In A Particular Way (V)

It was the first time I didn't felt alone,

In that lonesome world where I belong,

Everything was dull and full of grey,

But now that you are here, everything is bright.

***

THE YEAR 1904, a century away from the present time.

"C'mon! I want to show you a special place where we could watch the lanterns in the night sky!" Qing Long happily shouted and Althea was quivering her lips. She caught up with Qing Long and punched him playfully on his arms. Althea looked at the other side as Qing Long wanted to have some time to enjoy.

He ran so fast, with his feet after feet stepping on each other, and Althea shouted, "Hey!"

Qing Long laughed, the resonating sound was dancing around, as Althea lifted her skirt up through her knees and held onto the wooden slippers. She felt the white socks on her soles and didn't remove them. She threw the wooden slippers on the sides and ran as fast as she could, not caring about the dirt that might come inside her feet.

Qing Long was showing his front teeth, crinkling his nose, and guffawed. He strolled that deserted street, only the lights from the nearby crooked houses could be seen around, while the two were chasing each other. Althea continued to yell while Qing Long reached the far corner of that street.

Qing Long saw the formation of the land beside the Yangtze River, the rocks, which were varied from minute and enormous rocks that could serve as a resting area. Qing Long sprinted up the steps again and showed himself up on the side of the Yangtze River once again, and still see the lanterns lifting themselves upon the air.

There were still several of them, floating away from where they came from, the igniting fire on the stand was shining bright like the stars. He halted as he turned his head in the front. He heard the loud exhalation of Althea's breathing on her mouth. He smiled once again and smiled widely as he said, "You seem tired, we could sit down on the rocks, c'mon."

Althea was putting her hands on her knees but she was flabbergasted with the orange light that was tumbling on the cozy sand. The exhaustion from her body vanished after a minute as she looked up swiftly.

It was... so beautiful...

She parted her lips slightly while she swallowed and looked at the night sky. She felt her breath slowed down at its usual pace and she was mesmerized by its beauty. The lanterns were kept on coming, the wishes must have been tied around it, and the people were praying inside the Qing Empire.

Wang Qing Long stood on that rock in front of them, and he saw its surface. The bulkheads were smooth on the surface, perfect for a place to keep your mind resetting on its own and very relaxing to see. Qing Long saw the humps of the waves on the stones, and the reflection of the lanterns. The picturesque was moving on its own.

Althea took two steps forward and was still looking at the lanterns, with their bright fire, illuminating the darkness everywhere. Wang Qing Long averted his eyes towards the place where Althea was and felt that everything stopped.

The whole area froze, the noise of the waters crashing onto the piece of land became muffled, the vision around him blurred, and he could only see her. Every movement of the trees swayed slower, and the wind was the only thing that he could hear. Qing Long felt that the corners of his lips were lifting up in a bit, and he was finally smiling as soon as he realized it.

Althea put her hands on her abdomen and leisurely looked at Qing Long. She connected her azure gaze to him, the bright light still shimmering on the background, with only the two of them in that place. Althea was not surprised by Qing Long's beaming from the rocks.

The whole area stopped from slowing down as soon as Althea spoke, "It's so beautiful."

She walked fast to the rocks and went up in a smooth way. She doesn't want to grab any help from Qing Long. She balanced herself beside him, so close to each other, the heat could be felt that distance. Althea looked up at him and smiled while mumbling, "It was so admiring to see. It's the first time I saw this."

Wang Qing Long was still dazing but he just shook his head to tell himself he needed to be awake. He cleared his throat in a matter of minutes and looked at the sky. He nodded his head and said, "It was so peaceful to see, I never knew it would calm me down even after a second of seeing it. It must have been tiring to live a thousand years."

Althea laughed a little and sat down on the rocks carefully because she doesn't want to slip off. She tapped the side of the rock and Qing Long was hesitant at first, but he just did it anyway.

He was close to her, a little inch would be like an intimate zone, but he chose to move even a millimeter apart from her thighs. Althea put her hands on her knees and said, "It must have been tiring to be alive when you know you could be dead anytime."

Qing Long looked at the waters first before asking, "How can you say that?"

"I am an orphan. I never knew what it was like to have parents by your side. The one who could make you breakfast every single morning, the one who will... hug you... whenever you achieved something. I never felt the loneliness when I'm with my classmates or friends, but when I'm alone... I feel like I'm isolated and desperate to be loved," Althea explained.

She shook her head a little and mumbled, "Dying is the only way I could get out of that hard life I have been, but whenever I think of my goals, I always took a step back from the fiery pit itself."

As soon as she said it, someone shouted her name.