:: Educational Visit ::

Outside the Museum

After lunch, because of the tremendous heat of the tropics, the demon had his own way of transportation. In the blink of an eye, he had us transported to the exterior of a smart-looking building with glimmering text that spelled out 'Museum'. I had no idea such a place existed. With his ability to travel through different planes within seconds, I am sure this place is in neither of the countries that we were in earlier.

Again, he presents me with a smug look on his face. If only I had his ability to teleport within worlds or even countries, I probably wouldn't even need to tire my shorter legs out. I am only 5'6" in comparison with the tall him who is at least six feet even in Cullen Fu form.

Cullen hums a tune as he retrieves a golden card out of his wallet (and I am sure this is not the wallet he was using earlier, it has the letters L and V on it). The engraved words on the card read 'Leng Ku' which had to be another similar-sounding alias of Cullen. I couldn't help but feel amused with his lack of creativity for names.

"So what should I call you then, Ku (cool), Ku Lin (Cullen Fu's Chinese name), Vinegar (Cu), Leng (cold)?" I poke at him teasingly.

He leans closer to me, inducing me to shiver.

"I would definitely prefer it if you would use a more intimate way of addressing me. What about dear, sweetie, my one and only?"

I feel close to vomiting when I hear these forms of addressing a significant other. Even when I was with Shan Hanyu, I never came near to calling him anything order than his name.

"I''ll just call you Cullen," I utter firmly. "At the most, I can just call you by one of your aliases."

He imitates my pout and stares at me childishly. I am sure the attendant printing out our tickets, who happens to be a middle-aged woman, is smiling at our squabble. Probably she must be thinking that we are indeed a couple.

"Cullen, we are in public," I mumble softly. He relents and drops the topic that is making me embarrassed. The woman is smiling when she hands over the tickets. "Thank you, Sir, Madame. Have a good day."

Cullen takes my hand in his, a gesture that makes me shy, yet I am getting used to it. I attempt to tell myself that if this makes me uncomfortable, then how am I going to keep up my act that Cullen Fu and Lu Shengyi are a power couple in my world when we return? 

Furthermore, he has already seen me in my most awkward moments: with my skirt ripped, although probably hundreds of people were staring aside from him - still, he was the one who was standing the closest to the suicidal me then. But when I was in that moment of desperation, that was not something I had to be worried about then.

Still, it meant that he would be the only one in this world to know my secrets, not that he couldn't read my mind to get them. These thoughts have been revolving in my head for goodness knows how long. The fact that he is an unmatched immortal being daunts me and makes me wonder what it is exactly that he wants out of a mere human like me.

I blush slightly as I remember how I was standing naked before him, and that he had magically stripped me probably out of fun, but yet not disrespected me. He did however have this power and authority over me, but he didn't force me nevertheless. I don't know: did he think I was fun?

"Are you going to continue daydreaming or are you going to proceed into the museum?" his cold voice takes me by surprise. I hastily disrupt my thoughts and rub my eyes.

"I was just a little tired after lunch," I make a dumb excuse.

He looks like he has extreme difficulty fathoming what I have just said, and tells me directly, "Miss Lu, lunch was two hours ago. Even if you were in a food coma then - which is highly impossible considering you are no normal human now - you shouldn't be still in one now."

Yeah, he was right. I am not a normal human. Of course, how could I be, when I have abilities I myself cannot control well? Not long ago, I had even caused practically all my batchmates to go into a 'group trance' and run amok! I liked how I could use my powers to get through the exams I didn't prepare for, but for me to be able to control others is beyond scary. So, I hope Cullen just means that I am normal, with some unusual abilities.

He gestures for me to follow him, his hair glimmering under the heat of the sun. For a moment I thought that his hair was not just a single shade, but appeared to be a myriad of colours suddenly. Slowly the rainbow streaks in his hair evolved into darker, bolder colours ranging from auburn to a deep chestnut brown.

Ah, his demonic nature was showing, even in his hair. I did not see any need to question the colour-changing phenomenon, or why he had started off with a rainbow. It wasn't of any help to the situation. In the end, all I want is just to get back what was meant to be mine and fulfil my end of the bargain. But on matters of the heart, I am unsure if I can ever recover. 

My attraction to Cullen contradicts my reluctance to love and even despite knowing this, I am powerless to deny his seduction. I hate this part of me, but who am I to go against someone who has helped me and has powers beyond my own comprehension? 

..................…..

I just smile sheepishly as I follow him into the depths of the place they call a museum, a non-existent place in my world.

"This is a Chinese gong," he says, pointing towards a strange round flat object. I hesitate while having my hand outstretched to touch it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he utters solemnly. I cast him a queer look. He retaliates with a disapproving look. "Contamination, my dear Miss Lu."

"Huh, what is contamination?"

Such a thing never existed in my world, because the environment was far too chemically-treated for anything to be capable of contaminating or polluting. Cars ran on very environment-friendly fuel, and although the popular automobile brands still carried the same names as the ones in this different world, as far as I noticed, the technology behind these cars and the world itself was way more backward.

"You seem to know a lot, Cullen," I murmur, knowing he is capable of hearing what I have to say. "How long have you been roaming - no, how old are you?"

He rolls his eyes at me. "Miss Lu, you wouldn't get it even if I told you. To answer your question, it's somewhere between 5,000 years to 10,000 years… of demonic age."

I've always been bad at math, so how could I even convert that to human years?

Cullen reads my thoughts. "There is no correct answer on demonic years to human years, but considering the average human lives to be about 80 years old, I would take one demonic year to be 50,000 human years. A demon can live way longer than a human, and that is something I don't have to tell you. You probably read that in literature. "

Doing the math, I derived that it meant he had to be around 250,000 to 300,000 years old! I shrieked in my mind. Contrary to that, he is so childish and hard to read! I rant silently. He just smiles innocently and leads me further down the hall.

"What is that?" I exclaim, pointing to a circular object at the side of the hall.

"This is a globe, it shows the world here," Cullen says calmly. "This is where we are " - he spins the object to expose a curved map that shows a different area when he moves it about. "This is America, in the West. We are still in the East."

"There seems to be a lot of places compared to Andophia," I comment. What just happened to the world back in 2012 to make it what it was in my world? Cullen had not answered my question, so everything continues to seem a mystery. He ought to have a reason for not telling me. I feel eager, although I know I should wait to find out. Cullen is the host and I am only his guest. It is the host who decides what performances or dishes to be served to the guests.

"Shengyi, take it slow. Enjoy the view now," he hushed. "When we return, you might miss the slow times we enjoyed here."

He placed both his hands around me without warning and like the times earlier, before I knew it, he had me cornered against the wall, kissing me deeply and exploring the depths of my mouth with his chilly tongue.

I didn't know what to say, but the next thing I realised was that we were shrouded in mist.

I felt relieved. While this demon of a man confused me and made me curious, on the other hand, when I was in his embrace, his arms around me gave me a feeling of security. This wasn't love, although I was sure I had some feelings for Cullen now. I had admired Cullen Fu but it was devil Cullen who stole my breath away.

He was capable of doing things a regular human couldn't, and that, I concluded, was the reason I felt different when I was with him. But whether I could love him in the future was another matter to be thought about in the future.