I want to see the Snow

Mei Wei asked Aman, "So where are we going?"

Aman hesitantly looked at him and replied shyly, "I don't know. You should decide. We will go any place you want to go."

Mei Wei did not like this idea, "No, Aman. Going abroad for a vacation was your idea. How can I choose? You tell me any country you want to travel to."

But, Aman still did not move from his previous statement, "No, no, my prince. You should choose…. Please …"

Mei Wei was again going to insist upon Aman choosing the place but he noticed that Aman was trying to ignore directly looking into his eyes. He was fiddling with his fingers. A red tint again covered his cheeks.

Mei Wei guessed the reason behind such behavior. He knew all of these signs meant one thing that Aman was hiding something from him which he was quite ashamed to admit.

Mei Wei held his face with his hands and tried to stop Aman's constantly moving neck which was trying to look at anything except him. He teased, "Aman... tell me, what are you trying to hide from me? You can tell me anything. Now please speak."

When Aman nodded shyly Mei Wei retreated his hands. The heat of Aman's flushed face which was hot out of embarrassment still lingered around his palms. 

Aman scratched the back of his neck and spoke something incoherent. His voice was so slow and it almost felt like he was mumbling to himself. The red flush still did not leave his face.

Mei Wei narrowed his eyes, "Whhat did you say? Say it again. And this time loudly and clearly."

Aman looked at his conjoined hands. He started to speak again but this time his voice was clear, "Actually... I.. I don't know any other country other than ours."

After hearing this Mei Wei became dumbfounded. For a moment he could not even utter a word. His facial expressions were blank. And then he burst into laughter like a balloon.

His loud and happy laughter is clear. If it was any other day and Mei Wei was laughing at any other thing, this might be honey to Aman's ears, however, today the cause of Mei Wei's laughter was his foolishness. He groaned in embarrassment and covered his face with a pillow.

He wanted to die out of embarrassment. He smacked the pillow again and again on his head. He thought, 'How can I be so foolish that I don't know any other human country besides this? I researched about some countries but all of them were countries in which my culprits could be hidden. And none of them seemed good enough to have a family vacation...

But it's not completely my fault. When I first entered the human world I did not know that one day I had to suggest the name of some other human country for a vacation….. What will my prince think about me now? How am I going to explain myself?'

While Aman was worrying about the situation Mei Wei was facing great difficulty controlling his laughter. Aman looked at him and narrowed his eyes. He grabbed the pillow and started smacking Mei Wei with it, "My prince you are so mean. How can you laugh at my helplessness? I hate you."

He smacked Mei Wei one last time with a pillow and pleaded, "Please stop laughing."

But Mei Wei was not buying this. Aman threw the pillow aside and turned his back towards Mei Wei. He puffed his cheeks and pouted. His body language was completely expressing his thoughts of 'I don't want to talk to you."

Seeing him like this Mei Wei tried to control his laughter. He put his hands on his stomach which was starting to ache because of so much laughing.

The smile never left his face. He looked at Aman's slender back turn against him. His expression softened. He sighed and hugged a man from behind.

The slender frame fits inside his arms greatly. He thought how great it would be to remain like this every day. At that, he had decided that in the future when he and Aman will be a couple he won't give him any chance to be angry at him, even in a joking manner.

He put his chin on Aman's right shoulder and said, "I am sorry… I was just teasing you. Don't be angry."

But Aman still will not budge. Mei Wei tightened his hold and begged, "Please Aman. Please, don't be angry. I promise I won't laugh at you ever again. But please don't give me a cold shoulder. I can't bear it. Please sweetheart."

Hearing Mei Wei's pleading for Aman's anger faded away. He loved hearing Mei Wei's laughter even if it was because of his stupidity but he had to act angry so he could avoid Mei Wei's curious question about why he did not know much about the outside world. Turning his face towards Mei Wei he said, "Okay, my prince I forgive you. Now get off me you are very heavy!" He pushed him a little.

Mei Wei fell on the bed and gasped loudly. He put his hand on the left side of his chest and said dramatically, "Oh! Aman. By calling me fat and heavy you wounded me. Look at this, my heart is bleeding." 

Aman arched an eyebrow seeing Mei Wei's dramatics. But then his face burst into a huge smile as he decided to be a part of Mei Wei's play, "Your Highness, this slave begs for your mercy. Please let this slave heal the wound of your heart."

Mei Wei did not expect Aman to play with him too. He was completely dumbfounded. He looked at Aman. An amusing glint in those always kind eyes. Aman slowly crawled beside him. He pulled off his hand that he was still clutching his left side. Aman crouched down a little and looked seriously. He then said, "Okay let's make this wound go away." 

As he said that a pale hand with five long fingers went towards the direction of his heart which was beating faster than a train. The hand started to slowly rub his chest. Aman's face started to grow dangerously close to his chest like he was going to kiss his heart. But instead of this Aman blew some air at his heart and said in a childlike tone, "Mr. Wound, please go away. I will treat you to a cake."

Aman's pinkish lips were dangerously close to his chest. Mei Wei felt his face heating up. Aman acting all naive and childish was making his stomach do flips.

He thought, 'Does it feel like this to see your beloved acting all adorable…'

And it was not only Mei Wei's stomach that was affected by this entire situation. His little brother was also awaking. Mei Wei felt his body heating up.

