Eternal Romance Of The Plum Blossom ; 梅花之戀 ❀ [for everyone]
Title: Eternal Romance Of The Plum Blossom ; 梅花之戀 ❀
Rating: R
Word Count: 4001w
Pairing: Kris/Lay
Warning:major character death, suicide
Disclaimer: to my recipient, I hope you like this! and I really hope that I didn’t butcher your prompt or disappoint you because I had so much fun writing this! to jun and lynn, thank you for reading through this and giving me great feedback and holding my hand through this, I am eternally (ah ha pun) grateful.
Summary: Against the blossoming plum trees, the Crown Prince and his best friend pledge their love.
The plum blossom trees were flowering, blooms falling gently with the wind, landing on the ground. Red dotted the petals, blood on snow, like the deep red liquid dripping down from Yixing’s pale lips and running down his cheeks as he stared up at the azure sky.
“In our next lives, let’s meet again, as normal people free to love anyone. Let’s meet somewhere I can love you in.”
The intricate ring on his finger fell with his limp hand, little opals weaved into the gold glinting in the light of the dawn and Yixing’s eyes reflected the sun’s rays for the last time.
❀
“Yifan, Yixing!” A shout, layered with worry, rang through through the halls of the palace. It was answered by breathless giggles that never seemed to stay in a place for long.
“Shhh, ‘xing, they’re going to hear us!” Yifan slapped his hand playfully over Yixing’s mouth, the younger boy’s incessant giggles borne out of excitement and quite possibly guilt at escaping their nurses.
Shaking his head, eyes curved into half-moons, Yixing licks a stripe down the prince’s palm, making Yifan snatch his hand away with a squeal, “Yixing! You’re so gross, ew!” He wipes the slick part of his skin on the younger boy’s robes with a grimace, Yixing’s saliva colouring the heavy silks into a deeper shade.
Pulling his robes away with a gasp, Yixing pouts up at Yifan because he was going to get into trouble for dirtying his clothes again, it always happens when he’s with the prince and Yixing was always the one getting reprimanded. “N-no! My mama is going to make me wash them if they get dirty again!” He hits Yifan lightly on the arm, glaring weakly at the elder boy.
If Yixing was anyone else and not his Yixing, Yifan would have had him hauled off and beaten up for daring to harm the Crown Prince of China, but it was Yixing and Yifan didn’t ( never had and never would ) have the heart to be upset.
They had grown up together, Yifan being older by a year didn’t make much of a difference, he was, in fact, more of a child than Yixing was. As the Crown Prince, he didn’t need to do much growing up. Everything he wanted was presented to him on a silver platter, he never had to fight for anything he wanted. But Yixing was different, son of the Prime Minister, the Emperor’s right-hand man and he never had much say in his life. He was meant to be the next Prime Minister when all he wanted was to practise martial arts.
Forced to to go for lessons, Yixing would go home everyday with his sleeves stained by ink. Eyes bleary as he stayed up till late, trying to recite the works of famous Chinese philosophers, who died way before his time. Yifan, on the other hand, spent all his time running about in the imperial gardens, waiting for Yixing to come home and play with him.
On days where Yixing didn’t have to go to the academy, Yifan would drag the boy out of his house and into the palace, just a short walk away. Yixing’s father’s high position in court gave the Zhangs a residence in the palace and they’d spend the entire day hiding from the palace maids assigned to look after them. It was probably the most tiring job to do because the Crown Prince wasn’t the most quiet and calm boy and Yixing was always pulled into Yifan’s almost always ridiculous schemes like stealing piping hot buns from the kitchen right under the nose of the ferocious Head Chef.
Yixing always let Yifan do whatever he fancied. It wasn’t just because he was royalty and the most important boy in China, but also because Yixing wanted to give in -- he liked the prince a lot. The Crown Prince would grow up to be a wonderful benevolent emperor, only wanting the best for their country. Despite his playfulness, Yifan was kind and loving. Any girl would be lucky to have him as a husband.
That was how Yixing tried to convince himself to ignore the strange pounding of his heart whenever they touched. The prince deserved to marry a girl who could bear him children and rule alongside him.
❀
When they were eighteen, Yifan realised that his heart skipped a beat every single time Yixing smiled at him. The younger boy’s dimples making him look like a child, and Yifan hated it. He hated his strange feelings and the way he wanted to pull Yixing into a tight hug and let him cry into his expensive robes whenever the other boy was feeling down.
It was unacceptable, to Yifan, who’d grown up reminded every single day that he was to marry a girl of noble blood and they would rule the country hand in hand. He wasn’t supposed to fall in lo- like with Yixing, his best friend.
But he did anyway, the younger boy was just too lovable for his own good. Yixing would selflessly give his thick fur-lined cape to the maids, Xiuyan and Xiuzhen, who had to wake up in the morning to get water from the river by the palace, trudging the long journey in and out of the massive palace grounds just for a day’s worth of water for the occupants residing in Yifan’s wing of the palace. Yixing’d rather shiver endlessly in his jiao zi on the way to the Royal Academy. It was a privilege the emperor had bestowed upon him because only royalty were allowed to study in the sacred hall.
