28 Valentine's Day

XiXi was lounging in the hot spring when she started wondering what day it is in their world. They left on a Thursday, she remembers because she had gone to the study to borrow the laptop. It was time to turn in her paper in the morning and she hadn't started{no worries now about that now I guess}

So today is, she is thinking and pops up in the water, It's VALENTINE'S DAY! Nooooo!

His friend said Qing Jun was going to confess to her on Valentine's Day.

After math class she was going to wait for him by the tree next to the soccer field. When he got done playing she was going to give him the chocolates she had made. Then he would shyly confess looking at her with those dark brown eyes and sweating a bit nervously. He would look so handsome in his soccer uniform and she would gratefully accept.

This scene had played over in her head at least fifty times since Wang Huan told her. She pretended she didn't know when Jun walked to class together last week but she was very excited.

This really sucks she is starting to get angry, why did Grandpa get Dad into this mess. I bet everyone wonders where I am, did Mom have to make up some crazy excuse why I wasn't at school or home?

The hot spring didn't seem as fun as it did a minute ago. I guess I will go back and start studying with Dad the sooner we can get back home the better.

She goes into the Jade room next to the hot spring and puts on the dress she had brought with her. How does this one go on it seems more complicated than the other one. She yanks it around and puts on her shoes. The takes her hair and wrings it out a bit and puts it in a loose pony tail,

XiXi sees the bottle on the jade table and thinks that's right he said to put this in the water to relax. I should have maybe I wouldn't be upset over something I can't change.

Walking through the trees she sees Feng Tian walking towards her. I'm not in the mood for that man right now and decides to slip through some trees to avoid him.

Feng Tian sees her and wonders why she was going that direction it leads to the mountain not the bamboo house.

He follows the direction she is going and can see she is feeling lost. XiXi is hesitant as to which direction to turn and is looking in circles. Feng Tian thinks if she keeps going she will end up at the stream.

He decides to go around the other direction and meet her before she gets to the stream.

XiXi looks up ahead and sees the stream and realizes she got turned around at some point and was no where near the house. Great!

Right when she is about to cry at the fact it's Valentine's Day, she is lost, and is stuck in a strange world Feng Tian appears in front of her.

She turns her head for a minute and wipes a tear from her eye and composes herself.

"Feng Tian what are you doing here? I clearly saw you back at the Cherry Blossom trees."

He looks at her face, is she upset about something her eyes are watery and a little red. If she is upset I won't tease her for getting lost. She looks so vulnerable right now.

" I did see you and wanted to spend some time with you so I followed you here. It's beautiful by the mountain and stream isn't it. This one of my favorite spots on Yun Tai's land.

"Yes, very pretty" XiXi is feeling a little mentally weak and figures well, it's good he is here, I never would find my way back through that maze of trees.

"You look thirsty here have some of this, and he hands her a jug."

She takes a sip and it is sweet and bubbly, hmmm that tastes pretty good. She drinks some more.

"What is that it is really bubbly" XiXi

"It is called cloud berry wine they make it in the mountains from a bubbling water source within a cave and cloud berries of course, he laughs.

Wine? I'm a minor!

"Do you want to see something that is only located here at the base of the mountain?" Feng Tian wants to cheer her up he doesn't like seeing this sad XiXi.

XiXi thinks why not, I don't feel like studying and if I go back now Dad will have me reading those books of his until I memorize them.

They head towards the base of the mountain and enter a cave, it isn't dark like you would expect but brightly lit in many colors. XiXi is startled it is so colorful and beautiful.

"Feng Tian why is this cave so lit up like this and sparkly" she can't believe how it is twinkling.

" It is because of the creatures that live in here. During the day they stay in this cave and attach themselves to the wall" ..XiXi interrupts "creatures?"

Feng Tian laughs, "They are actually quite pretty, I guess they would be like what I have seen in a book from another Kingdom, butterflies? We call them Wind Whisps because when they fly out at night they are almost transparent but for the colors carried in the wind in the night sky.

