In Love With The Lieutenant

Love is a bird – free and vivid. It flutters under the skin, glows through the eyes and embraces the mind. It quickens heartbeats, reddens cheeks and distracts thoughts. It stains lives with colour and every interaction leaves behind sweet aftertastes.

Love is beautiful. A beautiful bird.

Weirdly enough, Bei Tan felt that now. He felt as if he was in love.

When Bei Tan stared into Wu Ming's eyes every ounce of breath was taken away from his lungs. Like a fool, his lips would twitch uncontrollably into a smile when he stood before him. When they locked eyes, Wu Ming's pupils seem to blur into galaxies and night skies of stars that Bei Tan could not look away from. His handsome features seem to turn ever so slightly more attractive with every glance. Within seconds, Bei Tan became a tomato – fresh red.

The more he denied it, the more heartfelt he converged.

"It's okay. Just do your best." Wu Ming smiled.

Déjà vu?

Suddenly Bei Tan's mind blanked like an unpainted canvas. His pupils contracted.

Something unlocked itself.

A rush of memories replayed from the depth of his mind:

As if reflecting her troubles, it was a dark rainy night. Every jolt of thunder would tremble through her ears like a ripple in a peaceful lake, but her face remained coldly indifferent.

Lady Ina lowed her head shamefully hearing the comments. She couldn't do anything. She couldn't run a country. If she couldn't, what could she do?

"It's okay. Just do your best." Wu Ming's voice was a soft baritone. Not even looking at her, he said and walked past.

Lady Ina's heartbeat quickened. His words were like little statics dancing in her mind. Hearing them, she cried and stepped out into the rain, drowning the leaks from her eyes. Around her, people continued to spit their complaints. Complaints that from then, just like puddles, Lady Ina simply stepped around.

Bei Tan grasped at his long hair in discomfort. The memories pushed at his insides, breaking away at him internally and he felt his icy body begin to shiver in agony. He was remembering Lady Ina's experiences, something his body told him he should not know. It hurt him to recall these memories, despite it being just a couple of frames.

All his curiosity vanished.

Unlike him and his previous job, Bei Tan didn't want to know anymore. He didn't want to remember who Lady Ina had been. However, his body wouldn't halt the sea of memories breaking through his dam.

In just a few seconds, everything came to him.

He remembered. Not his own, but Lady Ina's past. 'She' remembered.

Along with the recollections, came waves of wincing pain.

Bei Tan begun to stumble like his limbs didn't belong to him, legs fumbling vigorously. Everything hurt. Around him, the three guards frantically grabbed a hold of his arms in an attempt to hold him up. However, the struggle became a panicked mess as Bei Tan collapsed into Wu Ming's arms once again.

Physically he was flaming, but Bei Tan felt his insides freeze over, starting from his head.

"She's burning. Call the lead physician. Inform the king. Make it vague, we don't want him to worry." In a calm manner, Wu Ming ordered. Watching the fragile girl in his arms, he was scared he would shatter her into a thousand pieces. He needed to protect her. Loosening his hold, Wu Ming found the small figure had gripped onto his top.

"It's cold." Bei Tan closed his eyes.

Hearing this, Wu Ming lifted Ina, snuggling her close to his chest despite her sweat sinking into a dark spot on his outfit.

"Bring her into the medical room. I'll go to find the physician." Mo Zhi opened the door and swiftly ran down the corridors.

Wu Shuai and Wu Ming, with Lady Ina in his arms, made their way to the medical room. The room was empty. Carefully, he laid her down.

The contrast of the red of her attire against the white of bed made her that much more beautiful even in her current condition. Her hair was scattered around her head, almost like an artistic piece of work. Her cherry lips were now a light blue, her pink cheeks dimmed into a pure white and her eyelids seemed to flutter in her sleep.

Minutes, which seemed like forever, later the physician rushed through the door with Mo Zhi, puffing. Looking at the princess lying motionless on the bed, his eyes darken. Professionally, he took out his materials and scanned through Lady Ina's previous record of illnesses. The last one had been dated back a few weeks ago.

"Lieutenant Wu Ming, when did she collapse?" The physician assessed.

"Roughly seven minutes ago."

"What was she doing before?"

"She was…" Wu Ming paused. A pang of unexpected guilt crawled down his spine. Was it because of him? Was it because of the training?

Darkly, he turned to his brother and opened his mouth to speak. Wu Shuai read his brother's expression and knitted his eyebrows in frustration.

"She was training with me. I take all responsibility if she collapsed due to exhaustion."

"Training?" The physician informed with a frown, "Her body probably isn't used to excessive exercise."

"I-"

Before Wu Ming could speak, there was a mumble from the bed. All four of them approached the girl anxiously. Crowding around, they observed her movements carefully. Her cerulean eyes darted open, shocking them. Instantly she sat up without a problem.

Examining the room in a daze, Lady Ina curled her lip, "Where am I?"