fℓσωєяѕ fσя уσυ 💐 | Ongoing 🟣

Lotuses

The lotus plant belongs to the Nillumbik genus and carries symbolic significance in major cultures across the world. Its floral meaning is rebirth and divinity. In Buddhism, it is viewed as a sign of purity of speech and mind and is associated with spiritual awakening and enlightenment. In Hinduism, it is associated with beauty and represents how a person can be awakened to spiritual reality. In Egypt, lotus stands for the sun. The most striking feature about a lotus is that its flowers are clean the next day, although it grows in mud and returns within.

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"Xiu Ying, can't you stay still?" asked Wei Li Min as he watched the young princess darting off to different festival stands with wide eyes, her silky waist-long hair and glamorous hairpins swaying with each movement. It had been years since she attended the festivals that were being held in town, and she needed to take part in every possible thing available.
"Oh, relax, Li Min! You won't lose me, and also, did you call me Xiu Ying? You're supposed to call me by my full name since you're my guard. It's Yan Xiu Ying, got it?" she remarked with her finger pointed at him and a pout on her face.
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "You can't expect me to do that when you call me Li Min too, and I work for the king, not you so don't tell me what to do."
"Well, then I'm going to tell my father about you!" She knitted her brows cutely with the same little pout.
"Go ahead, princess. Your father knows how you are." He folded his arms, unbothered by her threat. His face kept the cool expression he always had. 'This spoiled little girl...' She hated that no matter what she did or said, he wouldn't fall victim to it. It had always been that way with the two of them.
He was mostly expressionless and level-headed while she was loud and energetic, so she wanted him to be looser around her, especially since they grew up together—with him a few years older than her. However, due to their social standing, he mainly kept within his boundaries as her father's most trusted head guard.
What made it worse was that she had slowly developed a crush on him in her early teenage years, but she couldn't even find out if he had any feelings for her too. He'd protect her and care for her all the time, which was his job, but she felt like it was more than that.
At times, it seemed like they were getting closer, but then, he'd put a space between them again—making it obvious he was just a guard ensuring the daughter of his king was safe.
"Fine, whatever!" She stomped away angrily, the long sleeves of her light blue, silk hanfu with golden flower embroideries flowing along. 'Ugh, I dislike that he's right!'
He pursed his lips as he started following her. "Come on, don't be angry."
     "Who said I was angry?!"
     "You sound angry though." Him being right made her even more irritated. She broke into a run to which he quickly followed after her. "Xiu Ying!" He noticed a cart coming from the street to the right, and his eyes widened as she ran toward it blindly, causing the horse to get riled up and making her fall back with a scream. Luckily, Wei Li Min quickly slid under her to catch her and break her fall. Passersby gasped at the situation while he groaned under her as she winced in pain.
     "Are you okay?" he questioned as he got up. It was times like this where she suspected he was really worried about her because his eyes seemed to portray it even if his face didn't. He checked her foot to see if she hurt it, and a bright idea came to her mind.
She pretended to wince in pain when he rotated her ankle, and his eyes shot up to her petite face in concern. "I think I twisted my ankle..." she answered.
     He exhaled deeply. "This is why I told you to be careful!" he said sternly. "Let's get you back to the palace, now. People are watching." He helped her get up.
She looked around them to see the civilians watching them. "B-But I just got out! I want to explore more, Li Min!"
     "Princess, you can't even walk."
     "But you can carry me!" He was taken aback by her suggestion.
He looked away and shook his head. "No, that would be improper."
     "Nobody in the palace will know. Please..."
She looked at him with puppy eyes, and he put his hands on his hips. "Fine." He gave up and crouched down for her to get on his back. "Hurry and get on before I change my mind."
She smiled widely and quickly got on. "Thank you, Li Min!" she exclaimed next to his ear, and he cleared his throat, averting his eyes. "Let's go now!" He rolled his eyes and started walking down the street.