“It’s better if I freeze than if they do! Yifan, I have the royal physicians if I fall ill, but they don’t! And they work so hard for us…” Yixing would pout at the prince with unblinking eyes, making Yifan sigh and drape his own cape over the younger boy’s slender shoulders, making him promise that it was the last time. But there came many many more last times.
Yifan couldn’t help but give in to Yixing every single time, letting himself roll around in bed, wrapped up in thick blankets as he waited for Yixing to come back from school. With the prince’s favourite cape tied around his neck, red silk bright against the younger boy’s flawless ivory skin, Yixing’d quietly tiptoe into the opulent room and hang up the expensive material, not daring to even glance at Yifan’s sleeping face.
❀
He knew it was wrong, it was. Boys weren’t supposed to love boys and who was he to rock the boat? Yixing couldn’t let people find out the unnatural feelings he had for Yifan, the future Emperor of China, he’d drag the prince into the mud alongside him and Yixing wouldn’t, couldn’t do that.
If people dissatisfied with the ruling class made use of this, twisting the story to make it sound like Yifan had seduced and enticed Yixing into a relationship wouldn’t be too much for them. Yixing couldn’t let that happen.
So he kept quiet. Like what a loyal courtier would do for his king, Yixing pretended that he was perfectly fine when the prince spent time suitable girls from noble families, he was of marriageable age after all and the person by his side in the future would have to be a girl, the next Empress of China.
Things would have gone just as he intended, if only he had actually remembered to factor in the wishes of the Crown Prince himself.
❀
“Yixing!”
Yifan runs huffily to his best friend, grinning widely despite how disheveled he looked, hair messy with his headgear crooked to the side. His sash was loose and clearly about to fall off him but he couldn’t care less, because Yixing was finally back.
The three weeks without Yixing had been torture, he didn’t have anyone to look forward to spending time with and the princess of Korea he had to host was as sticky as red date cake. She was like an overexcited puppy, following him everywhere he went and even though Taiyan was as adorable as a puppy, she was still annoying.
Grinning, Yixing reaches to adjust the prince’s crooked collar, letting the silk overlap each other symmetrically instead of the lopsided way it was hanging off Yifan. “Good afternoon, Your Highness. Did you miss me?”
Talking to Yifan came easily to him, it was hard not to be comfortable (perhaps he was too comfortable), around the boy he’d grown up with. There was no barrier between them, no formalities and that wasn’t good for Yixing, he had no idea how to even start to distance himself from the prince, at this rate, his feelings were never going to fade.
The younger male blinks up blankly at the prince, seeing the other’s mouth moving but his mind wasn’t processing what he was hearing, he was still stuck in the deep recesses of his troubled mind. He needed to stay away from the prince, the Emperor was getting on in years and his best friend was going to ascend the throne soon. There was no place for Yixing except being by Yifan’s side as a useful advisor to share his woes about ruling China.
That was all Yixing was to be.
Yifan’s brows furrow in the center and he waves his hand in Yixing’s face, trying to get the boy’s attention. He was used to the latter’s mind running off in the middle of conversations and this time was no surprise to him, but Yifan was impatient because he had something important to tell Yixing and well, apparently, there was no better time then now for his best friend to get lost in his head.
“Yixing! Listen to me!” The prince grabs Yixing by the shoulders and shakes the younger male with a vengeance, teeth scraping against his bottom lip. “Zhang Yixing, this is important!”
Yixing’s unfocused eyes blink once, twice and he tilts his head in confusion, why was Yifan suddenly so close to him? Their noses were almost touching and he swore he could count every eyelash.
“W-why are you so close?” Muttering under his breath, Yixing pulls away on wobbly legs, looking up at Yifan with guileless eyes. “What’s important? Did you finally decide to marry someone? Which girl caught your eye? Oh! Was it the Korean princess? I just saw her and she’s beautiful!”
As Yixing rambled on, Yifan reached into his sleeves for the intricate box, pulling it out with a flourish, the sleeves of his silk robes rustling with the sudden movement. His little smile was from how Yixing could go on and on about some girl without taking notice of any changes in his surroundings and the boy’s innocence was part of the reason why Yifan was in love with him and how the prince knew that he was completely fine and in fact, more than happy to spend the rest of his life with Yixing.
It was to be the most reckless thing he’d do in his life but Yifan had no regrets when he went down on one knee, opening the brocade box in his hands to reveal an intricate ring made of gold filigree and inlaid with opals.
“張藝興, 我愛你, 愛你好久了.” Zhang Yixing, I love you, I’ve loved you for so long.
“Will you marry me?”
