"Any plans set for tomorrow evening?"
Aether's voice meandered through the quiet atmosphere of Keqing's study. Her schedule for the day had been jam packed with meetings and discussions regarding the coming Lantern Rite. Alas, it meant that her poor boyfriend had to find whatever pocket of space he could find to sneak in a word or two with the busy lilac.
Eyes still stuck to all the documents she had sprawled on the desk, Keqing tried her best to garner an enough amount of attention within her response.
"I can't say for certain. Though it might be free at the given moment, it might easily rear its end when tomorrow comes."
"A point if there ever was one." He reluctantly admitted. Though it hadn't been that much of a surprise in his mind, "Busy is the life of the Yuheng, I guess."
Her pen scratching immediately came to a halt. Taking her time to look at the man who sat on her desk with that ponderous gaze stuck onto her ceiling. Legs bouncing about within his unvoiced thoughts.
"Alright, out with it." She leant her chin on her knuckle. Further ducking to gauge his expressions, "You look like you've been wanting to ask me something this past few days. Is there something wrong?"
The blonde opened his mouth, ready to say a few words. Before visibly hesitating, going back and forth between his indecision, finally finding the question that he had prepped for the awaiting woman.
"Tell me, what's the date tomorrow?"
She highly doubted that asking about a date was all that he had in mind, but she played along for the time being.
"It's the twentieth, if my memory serves me right."
"Of?"
"…November."
He said nothing as a follow up. Merely amplifying the inquisitiveness of his gaze, accentuated by the raise of his eyebrows.
"…What?"
She made a rampant attempt to visualizing her calendar in her mind. Desperation threatening to boil when she simply blanked out. The twentieth filled with nothing more than work and work. Nothing that would pertain said date to have had any business with the groaning man in front of her.
"Did I forget… No-, I can't recall… We don't have anything to be done tomorrow, right?"
His sigh did nothing but to boost her concern.
"No. But I'm starting to think that I should be reminding you a bit further in advance, if you still need it the next time the day rolls around."
It was rare for her to forget details. Let alone forget the significance of a date itself. Her mind kept running a mile a minute just to find something, anything that could give her a semblance of clue as to what tomorrow holds.
But before she could garner more hypothesises, Aether clearing his throat had been enough to divert her attention back to him.
Only to find that he had been looking away. A now-familiar item floating on his hand with a degree of judgement somehow radiating from its glow.
The violet glow of the electro lantern that she had given to him on his birthday.
Birthday…
Twentieth of November…
"…Oh."
"Right…" His lips curved with smugness. Materializing the lantern away from his hand, "Oh, indeed…"
Though he had expected her reactions to a bit more reserved than most, considering the lack of enthusiasm she's had towards anything personally related to her own events.
He certainly hadn't expected her to be so… Dismissive.
"Well, it is that time of the year again, isn't it?" She acknowledged nonchalantly. Stacking away the papers of document that she had been signing off on, "These days, I guess time does flies."
Watching wordlessly as she simply went back to her paperwork, a part him thought that she arrived at a different conclusion than what he had in mind.
"…That's it?"
She looked back at him again, pen paused mid-air, "What?"
"That's all you've got to say when tomorrow is your birthday?"
"It's not that much of a big deal." She reasoned, unaware of his growingly astounded expression, "I don't entirely celebrate my birthdays anyways."
Aether's voice grew with bewilderment, "Why not?"
On the other hand, Keqing's voice grew softer.
"Birthdays… reminds me of memories that I would rather forget."
The shift in her tone caused him to cease all sorts of rebuttal that he had coming within his mind. Abruptly reminded of the circumstances that might have surrounded her lack of willingness to celebrate something that most people would hold close to their heart.
Similar to how he had been avoiding his birthday due to the pain of not having the people closest to him to celebrate with; she might have avoided it entirely to prevent herself from being reminded of the people who have left her.
"Right… My bad."
"No need to apologize." She reassured him with a brief smile, "It's a thing of the past anyway. Though these days, I hardly have the time to celebrate it. Regardless of whether or not I had planned to."
However, Aether had his own reservations.
"But still, you did so much for my birthday." He complained, placing a hand above her hers to halt her writing once more, "It wouldn't sit well for me if I simply did nothing at all when it comes to your own, you know?"
She wanted to voice her arguments right away. Citing all the reasons that she had prepared to showcase how unnecessary it would be to celebrate something that has long lost its personal meaning to her very own self.
