"My Yima." Luya says.
"What?" Fang asks, matching Luya's tone. Then she adds " If she looks like your yima, then for sure this has to be you ma. Just look at her. The same eyes, lips and hair? Your ma still keeps her hair short like this."
Luya, unable to say anything just looks at Fang.
"Now it's even more confusing what Lu Muyan is doing in the middle....the way they're hugging her, she must have been close to them....like friends? Her hair color doesn't match with them. I don't think they're related. You only have one Yima, right?" Fang points out the details to her.
"Yes." Luya answers vaguely. But then sharply turns her head towards Fang.
"Whoa, what's with that look?" Fang asks, caught a little off guard by Luya's face that looks like she has seen a ghost.
"Lu." Luya says.
"Lu what?" Fang asks confused.
"Lu.....lu lu lu...." Luya repeats before finally saying.
"My maternal surname is Lu." Luya connects her eyes to Fang's again.
Fang finally sits beside her, ready to pounce on the possibilities.
"You're saying that before being Ming, your ma, Ming Mingxia was, Lu Mingxia?" she asks.
"Yes, exactly." Luya agrees.
"Well....then she, I mean Lu Muyan must be family. Have you never heard of....has no one talked about Lu Muyan ever? Any relative or someone?" Fang asks the most basic question.
"No." Luya says, "And that is where I'm getting the most confused."
The two girls fall silent, not knowing what to make out of this.
"Why don't you ask your ma? I mean this is Lu Muyan, not just anybody." Fang suggests.
"Yes, I guess. After my family comes back from London, I will ask her." Luya says, eyes down at the picture again. She adds "Can I see the diary?"
"Sure." Fang answers as she gets up and brings the diary to Luya.
"I haven't read anything yet. But since it seems connected to your family, I think you should read it first." She says, handing it to her.
"But....just in case we're overthinking and you don't find anything related, give it back to me. It costed 50 yuan, I am not letting it go without giving a read." she says, folding her arms.
"Got it." Luya nods while saying.
But just she was about to open the diary, Fang's mother comes into the scene.
*knock knock knock*
"Dinner's ready girls." she says while entering the room. Then she adds more "Before you two start studying, come down and eat so that you don't get disturbed."
"Okay ma, we are coming." Fang replies.
"Luya, why don't you change first? You're staying for the night, take one of Fang's pairs if you need." Mrs. Zhang says smiling at Luya.
"No no, I have brought my own pairs, thank you." she answers smiling back.
"Aigh, good. Come down soon." saying, she leaves and closes the door.
Fang sighs.
"Well, dinner before the diary I suppose." Fang says, handing Luya her bag.
Luya nods before going to the washroom to change.
----------------------------------------------
(Downstairs)
The rest of the evening flies by the dining table. The Zheng couple talk with Luya since she visited after a long time. Zhihuan keeps making noise with his spoon as his mother struggles to make him eat fried veggies. Fang keeps talking about school and Luya occasionally joins her. But her mind is elsewhere. She tries to finish quickly so that she can go and get started with the diary.
After a long, warm chat the two girls leave for Fang's room.
(Upstairs)
"Ugh, I ate too much!" Fang exclaims rubbing her belly. Luya sits on the bed again, facing the window, looking out at the glistening view of Zhangzhou city. Fang observes her before talking.
"I can set you up my laptop table on the bed. You can read and sleep when you want." she says as Luya looks at her.
"No need. I will probably stay up the whole night, so I think the desk is better. Plus, I can use the study lamp. You won't get disturbed because of the room light staying on." Luya explains, getting a shocked reaction from Fang.
"Hey, don't get yourself worked up. It's just a diary. Read as far as your body allows, don't push." Fang suggests.
"I know. And just like you said, if it is nothing as we are thinking, I will stop and go to bed. You take the window side, so I don't have to cross over you." Luya replies, taking a deep breath.
"But you love the window side." Fang says back.
The duo falls silent, remembering their days before the situation they're dealing now. They had fun, had heart to heart talk, watched movies and clicked bunch of photos. Alongside of these memories, there was one thing always constant, Luya sleeping on the window side of the bed while Fang slept on the other side, hugging her from the back. It was like a permanent spot they had reserved for each other and didn't change. But now, for the first time Luya said otherwise.
"I don't want to cross over you. It's bad omen." Luya says as she looks down and then towards the window again.
"Since when do you believe in superstitions?" Fang asks before taking a pause and continues again "Besides, I might sleep after you, you never know."
Luya stays silent.
"Aigh, I'll complete school work on bed then...speaking of which...have you done yours?" Fang asks.
"Yes. It's in my bag." Luya replies looking at her before continuing "You can take it if-."
Fang goes to pick Luya's bag.
"I'm upset with you, but I'm not about to miss out on free homework help though." she adds before taking out the copies.
"Hah, just like old days!" Fang smiles, holding Luya's notebooks.
Luya smiles faintly and goes to the desk.
"Let's see.....Lu Muyan." she says grabbing the old diary in hands.