Shen Wei stands frozen in place not really knowing what to do or to say. The question suddenly pop up with no warning. The worse part is that it's coming from someone that he loves since he was young.
"Shen Wei?" Yunlan walks back to the paled and frozen Shen Wei.
"H-how did you k-know? No, I ... I mean .. where did you hear this?" Shen Wei is barely holding on to his sanity.
"I was talking to your father and he mentioned it." Yunlan make up a lie.
"Did he mention who it is?"
"No ... You don't know who you're engage to?" Yunlan just wanted to know if Shen Wei truly doesn't know about their engagement.
"No ... father just said that he already made the arrangement but the other party hasn't formally give their answer. So father isn't going to tell me anything until it's been confirmed." Shen Wei is getting more and more nervous with every passing second. He doesn't want Yunlan to know any of this. But the matter has reached the worst point when Yunlan himself ask Shen Wei this question. "But it's not final yet ..... so I don't considered myself as engaged .... just that something is going on but it's still uncleared ....yeah .... I'm not engaged yet."
Yunlan does feel guilty to an extent as he watches Shen Wei literally hypnotize himself.
"You don't seem to like your fiance despite not knowing who it is." Yunlan just had to ask because when he first heard about his engagement to Shen Wei, he just disappeared into the human realm. So he doesn't really know what happens after. And now that he learns of his partial amnesia and that Shen Wei has an important part in it, Yunlan has some catching up to do.
"Not really ... it's just that I ... I already like someone." Shen Wei shyly admits.
"Oh ... but have you ever thought that the person you're engage to is actually the person you like?"
"I highly doubt it because nobody knows about it ... not father ... not even Ye Zun."
Yunlan feign to frown at this revelation and turn his back to Shen Wei. "I'm sorry for what happened and I think that we shouldn't be too close."
"W-why?"
"You have a fiance and you also have someone you like .... I don't think there's any space left for me." Yunlan sounds very sad which causes Shen Wei to quickly grab his jacket from behind.
"No .. no .. there's always space for you ... no .. that's not right either ... Yunlan, you're the only one that's been occupying my whole heart .... I ... I like you." Shen Wei makes up his mind that he's not going to hold back now that Yunlan's right here before him. He's going to do whatever it takes to get him.
"But we've just known each other ...." Yunlan deliberately trails off as he turns back to face Shen Wei.
"No .. you might've just known me but I've known you for a very long time."
"Oh really? How long exactly?"
"I - I can't really tell you but trust me that it's been a very very long time." Shen Wei tries to avoid eye contact otherwise he'll say it since he can't fight against Yunlan's sad puppy eyes.
Yunlan gently reaches for Shen Wei's hand and lace their fingers together again which seems to brighten up the sad Shen Wei. In order to cheer up Shen Wei, Yunlan lifts their joined hands and give it a little twist so that he can place a tender kiss on the back of Shen Wei's hand.
"What a coincident .... you have also manage to occupy my heart ..... since we were younger until this very moment."
"Y-you remember? Y-your memories back?" Shen Wei excitedly asks, his voice filling with hope.
"Unfortunately, no."
"Then how?"
"My heart beats an unusual pace whenever I meet you and especially when you're close. Yet the unusual beat seems to be something rather right and normal. It might sound a little confusing but I don't really know it nor understand it. However, I do know that there's a strong nostalgic feeling and I can't seem to leave you alone." Yunlan moves closer so that he can tenderly kiss Shen Wei's lips before he ruin the moment himself as he sighs out loud. "Even though you like me but you're engaged --"
"I'll cancel it!" Shen Wei quickly interrupts. "The moment we return I'll tell my father to cancel it. Besides the other party hasn't respond so I can withdraw the proposal." Shen Wei is determine not to let go of Yunlan in spite of not knowing who his fiance is.
"But wouldn't it ruin your relationship with the other party?"
"I don't know but I believe that it's better than deceiving them and live in a lie. I really can't love anyone else."
"And what if your father doesn't allow you to cancel it? What are you going to do?" Yunlan is curious on what this innocent (secret) fiance of his is going to do. Yet the answer he got is quite unexpected.
"I'll ..... I'll elope with you!"