Yet, the moment she laid her eyes on those pleading amber orbs. She knew that she had no chance of refusing such a passionate ask from the man who'd normally only require words in order to convince her to succumb to his requests.
So, she sighed exasperatedly, before fully linking her hands with his awaiting ones.
"If it makes you feel any better, we can try to do something over the weekend." She began negotiating, internally reviewing her calendar once more, "I'll see if I can clear it off. Then maybe, just maybe, you'll have me all to yourself for those two days. Would that suffice?"
Aether pondered for a moment, "Why does it sound like you're negotiating a deal with me?"
"Then consider yourself lucky. Since most people would be dying to have even an hour of my time for their own use." She jokingly stated, "But I suppose you deserve a bonus, since I love you and whatnot."
Though he had little hope of his next request to actually bare any results, he still wanted to see if there was really no other way, "Can't I use my bonus to steal more time from you tomorrow instead?"
"That… might be asking for too much." She reluctantly admitted. Internally cursing at herself for forgetting about just how much this man cares, "The best I can get out of office is by five at the evening, and that's if nothing goes wrong. Normally, any delays would mean another two to three hours at work."
And with how sloppy people tend to get when its crunch time; it's almost a guarantee that something would most definitely be going wrong tomorrow.
Aether slumped forward with a groan. Touching his forehead onto their intertwined fingers.
"Oh, the woes of being in a relationship with one of Teyvat's most successful women."
"Hey, don't be like that…" She giggled apologetically. Gently caressing his golden locks in an effort to provide him with more consolation, "At least your efforts for the day hadn't been entirely in vain."
He peeked through the gaps of his overhanging fringes with one eye.
"How so?"
Keqing felt a sizable headache pre-emptively coming forth from her future self.
"You've reminded me to prepare for something that I've completely forgotten about regarding my birthday."
Gifts.
Corporate gifts, to be exact.
Though it is not something that can entirely be categorized as rare in the realms of being someone in such a high-ranking position of society, receiving various 'complementary' gifts from a variety of nobilities never fails to irk Keqing's senses. Especially the ones that couldn't even attempt to cover their blatant attempts at garnering a favour from her position.
Happiest of birthdays to the Lady Yuheng from the Mao Family. May we soon traverse a road of partnership under your leadership!
To the Yuheng of the Qixing. We extend the best of wishes from everybody at Li Xing Industries. May you find these company exclusives to be of use coming into the future!
May the Lady Yuheng find satisfaction from these gifts courtesy of the noble lord, Yanshang the Sixth. The lord wishes to express his hopes for a flourishing partnership – which a profitable avenue would be in both his and your hands.
"Ugh…"
The shamelessness.
Nothing sends disgusted shivers down her spine more than noble greed and arrogance, being displayed with no restraints whatsoever.
"Oh? Keqing, it looks like your pile of gifts never ceased its growth in size."
Keqing groaned at the older woman who stood beside her. Emphatic at the situation that she had been continuously dealing with for the past couple of years.
"Tell me about it…" She replied. Eyeing the gigantic pile of presents layered in unnecessarily expensive brocades and boxes that has begun to swallow one of her work countertops whole, "I'm not entirely sure how you managed to get away with far less than what I have to deal with, Ningguang."
Ningguang chuckled teasingly, "I would wager that I've played my cards in a far better capacity than you have."
"Liar. It's probably because people have been spotting you around the country with that funeral parlour consultant." Keqing folded her hands in. Adamant in her deductions, "Archaic as he may be – Mister Zhongli does seem like quite a distinguished individual. Maybe some of them just thought that they no longer stood a chance?"
It was a battle of wits that Keqing would frequently engage Ningguang in whenever she had a chance. Accumulating these small wins against the Tianquan might give her some leeway to recuperating the number of losses she had to endure under her endless teasing.
Little did she know, that this was a battle where she had sorely miscalculated her resources.
"Oho, bold of you to make such a statement."
Ningguang leaned in that little bit closer.
"Considering the nature of your relationship with our esteemed Traveler. Would you be ready to accept that such a hypothesis would have been applicable to your case just as well?"
Whoops.
Keqing's heart near enough froze.
There is no way in hell does this woman know anything about the two of them.
She'd been very careful about how she was supposed to set up their meetings, and out of everyone in the world that she would have wanted to find out about her and Aether's true connection, then Ningguang would have been nowhere near to the be the first on that list.
Archons, if she could ever have it her way; Ningguang would have never known at all.
In the end, all she could was to exercise damage control.
