"Mulan."
The young warrioress looked up in haste, broken from her intimate moment with Shang.
"Yes, Mother?"
"Perhaps you could make a start on the tea?" She replied. It were Shang's presence and her mother's encouraging smile showing the hope she had for Mulan to still make a good wife which made her comply immediately.
"Oh, yes! Of course. Um." Flustered, she pushed her hair from her face and looked frantically around for a place to leave her father's helmet, trying to avoid eye contact with Shang to save embarrassment. Finding none, she thrust her arms out for her father to take it. He put a hand up to stop her.
"I think it is clear enough that Mulan is not a tea making wife." Smiling warmly, he walked over to the archway where Mulan's mother and grandmother waited. "I will be pouring the tea today."
Mulan beamed and watched her family walk back to the house.
"We'll give you lovebirds some privacy!" Her grandmother called over her shoulder. The eyes of the couple locked and they laughed shyly.
A cool breeze momentarily disturbed the warm air around them, yet vanished as quickly as it came. All was still aside from the white puffs of cloud that lumbered lazily across the blue washed canvas and a starling which had perched in one of the branches of the cherry blossom tree overhead, its white speckled feathers gleaming. One of the delicate pink petals escaped the grasp of the tree's limbs. It descended noiselessly and landed gracefully within the dark curtain that framed Mulan's face. Hesitant at first, Shang move his hand towards her head, aiming for the silent intruder. As he came close to brushing his fingers against her hair, Mulan's arm made a sudden reflex motion that swatted Shang away. Her alarm caused him more pain than surprise and he shook his hand to ease the agony.
"Sorry!" Mulan cried, hiding both her arms quickly behind her back. She held her breath and sealed her lips, waiting for Shang to recover.
"Ouch," he said at last, and she was relieved he let out a laugh. She dared to think that he even sounded impressed.
"Sorry," she repeated again as a murmur. "Reflex," she stated, as if that was enough of an explanation for injuring her captain.
"Already forgiven," Shang replied, flexing his fingers. "It were reflexes like that which saved us all." He blushed as soon as the words left his mouth.
"May I?" Mulan asked, holding at a hand carefully to attend to his.
"It's fine. Really," Shang stammered. Despite his refusal, Mulan took hold of his wrist anyway. She examined it closely and then nodded, her smile confident. "I think you're going to be just fine."
He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck with his other hand. "Thank you for tending to that."
"Would you like to sit with me?" Mulan asked, indicating her head towards the bench beside them. He responded with a nod.
As they sat, Shang let out a sigh; his head hung low. Mulan tucked her hair behind her ear, worry creasing her forehead. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"I never apologised for how I treated you. I was blind," he murmured. "A fool."
Mulan became thoughtful for a moment to gather the right words she needed to respond.
Her delay made Shang continue. "What you did was wrong, but it was also right. Maybe if I had listened to you in the first place -"
"Then we would have still won," Mulan finished. "Your decision made things… difficult, but everything was okay in the end," she said with a smile.
"It could have ended so wrong."
"And you could try be a bit more cheerful," she joked, nudging him playfully. A flicker of a smile crossed his face. Mulan shuffled closer to him. "A captain has to make decisions. You did what you thought was right – what anyone would think that was right."
"Forgive me," Shang asked, angling his body towards hers.
"Done. Roll on the next war."
Relaxing the tension in his muscles, Shang's mouth widened into a grin. "Mulan, you are unlike any woman I've ever met."
"That's a bad thing, right?"
He chuckled and rubbed his favourite spot behind his neck. "Those women never interested me."
"At least they can pour tea," Mulan muttered.
Slowly, and with more caution this time, Shang rested his palm along Mulan's jaw, curling his fingers into her hair. "I've never liked tea."
His words surprised her and, whilst blushing, she opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, speechless.
"Is this… too much?" Shang asked, releasing his physical contact with her.
"No!" Mulan exclaimed, clutching onto his large his large hand. Her outburst caused his eyebrows to shoot up in shock.
"Oh," said Shang, his fingertips lingering on her collarbone.
"I'm just not very good at…" Mulan wavered, gesturing at themselves with her other arm, "this."
"Me neither," Shang confessed in a voice too timid to belong to Captain Li Shang whom she was familiar with.
"Well I can believe your confession if every girl has been scaring you off with her tea." She giggled and, like earlier, her stare was held by Shang's. Alone in that moment, they fell silent. Shang inclined his head slightly towards hers. He gulped and the base of his throat contracted nervously.
"Mulan, may I…?"
"May you…?" She questioned back to him softly.
"May I… May I see you again?"
Sensing that he had initially intended to request something else, she asked him whether he was leaving already.
"No! No, I meant after today. If that's okay?" he added on hastily at the end.
"That would be great." Her words were genuine.
"Captain Li Shang, Mulan."
At the sound of Fa Zhou's voice, Shang dropped his hand from Mulan's face and rose immediately to his feet.
"Sir," he said, unable to hide the embarrassment from his expression.
"Would you like to join us for tea?"
"Yes, certainly, sir."
As he began to walk over to Fa Zhou, the elder man looked over at his daughter, who seemed to be holding back laughter.
"What is so amusing, Mulan?"
"Well you see, Father," Mulan said as she rose from her seat, "Shang doesn't like tea."
"Mulan!" Shang whispered, the crimson returning to his cheeks.
The seconds stretched painfully until Fa Zhou let out a laugh. "Being truthful, I have never liked tea either. But please, don't tell your mother." He finished his sentence with a wink. "Now come."
As he turned away to walk, Mulan tucked her arm into Shang's. He walked to the house of Fa with pride on his face.