"If you are here at night you will see a spectacular sight when they all fly out"

Maybe it was that little bit of wine and the sight inside the cave but XiXi is starting to get her mind off what could have been today in her world. This island is very mysterious.

They walk out of the cave and XiXi says, "You would never see anything like that where I am from it really was amazing, thank you"

Feng Tian feels she needs more distraction from whatever is bothering her and says," Do you want to walk down the stream a little ways there are some fish you might find interesting."

Walking down the streams edge the foliage is getting thicker and she is seeing plants she has never seen before. "Feng Tian what is that huge bush there with the spiky fruits on it?"

XiXi is starting to enjoy this walk, so many different sights. A bird flew down and started pecking at the spiky fruit right when she was looking at it. The bird was cyan colored with a beak similar to a parrot and bushy feathers on its head you couldn't even see it's eyes. It was was making a high pitched sound when it saw her.

"Feng Tian said "The fruit is called a Spiky Fruit" XiXi looks at him, is he joking. He sees her face with that look and says, "No, seriously that's it's name do you want one? I will peel it for you when we get a bit further there is a gazebo we can sit in and watch the fish."

They strolled down the stream's edge and XiXi stopped and picked up a pebble and skimmed it across the stream, it skipped at least ten times, she was quite happy and laughed out loud. She picked up six more pebbles and handed three to him and said try it it's fun.

He took a pebble in his hand and thought I could easily make this go right across the stream and embed itself in the middle of the mountain I better tone it down for her, he takes it and uses his palm to make it gently skip about twenty times.

She is skipping hers and the best she did was that original toss. XiXi looks at him and says" good job!" He is looking at her finally laughing.This is good I don't like to see her sad.

After about an hour they reach the gazebo and where the flying fish are in the stream. XiXi is looking at them with wide eyes, they almost look like they are doing acrobatics. Flying over each other , flying in tandem. They were a silver color that glimmered in the air and had eyes that were golden.

"Feng Tian, they are so cool" XiXi has her hand on her hips looking at the stream.

"No, actually they are warm blooded fish that many years ago swam upstream to this spot because some beast Hunters had dammed a river to trap some Mythical Beasts."

"..." XiXi

XiXi sat down at the table in the gazebo and Feng Tian started to peel some Spiky fruits for her. The inside looked like a peach after he removed the outer spiky skin. It even had a pit like a peach. I wonder if it tastes like one she thought.

He hands her a piece and she puts it in her mouth and her eyes light up it is like a sour apple candy flavor like those candies she likes.

"Feng Tian that is incredible it tastes like candy! Give me another piece!"

His mouth curls up in a smile, she is like a child sometimes the way she gets so excited about food.

He peels some more and hands it to her, After she has eaten two whole fruit she walks over to the stream and washes her hands off. That was good but I just realized I'm getting hungry.

" Feng Tian are those fish edible?"

"They are delicious" Feng Tian

" Could you catch some so we can eat it must almost be dinnertime and I don't want to go back quite yet."

"Yes, let me start a fire first and find some branches to skewer them on."

Feng Tian gathers up some wood for a fire and sharpens some sticks for the skewers, while he is busy doing this he looks over at XiXi. She is staring out at the mountains with a faraway look in her eyes. He wonders what she is thinking about right then, she looks so sad. Feng Tian decides he will do whatever he can to see his little beauty smile.

It's a good thing she is staring off into space, you need to be quick to catch these golden eyed fish and will need to use a palm strike to do it quickly. He stretches his hand out and four nice size fish fall flopping in the water, He grabs them up right as XiXi turns around. "

"You got four how did you catch them so fast? Where is your fishing pole?"

She asks a lot of questions," I tossed it back in the brush. Come here and help me skewer these."

XiXi has never actually cooked fish before but she walks over and he says hold this one while I do it. He could do it himself but he wants to distract her from her thoughts. She doesn't want to touch it though looks like it is still squirming,

He hands her one and it immediately slips out of her hands, she screams "It's so slippery ahh" and he catches it before it lands on the ground.