"Seriously!?!" Yunlan was so sure that Shen Wei would say something like persuading his father or something along that line. But instead, Shen Wei becomes bold enough to elope with him!
"Of course! ..... but .... Yunlan .... are ... are you engage to anyone?"
"I don't know but when I flee from the heaven down to the mortal realm, I'm sure that I was single until a certain someone came to fetch me." In a split of a second, Yunlan decided that he wants to surprise Shen Wei later on, so he won't tell the truth. "And besides, haven't you already marked me as yours? If we compare this, your teeth would definitely make a perfect match."
Yunlan tilts his head revealing a bite mark on his neck which causes Shen Wei to goes all red since it was really his teeth. Well, when Yunlan's thrusts are hitting Shen Wei's good spot continuously, they cause him to moan uncontrollably and loudly. With the fear of being too loud, Shen Wei chomp down on Yunlan's neck to muffle the moans. This probably also stimulated something in Yunlan as his thrusts becomes even more intense. As a result, Shen Wei has to bite harder, leaving a deep bite mark. And with the slow healing rate, the mark would likely be visible for a while before it totally fade away.
Even though Shen Wei is very embarrassed at what he did, he's going to use it to his advantage. "Yes, that's right. It's my mark, so you're mine now. You are NOT allow to look at anyone else except me."
"Can we just ditch this mission and be alone somewhere?" Yunlan is weak against Shen Wei cuteness so he can't stop the urge to have Shen Wei all to himself 24/7.
"Yunlan! How could you say that? This mission is very important ..... I'm leaving you right here if you're not coming." Shen Wei jokes as he run away while secretly considering what Yunlan just said. 'Maybe we can get a place for just the two of us.'
Now that things have been cleared up to a certain point, they continue on down the corridor hand in hand. Some time after, they could see the dark end of the corridor. With their swords ready, they enter a big dark hall. The moment they step in, the corridor behind them instantly disappear and no way to exit. Yet they didn't have to wait long when a woman with short black hair in a bright red dress appear as faint candle lights start to lit around the big hall.
"Zhao Yunlan, I've expected you to reach here sooner than this. Or did your skills got all rusty?"
"Of course not. It's just that there was some accident which need to be taken care of." Yunlan is talking to the demon but his hand that's laced with Shen Wei's is pulled to his lips to give a gentle kiss. "I had a little help so it took me longer, no I mean, without the help it would've been longer."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. So now what? Do we fight?" Before this Yunlan is rather laid back but now he wants to be somewhere else with Shen Wei.
"No need to hurry. First I need some answers."
"Hm? What do you want to know?"
"Who is he?" The demon points at Shen Wei with its sabre. "Why is he able to lace fingers with you so intimately?"
"Oh, this is Shen Wei of the Dragon Clan. And he's ....... my lover."
"Your lover? Someone as mischievous as Zhao Yunlan has a lover? Really?"
"You don't need to make it sound so bad. What if Shen Wei misunderstand?"
"Misunderstand? No, I'm pointing out the truth for him to see. Shen Wei, I'll give you a piece of advice ..... it's better to die by my hands than being with this sly fox. Death hurts way less than being his toy."
"Have I offended you or something?" Yunlan questions because he's sure that he hasn't done anything to this demon.
"Is your brain dead or something? You dare forgot what you did!?!" The demon angrily shouts. "Fine!! Shen Wei, I challenge you to fight me.
"I accept your challenge." Shen Wei quickly answers before Yunlan could say anything. He has been listening to their conversation and feels slightly irritated as they sound somewhat close and more importantly, she seems to have some history with Yunlan. Shen Wei is already troubled by the fact that he has missed a lot of things for the last 5,000 years away from Yunlan. Now he has learn that Yunlan did something to this demon for her to hold much vengence against him. In spite of all the irritating things, Shen Wei won't let this demon to hurt Yunlan. So when she challenge him, he just accept it instinctively.
"Good .... But I'll be nice with you, Shen Wei. I'll let you say your farewells before we start this." The demon deliberately mocks the already pissed off Shen Wei.
"Shen Wei! Why did you rashly accept the challenge?" Yunlan can tell that Shen Wei is agitated but he's not quite sure what caused it.
