Dàiyù, a simple girl from Ta-Lo, only she's not all that simple. Her mother died from childbirth and her father neglected her too much during her childhood. Dàiyù stayed with her grandfather, he was the one who taught her everything she needed to kn...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
≿————- ❈ ————-≾
Not knowing whether Shang's father would destroy her childhood home as well as her homeland, Diana soaked up every ounce of this house. She was sorting through stuff she wasn't brave enough to touch before. There were boxes filled with her grandpa's stuff. Armour he once wore, weapons he once used, paintings he once painted. After a while, a knock on her door brought her out of her cleaning.
"Have you seen Shang?" Katy asked, a little breathless. Diana shook her head, "He um, we had this conversation and umm yeah. He disappeared for a while and I thought he needed alone time but he hasn't shown up and now I'm worried," there was restlessness in her movements. Katy's worry for Shang now seeped into Diana.
"Are you okay?" Diana asked genuinely, now worried for both of her friends. These days had been a lot and if they impacted her, they impacted her friends.
"Yeah, but can you help me look for him? Please?" Katy insisted.
"Yeah, of course. Let me put my shoes on."
"Thank you, dude," they decided to split up, hoping to cover more ground. Diana walked through the fields, the grass tickling her feet. The stars shone brightly above, there was no light pollution here to hide them. Diana found Shang standing on the outskirts of town, watching as two small animals played around their tired parents.
"You know it's cold out here," Diana said softly as she made her way over to him. He barely reacted to her presence as he continued to stare. "You okay?"
"What are you doing here?" he answered her question with a question of his own. Shang's voice wavered and Diana could tell that he had been crying.
"I wanted to check up on you," she responded slowly, "Just like you did for me," there was a moment of silence, his mind running through things to say to the girl next to him.
"I killed him," he declared, resentment for himself clear in his tone, "Did you know that? I killed the man who murdered my mum."
Diana frowned and then sighed, "I am the last person to judge you for that," she softly put her hand on his shoulder and used her other hand to tilt his head towards her, "And you are not a bad person because of it."
"It doesn't feel like that," he muttered, closing his eyes.
"You are not like your father. I know that because I know you," it felt like he was peering into her soul. They were close again. Why did she keep finding herself in these situations, centimetres apart from him? "I found something I wanted to show you," she whispered, stepping away from him. She hoped he couldn't tell that her heart was beating a million miles and held out her hand. He stared at her for a bit before placing his hand in hers and she led him back to the house.
"This box contained all of my mother's things. My grandpa kept it locked and told me I could open it when I was older," she stared at the small box in her hand. There were carvings in the wood and it was decorated admirably. "When he died, I completely forgot about it. Now I have the key," she pulled out the keys her father gave her, the green one fitted perfectly in the hole provided, "There are letters from your mother addressed to mine," Diana grabbed a small stack of letters and gave it to Shang. He grabbed the top one and opened it up, cautiously glancing back at Diana.
Dear Caihui,
I have just given birth to a beautiful boy. His name is Xu Shang-Chi. You should have seen Wenwu holding him. He looked like the happiest person in the world!
I could only wish that one day he would visit Ta-Lo. He has family there that I wish he could meet. I hope you have been doing well. You're 7 months pregnant! I hope in the future they will meet each other. I know that your child will grow to be as incredible as you!
I hope your husband is treating you well. I saw the wedding photos and I am very happy for you. You looked beautiful. I really wished I could come but I didn't think I could. I found a few flowers that we both have in our lands. I'm growing a garden. It reminds me of my home back in Ta-Lo and it's nice to reminisce.
I hope the wind carries this to you,
Ying Li.
Shang stared down at the page with teary eyes, using his finger to trace over his mother's handwriting.
"Hey," Diana started, holding her arms open while Shang leaned into her warmth.
"Thank you," he muttered into her shoulder. She pulled out a few more letters and shared them with Shang. Together they read over letters revealing parts of their mothers' lives that they didn't know about. They stayed like that until exhaustion took over both of them, falling asleep on one another.
