Give Me One Good Reason (prev: 13 Reasons) (HIATUS)

(22) Dinner With The Lans

Dinner With The Lans
3rd Person's P.O.V.

The traditional Gusu colour scheme of pristine white and soft blues flowed gently from room to room which allowed everyone to relax and unwind in a serene atmosphere. A dark cherry-wood flute with a red tassel and a warm brown wooden guqin with a spectacular jade amulet and white tassel were displayed, both in beautiful condition, evidence showed both instruments were used often and were well cared for.

Books, manuscripts, transcripts and scrolls lined some of the walls, filling the shelves with assortments of sheet music, historical records, journals and many more things asking to be explored. Artwork hung in each room and the pieces were widely assorted in taste and some seemed to be from an entirely different world than the one they lived in.

Tasteful floral arrangements that splashed bold colour into the apartment and decorated the snowy interior were placed carefully in their simple vases; colours in varying shades of purple in the forms of lavender, magnolia blooms and lilac, the soft white of Chinese star jasmine, carnations and fragrant gardenia blooms as well as the velvety black and vibrant crimson of roses in bud and bloom.

The large table in the middle of the dining room was set for eight and the delicious scent of a traditional meal was wafting in the air, light conversation ebbed and flowed in the sitting room while they waited for dinner. Everyone looked up when a male wearing traditional white robes and the GusuLan headband appeared in the doorway.

"Dinner is ready now. Please come and eat." Lan Sizhui announced as he moved to Jin Ling and walked with him to the dining room.

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Time skip because one of the GusuLan Clan Rules is No Talking While Eating
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After the dinner dishes were cleared the group remained at the table. Lan Yibo's elder brother, Lan Xichen, had joined them both for dinner and so they could have a fresh pair of eyes and mind on the situation. Kim Mitzuki hadn't been able to get the words to come out right, the effort it was taking to not give in to the panic threatening to overwhelm him was becoming greater the more he talked so Min Suga ended up explaining the issues in some detail, leaving out or glossing over the particularly graphic details so none of them would throw up their digesting meals.

If Lan Xichen thought he was horrified during the telling of the tale, he was even more-so when Suga got permission from a trembling Mitzuki to take his jacket off the brunette for a moment to expose some of his scars. Eijirou had barely seen any of the scars on the lighter brunette, only the smaller ones on his forearms, collarbones and just under his hairline. The usually boisterous male became unusually quiet as some of the scars on his friends shoulders were revealed to the group. 

Suga explained that what they were seeing was barely anything which represented the extent of what the light brunette had suffered and that some of the scars had been carved into him in the same place on many different occasions before his vicious tormentor would think it was 'good enough for now'.

The gathered males hadn't realized how much Kim Mitzuki had suffered, had survived. Lan Wuxian had guessed most of what had happened although he hadn't gotten it quite right with how severe things had been for the once bright male. Wrapping Mitzuki and Suga in a huge hug he openly cried.

"I'm so sorry I failed you, Mitzuki. I've been through some shit but it's so different to what you survived. I'm so sorry you had to go through that."

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Min Suga's P.O.V.

I kept my arm around the kid while telling the group what had happened to him. I thought I understood how hard this was for him to admit to me at the time about what was going on with him and Izuka Yang, so for him to speak about this out loud it showed he was genuinely terrified about what was going on or he trusted them to keep their mouths shut - or both.