Author's Note: Well this is the final chapter. (And it is my longest one at that! Honestly I thought it would be a lot shorter, but i just found myself wanting to say more and more and not knowing how to end it.) And I must say, it really makes me VERY SAD. Just to let you know, it is a banter between Mulan and Shang and from their own points of view of this day. But I want to thank every single one of my readers. I am breaking ALL TYPES OF MY PERSONAL RECORDS! I finally reached over 100 reviews in one story alone! WOOH! I check traffic and I have over a thousand readers JUST in the month of September alone! I can imagine what it is like NOW! It's amazing! People from all over the world are reading my stories! I really appreciate it you guys! Thanks for being there for me! I loved writing for all of my readers! You guys are the best! Please review (even if you don't have an account you can comment) so I know what you guys think of my story! I really like reading all of your comments. And even though this is the end of this story, I have good news for all of my readers!

I have three stories in tow! As you know, Reasons to Hate You is the first story of course, From a General's Perspective (which is my favorite so far) and but soon after this story I have started to write a brand new story! And after that story, I'm afraid it may be my last (DEPENDING ON COLLEGE) Yes that's right. I am part of the undecided and I feel that I should be making my decision SOON. This other new story is called Don't Forget. Once you read it, you'll understand why it is called that. I hope you readers follow me to the next stories. After Don't Forget though, I think I am going to do a series of one-shots (that I am also really excited for! And hope you guys enjoy it just as much as I do!) that will be based on songs. (haha just keep me on Author Alert) But I promise I won't be stop writing, I will keep writing. Because I know my devoted fans won't stop me from writing! :)

I LOVE YOU GUYS! Thanks for your patience in reading this story and waiting for me to update!

"Ouch!" Mulan winced as they pulled her dress tighter. "It doesn't have to beat this tight to where I'm going to faint the moment I step onto the aisle." She pulled the bow a bit to loosen up the dress when her mother was not looking. As the women squeezed the dress tighter, she recalled her days of the Matchmaker and thanked the ancestors and the gods she would never have to go through that ordeal ever again.

"Mulan," her mother reprimanded her. "Shang is going to be in awe when he sees you. So you must put on the best face, even if it means squishing your stomach to make you skinnier." Mulan looked at her stomach and pouted. Did it look like she was pregnant? Was she gaining weight?

"The Matchmaker said I was too skinny to bear sons," Mulan muttered low enough to where her mother would not hear.

Her mother immediately turned around in shock. "What did you say?" She was holding the paint in her hands, which to Mulan were deadly weapons. And she knew that you never anger a person holding a weapon.

"Nothing mother," Mulan sighed. "I just know that Shang would not want me to look or be something I'm not. I know he'll love me either way."

But she could no longer argue the moment her mother started painting her face.

…

Snickering. From the door, Shang heard snickering. He immediately turned to angrily glare at his younger and older brother who stood at the door scrutinizing his appearance. Shang rolled his eyes and then turned back to the mirror to look at his appearance and fix his clothes once last time.

"So you're going to ignore us?" His older brother Cheng asked. He then laughed and walked out of the room. Shang, who never liked his older brother, rolled his eyes. Honestly, he could not have been more relieved. His younger brother, on the other hand, moved up closer to the mirror.

Mao smiled and looked at his older brother, whom he always looked at in high esteem. Mao smiled as he noticed that his older brother's breaths soon became shorter and quicker. "Are you nervous?"

Shang smiled and looked at his younger brother through the mirror. "No, what makes you think that?" he laughed.

Mao laughed, "The fact that you breaths are getting shorter, you're tightening all your clothes, your face is getting close to red with a slight blush, your feet move uncontrollably, and when you try to not lie, you look away. Don't you think I know you better than that Shang?"

Shang laughed.

"Besides, I heard Mulan was pregnant."

Shang froze. Mulan had told him what the Huns had said to her. She told him she was not sure if it was true or not. Mulan certainly did not look pregnant and she was not showing any symptoms. But even if Mulan was pregnant, it would just add more joy to their marriage. Shang cleared his throat to avoid showing his worry. "What makes you think that baby brother?" Shang nervously chuckled.

