'SEE YOU MORNING' 068 I Am Not a Witch

On the plane, Li Haojun recalled Sienna's demeanor and expression when they had spoken before lunch, and while eating he occasionally glanced up at her to compare, but did not initiate any conversation with her. Li Haojun now knew she could sense his brainwaves, but he did not care that Sienna knew he was observing her.

Sienna did not talk to Li Haojun the way she had before lunch, but ate quietly, occasionally looking up at Li Haojun, and when their eyes met, she would involuntarily look away.

After this boring working meal on the journey, Li Haojun could no longer feel the afternoon drowsiness he had experienced last time. Although the sunlight was indeed warm and the engines were indeed noisy, he only wanted to figure out what had actually happened. He recounted his earlier experience, sat across from Sienna, and calmly waited for her to share her thoughts.

Sienna did not explain right away. She seemed hesitant, and in the end Li Haojun had to encourage her to say something.

"Sienna, I'm not blaming you. I just want to know what just happened. Was it related to you? Can you tell me?"

"Yes," Sienna finally spoke timidly.

"I'm sorry, Ethan. It might have been because of me. I was exploring your memories. I was just curious."

"So that means the afternoon I just became aware of—it only happened inside my head, right?"

"Yes. Everything now is real."

"Then why, when you were exploring my memories, did I experience those fabricated scenes?"

"It might be the result of our brainwaves interfering with each other."

As she explained, Li Haojun smiled faintly at the corner of his mouth, thinking: then why did she fabricate those intimate scenes?

Li Haojun glanced at Sienna across from him. There was a restrained expression on her face. He did not want to press her with questions, but on second thought something did not add up. He must have drunk water after lunch to feel the urge to urinate, yet his trip to the restroom had happened before lunch—it did not make logical sense.

Just then Sienna spoke.

"You never went to the restroom. That memory of yours is fake too."

Li Haojun looked into Sienna's eyes and thought for a moment, then asked,

"Then where did these fake memories of mine start? And where did they end?"

"From when you remember me resting my chin on both hands, leaning toward you—that part is real. It ends when you come back from the restroom and sit down in your seat. That memory is fake."

"Then why do I have a memory of a woman lying on top of me? Why did you set up that kind of scene for me?"

"It might be the result of our brainwaves affecting each other. I—" Sienna paused.

"I honestly don't know."

Seeing that Sienna had confessed everything honestly, Li Haojun thought he should not be so petty and stop giving her that stern look. He smiled and asked,

"Have you done this to other people too?"

"No. Not here."

Li Haojun was about to ask where she had done it to others, but then thought: no, Sienna's resume shows she has always been in Kalispell. Could she have been somewhere else? Then he reconsidered—maybe she meant this company.

In the afternoon, thinking back to that head perception that was impossible to distinguish from reality, Li Haojun had no desire to nap at all. His exchanges with Sienna became perfunctory, as if he held some resentment over her intrusion into his thoughts. He passed the time by reading the written materials Sienna had prepared.

Small planes are always slightly slower than mainline flights. By the time they reached New York, it was already evening. After dinner at the hotel, the city lights were already glowing. Given that there was work the next day, Li Haojun walked Sienna back to her room after dinner, then returned to his own room next door.

Lying in bed to relieve the day's fatigue, he could not help but think of Kesiya again—those days when she had traveled with him.

Then he thought of Sienna in the next room. He did not know if, at this distance, through the wall, she could still invade his brain and steal information. Although Li Haojun did not mind this young woman who had just entered the workforce learning some of his privacy, for some reason, when her prying touched on his relationship with Kesiya, it stirred emotions inside him—as if he did not approve of her trying to take Kesiya's place.

Li Haojun himself did not know why he had such an emotional reaction. Just then he heard a knock on the door. Lying in bed, he had already guessed it was probably Sienna. For some reason, a flicker of annoyance passed through him.

"Ethan, Ethan, it's Sienna," her voice came from outside the door.

Hearing no answer, she knocked again and said,

"Do you have a moment, Ethan? I want to explain."

If it were any other time, Li Haojun would have responded immediately—he would never treat a lady so slowly. But this time he did not. Instead, he walked straight to the door and opened it. Facing Sienna, he did not speak first, nor did he invite her in.

Sienna looked into Li Haojun's eyes and seemed to sense the atmosphere was not harmonious. She opened her mouth but said nothing, then lowered her head, as if she dared not look Li Haojun in the eye. But in the end she summoned the courage to look at him and said,

"Ethan, I'm sorry about today. I want to—" It seemed Sienna had wanted to say she wanted to explain, but Li Haojun did not give her the chance.

Li Haojun smiled and interrupted her before she could finish.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. We have work tomorrow. Get some rest," he said, then closed the door and went back to bed.