They passed by stands with foods, and he bought a few for her such as candied plums on a skewer. They continued on to see street performers breathing fire from their mouths and even attempting to break layers of brick with their hands. When they reached a bridge, Yan Xiu Ying looked down at the river and noticed people by the bank with lit lotuses in their hands along with a few flowing down the stream slowly.
     She gasped loudly and said, with excitement, "Let's do that!"
He turned his head toward where she was pointing to and raised a brow. "You want to set lotuses down the river?"
     "Yeah, it seems fun. I want to try."
     "You've never done it before? I thought you came to these festivals when you were younger."
     "Well, I wasn't allowed to do things like that..." She frowned a little, and he sighed.
     "Let's go then," he remarked, and she smiled giddily. He went down the bridge to the trail leading to the riverbank with a large willow tree leaning over then set her down on her feet. "I'll go get you a lotus. Don't move." She nodded delightfully, and he left. When he came back, he saw her squatting close to the edge with some children, smiling sweetly as she talked with them. "I thought I told you not to move. Your ankle is fine?"
She turned to look at him contritely. "Oh, well, my ankle started to feel better halfway..."
     "Uh-huh, the ankle you twisted is all better now?" She nodded a little, and he sighed deeply. "Never mind that. Here's your lotus. I lighted the candle already." He stretched out his hand for her to take it, and she did so gratefully. She touched its petals gently, the warm orange light of the flame brightening her beautiful features as she smiled gingerly to herself. Wei Li Min gazed at her long eyelashes, the tip of her high nose, and her pink bow-shaped lips with a light blush on his cheeks.
     "I'll put it in the river now," she voiced as she looked up, and he turned his head, nodding. Hopefully, she couldn't see his face too well to realize he was flustered. She crouched down and let her hands hover over the cold water as she gently laid the lotus down, letting it be carried down the river. She watched it flow away slowly with a small smile, and when a small breeze blew over, she brushed strands of hair away from her face.
     He watched her in a daze, and a small smile found its way onto his face. His hand reached into his yishang for a silver hairpin with white flower gems on it, and he gripped it tightly. He had seen it on one of the stands she was looking at, and when she looked away, he quickly bought one that would look good on her.
     'But I can't...' he thought, and he put it back into the fold of his clothes.
     "Dong Yun, what's wrong?" asked Wei Xiao Li.
     Yan Dong Yun snapped out of his stupor and looked at his best friend. "Huh?"
     Xiao Li was standing off to the side with her arms folded and an expressionless face; she was wearing a black, slim fitted shirt with wide white pants and white chunky sneakers. "You were grabbing the kite then stopped."
     "Oh, um, I don't know. I just felt nostalgic all of a sudden for some reason..." he responded then returned to retrieving their kite. "Why did you have to fly it off so far anyway?"
She shrugged, and he flung it a little to dry it off. "I didn't care since you were the one who pulled me out here to fly a kite."
He gasped loudly. "You can't tell me that it wasn't fun!" he grumbled.
     "Was it fun to fish the kite out of the river?" She raised a brow, and he rolled his eyes.
     "Ha ha, funny," he replied sarcastically then noticed her staring off. "What are you looking at?" He looked to where she was facing and saw a bunch of lotuses by the foot of the bridge. "Oh...are you into those?" he questioned. "I thought you were a tomboy who didn't like flowers."
     "What kind of stupid thinking is that?" she remarked. "They just caught my eye, that's all."
     "Well, they are pretty. I didn't know there were lotuses here."
     "Me neither..." she added.
     "Anyway, let's go eat! I'm hungry!" He skipped a little then slung his arm around her shoulder, pulling her along.
She grabbed his hand and twisted it back a little, making him yelp in pain. "Don't touch me so freely," she warned as she let go, and he pouted with puffed out cheeks like a squirrel. She looked away and walked off without him as her cheeks filled with heat.
     "You don't have to be such a big bully, Xiao Li! I could take you down if I wanted to, you know!"
     "I dare you to try, Dong Yun," she responded without looking back. He didn't give any retort because he knew he would lose against her since she'd taken defense classes from young; she might be shorter than him, but she was way stronger. "You better move your feet, or I'm not paying for your food!"
His eyes widened at her statement, and he hurried next to her. "I want spicy chicken stew with ramen!" he exclaimed with a cheeky grin, making her smile a little.