"…Acceptable hypothesis, in the wildest of minds – maybe." Keqing stammered out. Gesturing towards the piles of gifts, and the additional ones that Ganyu had heaved through the door, "Though the public would certainly disagree. Judging from the number of those who are still actively vying for my time."
Ningguang merely chuckled. A wink shot sneakily towards her.
"Ah, but you do admit that there is a possibility."
Goddammit.
"Whatever. I don't have time for this." A time and tried excuse that never fails to get her out of the cunning woman's grip, Keqing made her way out of her office, "You can wallow on your assumptions on your own there, Lady Tianquan."
The office door closed shut with a resounding thud. Leaving a chuckling Ningguang to exhale contently to herself.
"Always so fun to tease. That's your weakness, Lady Yuheng."
Not even a minute after she had been left to her own device, a knock came clunking through the silent office. A raised eyebrow from Ningguang questioning on who would have such an unfortunate timing in this time of the day.
"Come in."
The door opened slowly, while a familiar face peeked itself through the opening.
"Ah, it's you. Always with a rather impeccable timing, one way or the other."
The day couldn't have gone any weirder for Keqing.
It wasn't for the fact that everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. No, she was pretty accustomed to those kinds of days. She didn't spend all those overtime nights without paying attention to why it had all been needed in the first place.
No, the weird instances came alight when just about everything went wrong, then their solutions would just suddenly pop in out of nowhere.
Some crucial documents had left behind back within the Ministry of Civil Affairs that would've taken a while to comb through, suddenly gets delivered by a millelith right when it was required.
The firework samples that Keqing was about to review hadn't been readily supplied at the appropriate location, yet right when she was ready to shift it down onto a later schedule in her day, another one of the personnel finally got it to where it needed to be.
And lastly, the new batch of event materials that she was supposed to inspect had reportedly been hijacked by a group of treasure hoarders. The moment she was ready to go and send an investigation party to see if they can recover the goods, it suddenly arrived with minimal damage inflicted upon the transport, and it contents.
When she asked about what had happened during their journey, they simply explained that there was indeed a treasure hoarder attack. Only to have a blazing inferno pass by the scene. Followed by what could only be described as a raging whirlwind seemingly chasing after the ecstatic fireball.
They could also swear that it had been a pyro user, jeering at the chasing anemo user right behind them.
…What?
"You know what…"
She pressed the bridge of her nose. For once, she'd take this all as a sign that luck decided to be on her side for the day.
Though there had been a lingering bit of suspicion in her mind, it completely evaded her thoughts when she found a letter isolated from the mountain of gifts that had now completely consumed her work table.
From the first few words alone, she didn't need to guess who it had been from.
"Teapot study, six o'clock by any chance?
-A"
With nothing further but a smile, she immediately heads straight back at home and walked over to her dispatch. Materializing herself out of her room, and straight into where she had last left the teapot.
Which turned out to be her study all the same.
The moment her eyes adjusted to the new warmth of the light cascading upon her face, she quickly recognized the soft hold that enveloped her arms.
"So, not too busy of a day then?"
She giggled softly, leaning into his hold.
"Why do I get the feeling that you had something to do with it?"
Aether chuckled. Leaving a soft peck at the top of her head.
"Keep your eyes closed, and I'll show you why it was definitely worth it."
She knew that she didn't need to reply. Instead opting to tighten her hold on him, and let him teleport their selves to wherever he had wanted to.
Though she felt that her feet had landed back onto solid ground as quickly as it had left it, she couldn't quite put her head up just yet, due to the gentle grip he still held with her stuck to his chest.
His voice was soft, his vocal cords reverberating from the inner recesses of his chest onto her very own.
"Remember when you said you've scouted out places for us to do some stargazing?"
She nuzzled closer to his chest, "Yeah?"
Finally, he let her take a look at the skies above.
"Well, this would definitely be one for you to remember."
Taking her eyes off of the blanket of darkness it had been hiding behind, she gazed upon the initially unfamiliar skies. The crimson afterglow of the setting sun lining the horizon as the dark blue cover that is the night sky begun to accentuate the glow and shine that is the stars of Teyvat.
And in typical fashion, he does not disappoint.
Stargazing will always be one of the pass times that she would definitely consider more of a reward for herself more than most. A view that you truly could not find through any other medium within the land.
Where else would you find that sea of blinking lights under the beautiful tranquil light of the night sky?
The gorgeous trail left behind by all those stars that's meandering across space like a soft brush dancing across the gentle surface of a painter's canvas.
