White Roses Dyed Blood Red

"How long have I been dancing? It's already time for dinner," Yaorui smiled and walked over to the stereo to grab her phone. "6:39"

She had been dancing for nearly six hours, and still hadn't completed her to-do list.

She continued to dry off her sweat as she made her way over to Angli. "I'm going to change before I eat,"

"What? Oh, yea, I'll tell the others,"

She looked over and saw Chuan Si rooted in the same spot she had left him in, "Chuan Si?"

Everybody seemed to be spacing out today.

His eyes cleared, and he followed Angli and her out.

Angli's eyes zeroed in on the silver chain on the back of her neck. 'That wasn't there before,' he thought.

"That's a nice necklace, Xiao Rui, is it new?" Chuan Si's eyes narrowed at the nickname.

Angli was happy that she hadn't shown a big reaction to the old nickname, he was afraid that it would trigger her. Luckily, she seemed to enjoy the name.

Yaorui's hands reached up to touch the necklace, "It is, Chuan Si made it for me," Her tone carrying pride and appreciation, something Angli wasn't so sure he liked.

"Is that so?"

"Yes? You're acting weird, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, probably just the stomach talking," As if right on cue, his stomach growled, earning a small chuckle from Xiao Rui.

She took a quick peek into the other dance room and saw her brother and Wenshi playfully enjoying themselves. Knocking on their door, she informed them of dinner before leaving for her room.

_____________________________

Sitting at the dinner table, everybody indulged themselves in simple conversations and bickering.

The triplets from class five bickered constantly. Always bringing up past grudges and situations that could tear apart one's image of them, of course, by now, it was too late to rebuild their images.

Eventually, their childish memories led the Kahn Shen and Kahn Oulong to talk about their angel of a sister falling in love with a "demon," This led to her brother, Angli, and Jiexu idolizing the "demon," and telling stories of his great victories.

"Wait! Let us get this straight, a five-year-old managed to get engaged in three hours!"

"Correct, and as far as I know, they are still happily in love,"

"Lies!" Yelled Kahn Shen.

"So, you're going to ignore the fact that they held a rehearsal wedding right before we left?"

"That little monster forced her!" Kahn Shen followed up with a "Yeah!" right after his twin brother's statement.

"Last I heard, Sunmi was the one that wanted the wedding in the first place,"

"Guess what their first engagement gift was!" Gebao threw in.

"What?"

"A bottle of wine, they plan to drink it on their wedding night! Isn't that exciting!"

"It's settled! As soon as I'm getting off this island, I am going to find this master of wooing and ask him to teach me his ways!" A few of the other boys at the table cheered and clinked glasses before chugging them down.

"Is there any news about school?"

"Not yet, but I'm pretty sure that we'll be released soon," Lan Yue informed.

"Hopefully, I want to scope out my options for a future husband," Ni Kuntao announced.

She was an acrobat. She was extremely flexible and somewhat malnourished, common traits in women in a sport dominated by them. But due to all the feeding from the chefs and morning exercises, she was finally looking healthy.

"And what about you six?" Bai Xiaotong, a detective in training, pointed to her, her sister, Sheng Rong and the three boys seated next to them.

"What about us six?" Xun Shouhan shot back.

"Have any of you three couples made any progress?"

"What progress? Who's a couple?"

The whole table g.r.o.a.n.e.d at their density.

"Just kiss and become couples already!" One very annoyed light bulb spoke.

"What? Like this?" Jian Nu bent his head and gave Sheng Rong a kiss on the forehead.

"No! You always do that, and that has proved ineffective, you have to kiss her on the lips!"

"Ah~so like this~~!" Sheng Rong moved in for a peck, but before anything could happen, MaoMao (Zhang Maorong) decided that it would be fun to play darts with chopsticks. His chopstick pinned a fake fruit to the wall in front.

