Tugging of a heart string

3. Sorrow

Sun is rising from east, banishing the darkness from world. He is still weak from all the strikes of discipline cane.

His gaze is on the perfume satchel, a borrowed gift from his beloved, on the cave of Xanwu. He reminiscences the soft touches they shared, the soft gaze of his beloved when he shared his troubles, the beautiful smile he flashed after getting the poison off his chest. Oh that blinding smile. The smile he fell heads over heels for. That smile would always show up when he did some mischief. His adorable smile.

I miss him so much.

A soft rapping from the door of Jingshi came and his brother entered. His gaze is grave and heavy as if he is carrying a wooden cross on his back. Lan Xichen is looking at everywhere in the room but at his brother.

"Brother, is something the matter?" Wangji voiced his worries. "Wangji, this might be too much for you to bear. I'm bringing bad news to you."

"What is ..."

"Young master Wei... He... He passed away..."

He felt as if the whole world stopped. The cool and swift breeze stopped flowing through his open window. The rustle of leaves stopped. The bright sunlight suddenly dulled, bringing the darkness bit by bit. His whole world crashed down. Because his whole world was his beloved A-ying.

A cold rain drop hit the windowsill. Two, three drops joined in. Then another few joined in, creating a deafening noise, drowning the cries of a young widower, hugged by his brother. For the first time in a long while, Lan Xichen was left dumbfounded, not knowing what to do or how to calm his younger brother. He kept sighing while rubbing soothing circles on his younger brother's back.