・・・☆・Thirty Five ・・・☆・

It had taken a whole 48 hours for Yingyue to calm down regarding what Si had said to her. She knew it was all in the moment or whatever as he was upset for having called out his unjust actions. Yet it still hurt. It was her biggest insecurity. The fact that most of her relationship had only occurred because the pair had been pushed into an arranged marriage. Sure before all of this had happened they had started to explore their relationship but it was at a slow pace. They had been rushed into the whole fiancé scenario and despite being given as long as they wanted in this stage it didn't help when your friends commented on it. She knew just how lucky she was regarding this whole arrangement, she never let herself forget it. She could have ended up with anyone yet she got the one man who treated her as though she was the one to have laid the foundations of life. He basically worshipped the ground she walked on. She knew how lucky this was he seemed to truly love her despite whatever forces pushed them together, she would never trade it for the world. No, never sure this wasn't the way she may have imagined it in her dreams for they would have dated much longer before the engagement stage. But she didn't care, as long as he stayed by her side she wouldn't.

The only thing she asked for was the support of her friends. She didn't care for the support of her family, they were the ones who put this into action. It was her friends, which were her second family, that she mattered most about. Since Jing had almost gone completely radio silent on her, the boys were the only real comfort and family she had. Sure she had Chang-xiou as her other close female friend but they hadn't known each other as long and their friendship didn't have the same meaning as her other friends. She saw the other three boys as her brothers not just her friends. And hearing one speak out about her relationship made her question whether the others felt the same way too. She was nervous to see them again if this was the case. But she was not one to shy away when things got difficult, she would just have to prove that despite their relationship being accelerated by the arranged marriage that it was just as valid as any relationship the others had. It ran deep and was full of raw real emotions. 

That morning she awoke finally feeling up to seeing her friends once again, but she made no effort to move at a fast pace to do so. They had no lectures today and Si had invited them all round to his house to hear his newly revised plan, which apparently did not involve a makeover as he had listened to Yingyue's concerns. She stood in the kitchen sipping on a mug of warm team and watching the world go past through the patio window. The sun was out and it glistened across the blades of grass in the garden. In one of the bushes just on the edge of where her eyes could see a small figures bopped in and out, around the grass and back again. Upon concentrating Yingyue could see this was a small grey wild rabbit. The rabbit was obviously looking for food. Her concentration fixated on the small bunny she jumped when a pair of arms wrapped their way around her. 

"Mornin' Beautiful." Her favourite voice in the world called out and she suddenly found herself relax slightly as she stood carded in her entire world's arms. 

"Morning my love." She replied back before placing her mug down and turning around. Upon turning around she was met with a dashing sight. The way Ximen was dressed this morning was divine, he was also wearing one of the new shirts she had brought him. The pinstriped shirt was paired with a grey vest and a pair of grey trousers. He had his top button undone and at the moment he did not have his glasses on. She took a sharp breath in as she took in his appearance, and gave a little thanks to whomever deemed that she would be given such a beautiful person inside and out to love. 

"Don't you look dashing." She finally commented after raking her eyes up and down a couple times the whole look etching its way into her memories. 

"I'm taking you like then?" He replied before doing a little spin on the spot, mimicking the way she would behave whenever he had a similar response. 

"Oh I like very much." With another step forward she had kissed him, her arms wrapping around his neck to bring him down to her height. She was pulled in closer so that their chest touched as the single kiss turned into a series each one lasting slightly longer than the one beforehand. 

"Suppose I'll have to keep it up if I want to be greeted this way every morning." Ximen commented as he pulled away for air first this time. 

"You won't have to do much." Yingyue shrugged off his comment and she wasn't lying she thought he managed to make everything work. 

"Are you coming to Si's today? I understand if not, I'm still willing to hit him for upsetting you." Ximen enquired though tried to make it out as though she had an equal option to chose. She did but he would prefer her coming with him. 

"Yeah I need to get ready and we can go." She replied 

"Really? That's brilliant I'll leave it to you." Ximen clapped before picking up her discarded mug and heading towards the kitchen. Yingyue only smiled in response at their very domestic way of living they had achieved before making her way back to the master bedroom. Going through her wardrobe her eyes were drawn to the dresses section. It had been a while since she had last worn one. Her eyes settled on a large red dress. It had a v neck and draped off the shoulder sleeves, coming down to just below her knees it was the midi length. It was a beautiful dress she had not worn in forever. Unzipping and stepping into it she had to wonder just why she hadn't worn it in so long considering how pretty it was on. 

"Xi, come zip me up please." She shouted as she continued to sort out her hair in the mirror. She had it pulled back the night before not wanting to sleep with wet hair and now it fell in deep waves and complimented the dress. She had done most of her makeup prior to putting the dress on keeping it natural with no real eyeshadow and a very small winged liner. She had not to wait too long before the bedroom door was opened and a face met hers in the mirror. 

"It's been a while since I've last seen this one, it's pretty." Ximen complimented before starting to zip the dress up he pressed a final kiss to the small of her back before embracing her properly and looking at them both in the mirror. 

"You say you're the lucky one, look at your self baby. I've got nothing on you." He added as the young couple continued to stand facing the mirror. "You're exquisite." He added on when she had yet to say anything else on. Spinning around so once again they were facing each other properly and not through the mirror Yingyue could only beam. 

"You make me feel so loved." Yingyue commented as she raised her tase to meet his. 

"You are loved," He responded without missing a beat or second "So, so much." He was the one to initiate the kiss this time around but it was shorter, sweeter and innocent. "I love you." He added as if the kiss had sealed this as a promise. 

"And I love you." 

A/N

I was going to finish Episode 12 properly then decided to skip all of that stuff because this was cuter so, 7 more episodes to a wedding?