When Yixing saw the prince kneel, he thought that maybe Yifan had dropped something and he was about to bend to help him look for whatever that had fallen when the latter’s words drifted into his ears and he stiffened. Immediately turning to check if the doors had opened in that span of a few moments, Yixing breathed a soft sigh of relief before laughing dryly.
“D-don’t practise your moves on me! Get up, come on, don’t let the maids see you kneeling to me, your father would have my head for this!”
Yixing’s still trembling hands reach to drag Yifan up but to no avail, the prince was determined to stay on his knees. His dark eyes trained on Yixing’s, the elder male wants terribly for Yixing to say yes. This wasn’t a practice session, and he knew, that Yixing was the only person he would propose to.
❀
Yixing never gave Yifan a reply.
But he wasn’t ignoring Yifan either, so that, to the prince was a good thing. Yixing didn’t reject Yifan when the Prince pecked his cheek while they were in the gardens, just pushing him away with a small frown, looking around too see if anyone saw.
But Yifan saw that few moments Yixing’s cheeks turned cherry red. In that moment, he decided that he wanted to spend every single day of his life with his best friend, the boy he was in love with.
Love was enough, right?
❀
But the truth was, Yifan never got what he wanted, unless his parents wanted the same thing and in this case, it was no surprise that they arranged for the Korean princess’ tour around the capital to be done by him.
They were sitting at the dining table in his father’s chambers when the emperor coughed and Yifan stopped shovelling rice into his mouth before setting the bowl down.
“Yifan ah, Taiyan says that you’ve been exceptionally cold to her. Is that true?” The grey-haired man asks sternly, brows furrowing at his son’s guilty expression. The empress also puts her chopsticks down, looking up at her firstborn child, urging him to say something.
The emperor was a force to be reckoned with when he got upset and his power over the entire country helped in his get-everything-i-want cause as well. He wanted his son to marry Taiyan, so their countries would have a proper alliance, this would benefit both parties and aid them in becoming stronger. Most importantly, he wanted China to be strong, to last till his great great great great great great grandchildrens’ time, and Yifan had to produce an heir for that to even happen.
“Father, I- I don’t want to marry her. She’s a sweet girl but there’s no… spark between us.” There is a pleading undertone to the prince’s words and he knocks his empty wine cup on the table, making a palace maid’s breath hitch before hurrying to fill the cup.
His father hits the table in anger, “Preposterous! I was not asking for your opinion, you insolent child. What you have now, is built on the blood and tears of our ancestors! Unless you have another suitable girl in mind to marry and give me a grandson, you will marry Taiyan!”
The empress jumps at her husband’s sudden flaring up and she reaches to cover his hand with hers, gently patting him to calm him down. Nudging her son discreetly, Yifan’s eyes narrow and he stands up, the stool falling on the floor with a loud clatter from the force of his action.
Turning to storm out of the room, Yifan stops in his tracks at his father’s next words.
“Wu Yifan, you’re the only heir to the throne, you know your sister cannot ascend to the dragon throne. If you don’t marry Taiyan and continue to rule with the Wu name, you won’t ever see that Zhang boy again. My not saying anything about the ridiculous relationship you have doesn’t mean I know nothing of it.”
A cold laugh sounds from behind Yifan and he feels a chill down his spine. Sometimes he forgot that his father was the emperor too and China’s land increased every year because of his ruthlessness. If he could displace an entire tribe of people, then there was nothing Yifan could do to stop him if he wanted to hurt Yixing.
“What do you want?” The prince turns around, fists clenching at the disgusting i-told-you-so look on his father’s face. Was this what having power meant? Knowing that you had everyone at your feet to satisfy your every whim and fancy? Knowing that whatever you did, no matter how cruel, was going to be accepted?
“Simple. You marry Taiyan. Zhang whoever can stay by your side, but you will marry Taiyan. Do this, and I spare the boy. But,” The emperor stand up slowly, walking to Yifan, putting them nose to nose. “If you refuse this, then maybe when you wake up tomorrow, he won’t be there to kiss you anymore.”
Yifan’s entire being shudders and his hair stands from his father’s low threat. He knew, very clearly, that the emperor wasn’t joking. His viciousness in war and the fear that strikes people’s hearts when he is mentioned also wasn’t a joke.
He father would kill Yixing without blinking if he didn’t marry Taiyan. And now Yifan, had to decide between Yixing and Taiyan or just Taiyan. It would be a simple decision, to choose to marry Taiyan and have Yixing stay alive. But Yixing’s pride wouldn’t let him stay with Yifan, he’d rather leave, given his headstrong personality.
Flashing his father a cold smile, the prince leans in to whisper softly in the emperor’s ear. “I’ll marry her, but don’t think that you can use Yixing to threaten me. Don’t even try again. I am your son and I can be just like you.”
He turns away, walking out of the room with his head held high.
Yifan was going to run away with Yixing, let go of his title and live a quiet, peaceful life with Yixing.
And they were going to be happy.
