Author's Notes: I've been wanting to do a soulmate story for a while but hadn't found just the right idea or right couple for it. I own nothing.
From the moment that Weiwei's father first saw the formal greeting written in red pen blossom on his sweet little daughter's hand he took the pen from his shirt pocket and wrote across her forearm 'Daddy says no personal stuff until after college.' After a few moments a reply returned with a 'Yes sir' written in the same childish handwriting underneath it. When her father still did not explain anything after writing on her arm, Weiwei went directly to her mother to have her read and explain what was going on with the marks; pausing briefly to scold her husband for his tierce note he wrote to the poor mystery child. Weiwei was enchanted by the idea of being able to write to the person who you were destined to be with. She begged her mother to show her how to write a reply to her soulmate's greeting. Practicing the character on a sheet of paper until she was somewhat satisfied, Weiwei took a marker to her skin and wrote a clumsy 'Hi' back.
Due to Weiwei and her soulmate's almost constant back and forth contact, Weiwei learned to read and write before she entered primary school. She got tired of having to run to her mother every time she got a new note. Her teachers praised her and her classmates tended to alienate for being a nerd. Weiwei but she really didn't care because her soulmate's words were always there to support her. With him being slightly older than her he tended to help explain parts of her school work that the teachers did not go over properly. It was obvious that he knew much more about history than what her teachers taught. As she grew boys started to pay attention to her and her female classmates started spreading nasty rumors about her because they were jealous of the attention that she got. This did hurt her and she turned to computers and videogames as an outlet from it all. She relished in the anonymity of that it didn't matter what you looked like as long as you played well. Weiwei found out that her soulmate also gamed and it gave them another thing to bond over even though they never played together they did enjoy picking each other's brains on the technical aspects of it.
When time for graduation came around Weiwei told her soulmate she planned to leave home prefix for college so she could study at one of the premier schools for her planned major of Computer Science but was still debating between going data route or engineering. She knew from multiple late night conversations that he had also been studying in the same field but that was not why she chose the field. Weiwei assured him. She liked the steady logic of computing. He fully supported her and gave her various websites going into detail on what scholarships to apply for to get a full ride. He had full confidence that she would be able to get into any college that she chose to. Ultimately she chose Tsinghua University in Beijing much to both of her parents' dismay.
College life went on just like high school with her primarily focused on her studies, her game life, and her soulmate. However unlike high school she was able to finally make friends with the three other girls she roomed with. Even though it did take them a short while for them to fully warm up to her due to her looks. But her sweet temperament showed them that Weiwei was not another pretty wrapper covering a bitchy personality. When her dorm mates learned of Weiwei's ostracism throughout her school career due to her looks and her good grades they took it upon themselves to be Weiwei's most vocal defenders on the campus forum. They were outraged on her behalf when they found out someone had the gall to enter Weiwei in the campus beauty contest and were even more livid that they didn't even submit a decent photo. They also were her biggest supporters when Weiwei turned down dates when guys were trying to use underhanded tactics to attempt to date her. In return Weiwei also became a mother hen to her roommates and helped them in anything she was able to do.
By the time sophomore year hit Weiwei had been the happiest she had ever been. The only thing that would make it complete would be her soulmate by her side. Little did she know that he was much closer than what she could have ever imagined. As time went on her personal time started to be eaten up by a new game called Chinese Ghost Story that she started to play. The design of the game made her reminiscent of the myths and stories her soulmate used to suggest for her to read when they were children. She had enjoyed the game greatly and even made some friends in a guild that she had joined. However, just like in real life some of the male players started to try and court her. When she turned them down they started to badmouth her on the game forums anonymously. Due to the attention she got from many high ranking male players, some of the so called 'pretty girl' players got jealous and also contributed to her reputation but this time claiming that she wasn't even a girl playing. It seemed that even after all this time she could not escape from catty females or petty man-childs.
