To the other end of the Dream

15

Both of them were now seated opposite to each other, Shen Jin fiddling nervously with a red rose, not looking at him. Chu Xiuming took a deep breath.

"I am sorry."

Shen Jin looked up directly into his eyes.

"I recognised you the moment I saw you in this cafe. I even thought of telling you when you asked for a date. But I got into an accident and ended up in the hospital. While in the hospital, I had a doubt about you. I don't know where it came from..I am so sorry for that...but I thought how could a person be so sure to date someone whom she had met only once. I thought you were only coming after me for a sense of responsibility having seeing the dream which tells about our past life. So when you came to the hospital and offered to take care of me as a friend, I denied. It was partly due to the misunderstanding and partly due to the fact that you said you would be my friend for a few days. Jin'er, I want you to be with me every single day, not a few days."

"So you drove me out like that, with no explanation, no wishes, nothing? Didn't I tell you since previous birth not to keep anything from me? Our misunderstanding always grows when you lose to your stupidity and keep things from me. Don't you remember that, Chu Xiuming?"

Shen Jin was by then shedding tears. She was both angry and disappointed at Chu Xiuming.

"I am sorry Jin'er, I repeated the same mistake. But please, hear me out this time."

Shen Jin huffed. A part of her just wanted to walk off from there, as she had always done whenever she was angry with him. The the logic within her stopped her from taking a rash decision. She should hear it.

"Go on."

Chu Xiuming was surprised for a moment. He did not expect this from her. Her sudden calmness after she yelled at him was something unknown to him. He would not have been surprised if she walked out angrily from there. But the Jin'er sitting in front of him behaved way more maturely than that. 

"Do I look like I have all day to sit here like a fool?" Shen Jin's angry voice shook Chu Xiuming out of his trance.

"S..sorry, it's just that I forget words whenever I look at your eyes."

Shen Jin cringed at his familiar cheesy words.

"Anyway. After that, I contacted Xiao Su. He and Xiao Rou are closest to you. I started getting news about you, your whereabouts and your thoughts from them. From there I came to know about the suffering you were going through just because of me. So I wanted a perfect timing to explain everything to you, to propose you again, to start our love anew. We planned everything  and I was supposed to tell you during Xiao Rou's celebration get together at the restaurant. But...." He sighed. "I messed it up. I was supposed to tell you whether you wanted to be my girlfriend but a sudden thought distracted me and I uttered those stupid words...."

Chu Xiuming's voice trailed off and he looked down, completely embarrassed now. Shen Jin, on the other hand, was having a hard time to decide whether to cry, to yell, to laugh or to smack the head of the stupid sitting in front of her. She couldn't believe she was almost on the verge of losing her sanity for such a stupid thing. If Ruonan hadn't given her the advice, god knows what she would have done by now. She could have completely lost the love of her life. She mentally noted to thank Ruonan specially after this night.

"Are you really Chu Xiuming?"

"Pardon?"

"I cannot decide by myself. The person who could fight hundreds of battles alone, who could read me like an open book, who knew me better than myself, who was deft both in martial arts as well as literature, who was so romantic and cheesy that feeling butterflies in my stomach became an everyday experience-- can be this much foolish. Do you even know how much I overthought days and nights for your stupidity? Are you really The Demon General."

Chu Xiuming laughed.

"I am sorry...very sorry...you can give me any punishment you want. And the answers to your questions is both yes and no. I am Chu Xiuming, but I am no longer The Demon General."

"Did you say something about a punishment?"

 Shen Jin slowly left her seat and edged towards him. He stood up, confused at her sudden change in behaviour.

"Yes. I am so sorry for hurting you over a silly matter. So you can punish me as much as you wan-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, a sudden pressure came down on his left foot. Shen Jin stamped on his foot, hopped a few feet away from him and started blabbering like a five year old.

"See, I can step on your foot also. That's your punishment for hurting me-"

She stopped seeing the emotionless face of him. Oh no!

"Was that supposed to hurt?" Chu Xiuming's dumb mind wondered for a moment before getting enlightened by an idea. "OUCH!" He limped and sat on the chair, trying his best to act.

Meanwhile, Shen Jin rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Chu Xiuming, you are still a bad actor."

In a moment Chu Xiuming forgot about his acting and laughed out.

"Idiot Chu, are you laughing at me now? Hmph!" Shen Jin's face became red with anger and she jerked her head away from him, but immediately melted when she felt herself getting engulfed in his strong, warm, protective arms. At that moment, she forgot she was being held by the same person who proved to be the dumbest person to ever exist to her. She forgot she was angry with the same person just a moment ago. She let herself be consumed by his warm hug, known yet new to her. Though his warmth felt the same, his touch was new. 

"Jin'er. Let me tell you. No matter where you are, who are you with, what you become, how you look- as long as you are my Jin'er, I would recognise you, in light or in the dark. Because our love has gone way deeper than physical connection. I can feel you. So even if we are universes away, we can still feel each other."

Tears started flowing from her eyes. She tightened her hold around his neck and nape and sobbed silently. Chu Xiuming's eyes shed tears too, the tears of holding the one he had been waiting for hundreds of years. If someone saw them, even they would feel the mixed emotions they were feeling at that moment. It was as if two puzzle pieces who were waiting for each other were finally solved.

After almost five minutes, Shen Jin whispered something in his ears.

"Chu Xiuming."

"Yes."

"I love you."

Chu Xiuming sobbed hard and tightened his hold around Shen Jin's petite waist, as if his life depended on it. Those three simple letters coming from her mouth felt like heaven to him. Only he knew how much he wanted to hear them again from her mouth, in a different place, time, situation, look and feel. He buried his face more in her hair which smelled like cherry blossoms.

"I love you too, Jin'er."

Shen Jin looked up from his shoulders towards the glass window outside the cafe. It glistened with shining letters on it.

To the other end of the dream.