Mao laughed. "I just thought that you two might have already done it, and not just once, but several times. After all, you two are alone quite a lot. I've seen the way you look at her every time you come into the room. I see how you're only happy when you're with her." He patted Shang on the back. "I can't believe I'm saying this, because it should be the other way around and I'm the one who needs it more, but I wish you the best, brother." He smiled, "Even though you should be wishing me luck." Mao laughed as he walked out of the room.

And soon not after, the Gang of three walked in and stood at the door. They looked at Shang and held their little handkerchiefs like women, tearing up when they saw him.

Shang laughed. "I thought I taught you guys to be men."

They smiled and laughed. Ling said to Shang, "It's your wedding. As soon as Mulan walks down the aisle, I'll be the first to bet you will be crying."

…

The carriage stopped right outside the Fa house, which Mulan spotted from her bedroom window. "Ah look!" she said excitedly, "the carriage is here! Now I can't have Shang waiting and it is very impolite to be rude and…" she immediately got up to avoid the rest of the make-up, but her mother and the other women pulled her down into the chair. Mulan sighed and looked at the carriage for a fleeting moment, before her mother roughly turned her head to face her, smudging some of the white paint.

"Ai-ya!" her mother sighed in frustration, "Look what you've made me do! Now guessing on the fact that you got up quickly to rush to the carriage because you are in rush, I just want to let you know that you are not going to the carriage anytime soon." Mulan slumped in her chair. Even though the paint was placed to prevent the woman from showing little emotion, it was evident that Mulan was not happy. "Now just sit still," her mother said to her, "so we don't have to do this again."

…

"Where is she father?" Shang asked as he paced to and fro by the temple steps, waiting for his bride. The guests were just arriving, each picking a chair near someone they knew and avoiding people they did not like. Shang chuckled a bit in his head when he saw this. Only Mulan and he could bring two different worlds together into one. Shang sighed again as he thought about his bride. "What could be taking her so long? She was supposed to arrive a long time ago." He sighed and placed his hand on his forehead. It was very warm. Warmer than usual. Shang concluded that it was all the wedding fever in the air.

Shang's father and Mulan's father shared a look and then chuckled. Shang stopped walking and glared at them. He then sighed and continued to walk anxiously for a while, before sitting down and tapping his foot impatiently. Shang looked out into the road looking for a sign of his bride or her carriage. Shang's father placed a reassuring hand upon his son's shoulder. "Don't worry son. She'll come very soon. After all, a woman takes a very long time to get ready." Shang's father and Mulan's chuckled, as if they were sharing on this inside joke.

Shang scoffed. "Not Mulan. She rarely takes anytime to get ready." He leaned back against the temple walls and smiled as he thought to himself, Not that it matters anyway how she looks.

Shang's father saw the smitten look in his son's eyes and chuckled. "Oh it's certain," he said, interrupting Shang's thoughts. He immediately looked up at his father with a questioning look. He laughed. "Shang, you're madly and drowning in love. I've never seen you act like this before." Shang smiled and his father assured him, "She will come soon. Because I bet you feel that she can't wait to marry you either, and is probably rushing at this very moment to get here."

…

Mulan sighed. "Are we finished now?"

The ladies and her mother shared a look. They turned the mirror to Mulan, who gazed upon her reflection. Mulan bit her lip to hold back several emotions: fear, happiness, excitement, slight disgust, but overall, love. She felt it beaming past the make-up and twinkling in her eyes. Mulan hated the make-up on her face, but if it was necessary to get married, then she just let it be. She gazed more intently on the reflection in front of her. Her pale face, her shadowy eyes, her red lips, her slight blush on her cheeks, her pinned up perfect hair: all the things a bride wears, and with another red veil to guard her face, as if it wasn't already hidden past the excess make-up. She wondered why this was so much trouble sometimes and wished that marriage would someday be more than the dowry and the unification of two countries or families, and would one day lean more towards love and friendship. A girl could dream, couldn't she? Well Mulan pinched herself wondering if she was in one. She smiled back at the reflection in front of her, trying not to cry. She finally saw past her make-up and at the girl inside her, not her reflection. And she finally saw someone who brought her family honor, someone who brought China honor, someone who made her happy, someone she had been hiding inside for so long, someone worth while.