The drama in game all came to a boiling point when she sat idle on a bridge in-game when one of her guildmate's wedding procession went by. People started chanting that Weiwei was trying to steal the groom because she couldn't stand that her guild mate chose to marry the winner of the server beauty contest instead of her. Weiwei was disheartened as she put on a cheerful front while she was sold potions on the bridge to combat the ridiculous gossip. She was almost tempted to quit the game altogether because of the constant reputation attacks but she really did enjoy the game; it was just the players that annoyed her. As soon as the wedding party passed Weiwei quickly closed up shop and was about to teleport away when she received a friend request from the server's top player. After accepting it Yixiao Naihe started some small talk about the wedding before he cut to the chase and asked for her hand in an in-game marriage. At first she joked and asked if he had been hacked but when he cited the PK couple competition and her being the only top ten player on the leaderboards. She was in the process of typing out a polite refusal when she felt the telltale tickle on her palm. Pausing to read her hand she saw in the oh so familiar handwriting saying 'Don't say no.'
Weiwei was in shock as she traced the characters on her mind swimming at what the words meant. She returned her hands to the keyboard and erased what she was in the process of typing and replaced it with "Are you? How?" Feeling another tingle on her hand she saw the telltale smiley face scratched right below her thumb. It was the same place that she had always had the habit of doing when she felt that she wanted that little extra luck. It was an incantation her father used to do with her prior to any major exam day or when she felt she needed that extra little bit of luck. Embarrassed, she quickly replied "You never told me you could see that."
Yixiao Naihe just replied "There was never a reason to. I didn't know what the adorable little smiles were for until recently." followed by "You have lovely dexterity in your fingers by the way."
Weiwei's eyes bulged out. A million more questions entered her head and she was at a loss at where to start. It's him, her soulmate and he somehow found her online. But isn't going for more information. How he had found her? She didn't know but it made her heart beat hard. Judging by the server name he had to be in the same city as her. Was he at the same school, did she cross paths when she was gaming at a café? This both made her excited and petrified at the same time. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves she typed "Let's go to the stone of three lives right now. Get the ceremony done with."
"I'm not going to marry my soulmate in some impromptu wedding. I don't care if it's only in-game. My intended deserves the best. Let's have it in three days at eight o'clock, It's the closest auspicious day. Meet me here." Yixiao Naihe replied and logged off.
She shook her head and logged out herself as well. She still has studying to do or at least to attempt to do. Her mind still was buzzing with the fact her soulmate had found her online and from the little tidbit that he had hinted at told her that he had come across her in person somewhere but where she had no idea. With this new outlet to get to know her other half Weiwei took it greedily. He had introduced her early on to his roommates and she was beginning to look at the three as quirky older brothers. Naihe told her that he did not tell his 'brothers' that she was his soulmate or that he had one because he wanted them to get to know the real them instead of them trying to make themselves look better. This caused Weiwei to laugh and playfully scold him that he was being too harsh on his friends. Naihe then claimed that his brothers were a bad influence on her and debated on limiting her time together with them. Playful interactions like these made Weiwei smile when real life gossipers started to badmouth her again on the campus forum. Weiwei did not tell her soulmate what was bothering her but he did know when she needed cheering up.
The weeks passed quickly and the couples PK contest was soon underway. They quickly made mincemeat out of their competition and advanced to the finals. There was just one battle left but he had yet to login. Naihe had warned her that he did have a meeting that evening and would not login until thirty minutes prior to the match but as time for the match was approaching she started to get anxious. It wasn't like him to miss an appointed time with her and not scribble a quick note on her palm telling her that he was tied up. There was nothing and Weiwei's stomach would not stop churning. She wrote across her inner pinky 'Where are you?' After ten minutes she added a second note in a more visible place across his palm. The match was seconds from starting and he hadn't logged in nor had any of the notes she wrote on her hand had yet to be replied to. She was getting worried more and more especially when she felt the crescent moon marks dig into her palm. Something was wrong, she just knew it. She started writing out pleas to know if he was okay. Words were graffitied across both sides of her non dominant hand. Begging to know where he was. It wasn't until hours later when she finally got a reply in an unfamiliar handwriting for her to come to a hospital not far from her campus and go to the reception desk and ask for a doctor she couldn't make out the name.
