𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓━━━J. Cheng

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆-𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗲

029—Red Lotus I

When [First Name] awoke after that night, she found herself lying next to the campfire where she and Jiang Cheng had to camp out that night. Tucked in with a tattered purple robe over her, [First Name]'s temple creased as she sat up with difficulty. Her eyes were unfocused for a while and even while sitting, her body was wobbling. It felt like she was drifting along with a rough series of waves in an ocean...

She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, trying to ease the headache she had as she also evened her ragged breathing. "How did I end up back here...?" she had no recollections of the events from last night. The last thing she could recall was... Only the immense pain from her injuries and the unbearable pain surging within her insides. She knew that she went to the woods so that she wouldn't worry Jiang Cheng but...

Ah. Right, Jiang Cheng!

[First Name] snapped her eyes open and focused her eyes as she looked around her surroundings, looking for Jiang Cheng. But no matter where she looked, right or left, there was no other presence of another person. She blanked out for a while until the feeling of dread washed over her whole consciousness. "... Wanyin...?!" she called out.

There was no response. 

Eyes widening, [First Name] tried to stand up. But there was a sharp pain in her back that forced her to sit back down. "Wanyin..." she whispered, voice trembling as she clutched onto the purple robe that covered her from the cold of the night. 

Did he leave...?

But why? He's injured, and he was so out of it yesterday...! What if he found himself in danger, what if—

Her eyes suddenly clouded with tears, an undeniably unbearable pain that surpassed even the injury in her back she felt inside her chest. "I have to find him..." she whispered those words, "I have to..." The desperation as she tried to stand up yet again was the only driving force she had. 

After all, her body had already used up all of its energy and strength from the past few days. Sheer willpower was what forced her to keep on moving, but in the end, her own body really couldn't endure and betrayed her now. But even that desperation was not enough. She fell on her knees, both hands clutching the clothing on her lap. And then droplets fell.

Once those droplets fell, her tears would no longer stop from falling uncontrollably.

"[First Name]...?"

She couldn't hear clearly when all her emotions were going wild and uncontrollable. But when that voice reached her ears, she turned her head towards the direction of where the voice came from with her face all drenched with tears. Staring with wide eyes, [First Name] couldn't hold back again and burst into another wave of tears. 

"W-Wanyin..." she sobbed.

The other immediately dropped the handful of fruits in his arms and ran towards her in panic, "I'm here, what's with you? What happened?" Jiang Cheng wrapped an arm around her shoulder, holding her in his arms as he looked at her with nothing else but concern on his face. 

In between her tears, [First Name] choked in her own words and asked with difficulty, "You were gone, I didn't know where you went... I don't know, I don't know why I'm crying..." She trembled, she curled up, she sobbed. All of these feelings were unfamiliar to her. She had never acted like this in the past either. Why now? In front of Wanyin too...

Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes, pursing his lightly swollen lips as he thought, 'Like last night, the way she thinks and acts is really unstable... Normally, she wouldn't be like this...'