"That was quick Feng Tian" XiXi is smiling at him. He laughs "Well try to hold on tighter!

After several unsuccessful attempts of XiXi holding the fish he gives up and just does it.

He puts them on the fire and they walk back up to the gazebo. XiXi is really thirsty and doesn't trust the stream water there seem to be too many little creatures sitting on the rocks and swimming in it.

"Feng Tian ,can I have some more of your drink"

He hands it to her and she drinks a few gulps and smiles "The bubbles tickle my nose" She scrunches up her cute little nose and giggles.

As he looks at her the sun is starting to go down, her hair is not securely tied and is falling down around her face in little curls. She is lifting that jug with her small white hands and giggling, he almost couldn't restrain himself from the urge of grabbing her and kissing her. He wants to run his hands through her hair and make her his... only his.

The fish looks like it is finished cooking so he goes and grabs two and brings it to the gazebo. He lays it down on the large leaf he had cooked it with and removes the bones for XiXi.

She is still drinking his wine over by the railing and glances over with a glazed look on her face.

He says, "Come here and sit down, take this one"

"Is that for me? thank you Feng Tian I hate to try to pick bones out." She picks at the fish with her hands, oh my that is really good fish. I must say you have some delicacies here on this island.

They sit there quietly eating. XiXi continues to take sips of the wine.

"Feng Tian I was supposed to get confessed to today by Qing Jun, why am I in this place" It's Valentines Day, I was going to give him chocolates and he was going to tell me he likes me.We all gathered up our money so we could have fireworks above the school that are in shapes of hearts and... " She looks up at him with her eyes getting misty..

All he can see are those pink lips with another man's name on them. He is getting furious inside.

He wonders who she is talking about, who is Qing Jun.

"Who is Qing Jun?" he says again louder.

She moves over closer to Feng Tian, she is feeling warm on the inside but her skin is getting cold. She leans on him and shivers. He takes off his outer coat and puts it around her, she looks so small in it as he tucks it around her.

He repeats himself, he would like to know who this Qing Jun is."Who is Qing Jun"

"Jun is the most handsome striker on the soccer team at school"XiXi proudly remarks.

She calls his name so intimately , and I am always Feng Tian! Who is she calling handsome? She won't even acknowledge my outstanding looks, Feng Tian is starting to feel a heat boil up in him. What is this man to her. Feng Tian wants to hug her to him right now and not let go.

He must wipe the thought of this man from her mind.

" XiXi remember I told you those Wind Whisps fly out of the cave at night do you want to go to a place to see it?."

She nods and thinks that sounds pretty.

" We need to go to the top of the mountain ,we will need to fly up there. so don't be scared"

"You can fly? Well, I read about that in a novel about fantasy places where men can fly using qinggong" It might makes sense she thinks it's a magical island .

"Just make sure you hold on to me tightly, I don't want to fall"

"..." Feng Tian.

He grabs her tiny waist, wraps her up into his arms and flies to the very top of the mountain. He sets her down and notices she is clutching the jug of cloud berry wine in her hands. No wonder she is so brave, he smiles down at her.

Right as they sat on the edge of the mountain he says " Look now"

XiXi looks in front of her to see a thousand lights of many colors swirling across the sky it was like a fireworks display only they were the Wind Whisps making all kinds of designs across the sky. It took her breath away as she looked at the magnificent array of colors across the sky.

She jumped up swimming in his coat and grabbed his shirt, her eyes were sparkling as she said "Feng Tian they are so beautiful!"

He thought of how she had described the celebration of this Valentine's Day and these shapes the fireworks made in the sky. He used his palm to manipulate the Wind Whisp into those shapes . Feng Tian then separated all the red ones and made a giant heart she had described in the middle.

In a spontaneous moment of happiness XiXi hugs Feng Tian around his waist ,buries her head in his chest and says "Thank you so much for this Feng Tian!"

She looks up at him with those deep blue eyes ,Feng Tian bends down to kiss her then stops himself, it was too soon, but...

XiXi you will be mine and only mine..no other man will ever touch you.