❀
When the day of the wedding finally came, the bride all dressed in red and gold, brocade and silk weighing her down but she couldn’t be happier. She was marrying the esteemed Crown Prince of China and in the future, she was going to be the Empress of this vast country.
But at the other end of the palace, was the prince’s lover, scaling the high walls and escaping the suffocation of the palace.
❀
Go, Yixing, you have to go! I’ll look for you at the place where we talked about but you have to go now!
And so Yixing ran, he ran and ran and ran.
The white blooms of the plum blossom trees entered his vision and he let out a sigh of relief.
Here, he waits for Yifan.
He waits for Yifan to come for him and for their new life to start.
❀
But Yifan had miscalculated. He thought that after proceeding with the ceremony, his father would let his guard down and he’d be able to go so he climbed up his prized steed and headed to the city gates.
He was supposed to be able to leave safely, but when he neared, the guards held up their spears and pulled out their swords, shocking him. The emperor’s laugh echoed in the empty plaza and he emerged from within the ranks, clapping loudly.
“You think I’m stupid, don’t you? Son, my blood runs in you. I know whatever you’re thinking with a twitch of your finger.” His arrogant words rile Yifan up and he scowls, pulling on the reins to bring himself closer to the old man. “I don’t care about this title, about this life. So let me go. If you still treat me as your son, you will let me go!”
But the smirk on the old man’s wrinkled face doesn’t fade and it, in fact, widens to a bright grin. “But son, don’t you see? I do love you, that’s why I did what I did.” He waves to the open city gates and for the guards to part a path for Yifan to go through .
“Go, son. Go and see your little lover, but you better hurry or he’d have died without saying goodbye.”
❀
The terror hits Yifan in the form of a cold hand around his heart and cold beads of sweat rolling down his skin as he urged his horse to go faster, run quicker and for time to stop, to just stop for him to reach Yixing.
They reach a path far too precarious and narrow for riding and Yifan jumps off the horse, running for his life. His legs were burning and so were his feet, but the burn wasn’t stopping or even alleviating the chill he felt.
Yixing must not die, he was the light of Yifan’s life and he was life itself. The prince didn’t even want to, couldn’t even bear to imagine his Yixing gone from this world.
Seeing the plum blossom blooms had never felt better to him because amidst the white flowers, was Yixing. He was lying on his back, blood dripping from the side of his mouth and a small sad smile graced his lips. His limp hand struggled to wave when he saw Yifan, choking on a gurgle. “Y-Y-Yifan…”
Yifan felt rooted to the ground, his eyes stinging at the sight before him. Yixing was always larger than life and seeing him in this state made the prince fall to his knees, pulling his lover up with his tears falling onto bloodstained robes.
Yixing doesn’t look at Yifan, he wants to. He wants to look his beloved in the eye for the last time but even breathing hurt and he had so much to say. He imagined the prince’s face in the sky as he begins to speak, words punctuated by shuddering breaths and weak gasps.
“In our next lives, let’s meet again, as normal people free to love anyone. Let’s meet somewhere I can love you in.”
And the last thing he remembers, is a hot teardrop falling on his eyelid, arms around him tightening and a loud pained shout echoing relentlessly in the area.
❀
Yifan feels like his heart stops when Yixing falls limp in his arms and he screams, he screams his pain, his agony and his frustration.
As the Crown Prince, he was revered and had power beyond anyone but the emperor. But what use was that, what use was he, when he couldn’t even protect his lover.
What use was he? How could he be trusted with the lives of an entire country?
Looking down at Yixing with a tender smile, gently sweeping the younger man’s fringe away from his eyes, Yifan reaches for the dagger in his sleeves, unsheathing it.
“我答應過你，会一生陪著你走。現在，我們陰陽兩隔，但是，我不會讓你一個人走上黃泉路的。”
I promised you to be with you for the rest of our lives. Even now that we’re in separate worlds, I won’t let you walk the road to the afterlife on your own.”
A glint of metal and Kris slices his neck open with a swift stroke, laying Yixing down on the white flowers before he lies down beside him, clasping their hands together in a last show of their love.
❀
And the story of the devoted Crown Prince and his best friend travelled the entirety of vast China, every young man and woman wanted a lasting love like theirs.
When the plum blossoms bloomed, they flocked to the final resting place of Yifan and Yixing, praying for love to find them soon, and for the love they found or would find to last.
This was how Yifan and Yixing were remembered and when they looked down from the heavens, hands clasped together, they smiled because now, love was treasured and their love was the most treasured of them all.
Notes :
1. jiao zi refers to sedan chairs used in Ancient China where nobles were transported in.
2. Xiuyan - Sooyeon; Xiuzhen - Soojung; Taiyan - Taeyeon
3. The plum blossom is the symbol throughout this fic because of what it stands for in Chinese culture, perseverance, hope, resilience and also beauty and purity. It blooms vibrantly, beautifully in harsh winter, its scent permeating subtly even in the coldest of times and to me, Yifan and Yixing’s love also means as much, it was everlasting and lasted beyond their frail mortality.
