✧𝔻𝔼𝕍𝕆𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ~ 𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃~✧

✧Wei Ying- Broken Promise✧

YOU KNEW THAT Wei Ying had lots of scars from his past life. As a sibling of Lan Zhan, the youngest in his family, you heard lots of facts about your brother-in-law's past that you wished weren't spoken of publicly.

At first, you thought that the things that people spoke of- how Wei Ying's mother, Madam Yu, abused him, how his father, Jiang Fengman, didn't stop his wife and didn't see Wei Ying as equal to him, and how Wei Ying had been assaulted and scarred for life in the Burial Mounds and in Nightless City through terrible things that you didn't even want to talk about- were all rumors. But when you went to Lan Zhan and asked him about it, you were surprised to hear that it was all true, and that Wei Ying still struggled with the trauma from those events now.

After you heard that, your gentle and emotional heart was pricked, and you made it your mission to make it obvious to Wei Ying how much he was appreciated. You made him food, sewed his clothes, and treated him like you were his real sibling, not just a sibling-in-law. He enjoyed your gentleness and kindness towards him, but what you didn't know was that Lan Zhan was getting angry at you. He felt jealous that you, his sibling, had more time with his husband than him. As Wei Ying spent more and more time with you, Lan Zhan got angrier and angrier at you, and at his husband. He thought that you were stealing his husband from him, that he loved you more than him. This rage consumed him until he could think nothing but bad thoughts towards you.

The beginning of spring, when bunnies began to give birth to their children and the forests in the mountains outside of Cloud Recesses were filled with baby bunnies, was Lan Zhan's favorite time. He would bring Wei Ying out into the forests with him and they would play with the bunnies and hang out together. He hoped to do that this year as well, but Wei Ying had another plan, a plan that would finally make Lan Zhan break.

"Hey, Lan Zhan, would it be alright if Y/N joined us in our trip to the forests? It-"

"No," Lan Zhan said firmly. "My sibling is not allowed to be with you anymore."

"B-but Lan Zhan! Y/N makes me feel so happy! Without them, it's like life isn't worth living! Please, I beg you-"

"No. That's my final answer," Lan Zhan said. He wasn't shaken, and Wei Ying was taken aback by his refusal. Usually the Lan would bend to whatever his husband wanted to do, but not this time.

Being refused hurt Wei Ying's heart. He knew that you had been hoping to hang out with him and play with baby bunnies this week, and he felt terrible for breaking his word. He had promised you that the two of you would be able to hang out, and now he couldn't because his husband wouldn't let him.

He came to the door of your room crying, and when you let him in and saw him crying, you were deeply concerned that something tragic had happened to him, or that he was recalling some past trauma and having an anxiety attack. You made him sit down on your bed and calm down before speaking to you, just to make sure that he was alright.

"What's wrong, Wei Ying?" you asked him. "Why were you crying?"

"We... we can't go to see the bunnies!" Wei Ying exclaimed, sounding as if that was the worst thing in the world. "Lan Zhan won't let us! I'm sorry! I broke my word. And a disciple of the Jiang clan never breaks their word."

"Wei Ying, it's alright. Go hang out with your husband. My brother is probably jealous of us spending too much time together, which I understand. It's not right for me to keep me away from spending time with the man you love. Go, and have fun! I'll play with bunnies on my own."

Your nonchalant response made Wei Ying feel even worse. He could tell that you didn't want to make a big deal out of the event, but it was serious to him! He had promised you that the two of you would be able to be together today, and you weren't going to be able to.

Memories of past conversations with his family passed through his head, and he remembered how many times Madam Yu had beat him and Master Jiang had yelled at him for breaking the ordinances of the Jiang clan. Keeping your word was very important to the Jiangs, and it was very important to him. Now that he broke his words, he felt as if he had broken an ordinance- he was a disappointment, a sinner, an errant man.

Remembering his past punishments for breaking ordinances, and looking into your eyes, where he could see no sadness and hurt whatsoever, Wei Ying broke completely, and burst into sobs.

You acted immediately to try and comfort him, throwing your arms around him and enveloping him in your hugs which he loved so much. But even when you held him and told him it was alright, that he shouldn't feel bad for not being able to go with you, he kept on crying.

"I b-broke my word," he sobbed. "I-I'm a f-f-failure!"

"You're not a failure, Wei Ying. You are a beautiful young man, and you've never failed me once. Don't let one mistake and one bad moment get you down! Just because you couldn't fulfill a promise to me doesn't mean you're a bad person. It just means that you had another thing to do in that moment."

"B-but you-"

"I don't care at all about this," you said once again. "I'll tell you this until you understand it- you're not at fault for not being able to be with me. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes..." Wei Ying said hesitantly.

"Good! Now, go have fun with Lan Zhan, and don't worry about me! I'll play with the bunnies on my own. Or maybe we can hang out together with bunnies some other day, but not today! Alright?"

Wei Ying smiled his beautiful smile at you, and said, "Sure! I'll see you later, Y/N!"

"See you later," you echoed with a smile.

When you were sure that Wei Ying had left, you sighed and looked down at the floor, feeling saddened.

Lan Zhan... why are you jealous of me, brother?

A/N- Lan Zhan's oneshot will be part two to this story.