Aman's silhouette was looming over him and it was not helping him in any way to get his little brother down but waking it even faster.

Mei Wei felt embarrassed and quickly got up. He grabbed the pillow Aman was holding a while ago and put it on his lap to cover the unseeable. He did not want Aman to see it….yet. Thus he tried to change the topic and asked the question which he was quite curious about, "Never mind what I said. But tell me how come you don't know any foreign country?"

Aman stopped laughing. His expression turned awkward. He thought he could dodge the question but he guessed luck was not his side. Many excuses filled his mind but none of them seemed convincing enough.

"I don't know because I was born and brought up in a remote village in the mountains. My education was completed at the local school there. 

"I don't qualify as a certified caretaker, but your grandfather thought I could be a great caretaker for you. Thus he took me here. I did not get many chances to see the outside world," Aman made the excuse he felt right.

"I am glad that he brought you here. You are the best caretaker for me in the whole world. Qualifications don't matter," Mei Wei replied.

Aman hummed in response. He took Mei Wei's hand and interlaced their fingers. There was a silence for a few minutes between them.

Mei Wei sighed and said, "Okay, it doesn't matter if you don't know any other country. Just tell me what you want to see and I will take you there."

Aman was looking at the wall in front of him like he was recollecting some old memory, 'Aman I heard that there is cotton like ice in the human world. It is very fluffy and cold but humans love it. They call it sn- snee? No, no snow! Yes, snow. One day both of us will go and see it by ourselves. Do you want to go and see it?'

"Yes, I want to go and see it with you," Aman mumbled to himself. His voice was not loud enough but Mei Wei whose whole concentration was focused on Aman heard it.

He asked, "What do you want to see?"

Aman returned from his old memory and looked at Mei Wei's curious eyes.

"Snow. I want to see the snow", he replied.

"Snow…." Mei Wei started to think for a moment and then his eyes lit up with happiness, "I know a great place where we can enjoy the snow and other beautiful things," he said with a voice full of excitement.

Aman nodded his head and smiled brightly at seeing Mei Wei excited. He told Mei Wei, "I already talked with Sister Li. She said she would be glad to go with us wherever we choose. She suggested that we go on an abroad vacation."

Mei Wei understood the reason behind Aman's suggestions but it did not matter to him. He was pretty excited about their trip.

He stood up and clapped, "Okay I am going to book the soonest tickets possible for the three of us. Then I am going to pack my stuff."

He looked at Aman seriously and said, "Aman it would be very cold there so please pack many warm clothes. Alright?"

Seeing his worry, Aman felt like a child who did not know anything about the outside world. But he still felt happy inside. He shyly agreed.

Meri Wei again entered into his happy persona and sprinted out of the room excitedly but not before telling him, "Tell sister Li to pack warm clothes too. Health comes first." He shouted while running.

Aman laughed loudly at his antics.

*****

It was not long after he talked about their vacation with Luo Li and told her to pack. However, Luo Li did not respond to him much. She just obeyed his orders without even looking at him. Their quarrel had not cooled down yet. 

All of them met in the living room with their packed luggage.

Mei Mansion had two types of servants. Except for a few, the day servants were different from the night servants. Mei Wei had already told the night servants about their paid leaves granted by him. And the day servants also left except for some who lived in the house full time. Mei Wei had already sorted their living arrangements for the time being. After this, they helped the three of them to get their luggage and stuff inside the car.

They were just going to leave when Mei Wang and Kevin Evans stood in front of them. Both had a glass of scotch in their one hand. Mei Wang looked at them and sneered, "So… all of you are going for a vacation happily when I claimed the house your dear Grandpa left for you? I didn't think you loved him and his things to this extent." Mei Wang said in sarcasm. Kevin who stood beside him giggled.

Hearing this Mei Wei clenched his fists. But he felt Aman's soft hand rubbing circles around his clenched fist. He took a deep breath, "You can think whatever you want but I don't want to ruin my trip because of your useless remarks. Let's go Aman and don't mind them."

He said and pulled Aman's hand. They started walking towards the main door with Luo Li following him. But then he felt a tug at his arm and saw that Aman had stopped walking. He was going to speak when he saw Aman speaking in a loud and clear tone, "Mr. Mei Wang even though we are leaving this house today. But I promise you that when we come back you will not be in this house," he said without even turning. 

Mei Wang snorted sarcastically at this.

Aman looked at Mei Wei with burning passionate eyes. Mei Wei looked at him and nodded. The three of them left the house leaving an overconfident Mei Wang and sly and vicious Kevin Evans in the Mei Mansion….

*****

The car ride to the airport was silent. Mei Wei drove the car after their flight the driver was going to take it back. They were getting their luggage out when suddenly Luo Li's phone rang.

She picked up the call. The call was short but the call made Luo Li ice where she was standing. Her expressions were blank. She grabbed Aman's arm suddenly.

Mei Wei was ready to go inside, she told him, "Mei Wei, can you please go first I have something to talk to Aman alone."

Mei Wei looked at Aman who nodded his head. Mei Wei awkwardly took his luggage. When he was out of sight Luo Li let go of Aman's arm.

Suddenly, she knelt on the ground on her knees. She folded her hands and begged in an almost crying voice, "Your Highness, please don't take me with you…..