Her mother looked at her daughter and saw the many emotions in her daughter's eyes. To lighten up the mood, she said to her, "Now don't go crying on me darling! We just spent a long time on your make-up! I know you don't want to take anymore time from getting to your ceremony!"

Mulan laughed and hugged her mother tightly. The other women backed up out of the room to give the two women a heartfelt mother-daughter moment. "Thank you so much mama," Mulan whispered in her mother's ears, "I will certainly miss you, and all the crazy things you made me do to be what I am today."

Her mother stroked her back, "Mulan, do not ever think that you ever disgraced me in anyway. I love you for who you are always."

Mulan giggled, "Even though I didn't pass the Matchmaker's test and managed to set her on fire, turned out more like a son than a daughter, and went to the army almost disgracing our family name, would still love me?"

Her mother smirked and replied, "I would have never wanted you to turn out any differently."

…

Shang sighed and bit his lip from screaming out in frustration. He was about to ask his father where his bride was again, but was stopped by his father, and father-in-law's laughter. He glared at them and then turned around to find Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po by his side. He opened his mouth to talk, but was quickly stopped by Ling.

"Look Shang," Ling answered him, "we don't know where your bride is."

There was even more laughter heard from the two fathers behind him. Shang sighed. "I just want to get this ceremony started already. I want to be married to her already. I want her to be mine."

This time all of the men standing there laughed and assured him, "She's already yours Shang! There can't be any other man she would want." And as those words sunk into his head, one name kept tugging at his heart and bothering him.

…

And as Mulan got into her carriage, she sighed and tried to forget the words her mother had told her earlier about her wedding night. The words, "unsuspecting pain", "pleasure", "a man's happiness", and "a night to remember" were things Mulan did not want to remember, but were ringing in her head like a loud gong. She did not need her mother's advice. She already had her first night with Shang and it certainly was a night to remember and all the things that she had described to her. But to have someone else tell her what love felt like, especially her own mother, well it was awkward and uncomfortable. Everyone fell in love in their own different way, but it was not something Mulan had to learn. She already found it.

She waved goodbye to her mother even though she knew she would be seeing her in just a few minutes, but waving good bye was a symbol that she no longer belonged to her but now to her new husband, and that she no longer lived at home. In this way, she said good bye to her old life. And as she peacefully sat in the carriage and relaxed, she reminisced on her old life, but looked towards her new one with each moving moment and smiled.

…

From the windows of her carriage, Mulan looked upon the crowd and suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She placed the veil in front of her face again. There were men there at the carriage offering their hands, but Mulan politely declined and stepped down from the carriage by herself. She stumbled a bit as she walked, mostly because she was nervous and also because she was still not used to wearing these shoes. She sighed and stopped to pause at the end of the walkway to the temple. Mulan smiled at the people in the crowd, which consisted of Xiaohua, and Su, who were happily grinning at her, and her mother and her father. She also saw Shang's family, Yao, Chien-Po, and Ling, but her eyes led up to the person waiting at the end of the walkway to the temple. Their eyes met and their gaze never left each other. She smiled as she looked at Shang, who now smiled back at her with a look that surely made her weak to the knees. Yet as she walked and felt a million faces on her, she found the courage to keep on going.

The look in Shang's eyes was something she'd never forget for as long as she lived. She learned something. If there was truly love in a marriage, the one person to look at was the groom. As everyone watched the bride walk down to the temple, Mulan realized that all the love could be summed up in the look the groom wore upon his face.

…

Shang looked out blankly upon the crowd, completely terrified. Now he was lonely, even with hundreds of people there beside him, to guide him on this path to marriage, people whom he had known for so long, and people whom he had just met yet felt as if he had known them for so long. Now he was nervous, but it didn't stop him from wanting to marry Mulan, because god knows how long he had been waiting for her to come along. And as her carriage pulled up and she gracefully stepped out of the carriage, without the help of the people there to lend a hand, Shang smiled. He sighed and smiled as he watched Mulan walk over to him. She was a beautiful goddess, covered in red, with her face painted like a porcelain doll. And during this whole while, he could not keep his eyes off of her.

