BUILT A LOVE FOREVER COULDN'T BREAK

|| Chapter 2

Did you forget all those times when I cared for you? Did you forget all the backlash and struggles I braved through, just so you two could have a good life? Is this how you pay me back, talking back to me when all I want is for you to think of your clan, your family?

A void or a space, somewhere only voices echo— he is surrounded by them.

"It's because of you! All because of you and your mother!"
"You ungrateful child!"

The verbal bashing is harsher then he remembers in his memories, the voices cutting.

The scene changes and so does the voices. Instead of the disappointed frown and countless faceless voices, there were uncountable unknown blank faces— all of whom seeming to be laughing at him. A strange feat given that none of their features could be made out in the fog which surrounded almost everything in his vision.

But that doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that Lan Wangji feels exposed. He feels like he is standing in the open for everyone to stare, their gazes scoring and scorching— undressing him, stripping his dignity with their gazes, burning him.
The murmurs and whispers aren't better. He can just make out the tails of few words, enough to know that accompanied with their shifting eyes, they don't mean well. He'll he would be lucky if the words were even human.
Can words be human? It's a hysterical thought but the buzz of unheard words and numerous eyes are making him want to crawl out of his skin, making him wish he was on the battlefield instead, in the middle of a nighthunt gone wrong, at the drop of a cliff, in the dungeons of the enemies; anywhere but where he was at that moment.
Wangji, I am truly disappointed with you.

No.

Lan Wangji woke up with a gasp, his lips still holding the word on their tip as if to hold on it. Noticing the blank wall facing him and the low table with the dragon incense burner, Lan Wangji closed his eyes. He was in Jingshi, in Cloud Recesses, at his home. Not with some stranger, not on the streets, certainly not in......

He forced the thought away, taking a deep breath before looking outside. The sky was dark, too dark to be Mao shi. This time Lan Wangji did not suppress the sigh which escaped him. Another sleepless night, wasted.

A tiny bird chirps outside while the sound of tea pouring into a cup accompanied the melody, providing a refreshing base. Lan Xichen watched as his brother poured tea for him. Soon, he would do so for someone else.

"Wangji."
"Xiongzhang."

Lan Xichen smiled. His brother always had this ability to speak everything while saying just one word; an ability Lan Xichen would be envious of if not for the rule 'if others win over you, do not envy them.'

"Wangji, how are your new students doing ?"

It was always good to ask his brother to speak about something he enjoyed, rather than getting straight to the point. It was similar to talking to a bunny who didn't know you, so you better get the ball of fluff in a safe zone before trying to pet it.

"The children are doing well. Lan Bo and Lan Mei have shown interest in music while others are starting to show signs of focus."

"The kids are a bunch of good feet."

"Mn. They are well."

Cloud Recesses may prohibit its disciples from taking excessive pride in anything but Lan Xichen loved how his brother practically glowed while talking about his new students, none of them older than five or six. Wangji was a stickler of rules but he always made an exception when it came to those little feet who still jumped when excited, grabbed the hem of Wangji's front robes when he took them in his arms to soothe a cut or wipe a tear.