38. 'Epilogue'
*Song Meng POV
It has been three years. Three years since the girl that I devoted my heart to has gone missing. I still see her everywhere - in my dreams, in my subconscious. I won't stop looking for her.
Time after time, everybody has told me to give up.
"She is dead."
"You won't find her."
"She isn't alive any more."
The voices swirl through my brain but she can't be dead. I can feel that she is still somewhere. Whether it is 10 miles into the ground or through the thickest jungle, highest mountain, greatest ocean. I won't give up until I find her.
She means that much to me.
---
Hong Kong University
I go here once a month. To be precise, the 13th of every month. Qin Shan was in my life for too short of a time, and this is where it started. I see her almond eyes and cheerful smile. I see her slender body and her long curling hair. She is absolutely beautiful but her memory is painful.
The school has long forgotten her. Even the other students don't recall her name or face. Sometimes it feels like I was even imagining it. I wish that she would come back. I miss her, I want to be with her again.
I begin to go to the place where the gazebo is -- was, the school tore it down after they discovered that the wood was rotting. Ironic, huh. The view remains the same, however, and I look over at the vast expanse. It is so beautiful and in itself it speaks thousands of words in my mind and in my heart.
On my way there, I see a figure. It is a person in a tan trenchcoat - strange for the warm weather that is present right now. The figure is petite and it becomes apparent that it is a woman.
She is wearing giant sunglasses and the majority of her skin is covered with the exception of lavender painted toenails through silver pumps. I think she is just a tourist or a student as I get closer. I keep my presence low.
As I draw near, I am silent. She seems to sense me and turns around. She shouldn't have been able to do that unless her senses are refined. Then I look up into the depths of her glasses and her mouth drops open.
"You're here." She whispers it so quietly but of course, I pick it up. I start running, closing the distance between us until we are inches apart.
"S-Shan, you returned." My voice is choked as she takes off her glasses. Her stunning red eyes greet me instead of her brown ones. Her face has gotten more angular and her skin has gotten translucent.
"I'm sorry it took so long for me to return." Her eyes fill with tears as she whispers this. At that moment, I know for sure that this is Qin Shan. My girl and my love.
"You're a vampire now, aren't you." I whisper and she nods. I close my eyes tightly for a moment because I can't imagine the pain that she had to go through for the transformation. Months or possibly years of torture at the hands of the Court. My fists clench when suddenly a warm pressure envelops my hand. My eyes open.
"On the bright side, I will be with you forever." Her voice is melancholy and my eyes widen this time. She is right, we will be together forever. I can't restrain myself any longer as I pull her arm and pull her into a vice-like hug.
She starts to make small sobbing sounds and I am surprised to feel that my face is wet too. I missed her so much to the point where I wanted to die if I couldn't find her.
"Song Meng." She says, wiggling out of the hug. "I love you." Qin Shan's face lights up with the most lovely and radiant smile I have ever seen.
"I love you too." I pull her into another hug and she has no rejection.
Now, the universe has given us an opportunity to be together forever. I have been waiting for this for over three years. Since I first saw her, I knew that she was special and now, it seems like my prayers have been answered
We are no longer temporary. We will be forever, and forever embraced with one another.
---
Three months later, 20XX - THIRD PERSON POV
There is a whistling wind in the air as a young woman comes to the edge of a cliff in a off-white dress. Her jade skin is glistening and she makes her way slowly, through the clouds of flowers.
At the end of the pathway there stands a tall young man. He appears to be late teens or early twenties at the latest. Right now, there is a large smile on his face. The sky is gloomy but doesn't make the moment seem so.
The girl speeds up a little bit, impatient to get to the man. When she finally does, she throws herself into his arms and he takes her willingly with a huge smile. They seal their fates together with the company of only two other people. Those two other people are holding each other as well.
The girl and boy are smiling as if all their wishes have come true -- and they have. There is peace and a picturesque moment as they embrace at last. It is forever this time. Forever embraced.