New Beginning and Future

Chapter 49: Crimson Evenings and Quiet Storms

Summary: As vows are signed and the night unfolds behind closed doors, tenderness and temptation weave through moments of intimacy, trust, and quiet planning. But beneath the warmth, something colder stirs—because some battles are fought not onstage, but in silence, and some lines, once crossed, demand an answer.

Overprotective: ZGDX
Overprotective/Possessive/territorial: Chessman
Chessman is literally his own warning when it concerns his girl

Notes:

⚠️Author's Note: Things are happening and plans are being made to be executed!

Disclaimer: The Muse would like to remind everyone we do not own FIYS nor the beloved characters nor any dialogue from either the show nor the book...the Muse is very sad and not pleased with this continued reminder that they do not own them and never will!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Forty-Seven

Two days later, the atmosphere was still. Quiet. Not solemn, not heavy, but grounded in something warm and quietly meaningful, like a secret that didn't need a spotlight to feel real. The world outside buzzed with its usual rush of traffic and noise, but here, in this small, sun-washed municipal office tucked between a row of aging government buildings, something sacred was unfolding in the simplest of ways.

There were no silk ribbons.

No rows of chairs.

No pressed suits or makeup artists or camera crews.

Just four people.

Yao stood beside her husband with her fingers loosely threaded through his, both of them watching in silence as her Aunt Wei, dressed in a soft ivory sweater and tailored beige pants, stood across from Ming, who had exchanged his usual black ZGDX coach's hoodie for a crisp gray button-down. He hadn't even bothered to roll the sleeves. Wei didn't mind. They weren't here for appearances. They were here for a signature, a quiet promise, and a new beginning; they didn't feel the need to dress up.

Yao's eyes flicked between them, noting the calm but genuine light in her aunt's expression, the way her hand rested gently over her lower abdomen, not a visible bump yet, but the knowledge was there, a child already woven into the gravity of this moment.

Ming's hand brushed against Wei's as the clerk behind the desk explained the final step. "Just a signature here, and your witness initials here and here. That's all."

Simple.

But Yao felt the weight of it, soft and undeniable. Sicheng shifted beside her, his thumb brushing along the back of her hand. She glanced up at him, and he tilted his head just slightly, not smiling, not teasing, just steady. Present. She leaned a little closer.

Wei signed first. Her handwriting was smooth and elegant, practiced. She paused briefly at the corner of the page, then moved aside so Ming could take her place. His signature was quick, unfussy. Done. Then it was their turn.

Yao stepped forward without hesitation, her pen gliding across the page with her initials—L.Y., small and neat. Then Sicheng followed, adding his L.S.C., sharp and slanted with that same controlled stroke he used for everything. And just like that, it was done.

Wei was officially married. Not just a mother-to-be. Not just Yao's closest family or the partner of ZGDX's coach. But a wife. Ming turned to her, and there was a rare softness in his face as he murmured something under his breath only she could hear. Wei laughed, genuine and gentle, and placed her hand on his cheek, her thumb brushing across his jaw before she leaned up and kissed him with a quiet kind of tenderness that made Yao's throat tighten unexpectedly.