From behind the veil, as Mulan stood in front of him, she giggled softly and asked Shang, completely interrupting his reverie, "Shang, are you ready?"

…

As the ceremony ended, Shang and Mulan walked out of the temple and towards the house. There they greeted some of the guests, while others left in a rush to the banquet. The parents then took the guests away to leave Shang and Mulan alone for the first time. Shang, who already had Mulan in his arms, turned to her. They both smiled at each other.

Shang sighed. "Mulan you have no idea how much I want to just take off that veil and kiss you passionately in front of everyone here."

Mulan laughed. "There is nothing stopping you from doing it." She smiled and pulled him in closer by the collar. He moved the veil and just before their lips met, Mulan's friends pulled her away.

Shang looked at them in anger and shock. "What?"

Her friends laughed and kidnapped Mulan much to her dismay. Su smiled and told Shang, "If you want to see your bride again, then you know what to do."

Shang sighed and left to go get his horse. As tradition, the groom had to travel to the bride's house to try and regain her back with gifts.

…

Mulan laughed as she entered the carriage to her house. "You guys are crazy. But could you guys have, I don't know, maybe waited until after I got my kiss from Shang?" She pouted at all her friends. Her friends from her childhood and Su and Xiaohua were all there in the carriage bringing her back to her house as tradition.

They all laughed. Su replied, "You know Mulan, since Shang didn't get his kiss, I have a feeling he will be paying a higher price for you now. He must really want his kiss now." Everyone, including Mulan, laughed.

"Though I have a feeling," Xiaohua continued, "that's not all that Shang wants now."

The other girls giggled teasingly and Mulan smirked.

…

Shang chuckled to himself as he knocked on Mulan's door. From inside, he could hear all the screaming and running around to hide Mulan in the best possible way. He swore he even heard Xiaohua ask loudly why he had come so early.

One of Mulan's childhood friends opened the door and greeted Shang. He bowed to her and walked into the house. All the bridesmaids stared at Shang and laughed. He sighed. "Where in the world have you put my wife?"

They all shrugged. "You have to find her first," they teased him.

Shang smirked and walked right outside to the garden and immediately found his bride. She was sitting underneath the cherry blossom tree, and admiring the beautiful magnolia tree. He grinned and walked right to her. Mulan laughed when she saw him walking to her. "That didn't take you very long Shang."

"I'm guessing they asked you to hide yourself, because this is the most obvious place to hide." Shang laughed.

Su and Xiaohua and Mulan's other childhood friends immediately ran in front of Mulan before Shang could get to her. Su argued, "Just because you found her, does not mean we'll be giving her away that easily." The girls stood defiantly in front of Mulan.

Shang laughed. "Girls you know that I could easily just push you aside and get to Mulan, right?"

Su laughed. "Yes, but we also know that Mulan could easily push us aside and get to you if she wanted. Are we correct?"

Shang grinned and nodded.

"Well then," Su continued, "this goes to show that she does not want to go to you."

Shang shrugged. "Fine," he answered, "Looks like I'm leaving without a bride then." He walked away to see if Mulan would follow. But she did not follow. He walked back and the girls giggled and taunted him. Shang sighed. "I came back because I realized just how much I missed you and need you."

The girls sighed dreamily and smiled at Shang. Mulan scoffed. "You girls fell for that? Some bridesmaids you girls are! You'd give me away at one line like that! Quite frankly, I'm ashamed."

Shang laughed. "Mulan you'd know I'd do anything just to have one kiss from you." He smiled at each of the bridesmaids, "even if it meant kissing your friends."

One of Mulan's friends immediately stepped forward and smiled, "Okay, I'm up for it!" Mulan glared at her and pulled her back into line, silently warning her to stay away from Shang.