Weiwei wasted no time changing her clothes to something a little warmer and called a cab. It hadn't registered with her yet that she was about to see her soulmate for the first time at all. The only thing she knew was he was in trouble. The taxi ride was both too fast and too slow at the same time. She was out of her mind in worry; why did whomever tell her to go to the hospital? When the cab stopped at the hospital she quickly gave the taxi driver whatever money she could quickly pull out and exited the car in a rush. She didn't hear the taxi driver calling out to her that she had paid too much. Rushing to the reception desk she asked for a doctor showing the nurse the note that she received. Recognizing the messy doctor's scrawl, the nurse called for the doctor to come meet with Weiwei.
The doctor came and shook Weiwei's hand before he started to escort her to the patient's room. He explained that the young man was in a car accident and had yet to wake up but was otherwise okay. When Weiwei heard that, her heart plummeted to her knees. This is not how this was supposed to happen. It was going to be him coming to her graduation with a dozen roses and a smile on his face. He was not supposed to be in a coma. She was cursing herself and her father for the no personal information until college graduation rule over and over again. Weiwei was so caught up reprimanding herself she nearly walked into a door if not for the doctor next to her. "Wait here Miss Bei, let me inform the patient's parents you are here."
Through the door Weiwei could hear the doctor explaining that when he had noticed the writing appearing on the patient's hand he took the initiative for the soulmate to come. He went on how patients speedier recovery with their soulmate close by. There was mumbling before the door was opened and Weiwei's archeology professor came through the door. "Hello, I know this is rather an unorthodox meeting of the parents but… Miss Bei?!" Professor Xiao exclaimed when he finally recognized the woman waiting behind the door.
"Professor Xiao?!" Weiwei's eyes widened in shock. Her mind whirling realizing just who was behind that door.
"Oh good you know each other." The doctor butted in. "Come in, come in. It's not going to be a lot of help with you standing in the hallway."
Professor Xiao shook himself out of his stupor first and awkwardly ushered Weiwei into the room and introduced Weiwei to Professor Lin. Weiwei took Professor Lin's hand and woodenly greeted her. She was still in shock that her soulmate was the legendary master, Xiao Nai. Both of Xiao Nai's parents took the liberty to lead Weiwei to a seat next to their son's bed. They pulled up a chair and started to try to get to know the young women that their son had been conversing with ever since he entered primary school.
"Well, I guess it makes sense now why our son attended my class a few weeks back." Professor Xiao joked and got promptly smacked by his wife in the shoulder.
"Pay him no mind dear." Professor Lin "Tell me, when did you finally meet? I know your father was against you two meeting until after you guys finished college."
"I didn't know it was him until Professor Xiao came out of the door. I figured that he saw me once and found my gaming account. I had no idea if he knew who I am." Weiwei admitted. But thinking back how often she was crossing paths with Xiao Nai in the current semester it certainly made sense that he knew her identity.
As the night wore on both professors realized how late it was and they had classes that they had to teach in the morning and as much as they wished to stay until their son woke up they both knew that it would not be good if they both took off during finals time, injured son or not. Plus they figured giving some alone time with Weiwei and their son would help the girl to spend time with her soulmate. Both knew that their son would want the first person he sees when he wakes up would be her. Especially since it seems that he had been orchestrating his paths crossing with her. They requested that Weiwei stay guilting her a little when she tried to demur and that they would inform both her professors along with her dorm monitor to get her excused. They also stated that his roommates would be home in the morning so she could return to her dorms and rest then. The young woman nodded numbly and stood to walk the two professors to the door before wishing them a good night.
