom lip she rubbed her arm with one hand absently. "Thank you for them though."

"I"m sorry they caused you trouble, that was not my intention.Do you want to know what I was thinking when I got them for you?"

"No, well yes, but no, no."

"I"m going to go help Justin in the kitchen with dinner, you can go watch some TV in the living room or something over there." Dodging the subject she pointed before retreating into the kitchen with Justin and the groceries.

----

"Hey hey now that"s for cooking! Alright get out of here, you heathen" Wielding a giant spoon as his scepter Justin chased her out of the kitchen taking the bottle of wine she had been stealing sips from as he shooed her out.

"But I was helping!" She cried out to the closed to door in her face trying to plead her case and have an excuse to stay in there with him.

Opening the door, Justin popped out to hand her a stack of plates with cutlery on top.

"And now you can help me, by staying out here and setting the table with Jian."

"..traitor.."

Coming from the living room, Liang Jian Amal came when called and took the small stack of plates from her, while she went to the linen closet and laid out napkins. The two worked in sync on either side of the table, the flowers shining in between them, as the light from above reflected off the white petals.

"You have a beautiful home Chang."

"Thank you." "This feels so awkward."

"Do you like it here?"

"It"s ok, it"s close to work, so its convenient I guess." Looking up into his eyes, she realized he was asking her more than just the surface of the question. Her deep blue eyes wavered looking into his deep gold-flecked ones wondering feeling like the impenetrable dam she had built had been destroyed.

Her lips trembled and she was about to answer when Justin exited the kitchen with a flourish.

"I present, my masterpiece, be amazed and wowed!" On the table he set down a large steaming plate of vermicelli pasta artfully decorated with steamed shrimp and herb chicken, tossed in a creamy white whine sauce. Kissing his fingers he splayed them in the air with a flourish after setting it down, accenting his presentation. Returning to the kitchen he brought out the salad Chang had tossed for them as well as the dish of fried zucchini chips, and a loaf of sour french bread. "And voilà, now sit and eat, don"t you dare let my hard work get cold and go to waste!"

"No sir, we shall not. This is beautiful Justin, it looks good, thank you!"

Swelling with pride he accepted the compliment gracefully while slicing the bread for them.

"What did you make Chang?" While serving her food onto her plate, Liang Jian Amal looked up at her.

"Well I-"

"The salad, just the salad." Before she could answer Justin answered for her.

"Thanks."

Liang Jian Amal couldn"t help chuckling from the twisted pout on her face as she looked at her friend.

"I am sure it will be delicious."

"It will be, at least she cant mess that up, she inherited her dad"s cooking ability."

"I did not! And that"s not true, I can too cook, I am just a little out of practice, we"ve cooked together before and you know it!"

"I remember no such thing!"

The two squabbled a little and reminisced while Jian sat mostly silent, but put a question or comment in here and there keeping their conversation rolling.

"This isn"t so bad actually.." Looking up from her plate Chang was surprised to realize the discomfort had given way to a comforting glow with the warmth and flow at the dinner table.

"Ok, so I"ve been wondering this but never got a proper answer from that one. How did you two became separated." Justin pointed his bread piece at Chang. "Crazy s.h.i.t is not an explanation."

"There was a war, an attempted coup in my grandfather"s country that called for me to have to leave her side." Liang Jian Amal was surprised having been asked the question out of the blue and wondered a moment on where to begin before he did.

Feeling like she got dipped in cold water, Chang pulled her chair and rose up and excused herself to go get some wine. She couldn"t help remembering waking up that morning to find herself alone with the crushing disappointment, the fear, and the sadness that plagued her for the rest of the day and days after.

After grabbing a good white to go with dinner she reached up to her hanging rack to grab a gla.s.s when she heard a surprising piece of information from Jian and fumbled.

Hearing the crashing pac.h.i.n.k of gla.s.s breaking and Chang crying out both men jumped out of their seats and immediately headed into the kitchen. On the floor Chang kneeled clutching her face with the remains of what was once a gla.s.s beside her.

"Are you ok?!" Justin cried out and started to make his way to her but Liang Jian Amal was a bit faster and rushed to in front of her to look at where she clutched at.

Under her hand a few small rivulets of blood leaked out and he lifted her hand feeling his heart beating wildly.

Across her right brow was a small cut that despite its size bled fairly profusely.

"We need to get you to the hospital, I need a wet towel immediately for her face." Commanding Justin he started to pull on her trying to get her up to take her to the doctor.

"I don"t need to go to the hospital. I just had a fumble and it"s only a small cut. I have a medicine kit in both bathrooms, underneath the sink, will you go and grab one please Justin?" Clutching her brow again she scowled at Justin before giving Justin a wan smile, her face already becoming pale.

"Of course."

"How did this happen, you have to be careful, what if it was your eye?" Sitting her on the counter he still kept trying to fuss at her wound and check if their was gla.s.s in it.

"I just slipped when I heard you say you got shot back then. Did that really happen?"

"Yes but that was along time ago already, let me look at your head to see if it does need st.i.tching."

"No, it doesn"t, stop, it is small, it"s just on my face so it"s bleeding a lot. You should know this. Tell me more about what happened then, what happened to you then." Grabbing his shirtsleeves at his wrists she didn"t think about the blood on one hand and accidently dirtied it while trying to stop him.

Justin entered with the medicine and cabinet and moved to clean her up but had the kit promptly taken from his hand by Liang Jian Amal who stood before her.

Disinfecting it first she gave a small hiss in pain and closed her eyes, gripping his shirt front with one hand.

"I still want my answers, talk while working." Her eyes closed as he slowly applied b.u.t.terfly st.i.tches, he recounted what had happened on his end that day after he left.

Feeling that he was done and merely tracing his fingers on her face now she opened her eyes to see his sincere gaze causing the iron around her heart to crack painfully.

"You are just like your mom, from what you"ve told me, such a klutz you have to be more careful."

"What? It was your fault, you shocked me when I was grabbing the gla.s.s!" Chang couldn"t help bickering a little hearing his teasing tone and went to reach for another gla.s.s before he got it for her.

"You should let me, what if you hurt yourself again?"