Shang saw this and laughed. He reached into his bag and took out six bags of coins for each of the bridesmaids and a special bracelet for Mulan. He then bowed and said to Mulan, "Anything of mine belongs to you and is of your disposal, including my heart." The bridesmaids giggled dreamily and allowed Mulan to go to him. She took him in with open arms and he picked her up. "Mulan," he said to her, while he looked her in the eyes, "I believe I am going to live with you at your house. You won't ever have to say goodbye to your family. My brother has taken my father's house, so I believe the most sensible idea is to live with your family."

Mulan smiled. "Are you sure you want to live with my snooping grandmother and my crazy parents?"

Shang nodded. "Just as long as I'm with you, I think I'll be fine. Besides, I absolutely love your parents. Your grandmother makes me laugh all the time. Your little dog is the most adorable thing…"

Mulan put a finger to his mouth, quickly silencing him. They both laughed. "Sometimes Shang," she said leaning in closer to him, "you talk way too much." She leaned in for a kiss, but was quickly interrupted by her mother.

"MULAN!" her mother called. The couple then broke apart and stared at her mother. Shang fake-smiled, silently wishing he hadn't been interrupted by her mother, while Mulan silently cursed her mother for her disruption of a perfect moment.

Shang sighed and looked up to the gods, as if he was pleading. "Can I just get my kiss already?"

Mulan looked at him and laughed. "You will soon. I promise."

They walked hand-in-hand to the house to leave for the banquet.

…

As soon as the couple arrived at the banquet, they were greeted by several people, who threw flowers as the couple came in. Mulan held Shang's hand and laughed as they walked in to several piles of flowers. Shang turned and smiled as he looked as his wife, whom he believed without a doubt, looked absolutely beautiful in her dress and several flowers in her hair just like a goddess. Mulan caught Shang staring at her and smiled. She squeezed his hand and gave him a look, which only he completely understood, and only knew what she was saying. Shang couldn't describe the look, he couldn't describe how it felt, and he couldn't say anything about it, but he would remember it and cherish it. It was then that he realized that this is how love is.

Together they greeted all their guests, and Mulan and Shang met people from both sides of their family, whom they had never met before. Mulan and Shang saw the similarities in each of the family members in comparison to the descendent.

As Mulan and Shang finally sat down at the table, they were served dinner. Though they did not want to be cliché, Mulan found herself feeding Shang some of her food and Shang often fed Mulan some of his food. They had different dishes and they both wanted to try the other, so they thought why not share? However, people from sitting at another table might have had a different idea of the event occurring in front of them.

"Shang," Mulan said as she wiped her mouth with her napkin and stood up, "I'll be right back. I need a bit of fresh air."

Shang nodded and continued to eat and talk to the people who came to his table. Mulan smiled and walked out into the gardens of the place. She saw a couple of beautiful flower bushes, and her favorite flowers all gathered by the pond. But it was not until she came to a small area with several cherry blossom trees, that she decided to stop and breathe it all in.

"Well what are you doing alone?" A voice asked. "I thought you had just gotten married. I didn't think you would be alone on your wedding!"

Mulan immediately turned around and found herself looking at Shan. She sighed and tried to keep herself composed. "Well I could ask you about the same, what are you doing here at my wedding? I didn't think you were invited."

Shan smirked. "I wasn't. And honestly I was quite hurt by that."

Mulan rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Why would I invite you? We were only acquaintances and comrades. We were nothing more."

"And what if Shang had said that to you also?" Shan laughed, but Mulan glared at him.

"What do you want Shan?" she angrily asked.

He sighed. "I just came by to say congratulations and give you my present." He smiled and gave her a gift. "Please don't open it here. Or at least wait until I leave before you open it. I never liked it when people opened gifts in front of me. It made me embarrassed at times."

Mulan smiled. "You're not the only one. I get that way too. I'll honor your request." She tucked the gift in her dress.

Shan sighed. "You smiled. That's honestly the first time I've seen that in a while. But I'll take it."

Mulan patted his shoulder and turned to leave. But Shan put out his hand to stop her. "Wait, Mulan. I have just a big question that has been on my mind this whole time. Why not me? Why did you pick Shang over me? Is there something about him that I can't do? I may not be a big huge General, but I can be a good soldier. I'd honestly do anything for you, I hope you know that."

Mulan sighed and looked away, thinking about how to respond to it.

