A Mug Of Hot Chocolate With Talks Of Eternity

It was a quarter to midnight when the two individuals found themselves accompanying each other. Each held a mug of hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows sprinkled on top. The moonlight filtering out the window along with the city life as a backdrop. Unlike previous nights where Han Jing would be present with them and where she easily fell asleep leaving the two together—she was more than awake thanks to her prior nap.

This one felt quite different from the other evenings.

"It's an exquisite taste, " Xue sipped more of the rich dark liquid. Instead of their usual spot in front of a low table, the two of them were on the floor and resting their back against the bed's side. They were at the usual sleeping spot of Xue, a comfortable distance between them.

"It's instant hot chocolate." Chan Lee didn't know if she should be flattered or be affronted at such a statement. Then again, chocolate was always good. "There's white chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate with nuts…" 

"This drink is on the sweet side and might be bad if we drink a lot of this… but I like it." He remarked cheerfully.

Chan Lee sipped her hot chocolate silently, relishing the taste. "I think you'd be the only one who'd consider the health effects or lack of it—for a first timer tasting chocolate." She muttered.

"Ah, I apologize, I mean nothing ill out of it." He said with a sheepish smile, waving a hand in conciliatory. "I really appreciate that we had something different for tonight, I think it's great. Especially because you made it so quickly~"

She motioned for him to stop, "It's alright, I was just poking fun of you."

"It may not look like it, but I'm an expert medicine maker." He pouted at her, the upper portion of his lips covered with chocolate.

"Yeah, that's why Han Jing was fussing over you when he met you." Chan Lee rolled her eyes, averting them in the process. "Might want to wipe your lips by the way, you got some chocolate on them."

A moment passed before he spoke up, wiping his mouth. "I recall his initial skepticism before I revealed my ability to produce elixirs."

"Pfft, yeah… he's like that, I think." She paused for a moment. She didn't know that he'd be such a…an enthusiast of fantasies.

Out of the blue, Xue continued. "Would you have preferred if he was together with us, right now?" 

"It's a lot more peaceful when he's not around." She shrugged and looked down on her half-empty mug. No random yelling or dramatic retorts or such. But he probably would have enjoyed a mug of chocolate or two. Possibly even three.

"So you don't like him here?" Xue tilted his head, looking at her with an expression that said that he really was interested in her answer.

"Don't tell him, but I do appreciate his presence. The Han family is lively." She drank it all in one go. "And quite nice too, you should have met them. Good folks."

Xue gave her a pleasant smile, his eyes sparkling. "Perhaps Han Jing can introduce me to them?" 

"Yeah." She stopped, realizing something. "But they'll realize you live here with me."

"...and that's a terrible thing, isn't it?"

"No! I mean, well—"

"It's alright, I completely understand. Despite the passing of time, the people are still traditional as ever."

"Well, I'm sure there are couples who live together even without marrying one another. I think people shouldn't really intrude on another person's decision." She sighed. "It's annoying—but you get what I mean right?"

He rested his face underneath a hand, "If we were a couple, then it wouldn't be so strange for us to be living together."

"Exactly." She paused for a moment, feeling her cheeks heat up. Did he realize that it sounded like an implication? Or was it just her overactive imagination. "...that's why it'd be awkward if the Han family and other people know that you live with me, they'd think we were a couple."

"Of course, and that'd be a bad thing, wouldn't it?" Xue sighed softly, it sounded like he didn't want it to be so.

A bad thing? Why did he phrase it that way? And why couldn't she just say yes? Yes it was a great mistake for everybody to think otherwise. "It would be an inconvenient thing, people can be malicious if you don't fulfil their expectations" Chan Lee wasn't really making any sense, even to herself. 

"It's quite inconvenient if they discover us together." Xue nodded with an embarrassed smile. "So for you to host me despite such conditions…you're really a kind person."