"Nobody is kissing nobody under my watch, that includes you Li Long Ao,"

"How many times do I have to tell you? You should call me brother-in-law now,"

"YOU!" Zhang Maorong slammed the table.

_______________________________

Wenshi and Long Ao were cuddled up by the fireplace on the floor. Long Ao's arms were wrapped securely around his ShiShi's waist while she saw across his l.a.p, her arms encircling his neck.

The flames played and danced, entangling themselves and untangling. The warmth of it roused a calm feeling in their alone time. It had been a while since they had done this. Since they had cuddled up alone with no distractions except for each other. Since they could relax and let go of their worries.

They shared random kisses, the stars and the moon their only witnesses on this warm autumn night.

They were alone in the living room, the others had left them to indulge in themselves. A rare occasion Long Ao was very satisfied with.

His eyes roamed her own eyes. He watched them change shades and colours as the fire danced in her eyes.

Her eyes utterly mesmerizing, drawing him in like a moth to a flame. They were a beautiful emerald green, and if you looked close enough, you could see a galaxy of stars in her eyes.

He pulled her closer and soaked in her scent, one he had come to love and crave with every bit of his being.

Over the past couple of months, he had kept his promise to himself.

He became a better leader, he forged connections that were never meant to exist, he trained harder and faster than ever before. He perfected his aim and honed his senses. He mastered different art forms and could now best his younger sister in martial arts, he could fight off over 60 well-trained men with weapons last he checked.

His reflexes and his agility increased, he started to focus on his flexibility and speed. He took small dosages of poison to immunize himself against them, his tolerance was growing by the day.

He was taking a few lessons from the medical experts of their team, he was doing everything he could to make himself enough and deserving of the woman in his arms.

Now, as he gazed into her emerald eyes, as her fingers traced the veins on his arms. He felt that that very moment was worth every little hardship he had faced. If it meant going through and hell and back for this very moment, he'll gladly accept it, so long as she was there waiting for him at the end.

"Stop that," ShiShi placed her hands on either side of his face.

"Stop what?"

"Stop blaming yourself for what happened!"

"I can't help it, I knew you were being threatened by her, but I kept quiet because I didn't want to intrude on your personal business, and I didn't think that she'd go that far..."

"None of us did, Long Ao,"

"But I knew who she was! I knew who was threatening you, and I did nothing!" His grip tightened on her skin.

"Even if you had confronted her, you would only fuel her fire,"

"But-"

"Even if you did do something, you wouldn't know when she would attack,"

"I could've sent spies, or bugged her,"

"Just stop it! I don't want to see or hear you blaming yourself for something that no one could've predicted! Please..."

"I-I'll try,"

She tightened her grip on him and soothed him to the best of her abilities.

Long Ao inhaled her comforting scent, a drug he very willingly submitted himself to.

He pulled her to his c.h.e.s.t and fell back onto the beanbag. He laid her on his c.h.e.s.t and pulled the blanket up to her chin.

At that moment, he was content with life. But if he died right then and there, he'll be sure to escape the afterlife and indulge himself in more moments like this.

She was the full moon in his dark night, she let up the night sky for him to see the stars and the hope that laid inside of him.

"Let's just stay here...for tonight,"

"En," She agreed and relaxed.

They spent the rest of the night in each other's arms, speaking of their future plans and discussing their life plans, plans that included both of them together forever.

__________________________

After a long night of putting together furniture and moving things around, Yaorui slipped beneath her bedsheets. The pulsing of her necklace, lulling her to sleep. And while she surrendered to the god of sleep, life hummed deep in the forest.

Underneath a tree that touched the sky, blue blood coursed throw its pipes, bringing it to life. Inside, machines buzzed and hummed, the walls filled with the same blue blood that flowed in its veins.

As life hummed through the forest, a fate foretold was set in motion.

Life was a funny thing. Everything from creation and destruction was decided by it, while death did nothing more than assist it.

And that assist would soon come to great use. After all, viruses are deadly, to humans at least.