Arthur finnally decided to tell Wang Yao that he loved him, but got rejected. Yao talked about his past. Hurt & Comfurt. Apologies for my poor English.
"Listen, Yao, all I want to say is that...I think I...I have been in love with you, for quite a long time." I said, in a trembling voice. Finally, I grabbed the chance to tell him my true feelings.
He looked up into the clear starlit sky, blue smoke curling up from the cigeratte between his lips.
"Well, I knew it. I knew it all along."
Then he kept silent.
It was absolutely neither a British-style response nor a Chinese one.
"...So?"
"So what? What did you expect to hear from me, " said Yao with a frown.
"I have to admit that I like you very much, as a faithful friend, enjoying every moment we spend together, even we sometimes have disagreements about the education of Little Hong..."
"But I'm not sure whether I still have the ability to love someone. "
"Of couse you do, right? It's like human nature or instinct," said I, holding on his arms.
Yao shook his head, avoiding eye contact with me.
"Well, may I ask you something?" I said, "You had once been in love with somebody, I guess?"
Yao was astonished, his eyes widened.
"You sure you wanna hear?"
Yao lit up another cigeratte, then started his story.
"...I used to believe I was too weak and out-of date, my siblings scattered far and wide, and I would be wiped out by this brand new modern world sooner or later."
I kind of understood his feelings. When I first met him, he was stubborn like a stone, elegant for nothing, and fairly ignorant of the outside world. I gave him a tough lesson, then France and Russia and many other else. He was almost killed by his own brother Japan.
"He told me that although I had an aged body, my heart could beat like the young. It was a long-forgotten dream actually, for I used to be so isolated and self-indulged. Sense of time blurred, I could not even distinguish dynasties from each other.
"I am quite sure it was the fever of love. I was crazy for him, believing he could save me from all the humiliations and sufferings. I almost forgot my own name. My eyes saw only him."
"I should have known that you two were comrades, sharing a lot of memories that involved nobody else... " I concluded with mixed feelings. Braginsky has changed a lot nowadays, yet memories never die out.
"You think it's Ivan? No, not really," he sighed as if he could read my mind. "He was like my big brother, devoted but autocratic at the same time."
"So... What happened to the person you are talking about?"
"He was dead, dead for decades, yet everything seems vivid in my head."
"Wait, it's not a metaphor, right?"
He didn't hear me, and continued, "I ignored that he's only a common human being, not immortal at all."
There was a bitter-sweet smile on his face.
"He did save me in every sense. One of the most important lesson: be independent, rely on no one, and never lose self-confidence.
"I know he's not innocent at all. He made huge mistakes. He has blood on his hands. Fear lied deep inside of me when he was alive.
"But I don't want to merely hate him. It's like a hangover. You waked up with a headache and emptiness. I don't miss his era. I just...I just can't forget.
"That's why I finnally know how much it takes for a nation to love someone."
He finished his cigeratte, looking into me directly. I never saw him so sentimental, tears shining in his eyes.
"You can laugh at me now. In fact you guys have already laughed at me for that madness, consciously or unconsciously. "
"You idiot." I hugged the little man, pressing his head on my shoulder.
"May I say something?"
"I used to be a pirate. I sold soul for profits. Blood stained every coin. I even burnt down your magnificent Winter Palace. You were just too kind to kill me and France for revenge. We all paid price pay for our immaturity, and one should not deny his own stupid past. Better late than never."
Yao didn't say a word. He just held me tight.
"One more word," said I, "I am immortal."
He shed his tears, a relieved smile on his face. We kissed gently under the starlit night, wind howling in the trees like a lullaby.