Chapter VI: Do you remember when..?
(The present)
"Mei?" Mei looked up from reading the doujinshi she bought off of ebay. It's been two weeks since Leon and Yao met Kiku here at the restaurant. Ever since that day, Leon had something on his mind. Leon knew Yao and Mei since he was a child, but hearing they had a brother, is news to him.
Also, the fact that he's an archaeologist, is amazing too.
"Yes, what is it?" Mei mumbled. Leon leaned over the table to get a peek at the doujinshi she was reading. "I didn't know Yao and you have a brother back in China? Why is he in China, and not here with you? Is he a big named archaeologist or something? Like, what's his name? Oh, what about this Chinese emperor, you are related too?" Leon asked curiously.
Mei rolled her eyes and put her doujinshi down, obviously she wouldn't be able to finish it now. "Our brother's name is Min, he is the middle sibling. When our mother wanted to move to America for a better opportunity for us, father was against it. They were divorced and asked us each to decide who we wanted to live with. I chose Mama, so we could open her dream restaurant here in the city. Min chose baba, so he wouldn't feel alone. Yao wanted to see another country, so he came with Mama and I. Our father was a big named archaeologist, and Min was his apprentice originally. They worked for years to find the legendary spot of where our ancestor was buried. Emperor Wang Tao was nicknamed as 'yǒnghéng de yīnghuā', which means 'Eternal Cherry Blossom'. His legendary beauty has enchanted many and made men and women to compete to win his heart."
"Eternal Cherry Blossom?" Leon blinked. Mei sighed, "Well, he won the hearts of a Japanese emperor, his younger half brother, and a exiled son of a czar of Russia. That he eloped with the Russian, on the day of his wedding to the Prince Wang Xiang. His death occurred on a ship heading to America, but the Russian couldn't go through with disposing the body by himself. He brought the Emperor's body back to China, seeing a very pissed off prince. Xiang had the Russian executed for kidnapping and murdering the emperor. Afterwards, he arranged to build a underground palace to bury the emperor and himself. Xiang committed suicide inside the sealed tomb, but left their servants to be silenced afterwards. Their other brother, became emperor and erased any traces of their history from any official records, making Wang Tao and Wang Xiang a legend. Now, Min has finally discovered the tomb that was believed to be a underground palace, dedicated to Xiang's eternal love for Tao. Sounds interesting, especially since Wang Xiang was obsessed over 'the red string of fate' theory. It's the best part of the legend."
"The red string of fate?" Mei rolled her eyes again. "Seriously, you don't know the theory? Legend has it, your left hand's ring finger has an imaginary red string that connects you to your soulmate's left hand's ring finger."
"I already know the theory! I meant, like, why was he obsessed over it?" Leon snapped.
"Because...he heard the tale a million times by Tao...he fell in love with the theory and the one who told him it. He believed that Tao was his soulmate, and his eternity. So romantic!" She said picking up the doujinshi again.
"Yes. Very romantic!" Leon smirked.
"Kiku, I...I..must apologize. That was very inappropriate of me...I mean, let's forget it ever happened..okay?" Kiku didn't hear a word, he was too busy kissing Yao's neck again. Yao woke up this morning with a foggy memory, with a splitting migraine, and let's not forget to mention being in an unknown motel room naked in bed with Kiku. Yao remembered him being the one to initiated the flirting, but how they end up here, he had no clue.
"No need to apologize. I simply enjoyed every minute of our time together." Kiku whispered in Yao's ear.
"We are both married and have children. This wasn't right.." Kiku kissed Yao's lips to shut him up. "I would rather be with you instead." Kiku smiled.
"Lao shi, are you coming over tonight to help me study?" Leon asked on his phone. Arthur was reading the paper while Alfred made popcorn in the kitchen. It's August and in two weeks, is back to school or work for Arthur and Yao. "Okay, cool, I made dinner. Like, if you're hungry and all. See you soon." Leon smiled for split second before hanging up.
Peter ran down the stairs smirking, "Was that 'hubby'?" Leon rolled his eyes. Alfred snickered and answered for Leon, "Yes."
"Stay out of it!" Leon glared. "Dude, seriously. You may have a shot, since he was slutty in high school. He had a thing for Asians, but went out with Ivan after prom." Alfred said handing Peter a bowl of popcorn he freshly popped for him.
"Yeah, he looks slutty sometimes too!" Peter said with a mouth full of popcorn. "Shut up!" Leon glared at him.
"Honestly, Yao turned Ivan into a straight A student, and from bully to popular in one school year. Ivan was hopelessly in love with Yao, well before the whole school rumor went around." Arthur said sipping his tea.
"School rumor? Remind me." Alfred said confused. Leon looked at both men, hoping it wasn't a bad rumor for Yao.
"Remember my graduation?" Alfred nodded. "Well, Ivan overheard many different rumors about Yao being deceitful during their relationship after prom. One rumor was, 'Yao Wang had a threesome with the Korean twins from third period'. Another was, 'Yao Wang was seducing the history teacher for good marks'. Let me think.."
"The twelve grade history teacher? Mr. Beilschmidt?" Alfred asked confused. Arthur shook his head, "No, No, This guy was temporarily a substitute for a couple of months. He was Italian...Mr. Vargas, I think?" Leon's face is getting more in shock after hearing his beloved Yao was sleeping with a teacher.
"Well the last rumor was about a student on the student council with us and Ivan. In fact, Ivan threatened him afterwards. 'Kiku Honda is in love with Yao Wang and stalks him' was it, I think?" Arthur said casually, leaving Alfred laughing hysterically. Leon blew a fuse, "Kiku Honda, did WHAT?!"
"Calm down, Leon. These are just rumors, from over twenty-two years ago! I bet none of them are true." Alfred shook his head, "No way, man! I bet the one about Kiku Honda is true!"
"How so?" Arthur asked puzzled. "Because, that dude was hopelessly in love with him. He constantly was staring at Yao for months in our student council homeroom. In fact, that Vietnamese girl, in my first period Geography class told me, 'Kiku says he has a crush on that senior, Yao Wang.' She told me because I invited Kiku over my house to play video games once after school, and she lived next door to me. She was like, 'Why was Kiku over your house?' and I had to explain to her, 'Well he likes video games. Why do you care?' and.."
Arthur couldn't take this conversation anymore, "That's enough! We get it!"
"Did Ivan beat Kiku up?" Leon asked. Alfred and Arthur stopped to think, "Honestly, I'm not quite sure really."
"Yeah, dude, i'm not sure either. I wouldn't doubt it though. I mean, Yao was Ivan's world, and he needed to protect his world from any danger."
"So, what happened to Yao's and Ivan's relationship?"
"Like, I said, he heard all these rumors and he got so upset, that he didn't show up to his boyfriend's high school graduation. Yao was upset so he broke it up with Ivan the day after our graduation." Arthur explained.
"Well, that's that." Yao said after checking Leon's homework. Leon couldn't lose to Kiku, since he heard the rumors from Yao's past.
"You should spend the night, Lao shi!" It came out like a squeal.
Yao's eyes widen, "Um, sure. Where can I sleep?" Yao asked. He wasn't going to lose Yao again.
"Upstairs with me."
~~FIN~~
To Be Continued...
Author's Note: A short chapter unfortunately, I had a long busy day. Next chapter, would most likely be a Spamano. Okay, so, yǒnghéng de yīnghuā, is Chinese for Eternal Cherry Blossom.
-HetalianPrincess92
