The Curse Love

chapter 6

Sunsets from the mountain are no comparison to the twilight of home. Wei Ying waited for Lan Zhan to join him on the porch. A Yuan and he had parted ways before he returned to the Jingshi, insisting that there was a discussion to be had. A Yuan had agreed, under the insistence that he would join them for breakfast.

“You knew from the beginning didn’t you? My darling husband.”

Lan Zhan plucked the cold tea cup from him, neatly arranging his robes to lay elegantly alongside him.

“I was certain once my touch had no affect. There were other possibilities, but in my experience, this was the most likely.”

“In your experience? Lan Zhan have you faced this incredibly specific ‘only relieved by pure love contact’ curse before?”

The conversation up til now was casual, but a subtle twist to Lan Zhan’s posture showed a change.

“After you died-”

Wei Ying took a sharp breath, not expecting that. But he let Lan Zhan continue.

“After you died, I thought I would never love anyone as much as you. That I would die, mourning the strength of my feelings, or live haunted by the intensity of my devotion. And then I met our son, and realised that our feelings for each other were an echo from how much we love him.”

He was right. He always was really. A Yuan was the best of both of them, a dream brought to life, a memory of a loss with all the joy you missed.

It was like the echo to his own heartbeat. How was he supposed to hear it when his ear had never known it's absence. That little boy in the rabbit patch, he never got warning that he would crawl his way into his heart like a weed.

It was like he had his soul and heart running around outside his body. A new type of fear, a new type of love. A whole new definition of care.

Honestly the curse was so foolish. How could someone be the most loved, as though emotion was a precious metal to be weighed out and traded like a commodity? How could anyone see the heart of another like so? How could anyone see his love for this man, who had read his heartache in his prediction, if not in his actions, and find it wanting.

But...

‘‘Why not just tell me?”

The words burst out in a sort of painful burst. Because Wei Ying knew that Lan Zhan had picked up on it earlier, the true definition of the curse. But he had left him to flounder in research, even obstructing Jingyi from giving him any more than a hint. From his lowered gaze, he could tell Lan Zhan regretted it too.

“It was the wrong decision to make. I-”

Wei Ying brushed that off. “No, I know. But you had a reason, right?”

Lan Zhan hesitated. “Truthfully? I did not realise the impact of the curse on your mental state. You-”