Rating: R
Word Count: 4001w
Pairing: Kris/Lay
Warning:major character death, suicide
Disclaimer: to my recipient, I hope you like this! and I really hope that I didn’t butcher your prompt or disappoint you because I had so much fun writing this! to jun and lynn, thank you for reading through this and giving me great feedback and holding my hand through this, I am eternally (ah ha pun) grateful.
Summary: Against the blossoming plum trees, the Crown Prince and his best friend pledge their love.
The plum blossom trees were flowering, blooms falling gently with the wind, landing on the ground. Red dotted the petals, blood on snow, like the deep red liquid dripping down from Yixing’s pale lips and running down his cheeks as he stared up at the azure sky.
“In our next lives, let’s meet again, as normal people free to love anyone. Let’s meet somewhere I can love you in.”
The intricate ring on his finger fell with his limp hand, little opals weaved into the gold glinting in the light of the dawn and Yixing’s eyes reflected the sun’s rays for the last time.
❀
“Yifan, Yixing!” A shout, layered with worry, rang through through the halls of the palace. It was answered by breathless giggles that never seemed to stay in a place for long.
“Shhh, ‘xing, they’re going to hear us!” Yifan slapped his hand playfully over Yixing’s mouth, the younger boy’s incessant giggles borne out of excitement and quite possibly guilt at escaping their nurses.
Shaking his head, eyes curved into half-moons, Yixing licks a stripe down the prince’s palm, making Yifan snatch his hand away with a squeal, “Yixing! You’re so gross, ew!” He wipes the slick part of his skin on the younger boy’s robes with a grimace, Yixing’s saliva colouring the heavy silks into a deeper shade.
Pulling his robes away with a gasp, Yixing pouts up at Yifan because he was going to get into trouble for dirtying his clothes again, it always happens when he’s with the prince and Yixing was always the one getting reprimanded. “N-no! My mama is going to make me wash them if they get dirty again!” He hits Yifan lightly on the arm, glaring weakly at the elder boy.
If Yixing was anyone else and not his Yixing, Yifan would have had him hauled off and beaten up for daring to harm the Crown Prince of China, but it was Yixing and Yifan didn’t ( never had and never would ) have the heart to be upset.
They had grown up together, Yifan being older by a year didn’t make much of a difference, he was, in fact, more of a child than Yixing was. As the Crown Prince, he didn’t need to do much growing up. Everything he wanted was presented to him on a silver platter, he never had to fight for anything he wanted. But Yixing was different, son of the Prime Minister, the Emperor’s right-hand man and he never had much say in his life. He was meant to be the next Prime Minister when all he wanted was to practise martial arts.
Forced to to go for lessons, Yixing would go home everyday with his sleeves stained by ink. Eyes bleary as he stayed up till late, trying to recite the works of famous Chinese philosophers, who died way before his time. Yifan, on the other hand, spent all his time running about in the imperial gardens, waiting for Yixing to come home and play with him.
On days where Yixing didn’t have to go to the academy, Yifan would drag the boy out of his house and into the palace, just a short walk away. Yixing’s father’s high position in court gave the Zhangs a residence in the palace and they’d spend the entire day hiding from the palace maids assigned to look after them. It was probably the most tiring job to do because the Crown Prince wasn’t the most quiet and calm boy and Yixing was always pulled into Yifan’s almost always ridiculous schemes like stealing piping hot buns from the kitchen right under the nose of the ferocious Head Chef.
Yixing always let Yifan do whatever he fancied. It wasn’t just because he was royalty and the most important boy in China, but also because Yixing wanted to give in -- he liked the prince a lot. The Crown Prince would grow up to be a wonderful benevolent emperor, only wanting the best for their country. Despite his playfulness, Yifan was kind and loving. Any girl would be lucky to have him as a husband.
That was how Yixing tried to convince himself to ignore the strange pounding of his heart whenever they touched. The prince deserved to marry a girl who could bear him children and rule alongside him.
❀
When they were eighteen, Yifan realised that his heart skipped a beat every single time Yixing smiled at him. The younger boy’s dimples making him look like a child, and Yifan hated it. He hated his strange feelings and the way he wanted to pull Yixing into a tight hug and let him cry into his expensive robes whenever the other boy was feeling down.
It was unacceptable, to Yifan, who’d grown up reminded every single day that he was to marry a girl of noble blood and they would rule the country hand in hand. He wasn’t supposed to fall in lo- like with Yixing, his best friend.
But he did anyway, the younger boy was just too lovable for his own good. Yixing would selflessly give his thick fur-lined cape to the maids, Xiuyan and Xiuzhen, who had to wake up in the morning to get water from the river by the palace, trudging the long journey in and out of the massive palace grounds just for a day’s worth of water for the occupants residing in Yifan’s wing of the palace. Yixing’d rather shiver endlessly in his jiao zi on the way to the Royal Academy. It was a privilege the emperor had bestowed upon him because only royalty were allowed to study in the sacred hall.
