The King's Dancer

Chapter 15

"That depends on what those worries are, specifically. There's no all encompassing answer for that, gege."

Xie Lian sighed, having expected an answer such as this. It seemed like this king was indeed rather hard to deal with.

"Then, I will give you a few hypothetical problems", Xie Lian decided.

"Go on. But let's sit down first", Hua Cheng ordered more than suggested, so Xie Lian listened.

"First, if I told you I didn't earn enough money by dancing for you, and asked you to increase my pay several times, what would you do?"

Hua Cheng frowned.

"Gege isn't a greedy person like that. Such a scenario is beyond unlikely."

"Humor me."

Hua Cheng sighed.

"Of course I would raise your pay."

"What about the other dancers? Wouldn't that cause a disruption? With what reasoning would you justify that?", Xie Lian asked in a neutral tone.

"I'm the king, what do I need to justify myself for?", the alpha smirked.

Xie Lian gave him a look, and Hua Cheng huffed in amusement, before he answered properly.

"I'd say it's because you're my favourite, so you should get whatever you ask for."

Xie Lian just shook his head exasperatedly before he moved on.

"Second, what if, once I was set for life with all of that money, I wanted to leave this place?"

Genuine hurt flashed in Hua Cheng's eye at the thought.

"Of course I'd let you leave", he said quietly.

"And wouldn't you resent me for not just leaving, but also taking so much of your money first?"

"I would never resent you. If you left, I'd assume you were unhappy here, and I only want what makes you happy. I don't care about money, I have more than enough of it anyway."

"Would you be happy?"

"I'm happy as long as I know gege is happy."

Xie Lian sighed.

"Hua Cheng, you just proved that my worries are very legitimate."

At being called by his real name, Hua Cheng's shoulders stiffened slightly, only perceptible because Xie Lian was watching him very closely.

"You're the king of a huge country", Xie Lian continued. "You have very heavy responsibilities. You can't just let anyone you like use you like this. You need to think rationally first and foremost, before you can act on taking care of my worries. And you need to think of yourself as well. Your whole personality cannot just consist of wanting to make me -or any other person you like- happy. You have your own likes and dislikes, desires and aversions. Right now you like me, and I like you. And I understand the desire to want to make the other person happy, too. But, Hua Cheng, if you only ever do what makes me happy, but don't tell me what makes you happy...", Xie Lian broke off and sighed, before he continued.

"I'm not happy if you don't tell me what makes you happy. And I really mean you . If you like me, I don't think you would be happy if I suddenly decided to leave. Right? I know I would be sad if you suddenly didn't want to see me anymore", he admitted.

Hua Cheng lowered his head, looking properly scolded.

"What if gege's happiness would be more important to me than my own?", he then asked quietly.