planetarium.

So guys. It’s been so long since the last time I’ve posted, I’m not even sure someone still reads the silly things I write but, anyway. 

I am a little sensitive today. That time of the month is coming soon. lol And I was watching some historical chinese dramas mvs and, all of a sudden, I started daydreaming after watching one specific mv.

The storyline was kind of like this: the female lead is head over heels for the male lead and is always chasing him around, being troublesome, even ends up making him marry her and all that, but he actually likes someone else (at the start, of course). That’s the general idea I got from the drama after watching the music video.

So, with that, I started imagining and making up scenes having this story as a background setting. What if their marriage is a contractual one (classic drama troupe, of course!), set with a limited time? Like, “you have one year to make me fall in love with you. If you fail, you’ll agree to get a divorce and leave me alone.”

And so, I came up with this mini fanfic, I hope you enjoy it!

“Hey, Chang Bo*! Have you seen my wife?” The master of the house asked the passing servent.

He hadn’t seen San Qi since early morning, which was extremely unusual. Normally, his foolish wife would always be stepping on his shadow, unless...

“Don’t tell me she made trouble again?”

 He questioned the servent with semi-closed eyes before the poor man could answer to his first inquiry.

“My lord”, said the man, “I do not know where the madam has gone. She left early with that girl, her closest maid, but didn’t say where she was going. She did leave a message for you, though.” 

Saying this, the unconcerned servant passed a small piece of folded paper to his master, took a bow, then left.

‘How strange’, thought Zhao Cuo, as he unfolded the paper.

“Let’s meet at 19 p.m in restaurant XXX, on street market. I’ve prepared a surprise for you.”

He couldn’t help but smile as he read the note out loud. ‘This foolish girl... What is she planning this time?’ he thought to himself.

Well, his wife was always full of surprises. He had lost count of how many times she had come up with the weirdest ideas. Zhao Cuo used to be really taken aback at first, but had ended up getting used to it. At some point, he found himself even enjoying her gimmicks and looking forward to the next time.

‘She was always so straight forward and silly...’

As the meeting time approached, he couldn’t help but feel a little restless. That had been the first time he and his wife had spent so many hours apart since they had married. Normally, San Qi was like glue...

‘She must have prepared something quite grand this time.’, he thought, as he walked towards the set place.

Upon arrival, he was promptly lead to the reserved room inside the restaurant.

There was a table at the center of the room, specially decorated, with red flowers and strange floating things that resembled the floating lights that were used during festivals, though those didn’t seem to float due to fire. He continued scanning the place, but his wife was nowhere to be seen. Instead, someone else was seated at the table.

“What are you doing here?”

He was staring at Ruo Yao. His voice sounded restrained, he felt confused and slightly irritated at the sight of her. His once good mood dropped instanly.

‘How come it’s her? Where’s San Qi?’

She looked at him and got up immediately. She felt a little nervous, but certainly wasn’t about to show him that.

“Can’t you see that I am waiting for you?” she asked back, with a meek voice.

“I can see that,” he answered, his frustration and increasing irritation clearly showing through his voice and expression. “What I mean is, why are you here waiting for me? Where’s my wife?”

“I am here to see you. I missed you...”, she said as she came close to him, “Didn’t you ask to see me and prepared all this so we could be together?” she finished her act by looking into his eyes and landing one hand over his arm.

His body instictively rejected her touch, even producing unconfortable goosebumps. Grimacing, he stepped away from her.

“What are you saying? I didn’t do this." He felt a little disgusted at the thought.

“I already have my wife. You shouldn’t be here...” When the thought came to him, it burned like fire. ‘Yeah, she definitely shouldn’t be here. I am married and she is not. This could become a terrible rumor...!’

“Leave. Immediately.” He told her firmly.

At his clear rejection, she felt so offended she wanted to scream at him. ‘How dare he reject me? How could he choose that little girl over me?’  Her delicated features became twisted for a split of a second, but she managed to keep her cool. She had to preserve her dignity at least.

“You’ll regret this”, she mumbled to herself and left the room.

Still baffled, he staring at the empty table, trying to come up to terms with what had just happened. ‘What the hell.. Where’s San Qi?’

At that moment, a restaurant worker entered, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Upon noticing the  lady wasn’t there anymore, the man asked:

“Sir..? Has the other guest already left?” the worker looked confused.

“Yes. I was supposed to meet someone else here, not her. Hasn’t anyone else arrived? A petit pretty youngwoman perhaps?”

“No, sir.” Zhao Cuo’s heart dropped at his answer.

“ But...”, the worker continued, making his heart expectant, ”that description matches with the person that made this reservation. She also left this in my care so I could give to you.”

He handed in a little box. Inside, there was a letter. Zhao Cuo trembled.

 “Hello! This is San Qi.

Congratulations! Do you know what day it is today? Today is the 365th day of our marriage. Uhul! I prepared all this by myself. What do you think? Do you like it? You see, I don’t want to brag, but I must say that getting those floating things wasn’t easy, you know! It seems they’re called ballons and are filled with a different type of air. I heard they’re a new invention, it was hard getting my hands on these. Hehe.

Well, it seems that this is it, hm. If you’re reading this, it means that I failed and, like I promised, this is the end.

You know how they say that when you’re having fun time flies and when you’re not it feels like it doesn’t pass at all? Well, our time together felt like the passing of a warm confortable breeze on a summer night. Just one blink would be enough to miss it. 

Though I know that for you, it wasn’t the same.

The truth is, deep inside, I’ve known it all along. I just couldn’t bring myself to give up just yet. I took advantage of your kindness and  ended up making you suffer right? Please forgive me. 

You must’ve felt like you were stuck in hell, right? Like your precious time with your beloved  Ruo Yao was  being robbed of you. All because of me. I have no excuses.

So! This is me trying to make up for it. Of course, just one romantic dinner can’t possibly measure up to all those times, but I hope you feel my sincere repentence.

Also, all those troublesome and annoying things I did in the past, was me trying my best. I am sorry for all of those. I never meant to make you look bad or make you trouble.  I just hope you know that my feelings for you were true. And that I am really greateful to you.

You made me learn that love is selfless. And that it can’t be forced.

Though for you it were bad times, I hope that if someday you happen to spare a thought for me, you will look back and maybe find at least one happy memory of us. That would mean the world for me. 

Thank you for everything.

Like I promised, you will never see me again after this. But I’ll always be praying for your happiness.

With love,