"I wouldn't say that." She puffed her cheeks. "I have my biases too, if you were any bit weirder or scary, I would have left you at the rooftop maybe or called for the police."

He simply laughed, one full of relief and melody like tinkling bells. "Ah, I'm glad that I didn't scare you. I guess I'm not that intimidating aren't I?"

"You're a beauty." She sighed. Even more than her, if she were to be honest.

His laughter slowed down as he then eyed her. "Hmm, what was that?"

"It probably has something to do with your physiology… it makes me want to throw you into an empty table and examine you." Chan Lee scratched her cheek. "For biological purposes. I mean even Hua Zhao is already a fine specimen."

"H-huh?" He blinked.

She turned to him. "You're not from this earth, or rather you were once part of it but you've changed." She motioned to him, his physique. "You say that you were… well 'are' a rabbit but gained a human form, Hua Zhao has been accomplishing physical feats no ordinary human could do. Even a person with peak physical capacity can't jump walls like nothing."

"So you want to throw us into a table and examine us?" Xue tilted his head. "That sounds uncomfortable, why not a bed?"

Why not a bed?!

Her face grew hot as she shook her head, "You're teasing me!"

He blinked at her, as if saying that it couldn't possibly be true. "Am I?" 

Was he for real? She fiddled with her mug's handle. "I made the mistake of making it sound like an innuendo but you scaled it up to the eleven."

"Well, bodies are simply bodies." Xue chuckled and inched closer to her, their shoulders brushing one another. "I don't get how you're embarrassed. They change, so it does make sense that you'd be curious on how it works?"

"You're right, I'm just being unprofessional." Or being a hormonal teenager, really. She wanted to slap her face, someone like Xue would have already gotten over the shame of revealing their body or seeing someone else's.

He gave her a smile before clearing his throat, almost like a professor starting a lecture."Kit used to be a fox but thanks to cultivation he gained a human form, but if he wished, he could showcase his fox form. Hua Zhao also trained his body to break through this 'peak' human condition." He paused and peered at her. "If you wanted to, I think you can achieve feats like him, Kit and even similar to mine."

His gaze made her want to shrink back, she rubbed her neck. "If you're asking me to be a cultivator, I think Han Jing would be the one up for it, not me." 

"Oh?" He paused, as if taken aback by her reply. "Does the prospect scare you? I think training can be done at a slow pace. I'm sure someone like Hua Zhao would be happy to teach you, or knows someone who can be your master."

"Hah." Chan Lee rubbed her face and laughed, though not really feeling it. It was a hollow one. "I...I'm not really sure if I'm for one who'd like to live forever."

"Really? It's something that many seek after, whether it be man or animal, many aim to become cultivators in order to undergo heaven's tribulation. One wishes for ascension from the endless cycle of death and rebirth."

She looked at her empty mug. "An eternity. Forever? Immortality? That's such a long time, it's frightening what could happen in a span like that."

"Well a lot of things...but then you realize how fleeting they all are, the seasons come and go, the wind continually blows from all directions." Xue replied with a quiet voice. "It's hard to tell when a minute or century passes…"

A reminder that he was endless.

Chan Lee pulled herself up from the floor, "Why don't you sleep on the bed for today—you deserve it."

"I couldn't possibly let you sleep on the floor, that'd be shameless of me." Xue looked up with a frown, childishness sinking back into his nature.

"You'd make me feel bad if I kept sleeping on the bed while you huddled on the floor." She answered back with a tiny smile and asked for his cup.

He stood up and pouted. "I see… and I can't be callous enough to say that we should sleep together, can I?"

"—What?"

Needless to say, Xue was now in her bed. It didn't seem possible but it was him who fell asleep before she did, and now she was left to her own devices. She huddled over her blankets on the floor and swiped through her phone, she needed a job. Having Han Jing's clothes were nice and even trying to live even more frugal was alright—but she couldn't keep this up forever.

She had to at least try providing a better situation for Xue.