“It’s better if I freeze than if they do! Yifan, I have the royal physicians if I fall ill, but they don’t! And they work so hard for us…” Yixing would pout at the prince with unblinking eyes, making Yifan sigh and drape his own cape over the younger boy’s slender shoulders, making him promise that it was the last time. But there came many many more last times.
Yifan couldn’t help but give in to Yixing every single time, letting himself roll around in bed, wrapped up in thick blankets as he waited for Yixing to come back from school. With the prince’s favourite cape tied around his neck, red silk bright against the younger boy’s flawless ivory skin, Yixing’d quietly tiptoe into the opulent room and hang up the expensive material, not daring to even glance at Yifan’s sleeping face.
❀
He knew it was wrong, it was. Boys weren’t supposed to love boys and who was he to rock the boat? Yixing couldn’t let people find out the unnatural feelings he had for Yifan, the future Emperor of China, he’d drag the prince into the mud alongside him and Yixing wouldn’t, couldn’t do that.
If people dissatisfied with the ruling class made use of this, twisting the story to make it sound like Yifan had seduced and enticed Yixing into a relationship wouldn’t be too much for them. Yixing couldn’t let that happen.
So he kept quiet. Like what a loyal courtier would do for his king, Yixing pretended that he was perfectly fine when the prince spent time suitable girls from noble families, he was of marriageable age after all and the person by his side in the future would have to be a girl, the next Empress of China.
Things would have gone just as he intended, if only he had actually remembered to factor in the wishes of the Crown Prince himself.
❀
“Yixing!”
Yifan runs huffily to his best friend, grinning widely despite how disheveled he looked, hair messy with his headgear crooked to the side. His sash was loose and clearly about to fall off him but he couldn’t care less, because Yixing was finally back.
The three weeks without Yixing had been torture, he didn’t have anyone to look forward to spending time with and the princess of Korea he had to host was as sticky as red date cake. She was like an overexcited puppy, following him everywhere he went and even though Taiyan was as adorable as a puppy, she was still annoying.
Grinning, Yixing reaches to adjust the prince’s crooked collar, letting the silk overlap each other symmetrically instead of the lopsided way it was hanging off Yifan. “Good afternoon, Your Highness. Did you miss me?”
Talking to Yifan came easily to him, it was hard not to be comfortable (perhaps he was too comfortable), around the boy he’d grown up with. There was no barrier between them, no formalities and that wasn’t good for Yixing, he had no idea how to even start to distance himself from the prince, at this rate, his feelings were never going to fade.
The younger male blinks up blankly at the prince, seeing the other’s mouth moving but his mind wasn’t processing what he was hearing, he was still stuck in the deep recesses of his troubled mind. He needed to stay away from the prince, the Emperor was getting on in years and his best friend was going to ascend the throne soon. There was no place for Yixing except being by Yifan’s side as a useful advisor to share his woes about ruling China.
That was all Yixing was to be.
Yifan’s brows furrow in the center and he waves his hand in Yixing’s face, trying to get the boy’s attention. He was used to the latter’s mind running off in the middle of conversations and this time was no surprise to him, but Yifan was impatient because he had something important to tell Yixing and well, apparently, there was no better time then now for his best friend to get lost in his head.
“Yixing! Listen to me!” The prince grabs Yixing by the shoulders and shakes the younger male with a vengeance, teeth scraping against his bottom lip. “Zhang Yixing, this is important!”
Yixing’s unfocused eyes blink once, twice and he tilts his head in confusion, why was Yifan suddenly so close to him? Their noses were almost touching and he swore he could count every eyelash.
“W-why are you so close?” Muttering under his breath, Yixing pulls away on wobbly legs, looking up at Yifan with guileless eyes. “What’s important? Did you finally decide to marry someone? Which girl caught your eye? Oh! Was it the Korean princess? I just saw her and she’s beautiful!”
As Yixing rambled on, Yifan reached into his sleeves for the intricate box, pulling it out with a flourish, the sleeves of his silk robes rustling with the sudden movement. His little smile was from how Yixing could go on and on about some girl without taking notice of any changes in his surroundings and the boy’s innocence was part of the reason why Yifan was in love with him and how the prince knew that he was completely fine and in fact, more than happy to spend the rest of his life with Yixing.
It was to be the most reckless thing he’d do in his life but Yifan had no regrets when he went down on one knee, opening the brocade box in his hands to reveal an intricate ring made of gold filigree and inlaid with opals.
“張藝興, 我愛你, 愛你好久了.” Zhang Yixing, I love you, I’ve loved you for so long.
“Will you marry me?”
When Yixing saw the prince kneel, he thought that maybe Yifan had dropped something and he was about to bend to help him look for whatever that had fallen when the latter’s words drifted into his ears and he stiffened. Immediately turning to check if the doors had opened in that span of a few moments, Yixing breathed a soft sigh of relief before laughing dryly.