"Will you at least answer me Mulan? Because I lost for the first time, my true love, and I have to know if you at least care a bit about me," Shan pleaded her to answer.

"Shan," she sighed. "I love Shang. You cannot seriously ask me to forget two years and so many memories that went on between Shang and I. I cannot even fathom how wonderful my life will be with Shang. And you, I've only known you for just a few weeks. But I can honestly say that if I had known both you and Shang at the same time, my decision would have been even harder. I barely got to know you Shan. I'm sure you're a wonderful guy though, and any girl would be lucky to have you."

"Except the girl I want," Shan replied bitterly.

Mulan gave a sympathetic look and shrugged. "I'm sorry. I barely know you Shan. But I can assure you that I will be a good friend."

Shan sighed. "But isn't that what marriage is like though? To get to know someone better?"

"For you, yes that may be the case. But I don't think marriage is like that at all. I think it's deeper than that. Marriage is finally uniting the strong love or bond between a man and a woman. Sure you'll get to know someone even better, but it's not only about that. It's also about knowing someone so well. In marriage you need trust, passion, cooperation, balance and more importantly, love. Those are all the things I feel that Shang and I share, and also agree upon."

Shan sighed. "Well if I were Shang, I'd agree with every word you'd say just to have you as mine."

Mulan smiled and shook her head. "But that's the thing. I know Shang. He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't just agree with me just to be mine, because I love him for more than beliefs, and he knows that. I didn't fall in love with one part of Shang. I fell in love with all of him."

Shan nodded. "Well I guess I can't change your mind. But I hope you know Mulan, I will always be there waiting for you, no matter how long it takes." He looked at her with somber eyes. "Can I at least have one kiss from you, just to see how it feels? Please? Just to see if you feel sparks?"

Mulan sighed. "Shan you know that I now can't be caught kissing another man, especially on the day of my wedding! Of all the nerve! I'm sorry. And honestly, I think I would be more focused on if someone was watching instead of on the kiss." She looked down, "Please Shan, just leave before you make anything worse."

For a moment, Shan lifted up her face and looked at her fearlessly in the eyes. Mulan froze, completely taken back by his forwardness. And in one quick movement, his lips met hers, but just like that, they were apart. He smiled and left.

Mulan stayed frozen. Her hands slowly made their way up to her lips. She was in shock by his kiss, but a bit more shocked in how good it felt. Mulan shook her head and tried to clear the image from her head. It failed. She silently cursed him, but quickly turned to her left as she heard approaching footsteps.

"Mulan?" Shang asked as he walked closer to her. "Are you okay? You know the guests are looking for you."

She smirked. "Why can't you just say that you missed me?"

He laughed. "Because I figured that, that was too obvious. I guess from now on I should just say how I feel straightforward."

"You're finally learning," Mulan laughed. "But maybe some things are best kept inside."

"Like how much I love you?" Shang asked, moving closer to Mulan. She smiled and shook her head no. "How about how much I think about you?" He now held her in his arms, and she shook her head no, grinning this time. "How about how much I want to kiss you right now and take you home already? Or what I want to do in the privacy of our own bedroom?" Mulan gasped but laughed and shook her head no.

She placed her hands around him and laid her head on his chest. "Speaking of things we want to say," She wondered how Shang would react, "Shan visited me just a few minutes ago, and," she silently prayed hoping Shang would not get angry, "he kissed me unexpectedly to see if there were any sparks." Mulan winced wondering exactly how angry Shang would get.

"And how did you feel?" Shang asked, and started to stroke her back.

Mulan sighed. "Honestly, I was a bit taken aback by his kiss, but I felt nothing. Or at least, not even close to enough to make me want to leave you."

Shang smiled, and Mulan honestly felt his relief even though she wasn't looking straight at his face. She finally lifted her face from his chest and looked at him in the eyes. "I hate that veil," Shang whispered.

Mulan laughed. "Actually, so do I. But I think I'm going take it off for a while or at least until we get back into the banquet."

Shang slid his arms closer around her, bringing her in closer. "Well I like what I see. I can finally see your face better."