"She intentionally provoked me so I just return the favor. Yunlan ..... you two seems close so what's the story behind it?" Shen Wei had pretty much already hoped that it's just the 'damsel in distress' scenario, but he still needs to confirm it in case he made the wrong guess which may cause him to be even more agitated.
"Aiya, my Shen Wei is so sharp!" Yunlan tries to lighten up the mood but seems that Shen Wei is not having any of such as he sends deathly glares back. So Yunlan raise his hands in submission. "Alright, no more joking. Hmm, I remember that I helped her from some humans that tried to make a snake stew when I was wondering on some mountains."
"Seems that you were helping many demons."
"Aye, don't sound like that Shen Wei. I've been living in the mortal realm for quite a long while. So meeting and helping both the demons and humans out of troubles are inevitable."
"And you flirt with them while you help?"
"Welllllllllll, sometimes ..... you know ..... a little bit. But this one I didn't. I can swear that I didn't." Whatever Yunlan is saying doesn't help reduce the glares from Shen Wei. Therefore, Yunlan needs to be more intimate by pulling Shen Wei into his arms. However, Shen Wei avert away in which Yunlan doesn't mind because his target is the kiss mark that he left on Shen Wei's neck. So Yunlan just directly attack the same spot surprising Shen Wei who isn't prepare for it. After a short while, Yunlan turns Shen Wei so that their foreheads are touching one another.
"Before this I just spend my days going around aimlessly so I don't deny of fooling around. But now, with you things are not the same anymore. I'm already marked and you have also been marked though you didn't see it." Shen Wei hand instinctively flies up to cover the spot that Yunlan has been kissing. He just thought that Yunlan like it there, not expecting it to be some kind of marking. "Too late, I'll be marking this same spot everyday and also I'll be flirting only with you. Do you think you can handle that?"
"You're so cunning." Shen Wei exclaims before giving up on being mad and gives Yunlan a kiss instead.
"I did clearly said to bid farewell." The demon was watching the whole almost argument that somehow turned into romantic scene instead.
When Shen Wei approach, the demon instantly dashes towards him with the sabre. Unfortunately, he's quite prepared so he could swiftly dodge and use his sword to force the sabre to hit the ground. Nonetheless, a dagger appear out of nowhere aiming for his neck but Shen Wei is quick to kick it out of the demon's hand causing both to put some distance between them. Yet that last for only a few seconds as the demon is persistent in continuing the attack on Shen Wei leaving him no other choice but to defend himself.
Although it may sound like Shen Wei is at a disadvantage, the actual truth is quite the opposite. If you think this beautiful and fragile looking person is weak, think again. The demon who is doing all the attacks is clearly being push back by the defender. No doubt that the attacks are strong yet when Shen Wei blocks, it's not just stopping the sabre. He applies his power and strength to push it back. Sure enough, Shen Wei's greater power causes the demon to involuntarily step back every time that she attacks.
At the same time, Shen Wei is always observing closely for an opportunity to counterattack. Once it is found, he impetuously jabs his sword forward; however, the demon is also somewhat quick. So instead of being stabbed through, the unexpected attack has only successfully inflicted a deep sword cut wound on the demon's right arm. The dangling sleeve of the red dress is dyed to a darker shade of red as the blood pour out of the wound.
"It seems that you're actually not quite bad. Not many of my opponent could land a deep wound on me like this." The demon now sound real serious contrasting from before. When seeing the ripped sleeve, she just tears it off so that it wouldn't get in the way. Then her legs start to merge together into one. It turns out that she's half a snake.
This demon is indisputably a high ranking demon that can completely transformed into human or snake including partial transformation of half human, half snake, like the way she is now.
"I believe that I don't have to hold back anymore." Sure enough, she can glide very fast since it's her original form. So in a blink of an eye, she's in front of Shen Wei, her sabre ready to strike down hard yet it could only cut through thin air. Shen Wei has unbelievably disappear before her very eyes.
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A/N
Sorry for the late update. My 10 year-old cat is sick and I need to care for her. So I didn't have much time to write. 😭
Now ..... where did Shen Wei go? 🤔