First Sunrise

Li Hua had been traveling all night and thus was tired when she finally noticed the sun rising. She was continuously traveling up north as it was what her instincts were telling her to do. Now, she was in a forest.

She didn't know where she was, but when she finally took a glimpse at the sun, she could hear water running. With her hearing, she could identify that the running sound came from the east.

Having traveled quite a distance already, she thought she could take a break. So, she followed the sound and what she saw intrigued her when she finally reached her destination.

There was a stream with crystal clean clear water and there was also a waterfall from a short distance. There were many natural flowers growing near the water, but on a stone that the sun shed light on was a bundle of flowers with its violet, orange, and red colors.

Hearing the sound of the water had calmed Li Hua down very much. So much so that she felt this place could be an eternal bliss of peace for her. However, the waterfall caught her attention not too long after.

Li Hua could clearly very much see that there was a hallow figure behind the waterfall.

This triggered her curiosity to see what was behind the waterfall, so with effort, she found a small tiny mud path leading to rocks that guided her behind the waterfall.

With the waterfall covering the big entrance, she could see that it was a cave. Having thoughts that she could use the cave as shelter for the day, she went into it.

Her expectations were that the cave would be cold and give her an insecure feeling, but in the end, it was the opposite.

The cave was simply, so warm that Li Hua felt like a blanket covered her body and that she was in the embrace of the cave. There was such warmth that it made her almost not want to leave the cave and stay there forever.

After exploring the cave for a while, Li Hua put her stuff down in the cave and slept.

"I promise that no matter what difficulties we face in the future, I will protect you." The man said. His face too blurred out in order for Li Hua to see it.

"Oh dear... What are you saying? You know how much I hate being spoiled." She pouted to man. Her face was also too blurred for Li Hua to see.

"Really? But I haven't spoiled you enough."

"You've spoiled me quite much!"

"Haha! Really? Well then, I wish to spoil you much more." After saying this sentence, the man kissed the girl causing her to blush.

"You're too much..."

Before Li Hua could hear the man's name, she woke up from her catnap.

"Damn it! I was so close to hearing his name, too..."

After that, she gave no more thoughts onto her dream.

Having woken up, she realized that it was already noon.

She got up and ate some food, then took off her outer-garments leaving only the white gown visible.

She stretched her hand out to the waterfall and felt that everything about this place was very comfortable. However, she didn't fully immerse herself into the warmth of the waterfall and instead went back inside the cave to enter the hot spring.

It was really magical to see how a hot spring could be inside of a cave. Li Hua removed her clothes from her shoulder letting them rest at the edge of the rocks as she got into the warm water.

Sitting there in the warm water, she rest her eyes thinking about the past 15 years of her life. Her life had been the same routine and now for the first time, her routine finally changed. She was really happy, even if she was alone right now.

After thinking that she had been in there long enough, Li Hua left the spring and put a new set of clothing on. It was the only other outfit she put inside of her bag.

It was a plain red dress, but if you looked closer, you could see the silk was of high quality and the red threads used to tie everything together was as outstanding as gold.

After she was finished with her dress, she tied half of her long silver hair with the red hair band. The other half, laying down her back until it reached to her ankles. Red was the significant color during a marriage and this was supposed to be her wedding dress, but she wore it to show her aunt that she never going to be bound by a man.

Shaking her head to destroy her thoughts, she grabbed her stuff and left the cave, never noticing that someone was watching her the entire time.

At that time, Li Hua noticed that in the spring, a huge stone with the carvings, "love is pain, yet it is the epitome of joy" had appeared with sunlight reaching the carvings to make it stand out. She hadn't seen it earlier, knowing that at first there was nothing, but darkness in the cave.

Somehow, seeing this, she couldn't help but say, "So this is also your first sunrise, huh?"

Nobody was there, but she spoke as if there was someone else there. She didn't know why, but she felt as if she could hear someone's voice. In the end, she only said one more thing before leaving the cave.

"We are all standing like mountains in this world of fake ethereal. How lonely."

Li Hua had thought that no one other than this cave was listening to her, but when she would come back to this warm cave, there would be someone to stand there waiting for her. Someone waiting to share their warmth with her just the same way it had today.

With the waterfall slowly disappearing from her sight, she finally took into thought the dreams she had.

With the sound of running water become more distant, she finally could hear an ever so slightly quiet voice saying, "I love you."

And when she had finally disappeared from sight, the man finally stood on the rock full of flowers with an expression that was unreadable.