“D-don’t practise your moves on me! Get up, come on, don’t let the maids see you kneeling to me, your father would have my head for this!”
Yixing’s still trembling hands reach to drag Yifan up but to no avail, the prince was determined to stay on his knees. His dark eyes trained on Yixing’s, the elder male wants terribly for Yixing to say yes. This wasn’t a practice session, and he knew, that Yixing was the only person he would propose to.
❀
Yixing never gave Yifan a reply.
But he wasn’t ignoring Yifan either, so that, to the prince was a good thing. Yixing didn’t reject Yifan when the Prince pecked his cheek while they were in the gardens, just pushing him away with a small frown, looking around too see if anyone saw.
But Yifan saw that few moments Yixing’s cheeks turned cherry red. In that moment, he decided that he wanted to spend every single day of his life with his best friend, the boy he was in love with.
Love was enough, right?
❀
But the truth was, Yifan never got what he wanted, unless his parents wanted the same thing and in this case, it was no surprise that they arranged for the Korean princess’ tour around the capital to be done by him.
They were sitting at the dining table in his father’s chambers when the emperor coughed and Yifan stopped shovelling rice into his mouth before setting the bowl down.
“Yifan ah, Taiyan says that you’ve been exceptionally cold to her. Is that true?” The grey-haired man asks sternly, brows furrowing at his son’s guilty expression. The empress also puts her chopsticks down, looking up at her firstborn child, urging him to say something.
The emperor was a force to be reckoned with when he got upset and his power over the entire country helped in his get-everything-i-want cause as well. He wanted his son to marry Taiyan, so their countries would have a proper alliance, this would benefit both parties and aid them in becoming stronger. Most importantly, he wanted China to be strong, to last till his great great great great great great grandchildrens’ time, and Yifan had to produce an heir for that to even happen.
“Father, I- I don’t want to marry her. She’s a sweet girl but there’s no… spark between us.” There is a pleading undertone to the prince’s words and he knocks his empty wine cup on the table, making a palace maid’s breath hitch before hurrying to fill the cup.
His father hits the table in anger, “Preposterous! I was not asking for your opinion, you insolent child. What you have now, is built on the blood and tears of our ancestors! Unless you have another suitable girl in mind to marry and give me a grandson, you will marry Taiyan!”
The empress jumps at her husband’s sudden flaring up and she reaches to cover his hand with hers, gently patting him to calm him down. Nudging her son discreetly, Yifan’s eyes narrow and he stands up, the stool falling on the floor with a loud clatter from the force of his action.
Turning to storm out of the room, Yifan stops in his tracks at his father’s next words.
“Wu Yifan, you’re the only heir to the throne, you know your sister cannot ascend to the dragon throne. If you don’t marry Taiyan and continue to rule with the Wu name, you won’t ever see that Zhang boy again. My not saying anything about the ridiculous relationship you have doesn’t mean I know nothing of it.”
A cold laugh sounds from behind Yifan and he feels a chill down his spine. Sometimes he forgot that his father was the emperor too and China’s land increased every year because of his ruthlessness. If he could displace an entire tribe of people, then there was nothing Yifan could do to stop him if he wanted to hurt Yixing.
“What do you want?” The prince turns around, fists clenching at the disgusting i-told-you-so look on his father’s face. Was this what having power meant? Knowing that you had everyone at your feet to satisfy your every whim and fancy? Knowing that whatever you did, no matter how cruel, was going to be accepted?
“Simple. You marry Taiyan. Zhang whoever can stay by your side, but you will marry Taiyan. Do this, and I spare the boy. But,” The emperor stand up slowly, walking to Yifan, putting them nose to nose. “If you refuse this, then maybe when you wake up tomorrow, he won’t be there to kiss you anymore.”
Yifan’s entire being shudders and his hair stands from his father’s low threat. He knew, very clearly, that the emperor wasn’t joking. His viciousness in war and the fear that strikes people’s hearts when he is mentioned also wasn’t a joke.
He father would kill Yixing without blinking if he didn’t marry Taiyan. And now Yifan, had to decide between Yixing and Taiyan or just Taiyan. It would be a simple decision, to choose to marry Taiyan and have Yixing stay alive. But Yixing’s pride wouldn’t let him stay with Yifan, he’d rather leave, given his headstrong personality.
Flashing his father a cold smile, the prince leans in to whisper softly in the emperor’s ear. “I’ll marry her, but don’t think that you can use Yixing to threaten me. Don’t even try again. I am your son and I can be just like you.”
He turns away, walking out of the room with his head held high.
Yifan was going to run away with Yixing, let go of his title and live a quiet, peaceful life with Yixing.
And they were going to be happy.
❀
When the day of the wedding finally came, the bride all dressed in red and gold, brocade and silk weighing her down but she couldn’t be happier. She was marrying the esteemed Crown Prince of China and in the future, she was going to be the Empress of this vast country.