Before returning to her seat next Weiwei went to the sink to wash the ink off her hands and filled a basin with water along with a washcloth so she could also clean the ink off of her soulmate's hand. As she carefully lifted Xiao Nai's hand and gentilly began to wipe the ink away. As she was cleaning his hand she started to talk to him. She was trying to work out just when he figured out her identity by judging just when she started seeing him more and more on campus. She started rambling about how sneaky he was with honoring her father's decree but still being close to her. She even admitted that she had admired him academically and had actually downloaded all the programs that he had released to the public. She had been using his real identity as a role model to how she wanted to be when she graduates. As time went by Weiwei couldn't keep her eyes open and she laid her head down next to his hand before passing out.
In the early hours of the morning just before dawn Xiao Nai finally opened his eyes and saw the one thing he had been waiting to see for nearly as long as he could remember. His darling Weiwei sleeping next to him. Granted when he became aware of his surroundings he did not expect their first morning together to be in a hospital room. Recalling the first time he snuck into his parent's study and borrowed one of their grading pens to see if he was one of the lucky ones his parents told him about; a person who had another person who shared a soul together. How he took his time to get every stroke perfectly in his greeting and the quick terse reply from his beloved's father. As he grew he watched how Weiwei's clumsy characters turned into the graceful calligraphy that it was today. Now knowing their age difference he could not help but be impressed at her tenacity to learn how to read and write by the age of four.
He gently started to stroke her hair as she slept, remembering the moment he first saw her in his uncle's gaming café a few months ago. Originally his attention was caught by the dexterity of her fingers as she battled in his favorite game and then he saw her remove her hands briefly from the keyboard and scratch that adorable little smiley face into her skin just before she started another PK battle. He remembered feeling the slight pressure on his hand and glancing at the soft white smile staring back at him. He didn't let his shock get to him for too long because he needed to see what her handle was so he could track her down. His heart skipped a beat when he finally was able to see her face for the first time. She was truly divine with her ruby lips and her catlike eyes. He wanted to stop her right then and there but her father's demand all those years ago made him pause a little too long and she was already gone.
It had taken him a week to finally find her in game and the only reason he found her was because the global chat was exploding about her stealing the bride-groom. Like she would actually do that. He teleported near her coordinates and waited for her to get away from the crowd. He didn't originally plan to ask for her hand in an in-game marriage; he just wanted to play with her online and to be able to chat with her in a different format. But seeing her clever mind work he just couldn't help but ask. When she was trying to let him down gently he had to pull out his trump card and wrote on his hand 'Don't say no.' Smiling as he waited for her to figure out just who he is.
Playing in the game with Weiwei had quickly become his favorite pastime. She was quick witted and an extremely competent player. Unlike other female players his brothers had added to the group in the past. He figured out quickly the only reason why she wasn't higher on the PK boards is because she didn't have much time to play due to school. Spending so much time online with his beloved was great but he really wanted so much more he just needed to find out her offline name. His first clue came when he overheard someone talk about the latest gossip about one of the campus beauties. He happened to look over and caught the photo with the backpack he saw his soulmate had. While he was mad that someone was trying to frame his sweet soulmate he was also ecstatic knowing that she attended the same school as him.
It took two more weeks to finally get her true name and he got it when Yu Banshan spotted her in the lobby of Zhen Yi Technologies with other prospective intern candidates. Bei Weiwei, the name suited her perfectly. Now that he had her name he could hack the school's computer and get more information on her. To say that he was proud of her grades would be a gross understatement.
After memorizing her schedule, Xiao Nai engineered ways for their paths to cross accidentally. Even if it was a few moments he would be in her presence again. But just a momentary glance and playing the game with her was not enough especially after trouncing that language student who has been sniffing around her for the past few weeks in basketball. While he told his father he was going to attend his class to help with attendance. It was really he just wanted to sit by Weiwei and be in her presence for a couple of hours. It was everything I expected it to be and more. While he could only get a few words directed at him, his father called on her in class and I was able to listen to her bell-like voice as she gave a summary of the discussion of the previous class. Then watching her expressions as she watched the video they created for the couples video contest. His catalog of her emotions were growing leaps and bounds.