Her vision trailed those fallen stars onto the surface of the world, leading them back into the eyes of the man who's held his own source of light for her to feast her eyes on.
In his hands, a modestly-sized birthday cake. Certainly not modest by design, but sprinkled with just enough intricacy that does not take away from the simplicity of its core design.
He had modelled it off of her insignia. With two candles neatly placed right next to each other. The soft breeze dancing along with the two fiery artists atop the wick.
But nothing stood out more than his eyes.
The stars above reflected on its upper hemisphere while the opposite flickered brilliant with the light flame below. Glistening with a fondness that she could only match with the feeling of admiration that she has for this man.
"Happy birthday, Keqing."
A soft smile on her lips. She slowly walked forth towards him. Noticing the makeshift picnic area that he had assembled for the night; she spotted all the other snacks that he had prepared for her enjoyment tonight. The fact that she noticed also gave Aether reason to widen his grin. Joyful that his efforts have both been noticed and that she been satisfied with what he had managed to procure.
Closing the distance between them, she gave him a knowing glance.
"You planned today, didn't you?"
He chuckled nervously, "What, the cake, the setting, and all the other food?"
"No. That's all quite obvious." She corrected him, nodding towards nowhere in particular, "I'm talking about my early exit from my office hours."
Aether could only amplify the nerves of his chuckles.
Of course, she had seen through him just like that. So, he saw no reason to make excuses.
"You did say that if nothing goes wrong then you'd be out by the evening." He posted, sending her the same wink Ningguang had left her with, "But you didn't say anything about not letting me make sure that nothing goes wrong today."
Oh, this sneaky man.
"Alright, fair point." Keqing relented, placing a finger on her chin, "Though I doubt that it warranted saving the hijacked goods with a fiery whirlwind."
At that point, Aether completely paused. Confusion genuinely strewn across his face.
"…A what now?"
"A fiery whirlwind." She repeated, "The one you setup to save the transport from the Treasure Hoarders?"
He hummed for a few seconds, "Whirlwind sounds about right… But I don't recall fiery being a relevant component."
Okay, now she's curious.
"What did you do?"
"I asked Xiao to keep an eye out for centralized Treasure Hoarder activities." He stated, before realization finally brought some ideas to his mind, "Now that I think about it… Maybe Hu Tao had been tailing him."
Keqing scoffed, "And does she frequently enjoy irritating that boy adeptus?"
"Oh, she's the expert."
"Then that explains it."
Laughter came about from the depths of their bodies. Aether placing the cake back to a proper level.
"Go on now. Make a wish."
She paused after gaining control over her breath. Thinking through what she would've liked to send as a proper wish. Taking her time to come out with one that she truly means, instead of another throwaway like she had done for some of the years prior.
In the end, she really only had one wish.
A wish that she silently sent towards the sky, accompanying the billowing smoke that came from the extinguished candle lights. Keeping her eyes closed for a second longer before connecting its gaze back with his.
She took the cake from his hands, and settled it onto the picnic blanket underneath them. His expectant stare waiting with a question on his lips.
"So, what was the wish?"
Eyeing him closely, she giggled as she playfully threw her hands around his neck, "Don't you know that saying it out loud would end up counteracting it?"
"Right…"
"I'm joking." She admitted. Nuzzling his nose affectionately, "I'm not that superstitious."
He rested his hands on her waist, "Then…?"
A heartbeat passed between them, and an initially look of timidness flashed through her features, before she finally gathered the oomph to say it.
"I wished for no more birthdays…"
Her soft and gentle finger caressed his cheek with all the love that she could muster into that one small motion.
"…Without you being there – by my side."
He couldn't reply with anything but a fond smile of his own.
"Because a birthday without you…"
With a short, yet sweet peck on his cheek, she pulled him back into a deep embrace. One that he had no issue of immediately melting into.
All while her words floated harmoniously into his ears.
"Would be such a regretful, and lonely moment."
And never again would he ever leave her to feel that way. There was nothing about the past that he could change. But the future is there for him to mould with her right there by his side. Whatever the world might throw a him, he will go through the heavens and hell to make sure that she would never be lonely.
So, he tightens his hold on her. Burying his face in the crook of her neck.
"I'll be right here. Whenever you need me."
She felt her nod through the motion by his side. Confident that she has accepted his assurance.
"Happy birthday, Keqing."
With her hand in his hair, she brought their heads closer together.
"Thank you, Aether."
