"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Mulan asked Shang.
"Would you like to stay forever?" called Grandmother Fa. Mulan chuckled and shook her head at the old lady. Shang wished he could do the same, but he was too nervous about the fact that he was very interested in staying here, in Mulan's life, forever. This was an entirely new feeling for him, and it didn't help that he still saw Ping in her.
"Dinner would be nice," he answered. Mulan smiled at the meekness in his voice. She began walking towards the house, resting her hand on his arm to keep him alongside her.
She was so confident, he noticed. As Ping, she'd always been just a little unsure, even in her best moments. He wondered what it was like, constantly second guessing yourself, trying to pull off such a complicated charade. With all the lies behind her, Mulan looked completely at peace. Her rod-straight posture and outspokenness still reminded him of the man, the soldier. But it conflicted, in his eyes, with her feminine walk and dress and manner. She was a mixture of such contradicting parts, like yin and yang, that ultimately made her so unique that he knew he could never have the same feelings for another.
"Shang? You're staring," she pointed out softly, never losing her comforting smile.
Behind them, her grandmother was having a field day.
Shang shook himself out of it, whipping his head down so he could instead stare at the floor of the house. "Sorry."
"It's alright." He liked the feather-like touch of her hand on his bicep. "Sit here. I'll get you some tea."
"That's okay, I don't-" But she was gone, and he was left with her parents and her possibly senile grandmother.
"I am sorry to hear about your father, Captain," said Fa Zhou, and his wife nodded in agreement. "He was an incredible leader. An incredible man."
Shang bowed his head. "Thank you. He spoke very highly of you, sir."
Immediately, Shang knew he'd said the right thing. Pride filled the old man's eyes. "It was an honor to serve with him."
The other members of the family stood in silence for a moment of remembrance. Mulan's mother was so different from her daughter. Quiet and submissive, she stood in perpetual deferment to her husband and mother-in-law. But she didn't look unhappy-her face lit up when Shang complimented her husband. Grandmother Fa, on the other hand, was a creature he could not comprehend. "Well, that's enough talk about the dead. They'll haunt you, you know. I plan to haunt the shoemaker once I'm gone. He's made one too many jokes about the size of my feet."
"Mother," Fa Zhou groaned.
"What? We get some war heroes home and all of a sudden we have to be prim and proper? Oh no. I'm going to be straightforward with you, young man. As soon as Mulan comes in here with the tea, we are clearing out so you two can discuss getting married. Oh, don't blush, you all know that's what's on everyone's mind."
True to her word, Grandmother Fa ostentatiously ushered Mulan's parents out of the room when her granddaughter arrived. Mulan saw this, and protested, having brought five cups. Her grandmother would hear none of it, and loudly shut the door to the room.
They were alone.
Shang gulped, sure that he had stiffened so much he would never be able to relax again. How was Mulan still so comfortable? She merely shook her head again and placed the tea set on the table, pouring out one cup for him and one for her. It amazed him that she did this with all the poise and delicacy that any other woman would have shown. That air of masculinity was still there-but was it masculinity? Perhaps it was just assertiveness. None of the women he knew would dare make him feel like she was making him feel, however unknowingly. It was as if she was in charge of this whole situation. He felt as insecure as a child. She probably got it from that crazy old woman.
"Shang." Mulan held his cup out to him. "You're doing it again."
His gaze had been fixed on her for several seconds. He reddened as he accepted the cup. "I didn't mean to, I just...I like tea." He nearly slapped himself. This was on par with his "You fight good" fiasco.
Mulan seemed to understand, though, and laughed. "Me too." She took a sip and put her cup down. "I'm sorry if my grandmother scared you. She has a strange sense of humor."
"No, not at all. Not at all," Shang replied, trying to get his scrambled thoughts together into a coherent sentence. It was taking a very long time.
Realizing that he wasn't going to say anything else, Mulan continued, "But even though she says those things, I just want you to know that she isn't serious. My feelings for you are not a secret, not with Grandmama yelling about them from the mountains. But if you don't feel the same way, neither she nor I would-"
"No!" Shang interrupted, nearly breaking his cup into pieces as he slammed it down on the table in alarm. Mulan's wide-eyed surprise probably matched the expression on his face. Suddenly, he was babbling. "Of course I-you are like nothing I've ever-I was such an idiot through all of-and I never apologized for-but do you know what it's like, trying to figure out whether or not I fell in love with a man?"
Mulan sat still for a few moments, clearly in shock. Time itself seemed to slow down. "You...fell in love?"
Shang's breath hitched. He was such a fool. Saying all these things, all these stupid thoughts in his head, it was bound to scare her away.
But then she smiled, radiantly. Her hand reached over the table to cover his.
"Yes," he breathed finally. "I fell in love."
"With a person," Mulan said. "Ping and Mulan are the same person. Man or woman, we share the same heart and soul. And they belong to you."
It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard. His head cleared; all of those worrisome thoughts about what was or was not fluttered away. He grasped the hand that held his own and pressed it to his lips.
"Fa Mulan," Shang murmured. "Will you marry me?"
In response, she yanked her hand out of his grip and threw her arms around his neck. She planted a kiss on his lips, throwing propriety out the window. But then, she'd been doing that for as long as he'd known her. After a second of processing this unexpected turn of events, Shang smiled against her mouth and returned her kiss.
A knock sounded at the door. "Are you two decent? Dinner is ready!" An old woman's cackle cut through the air.