But after secretly escorting her back to her dorms that night he realized that he needed to focus his time between getting his thesis submitted and getting backing for the mobile game or how he thought of it, his love letter to her in place. Once those two things are done he would be able to finally reveal himself to her. After all her father did not say we had to wait until she was done with college so he wasn't breaking the rule. He was just going to take advantage of a loophole.
Everything was right on track. He had just defended his thesis and that evening right before the couples PK finals he had met with a member of Feng Teng Enterprise the meeting had gone well and he was able to have a small glance at his beloved as he was getting into his car. Life was good. Now just to win the PK contest and ask Weiwei to meet him. The next thing he knew he was in a hospital bed alone in a room with his beloved.
As he continued to caress her hair as she slept he could not help the content smile erupted on his lips. The peaceful atmosphere did not last for long when his dorm brothers entered the hospital room talking rather loudly and by the look of their faces they were about to erupt. Xiao Nai quickly lifted his index finger to his lips and gave them a warning glare not to wake up the beauty. He watched as their eyes bulged and their mouths all comically shut. He could see that they all had a plethora of questions to ask but they did not want to be on the receiving side of his anger.
As their son was glaring at his three roommates, Xiao Nai's parents came in to check to see if their son had awakened or if the sweet Miss Bei needed anything. "Oh, you are awake." Professor Lin exclaimed, causing the roommates to flinch and Weiwei to stir in her sleep.
"I'm going to go get the doctor and tell him you're awake." Qiu Yonghou rushed out of the door not wanting to be on the receiving end of whatever was going to happen next.
Xiao Nai guardedly eyed his parents, not sure how they were going to react to a girl sleeping in his room. As his mother came closer he tensed. "Son, how could you let that poor sweet girl stay asleep in that uncomfortable chair? I thought we raised you better than that." Professor Lin looked at the remaining two friends of her son in the room. "You two, how could you just stand there and let that poor girl sleep in that chair? Her back is going to be so sore when she wakes up. Go on, help her to the bed over there." she demanded using her no-nonsense tone. "Honey, help them." she glared at her husband. "Honestly." The three younger men looked at Profesor Lin in shock as her husband gently shook Weiwei's shoulder and guided a not-awake Weiwei to the cot that was stationed butted up to his son's bed before he tucked her in. Once Weiwei was settled and was back in a peaceful sleep Professor Lin, still in mom mode turned back to her son and started to scold him. "How could you be so reckless to get in an accident? Do you have any idea what you put your father and I through last night? Not to mention poor Weiwei."
Before Xiao Nai could open his mouth Yu Banshan cut in "Professor Xiao, Professor Lin it's my fault. I was driving and didn't react until it was too late. If it wasn't for Nai…" he got interrupted when Qiu Yonghou came in with the doctor.
"Ah Mr. Xiao you're awake." the doctor chirped. "I was hoping you'd wake up before I went off shift." The doctor approached the patient and did a small check up to see how the patient was fairing and removed the nasal cannula along with the I.V. After a series of questions the doctor prescribed Xiao Nai some rest and told everyone he would be back to check up on him later in the day.
"Well that's our queue. We were going to take Miss Bei back to campus with us but she needs her rest. Boys, can you bring them something to eat? We will be back after classes." Professor Xiao went to his wife. "Come on dear, we can interrogate our son later."
As the two professors left the three men turned their heads towards their third brother wanting to bombard him with questions. Xiao Nai sighed "You heard my father go get Weiwei something to eat." The three men didn't need to be told twice before quickly stepping out of the room. Once they were gone Xiao Nai turned to Weiwei and smiled. It was just him and her again he relished the peaceful atmosphere. He could easily imagine spending the rest of his life waking up next to her beautiful sleeping face. She finally woke up when he brushed some hair out of her face. "Hello." he grinned.
Weiwei's eyes widened for a moment before she let out an embarrassed little "Hi."
Xiao Nai couldn't help but smirk at the fact they just swapped the same greetings they did as children. "It's nice to finally be able to meet you, Weiwei." He caressed her cheek and bent down to kiss her forehead.