Page 12 of Blossoms of the Heart
He gave me that penetrative look again. It weakened my insides this time and got me thinking of the last time I saw him.
It wasn’t a good memory at all, but there were parts to it that I would always cherish.
Did he think about that too? Was he now?
Here we were talking like we’d just seen each other last year, but that was so far from the case. So many years had passed by. Too many.
“Were we heading this way?” I asked, swallowing against the lump that formed in my throat.
“Sure was.”
I offered a little smile and started walking, but he stayed behind.
I looked back to him and watched him run his gaze down the full length of my body, lingering for far too long on my ass. I stopped again surprised at his obvious checking me out.
To add to my surprise he took his time to trace the outline of my figure, moving back up to take note of the curve of my waist, and then my breasts.
My cheeks heated from the salacious look he gave me when he returned his focus to my eyes, and I had to swallow hard to calm myself.
The smile came back and he continued walking. I followed and tried to keep my focus.
The office was our first stop. It was a communal office that the team shared.
The room looked more like a grand library with a host of shelves in rows carrying books and academic journals of all sorts of description. I chose a desk at the far end of the room on the raised platform where the journals started. He allowed me a few minutes to browse.
Next stop was the research room. This was the part I was excited about.
The skeleton remains of the samurai was the first thing I saw. Still suited in the traditional helmet and armor and in a glass case. I’d seen a lot of mummies and skeletons but had to agree that this guy was by far the coolest. Next to him was another case with the sword. I rushed up to get a better look at the samurai.
“I don’t know how you can do that. It’s a skeleton of a man, but you just ran up to it like he was a new pair of shoes.” Tai smirked, coming closer but stopping a good distance away. He seemed wary of the skeleton.
“It’s a samurai.” I beamed, smiling at him.
“Yes, and his evil yokai ass is here somewhere in the building.”
I rolled my eyes at him. He used to scare the absolute shit out of me when I was younger with his stupid ghost stories.
“There’s no yokai, Tai, just a samurai.”
“Yes, we’ll see if you still think that tonight when he visits you after you’ve fallen asleep,” he teased. Yup he really was the same old Tai.
I started laughing. “It doesn’t work anymore. I’m not ten years old.”
“Whatever. Just remember what I said.” He motioned to the other side of the room where a pillar stood with a small glass case on top of it. “That’s yours.”
My eyes turned to saucers. The journal was inside of it. My purpose for being here. To read a book no one else could read, except me.
Not even my feeling like shit earlier could ruin this moment for me.
Tai walked over to the encasement, opened it , took the journal out and carried it over to me.
It was made from some sort of parchment and felt durable and sturdy.
I opened it and smiled.
“You’re smiling.” He noted. “This is what makes you happy?”
“I guess.” It gave me purpose, and I felt like I was me when I was doing stuff like this. “This is old Chinese, the Jou District five BC.”