But at the other end of the palace, was the prince’s lover, scaling the high walls and escaping the suffocation of the palace.
❀
Go, Yixing, you have to go! I’ll look for you at the place where we talked about but you have to go now!
And so Yixing ran, he ran and ran and ran.
The white blooms of the plum blossom trees entered his vision and he let out a sigh of relief.
Here, he waits for Yifan.
He waits for Yifan to come for him and for their new life to start.
❀
But Yifan had miscalculated. He thought that after proceeding with the ceremony, his father would let his guard down and he’d be able to go so he climbed up his prized steed and headed to the city gates.
He was supposed to be able to leave safely, but when he neared, the guards held up their spears and pulled out their swords, shocking him. The emperor’s laugh echoed in the empty plaza and he emerged from within the ranks, clapping loudly.
“You think I’m stupid, don’t you? Son, my blood runs in you. I know whatever you’re thinking with a twitch of your finger.” His arrogant words rile Yifan up and he scowls, pulling on the reins to bring himself closer to the old man. “I don’t care about this title, about this life. So let me go. If you still treat me as your son, you will let me go!”
But the smirk on the old man’s wrinkled face doesn’t fade and it, in fact, widens to a bright grin. “But son, don’t you see? I do love you, that’s why I did what I did.” He waves to the open city gates and for the guards to part a path for Yifan to go through .
“Go, son. Go and see your little lover, but you better hurry or he’d have died without saying goodbye.”
❀
The terror hits Yifan in the form of a cold hand around his heart and cold beads of sweat rolling down his skin as he urged his horse to go faster, run quicker and for time to stop, to just stop for him to reach Yixing.
They reach a path far too precarious and narrow for riding and Yifan jumps off the horse, running for his life. His legs were burning and so were his feet, but the burn wasn’t stopping or even alleviating the chill he felt.
Yixing must not die, he was the light of Yifan’s life and he was life itself. The prince didn’t even want to, couldn’t even bear to imagine his Yixing gone from this world.
Seeing the plum blossom blooms had never felt better to him because amidst the white flowers, was Yixing. He was lying on his back, blood dripping from the side of his mouth and a small sad smile graced his lips. His limp hand struggled to wave when he saw Yifan, choking on a gurgle. “Y-Y-Yifan…”
Yifan felt rooted to the ground, his eyes stinging at the sight before him. Yixing was always larger than life and seeing him in this state made the prince fall to his knees, pulling his lover up with his tears falling onto bloodstained robes.
Yixing doesn’t look at Yifan, he wants to. He wants to look his beloved in the eye for the last time but even breathing hurt and he had so much to say. He imagined the prince’s face in the sky as he begins to speak, words punctuated by shuddering breaths and weak gasps.
“In our next lives, let’s meet again, as normal people free to love anyone. Let’s meet somewhere I can love you in.”
And the last thing he remembers, is a hot teardrop falling on his eyelid, arms around him tightening and a loud pained shout echoing relentlessly in the area.
❀
Yifan feels like his heart stops when Yixing falls limp in his arms and he screams, he screams his pain, his agony and his frustration.
As the Crown Prince, he was revered and had power beyond anyone but the emperor. But what use was that, what use was he, when he couldn’t even protect his lover.
What use was he? How could he be trusted with the lives of an entire country?
Looking down at Yixing with a tender smile, gently sweeping the younger man’s fringe away from his eyes, Yifan reaches for the dagger in his sleeves, unsheathing it.
“我答應過你，会一生陪著你走。現在，我們陰陽兩隔，但是，我不會讓你一個人走上黃泉路的。”
I promised you to be with you for the rest of our lives. Even now that we’re in separate worlds, I won’t let you walk the road to the afterlife on your own.”
A glint of metal and Kris slices his neck open with a swift stroke, laying Yixing down on the white flowers before he lies down beside him, clasping their hands together in a last show of their love.
❀
And the story of the devoted Crown Prince and his best friend travelled the entirety of vast China, every young man and woman wanted a lasting love like theirs.
When the plum blossoms bloomed, they flocked to the final resting place of Yifan and Yixing, praying for love to find them soon, and for the love they found or would find to last.
This was how Yifan and Yixing were remembered and when they looked down from the heavens, hands clasped together, they smiled because now, love was treasured and their love was the most treasured of them all.
Notes :
1. jiao zi refers to sedan chairs used in Ancient China where nobles were transported in.
2. Xiuyan - Sooyeon; Xiuzhen - Soojung; Taiyan - Taeyeon
3. The plum blossom is the symbol throughout this fic because of what it stands for in Chinese culture, perseverance, hope, resilience and also beauty and purity. It blooms vibrantly, beautifully in harsh winter, its scent permeating subtly even in the coldest of times and to me, Yifan and Yixing’s love also means as much, it was everlasting and lasted beyond their frail mortality.