Just as she was about to lean in closer to kiss him, she heard the scuffling of footsteps on the floor. Mulan and Shang looked in the direction of the culprit and found two stumbling men carrying a huge bucket of water. They looked as if they were going to fall any moment.

"Do you need any help sirs?" Mulan asked.

"I wouldn't mind lending a hand," Shang agreed.

The two men shook their heads no. "It wouldn't be right to ask for the couple's help on for their own wedding," the chubbier man stated.

"Honestly, it wouldn't be much of a hassle," Mulan argued. "You two men look like you are struggling."

The chubbier man, who was walking backwards, accidentally stumbled against an uneven tile, causing some of the water to spill upon Mulan's face. The men gasped in horror and immediately got towels for Mulan's face. Mulan, on the other hand, stood frozen, with her mouth agape, still looking in shock. Shang, however, stood nearby, smiling. The two men quickly came back with towels for her face, and walked out of there as soon as they could. Shang stayed as he waited for his bride to dry her face.

When she had all of it completely wiped off, Mulan sighed and threw down the towels. "Shang how do I look?" she asked, still wiping off some stuff off.

Shang smirked. "Perfect."

Mulan rolled her eyes and scoffed. "You know, when you talk like that, I honestly don't know whether or not to believe you." She walked over to the pond and wiped off the remaining traces of make-up. Mulan then walked back over to Shang.

"What?" she asked. He was staring at her weirdly.

Shang walked over to her and placed his arms around her, "You know I honestly like you better this way."

Mulan smiled. "Good. Because I am honestly never wearing that make-up again. I…" She was cut off by Shang's kiss. As he kissed her, she smiled a bit and moved her arms around his neck. Shang also smiled as she did this. They both laughed with their foreheads pressed against each other. Mulan brought him in again for a more passionate kiss.

"Mulan," Shang said breathlessly, once they broke apart, "You talk too much." They both laughed and walked towards the banquet door. "You know Shang," she laughed a bit, "I've met a million men, but I can honestly say, I've never met one that compares to you."

Shang laughed. "I could say the same about you."

As Mulan reached for his hand, she felt the gift. When Shang started to walk towards the banquet, Mulan suddenly paused.

"What?" Shang asked. "Why did you stop?"

Mulan looked at the gift she held in her hand. "Wait, I want to see what Shan got me. And I want you to be here as we open our first gift as a couple."

Shang scoffed. "Well I doubt that gift is for us. I think it might be for just you."

Mulan shot an impatient look. "Shang, calm down. We'll just see won't we?" She tore open the box and found the arrow she and Shan used that one day as they played a game in the forest.

Shang rolled his eyes at the gift and Mulan laughed at him. She then turned around and threw the arrow in the pond. Shang stared in awe at her. Mulan smiled and shrugged it off. "I have no use for that arrow and neither do you, unless you want it?" Shang shook his head no. Mulan smiled. "I don't need to be reminded of the past. Because every thing I need to know is up here," she tapped her head. "Besides," she grabbed Shang's hand and led him back into the banquet, "my happily ever after is with you, and that is something I don't need to remember, or something I need keepsakes for to remind me, because I have one big one: you. And I'm living my happily ever after each and every day with you."

"Even if we fight?" Shang asked.

Mulan smiled. "See to me, happily ever after isn't about the whole prince coming to save the princess from her sad reality. Because we all know that I don't need saving." Shang laughed. "Happily ever after isn't about living the perfect life with no fights, because that's not how love is. Love isn't perfect. And sometimes love needs healing. But that's when you learn so much, like who's there to catch you when you fall. And that's what I think happily ever after is: Seeing love despite what situation is, no matter how dire or difficult."

Special Thanks to: (Because you guys are the most awesome-blossom-fantastic people I've ever known!) I have a special thanks to you guys! You guys have been there this whole time, reading and reviewing my stories! You guys are the best reviewers ever! I hope you guys follow me to my other stories! I look forward to all of y'alls reviews! :)

Trakrat

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- And I believe I should thank all the people who made this (or the Work of Two) their favorite story (or me) as their favorite author. Technically, all of you reviewed by saying that it is one of your favorite stories.