𝑴𝒂𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑭𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝟐𝟔 - 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚

The familiar voice calling his name rang in his mind, and he felt like everything around him became unreal. The man standing in front of him defiantly pulled him out of his new reality, and formed a bridge between this world and the one slowly dissolving in his memories and heart.

The colourful lights reflected in his dark pupils. The intense gaze was reciprocated by Lan Wangji who hadn't had time to process the man's extremely different appearance yet. After all, those eyes were still the same - and not recognizing someone so dear to him would be a sin.

If it weren't for the outside intervention, they would have never been able to escape this moment of counterfeited scepticism mixed with disbelief - particularly in Wei Wuxian's case. Lan Wangji, on the other side, wasn't as bewildered despite having just now experienced the same improbable fate as Wei did three years ago.

"Oh my- aren't you Wei Ying? Standing right in front of my shop??" The once anxious vendor suddenly gasped at the realization, which was extremely slow considering he was literally modelling for the brand she works for - and his image was the main focus of the shop window. Her attention had been set on the seemingly time traveller instead. Only at that moment did Wei Wuxian slightly shift his attention toward her, and then toward the other people whose presence he had completely forgotten. This was definitely not the time for a fan group meeting, and as much as he enjoyed it (which was quite expected from someone who appreciated positive attention from others and especially pretty ladies), he needed to get away - somewhere else. Nevertheless, he completely lost control over what he should do, or where to go, now that someone from his past life had suddenly reappeared in his present one. The clearly bottled up confusion, and thought of not knowing the reason why, was eating him from the inside. Everything had been fine for the last three years, he had progressed immensely in his career, he had built a new name for himself in this world, he had fallen in love too. So what in the world was the purpose of this encounter?

It had taken so much effort to completely accept his death in the other world, and embrace his new fate in this one - away from all the people he once cherished. Lan Wangji's presence only reminded him of all the pain he had gone through in the past, all the pain that he had completely neglected in this world (by shrugging it away, and moving on). It was all inevitably coming back to him now. What a joke of fate this was.

These were the sentiments he immediately took into account - although a small part of him, perhaps a side that had never died within him even after 'dying', he almost felt reassured by the other's presence. It was so ambiguous that not even he realized it.

When the gradually loud murmuring sounds around him caught hsis attention, Wei Ying quickly leaned down to pick up the fallen umbrella, and swiftly grabbed onto the man's wrist, pulling him along as they rushed out of the crowd. The rain kept pouring down onto them as they ran, but for Lan Wangji, it didn't particularly have a negative connotation. The time seemed to slow down for him in this moment, and his gaze was focused on the man pulling him by the wrist. His eyes did not even bother to take in the sight of this foreign world - they were set on him. They couldn't believe that after so many months of suffering an unexplainable heartache, the man he had failed to protect was right in front of him.

Wei Wuxian did not pull him for much longer, since as soon as he turned toward a quieter street, or more like an alleyway, there were no further people who could interfere. Wei Wuxian let go of the other's wrist, and only slowly turned around after a long moment of considering the situation. It seems like no matter how real this is, it will definitely take some time until he doesn't misunderstand this as a vivid dream. Lan Wangji, on the other hand, was quite confident about it. After all, he hadn't lost himself in his ambitions. Wei Wuxian was standing right in front of his eyes, and there was no mistake in that.