pure imagination || jing yuan, blade, & dan heng

nineteen

"L- let me walk you back to work," he mentally kicked himself for his stutter, but y/n didn't seem to mind or didn't seem to notice. Whichever the reason it was, he was grateful.

Nonetheless, depsite his light stutter, Dan Heng didn't quite want their conversation to end. He didn't quite want to wait to see her some other time. He didn't quite want to let her go. No yet at least.

Placing a hand on her cheek, her eyes shifted away from his as she nodded almost timidly so, "alright."

Smiling at her approval, he waved the waiter over, and before she could reach for her wallet he had already paid for the both of them. Her mouth slightly gaping as he tipped the waiter too and got up from his seat. His gaze settling onto her as he held out his hand, "shall we be going then?"

Taking his hand as he helped her our of her chair, she was quick to argue with him, "i- I can pay for myself you know!"

"I know."

"Then why-?"

He didn't let go of her hand as he gave it a gentle squeeze, the action going unnoticed by her as she was more focused on him paying for her. He was so generous to not get mad at her when she had rudely ran into him and then he even let her talk about her problems too! She couldn't help but to feel bad by letting him also pay for her lunch.

"If you're so worried about it, then how about paying for my lunch next time. Let's say... tomorrow? Same time and place?"

"Deal! I won't let you pay for me that easily!"

She had unknowingly let go of his hand and raised one of her fists in the air and she held her other fist to her chest as they walked down the sidewalk, a determined look on her face as she promised to herself to pay back Dan Heng for lunch.

He chuckled softly at her theatrics. His gaze softening as he would look at her. His heart thumping loudly. And his tail materializing behind him, swishing slowly from side to side. Yes, he was sure this was what love was and he wasn't going to let anyone take this away from him.

He has lived many lives. Lost many things. But not once did he fall in love. There wasn't a reason to considering what the Vidyadhara were like. And he was determined to latch onto this and to keep it close. To keep her closer. Hell be damned if someone even dared to take her away.

"Ah! Looks like we're here!"

His eyes fixated onto the sign of Stellaron Tailor his mouth gaining a sour taste to it as he read the name. Truthfully, the name and the workplace didn't actually bother him before, but now that he wanted to get closer to y/n .. well .. her workplace would be a problem considering it was owned by the Stellaron Hunters, or, more precisely, it was owned by Blade and Kafka. Two of the most worst people that the aeons could ever let walk the planet.

She turned to him, her smile reaching her eyes and for a moment he was awestruck. He wanted to kiss her again. He truly did. But he didn't want to kiss her on the cheek or on the forehead. No, he wanted to kiss her lips. Wanted to feel them mold against his mouth. But .. he also didn't want to scare her away, or have her hit him or push him off. Kissing her on the cheek was fine, but he knew that he wasn't exactly close enough to kiss her on the lips. Not yet, at least.

"So, tomorrow," she asked as she searched his eyes trying to see if he had changed his mind during their short walk to her workplace.

"Tomorrow."

"Good, so you better not bring your wallet 'cause I'm paying!"

"Right, of course."

"Whats with that tone?!"

"What tone?"

"That tone! You're making it sound like you're going to pay the bill again!"

"What? Me? Pay again? Never."

She huffed and crossed her arms over there chest, "you think you're funny, but you're humor sucks old man."

He guffawed at the nickname, "old man?"

She smirked lightly and wagged a finger in his face, "you're a Vidyadhara, right? So I bet you lived many lives."

"Just because I lived a many lives than you doesn't mean I'm old right now."

The two continued their light chitchat and banter, y/n soon breaking out into laughter as she found conversing with Dan Heng being a lot easier than before. Honestly, she felt more lively than she ever did with anyone else.

"Alright, alright," she relented, "you're not an old man in this body, but you at least have to admit that you were old at some point."

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, "fine, I was old at one point. But not anymore."

She grinned at that before glancing at the front door of her shop again, "well, I really should be going in there. Work may be slow, but I still gotta stand behind the desk, you know?"

He nodded, "of course. I'll see you tomorrow, y/n."

"Not if I see you first."

He gave her a gentle wave before going down the street and disappearing in-between the throngs of people who bustled around with their daily lives. His horns being briefly seen for a moment before he had turned a corner, now fully out of sight. Though, before he had fully disappeared she did notice two men dressed in black suits come up to walk along side him, but she brushed the scene away from her thoughts and disregarded it as two men hard at work and needing to get somewhere while dressed in fine attire.

Sighing to herself now, she stretched for a moment before reaching into her back pocket to get the keys out. Once unlocking the door, she flipped the closed sign to 'open' and walked inside. That same smile decorating her face as she felt a sort of inner peace wash over her when she walked through the door, the bell sounding with a small little ding. Talking to Dan Heng had definitely made her day a whole lot better than she had previously thought.

And just as she rounded the corner of the front desk, the ding of the bell sounded again. The door opening and closing. Her close-eyed smile not once faltering as she greeted her new customer for the afternoon.

"Hello! How may I help you today?"

"A song would be nice, little songbird."

Ok, her smile did falter a little bit and her mood did dampen. And for the love of the aeons, she hoped it was someone else who had spoken to her.

But the nickname from before was still fresh on her mind despite forgetting the man for a moment. The night of the club coming back to slap her hard in the face as her smile became tensed.

"A- ah, good afternoon, Blade..."