Pretending to Be Mature

Qiu Ling exhaled, straightened his shoulders and jumped from the branch of the tree where he had been crouching. He silently landed a bit behind Jing Yi and followed him. First of all, he needed to make a stunning entrance. He considered which pose to strike when he remembered that this wasn't important at all. Right. He didn't need to look stunning because he wanted to seem mature. Ah, how sad.

Qiu Ling just cleared his throat and waited for Jing Yi to turn around.

Besides them, there was nobody else around or at least Fu Heng and Fu Min had withdrawn quite a bit to give them some privacy so the sound was loud and clear on the forest path. Jing Yi turned around in surprise. When he saw Qiu Ling he frowned but he was already interrupted before he could say anything.

"Wait. It's not what you think."

Jing Yi's brows rose. Something seemed different although he couldn't say what exactly it was for the moment.

Qiu Ling took a deep breath. "I've … probably been a bother to you the last few days. I'm sorry about that, even though I can't say that I regret doing so. I know you don't want to hear this but I love you and I think that trying everything I can to win back the love of the person I want to spend my life with isn't wrong.

"I understand though. Your love … It can't be won back just like that. You've already moved on. It pains me to admit it but I can't change it and I have to accept it if I don't want to cause difficulties for you." He sighed. "I hope you still think well enough of me so as to not think I'd like to do that."

"Qiu Ling …" Jing Yi's brows knitted together and he felt a pang in his heart.

He also understood now. What was different … was Qiu Ling. He hadn't run over and swooped him up into his arms, he hadn't chattered endlessly and called him 'my love' all the time. Even the tone of his voice seemed to have changed. He sounded calm now, maybe a little sad. "I … I really didn't want —"

"It's alright." Qiu Ling smiled sadly. "I certainly never hoped for this to happen but it's not that strange. People fall in love all the time. There's nothing that can be done about that. If something is destined … then it will somehow happen."

Jing Yi took a shaky breath. The longer Qiu Ling spoke, the heavier his own chest felt. This was his fault. All alone his fault. He had been the one to forget about Tian and the one who casually gave in to Qiu Ling's advances back then. Now, he had broken his heart.

"I'm sorry." He bit his lower lip and clenched his hands into fists.

Qiu Ling shook his head. "It's alright. I just wanted to tell you that I won't pester you anymore. Besides that …" He looked up at the treetops. "This mission is something the sect wanted us to do together. Sure, I've only come here because of you and maybe it would be better for me to return to the dragon realm so that I won't bother you but I don't like leaving things unfinished. So for this mission, I'd like to follow you. Let's do it together. I promise I won't do anything that'll make you feel uncomfortable."

"Qiu Ling …" Jing Yi's eyes reddened. This was so typical! Qiu Ling seemed so silly all the time but at heart, he was a very good person. Even now that he had rejected him so harshly and even kissed another man in front of him to make sure he would forget about him, he still followed him and wanted to help.

Qiu Ling looked at those reddened eyes and was taken aback. Why did his beloved look like he was about to cry? Had he said something wrong?

Jing Yi turned to the side and took a shaky breath to calm himself down. He definitely couldn't cry in front of Qiu Ling. Not after what he had done. If he was a good person, he should gently reject his offer so Qiu Ling wouldn't have to bother with him anymore. Wouldn't he be much happier if he returned to the dragon realm? Maybe he could even fall in love with someone from his race.

Qiu Ling watched him and the distress in his heart grew. Finally, he couldn't take it any longer. He went over and took Jing Yi's hands. He wanted to do more like pulling him into a hug or something but that probably wouldn't seem very mature. No, even holding his hands might be too much. At least Jing He had never let him do that when they had just met.

"Is everything alright? Don't you feel well?"

Jing Yi looked up at Qiu Ling and the worry in his eyes finally made his tears spill over. They ran down his cheeks and dripped onto his sleeves.

Qiu Ling's expression derailed. Forget about mature! He pulled Jing Yi into his embrace and stroked his head. "It's alright. No need to cry like that." He gulped.

Actually, he could count the times Jing Yi had cried in front of him on one hand. As for Jing He … When had the Son of Heaven ever cried? He probably thought of it as something not befitting of his status. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't allow himself to do so and if he couldn't prevent it, then he would at least make sure that nobody was around to observe such a shameful thing.

Qiu Ling closed his eyes and sighed. Maybe it was a good sign that Jing Yi dared to cry in front of him. At least it meant that he trusted him even though there was presumably some 'Tian' in his life. That should make things easier, right?

"I'm sorry." Jing Yi could only whisper those empty words again while his fingers couldn't help but curl into the fabric of Qiu Ling's robe. He didn't want to be like this but being this close to him he felt even more like crying.

Just why was fate so cruel and had to separate them?