Wuxia Tale: Hua in Bloom

Lurking

(PRINCE JIN)

My mind won't let me rest. Or sleep.

I know that my body is tired but my mind just keeps on replaying that scene of Hua lifting that huge boulder off the ground and throwing it a few meters away to flatten a black figure who tried attacking us.

Or of Hua's arm bleeding from a sword wound.

My mind won't stop thinking about those moments of me standing, shocked out of my wit as the lady I just confessed to loving fight using a knife tied in a cloth that was tied on her wrist.

A lady who fights better than me. Stronger than me. More skillful than me.

Hua...she was right. She was strong.

I heard a distant opening and closing of a door. Then my father, the Emperor, came in view.

"General Wang came to me about three hours ago. He told me that Hua..."

"Hua doesn't need me." I found myself uttering as I look up at my Baba. "She doesn't need me."

"Jin," Baba sat in front of me. We sat, together in that wide sill by the open window of my room. "Jin ah...listen to me."

"I thought I finally found someone who will need me. Someone I can protect. I can cherish. Who will depend on me. You don't need me, right Baba?" I laughed bitterly as tears swam in my eyes.

"Jin ah..."

"I know you love me. But do you need me? You have Guo and Han and Cai. They are your heirs too. Mother doesn't need me. She left me here..."

"Your mother had no choice." The Emperor touched my arm. "Jin ah..."

"My sibling didn't need me. They look at me and not see an older brother. Guo thinks I am his rival," I am not listening to my sire anymore. "An enemy."

"Yong and Manchu. I just put them in danger. In defense all the time. Their lives will be easier without me. They are better off not being my guards." I added.

"Jin ah! They are your friends!"

"I put them in danger last night!" I exclaimed to my father. "And Wang Hua. She was hurt. You should see her, Baba. Blood on her sleeve, she continued to fight. She don't need me or my help. She is strong. Way beyond you can imagine."

"I know that she can lift a man twice her size..."

"Lift two men twice her size at the same time," I corrected him. "She won't need someone like me. Why? She can depend herself. And I will just put her in danger..."

"Jin,"

"Someone sent men in black clothings to harm me last night. That was the first, I know. But will it be the last time? I don't think so, Baba..."

"I will protect you..."

"You should protect yourself. And my siblings. You promised me you will protect my brothers and sister." I cried in front of my sire.

Guo, Han and Cai. They may not see me as their older brother but for me, they are my siblings. I want to protect them. I thought, by marrying Wang Hua, I can protect my family. Yet I was proven wrong.