When everything had quieted down, Li Haojun replayed what had just happened and realized he had been very rough with Sienna. He did not know why he had been so impatient in that moment. Now lying in bed, he began to worry about that girl—had she been hurt? Had she gone back to her room and was crying?

The worry and guilt in his heart had not yet reached the threshold for action. Li Haojun still lay calmly in bed, but inside he could grow no calmer.

Every second that passed, his rough treatment of Sienna inflicted one more point of harm on that girl's heart. She only had an extraordinary ability that ordinary people did not have because of her hearing problem. It was not her fault.

Li Haojun could no longer remain indifferent. He knocked on Sienna's door.

"Come in, it's unlocked." It was Sienna's familiar voice.

He pushed open the door. Sienna was already standing in front of Li Haojun. He looked her face up and down carefully, checking for any sign that she had been crying. Finding not a single trace, Li Haojun finally felt some of the guilt in his heart ease.

"Ethan, please come sit down."

The moment Li Haojun turned back to close the door, he missed the joy in Sienna's eyes as she watched him. When he turned around and walked to stand before her, the two facing each other, he said softly with some apology,

"I'm sorry. I was rude to you just now. It seems like you hadn't even finished speaking. I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"No, Ethan. It's me who should apologize to you."

Again, before she could finish, Li Haojun pointed to the chair behind Sienna and said,

"Let's sit and talk."

The atmosphere seemed much better now. Sienna sat in the chair and scooted a little closer to Li Haojun, saying timidly,

"Ethan, it was my fault. I lied to you during the day."

"Oh? How did you trick me? Tell me about it," Li Haojun said with a half-joking smile.

"Um, sorry. The person you felt—I found her from your memories, and then I projected the scenes I made up onto you. That's why you felt like you experienced so many things."

"Found her from my memories? How did you find her?" Li Haojun was indeed a bit curious.

"Ah, it's like this. When you talk to me, the people or things you mention also have corresponding images in your mind. I can sense your brainwaves and roughly feel what a person looks like or what a scene looks like," Sienna explained, seeming a little excited, her eyebrows dancing.

Seeing her so relaxed, Li Haojun let go of his worry about her. Seeing her explain so enthusiastically, he continued the conversation with her on this topic.

"Then how did you project those experiences onto me?"

"I imagined it. I imagined the whole process from your first-person perspective. My brainwaves would then be sensed by you, and you would think it was your own experience."

"Oh, heh." Li Haojun laughed as he listened. It felt like magic. Looking at Sienna's young, cute face, she did not look at all like the old witch from a fairy tale who could cast spells.

"Ethan, I'm not a witch," Sienna said with a smile, a slightly coquettish tone in her voice.

Returning from his thoughts to reality with a smile, Li Haojun asked curiously,

"Then why did you do it?"

"I..." Sienna hesitated.

"It's okay. You don't have to say it if you don't want to," Li Haojun quickly reassured her.

"I'm curious," Sienna said, her big eyes blinking as she looked at Li Haojun.

Curious. Curious about what? Could it be she had never been in a relationship before? Li Haojun wanted to ask her, but the moment he thought of it as a girl's private matter, he dropped the idea. But this time it seemed Sienna had caught him again.

"I've never had a romantic relationship before, nor any experience with the opposite sex. I came from somewhere else. This is my first time interacting with a man in a work setting," Sienna said, pointing at Li Haojun with her finger, looking a little timid. Then she continued,

"I'd only heard that when a man and a woman are together, they, um, they do certain things. So I was curious."

"Oh, I see." Although he agreed out loud, Li Haojun still had questions. Her resume clearly stated she had grown up in Kalispell all her life, but it was not appropriate to press her for details.

As he was thinking, Li Haojun suddenly chuckled.

"Ethan, why are you laughing?"

"I just noticed, you're full of energy tonight. Not like that time at your place when you couldn't stop yourself from falling into that deep sleep," Li Haojun said. He was also curious about what caused such a contrast in her behavior. Looking into her eyes, he seemed to expect her to give a reasonable answer.

"Oh, but I really don't know why. I don't remember. I don't remember the thing you're talking about, but I do remember some things from my family. I don't know why either."

"Huh? Then is it possible that when you were at home, someone did to you what you did to me?" Li Haojun suddenly had a flash of insight and thought of this.

"Oh," Sienna replied, blinking her big eyes. She thought for a moment and said,

"What you say makes sense. But who did it? How did they do it? Why would they do that?"

Li Haojun wanted to say he had equipment to measure brainwaves, but the words stopped at his lips. It somehow felt like he was trying to get close to her, and he would have to go to Sienna's home. So he pretended to check the time and said,

"It's getting late. We have work tomorrow. I'll head back to my room. You get some rest too, okay?"

"Okay, Ethan. Good night."