New Beginning and Future

Chapter 76: Homeward Bound

Summary: As an idyllic escape draws to a close, summons from afar remind them that peace is temporary but loyalty is not. Between playful threats, quiet reassurances, and promises of future horizons, departure becomes less about leaving and more about returning stronger. And when the world begins to close in again, one truth remains unchanged, whether across continents or back under familiar lights, she is never unguarded, and he has never needed a warning to protect what is his.

Notes:

⚠️ Author's Note: Vacations are awesome but there is nothing like home.

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!

Chapter Seventy-Four

By the time the second month in Rome was drawing toward its quiet close, the rhythm of their days had settled into something almost dangerously comfortable, mornings stretching long and lazy, afternoons spent wandering neighborhoods that had begun to feel familiar, evenings claimed by slow dinners and open windows.

Yao had nearly forgotten what it felt like to be summoned rather than simply exist, until her phone began vibrating insistently across the small marble table on the terrace where she had been sketching notes for a future novel while Sicheng reviewed something quietly beside her. She glanced at the screen, saw the name flashing across it, and immediately sighed. "Brace yourself," she muttered.

Sicheng did not look up. "Jinyang."

"Yes."

She answered the call and did not even get the chance to greet her before the voice on the other end exploded through the speaker with theatrical outrage.

"Lu Yao, when exactly were you planning to come home," Jinyang demanded without preamble.

Yao winced slightly and leaned back in her chair. "Hello to you too."

"Do not hello me," Jinyang shot back dramatically. "The wedding is soon, the fittings are happening, the final decisions are being made, and my maid of honor is prancing around Rome eating cannoli instead of doing her duty."

"I am not prancing," Yao replied calmly, though her eyes flicked briefly toward Sicheng who was now openly listening. "I am walking with purpose."

"You are avoiding responsibility," Jinyang corrected sharply.

"I am on my honeymoon."

"You have been on your honeymoon for nearly two months," Jinyang countered. "You are not the queen of Italy."

Sicheng's mouth twitched faintly at that.

Yao crossed one leg over the other and leaned her elbow on the arm of her chair. "We will be back soon."

"Define soon."

"Soon," she repeated deliberately.

"Unacceptable," Jinyang declared. "I need you here because you are my maid of honor and because I know for a fact that if you do not physically supervise the final fittings, something will go wrong and I will lose my mind."

"You are already losing your mind," Yao replied smoothly.

"That is not the point."

Yao sighed faintly, glancing up at the Roman sky as if it might offer rescue. "What crisis requires my immediate presence."

"The dresses," Jinyang said dramatically.

Yao went very still. "What about the dresses."

"I changed the color," Jinyang announced.