Star Crossed In Time

The next day I place a bowl of fruity cereal in front of Bai Lei and stumble over to the couch. I plop down on the couch and instantly close my eyes. I can't sleep at night with him sleeping right next to me!! And he always wakes up at the buttcrack of dawn! I can't take it!!!

Bai Lei looks at the bowl in front of him with confusion. He lifts the spoon and brings it to his nose. It smells sweet... why is everything so sweet here? He takes a bite and instantly spits it back out! Why is it cold? Isn't soup suppose to be warm?

He places the spoon back in the bowl and pushes it away. He looks over to find nothing but Nova's feet hanging off the end of the couch. He slowly gets up and walks over to find her fast asleep. She seems to need a lot of sleep... was that something normal for people from this world?

Ted had told him to always allow Nova to sleep as much as she wants... when she doesn't get her sleep, she gets scary. Ted said all women were like that... Bai Lei slowly walks over and quietly sits next to her on the ground. 

Her silver hair fans out over her head like a large crown as she peacefully sleeps. The red flower on her forehead still bothers him though... that was a mark of Divinity... the nine tail fox tribe has been hunted for years for their mysterious powers. This was like placing a target on her...  

He reaches out and gently touches her soft cheek as his dark eyes trail down her sleeping figure. He doesn't know how to feel about the clothes from this world but seeing it, he completely understands why Nova kept stripping before.

Even now, she only wears a thing called "T-shirt" and a pair of small "Shorts". You can nearly see everything! His dark eyes go down to her smooth bare legs before swallowing hard and quickly looking away. He really liked these shorts but he was also terrified of them! He has a hard time controlling himself when she's in them. 

Everything about this world is wrong... nothing makes sense! Even when they were at the crazy place yesterday, he saw couples all over each other and even kissing in public! When he had said something about it to Nova, she shocked him further when she told him they weren't even married!! 

That and nearly every man's hair was cut short! He really couldn't understand so he stopped trying. He wanted to go back to his world but he didn't want to leave Nova here. Things that would normally make a woman happy seems to upset her.

He even tried to do some of the things Ted said but nothing was working... he really didn't know what else to do. He's never been the one doing the chasing... He looks back over to Nova's sleeping face with complicated feelings.

He and Nova are so different... Can this even work? He couldn't possibly stay here though, he had so many things to do back home. So many people were counting on him and waiting for him... Bai Lei clenches his fist as he continues watching Nova sleep.

If he were being honest... he wanted to kidnap her and bring her back to his world. He'd find a way to lock her up and not allow Ted or the others to ever find her again. He was so very tempted... but when he thinks about how much Nova would hate him, he just can't do it.

She's smiled at him more in the past two days than she has the entire time she was with him back in his world... it burns him deep inside to see how happy she is here. Could he bring himself to crush that? His dark eyes slowly grow darker as the temptation grows.

Suddenly the image of her bouncing around in happiness as they wait in line for the roller coaster comes to mind. He clenches his teeth and looks down. He knows all too well how selfish and greedy he really is...

If he wants something, he takes it. He doesn't ask permission or think of others... for the first time in his life, he was fighting his own greedy nature. He slowly reaches out and pokes her open palm. Her small hand closes around his finger as she mumbles something in her sleep. 

Bai Lei's dark eyes grow sad as a small, sad smile slips out. He won't take her... he will ask her to come back with him but he won't force her. She's so stubborn... If he pushes her too far, she'll break. She'll never bend to anyone's will, not even his. 

She's entirely too precious to break... He allows her to hold his finger as he lowers his head in defeat. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He has two days to convince her... two days to make her fall in love with him. Two days...