The steaming tea that exited the teapot was perfectly golden, and it glimmered in the sunlight, blindingly, like the perfectly white walls and golden pillars of the palace did. There he was: across from Qingti sat the calm, almost cold looking silver-haired deity. It is said he's tens of thousands of years old, but his looks were comparable to Qingti's. So this was what being an immortal was like, Qingti thought. As the cup was filled with tea and the sound of pouring stopped, complete silence once again filled the room. Neither man spoke as they stared blankly in front. Setting the teapot down, Xiaojiu chuckled awkwardly.
"Ah...well, you guys go ahead and talk. I should change into something more presentable than this."
"You look fine just the way you are," Dijun interjected, grabbing Xiaojiu's hand as she shuffled out of the room. "You're familiar with both of us anyway, no need." Xiaojiu paused.
"That's true...but there's this one dress I discovered in my wardrobe a few days ago that I've been wanting to wear. It's so delicate and beautiful that I don't wanna ruin it by accident, I haven't had an opportunity to show it off until now!"
Dijun nodded lightly, letting Xiaojiu's hand go.
"Alright, if you insist. I'd love to see how brilliant you look in the dress."
Having her lover's consent, Xiaojiu scurried back to her quarters to change into the dress, leaving the two men sitting across from each other in the room alone. Silence ensued.
"...So, have you fully adjusted to life as an immortal, General Qingti?" Dijun spoke in a monotone voice after taking a sip of the perfectly golden tea.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I have been enjoying myself here."
"Have you...met up with Xiaojiu recently?"
Qingti didn't answer immediately, but instead raised his cup to take a sip of tea. "Man, the tea is still so hot," he thought to himself as the liquid touched his lips, "how did he drink it so nonchalantly?" Keeping a straight face, Qingti lowered the cup without having drunk any of the tea.
"No, I haven't, actually. I've..spent some time just by myself in my quarters these days."
With Dijun's response of slow nodding, the two men returned to just drinking the tea in silence. Now that Dijun really got to take a good look at Qingti, he really was good looking, especially for a former mortal. Were he and Xiaojiu really always just friends?
Finally, Xiaojiu came prancing back into the room, the sunlight making her look even more beautiful upon her arrival. The dress, a deep purple accented with pale yellow embroidery of the finest thread quality, had soft golden tassels that hung along the bottom of the dress, and gauze fabric on the sleeves. Qingti's eyes stopped on the embroidered magpie on the dress. This dress...
Xiaojiu twirled around in the dress, its light fabric floating angelically around her, landing softly as she came to a halt.
"What do you think, guys?"
The two men stared in silence for a moment, stunned by Xiaojiu's beauty in this dress that seemed made for her. Dijun spoke first, the faint smile on his lips and the sparkling look in his eyes one of pure affection and love, one that further silenced Qingti.
"You look stunning. But, where did you get this dress? I don't recall ever seeing it before."
Xiaojiu furrowed her brows. "Actually, I don't know either. I don't recall buying it, or receiving it as a gift... just one day, I was organizing my wardrobe and saw it buried in the very back. It just...appeared, out of nowhere all of a sudden. I feel like I should know where it's from but as soon as the thought forms in my head, it disappears before I can process it."
Qingti still couldn't speak, not just out of awe for Xiaojiu's beauty, but also because of that dress. That dress looked exactly like the last thing he bought for her in the nameless town; he'd recognize it anywhere. But wasn't that all a dream? How did it end up here, in the real world, on Xiaojiu's body?
"Qingti, what do you think of this dress?"
Xiaojiu's question brought Qingti out of his state of shock. He looked the dress up and down, absorbing every detail of it, and smiled.
"It suits you perfectly."
Qingti returned to the mortal realm to pay a visit, his ethereal turquoise robes grazing the dirty ground. So much has changed since the last time he came here and really had a good look at the place. The sky was half blue, half gray, and the cold wind blew at his face and messed up his hair. The silent scenery where everything was still made him feel a bit sentimental.
"Fengjiu," he muttered under his breath, "The years have blurred one into the other, and the past really felt like it was all a dream. From now on, nothing will happen between us. Perhaps like a dream, my memories will fade away with the coming sunlight. And..." he paused, recalling the earlier events of that day, "no matter how vividly I remember it, and no matter how much I long for the you of that time, I hope you never recall what happened in the affectionate dream."
Qingti kicked at the dirt staining the dark, stony ground, slightly mucking up his perfectly clean shoe. Unlike Aryana's Dream, traces of the dream were apparent in the real world, for better or for worse. Would Xiaojiu eventually recall everything that happened there? Qingti shook his head, this wasn't what he wanted for her. Those memories would only bog her down and make her life with Dijun difficult. He admitted defeat to Dijun, it seemed he and Xiaojiu were not meant to be, and with that being the case, he didn't want to cause her any more pain. After all, he too has woken up from the dream, and after waking up, a dream should be forgotten... or at the very most, only recalled in passing, occasionally, spontaneously, affectionately.
A/N: yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy done! Thank you everyone for the support! I didn't expect so many people to read and enjoy my work! I am really sorry if my writing quality fell off a cliff in this chapter lol, and I hope I've wrapped it up nicely enough. Thank you once again for your support, and if you like my work please stay tuned as I have more stories I'm writing! ^^
YOU ARE READING
Affectionate Dream ✔
FanfictionWhere did it all go wrong? Was it when he sent that letter, and told her there was an escape? Or was it even earlier, when he held the Cotton Rose cream gently in his two hands, deep in thought? Or perhaps, were things already not meant to be from t...
