Fresh Embers of Love

Epilogue

The young man paused in his walk along the path on the banks of the Zhujiang River. His attention was arrested by the sight of an enormous Osmanthus tree. He left the trail, walking through the grass on light feet, the air perfumed with the unique fragrance of the little yellow blossoms.

"Leo! Where are you going?" asked the young girl who accompanied him.

"It's beautiful" he whispered.

"What? That tree?" the girl asked skeptically. She had always wanted him to say those words about her. It was too insulting to be overshadowed by a tree.

"See the branches, reaching up to heaven... like so" the boy said, lifting his arms above his head in a position to approximate the tree branches.

"And the leaves, when the wind blows..." the boy's body swayed gracefully from side to side.

"And when the blossoms fall..." the boy turned in an asymmetric circle, and then lightly, on his toes, stepped to the side, his swanlike neck gracefully outstretched, mimicking the drifting descent of the little yellow petals in a balletic dance.

The girl sighed longingly. He was too beautiful.

The boy ended his dance, frozen in an 'Epaule Devant', a dreamy expression on his face. Then he took a deep breath, straightening up, and faced her.

"Do you see?" he asked her, his tone almost didactic.

"Beautiful" she replied in a strained voice. Her heart stopped every time he looked at her.

He turned back to the tree, moving closer to it. His fingers trailed over the bark of the trunk in a light caress.

"Take my picture!" he requested, his voice playful.

The girl dutifully picked up the large camera that hung from a strap around her neck, and held it up to her face, peering through the view finder. The young man adopted a variety of poses next to the tree, some serious, some silly, some sultry.

The camera loved him. The angle of his chiseled jawline and delicate cheekbones, along with the straight bridge of his nose, made a perfect geometric shape. His translucent, white skin glowed in the light of the early morning sun, contrasting beautifully against the rich, dark luster of his coal black hair. His dark eyes possessed a magnetic quality, pulling the viewer in with his enigmatic gaze.

He embraced the tree trunk with his whole body, a silly grin on his face, pressing his cheek against the rough bark. The girl laughed as she pressed the button on her camera, snapping photos. He wrinkled his nose in a mischievous expression, and then turned his head to plant a kiss on the trunk.

He pulled away from the tree suddenly, stumbling backwards, touching his fingertips to his lips.

"What's wrong?" asked the girl.

He looked at the tree with a puzzled expression. "It's... nothing..." he muttered quietly, shaking his head.

"Let's get going, then" the girl proposed.

He walked hesitantly back to the path, looking down at the ground. Every third step, he would turn and look back at the tree, and then lightly touch his lips, wearing that puzzled expression.

He was almost to the path, when a loud rustling noise made him freeze. His eyes grew larger in his face, as he slowly turned his head, followed by his body, gasping in fear at what he saw.

The large branches of the great tree were shrinking! With the loud groaning of twisted wood, they collapsed down into the trunk, which was thinning. A cloud of dark green leaves and yellow petals billowed up around it, obscuring their view for a moment. There was a bright flash of golden light, causing the young man and the girl to hold up their forearms, to shade their eyes from the glare. A strong gust of wind blew past them, and then it grew quiet.