Next morning, when wen chang, woke up, he remembered what had happened last. He had felt so light after talking to her. It had been so long since he had had an honest heartfelt talk with someone. This was all because of xaio jiu, his sweet, loving, compassionate and breath taking xaio jiu. He felt his heart speed up just thinking about her. Blushing he looked around to see where she is.
He couldn’t find her in the hut, so he moved out the back door to see her sleeping, nestled against the little white’s mane.

So that’s where she had been sleeping for the past two nights, he thought to himself. Amused, he went to her side and picked her up. Cradling her in his arms, he went back inside the hut. Looking down at her beautiful sleeping face, he thought, even asleep she took his breath away.

He slowly laid her down on the bed and covered her with the sheets. Caressing her hair, he looked at her peaceful sleeping form. The man was so lost in her that he hadn't even realised that he had started falling for her.

A few hours later, feng jiu stirred. She moved around to make herself comfortable and thought to herself, how good the little white horse had been to her, she would definitely give him extra carrots for this. Moments later, she slowly opened her eyes feeling a little loopy. She then realised that she was back in her bed. Hurriedly, she sat up, wondering how she got there and where was wen chang now that she was here. Straining her fox ears, she heard him outside talking to someone. Who is he talking to, she thought to herself? Deciding to eavesdrop, she listened to him.

“she is so smart, is she not? Not only that, she is also so kind and caring, her compassion fills my heart, little white. But why am I even telling you that. You already know, you have felt it. i know you can feel her love, little white.”

Oh, little white, so he is talking to his horse, she smiled thinking to herself.

“you know sometimes I feel she cares for you more than she cares for me. Every minute she gets, she sneaks out to you and retreat from me. I do not know if it is something I have done or if she is just shy. But I really believe that it must be the latter. She might not tell me about herself but she hasn’t shut me out yet. so, I’ll keep trying. Maybe one day she will see that I am not a bad person and she can trust me. She did it yesterday, you know, she opened her heart for me for a few minutes. She cared for me, she cried for me. No one had ever done that before. I feel so unworthy of her but at the same time, she fills my heart with so much love. “

In the hut, feng jiu knew she should not eavesdrop but now that she had begun, she found it impossible to stop.

“I know you feel her love too and I also know you love her back. You let her snuggle against your mane when you didn’t even let me touch your mane for years back then. But want to know a secret, little white? I think I might be falling for her too.”

She let out a gasp at that but luckily, he did not hear her.

“I know what you want to say with those judgemental eyes of yours. Its too early to tell that. I don’t think so though. I think you either love someone or you don’t. there is no grey area in that. All it differs in is how long does it take you to realise that.”

She heard the horse neighing which she felt sounded suspiciously like a snort. Chuckling, she waited for him to continue but he was not talking anymore. This confused her heart even more. She was still going over what si ming had told her yesterday.

What si ming had told her made sense and seemed logical enough. But her heart struggled with the reasoning. Wen chang had moved her heart for sure but when she thought about him and dong hua in the same breath, she felt scared. Scared of what would happen if she complied with the threads fate was trying to bond and what if she resisted. What wen chang had just said earlier, untangled a few of the knots in her heart. She understood what he was saying, you do not get to choose whom you love, it happens when it happens not even fate can control it and she was the walking example of that. How she had fallen for donghua even though their fate prohibited it. she knew that better than anyone.

Right now, the dilemma that she was stuck in was no small thing. Her one decision could alter both their life paths and also put the safety of the realms in danger. Reminding herself of what si ming had advised her yesterday, she resolved to leave this decision on her heart. She had an inkling what direction her heart wanted to go but she promised herself not to let her mind and fears rule over her.