Qiu Ling couldn't understand why those three would look at him like that but he didn't care either way. Finally, Fu Min was looking over again! Now, he wouldn't be able to get away!
"Fu Min! What did you find out in the demon realm?! What is that bastard Jin Ling doing?!"
Fu Min flinched and wanted to take cover behind Fu Heng again when he realized that there was no reason why he shouldn't answer the question. After all, Fu Heng didn't regard their king as his love rival, did he? There definitely was no need to. Not only that he had never even considered their king, wasn't His Majesty crazy about the Son of Heaven anyway? Why shouldn't he answer him? This wasn't his idol asking.
"Well, I don't know that much. Just that he was talking to some unpleasant-looking man. They were talking about some sect and Tian and the demons. It was really strange."
Qiu Ling tilted his head. "Tian?" Don't tell him this had indeed to do with his beloved? Could it be Jin Ling had somehow found out about Jing He's misconception about him? Ugh, he wouldn't try to use this to separate them, would he?
He pressed his lips together. Who was he kidding? If Jin Ling knew that Jing He had broken up with him because of a misunderstanding, then he would definitely use this to his own advantage! Heavens, knowing him it was totally possible that he would try to further the misunderstanding between them!
Qiu Ling's gaze flitted about before finally coming to rest on Fu Min and Fu Heng. Screw this conversation! He had to hurry! "You can speak about the rest with Xin Lan. I have something to do." He whirled around and this time, not even Xin Lan was fast enough to catch him. He vanished between the trees and ran to find something for his beloved to eat.
He definitely wouldn't waste his time with anything else if he knew that there was somebody around that would try to ruin his relationship. No, he had to make sure that Jing Yi would realize that there was no Tian as fast as possible.
"It can't be that hard." He looked around for some spiritual fruits and grabbed whatever he found without thinking any deeper about it. "We've experienced so much together. I just need to casually mention a few things and he should find out. I have to make sure that he doesn't notice what I'm trying to do though or he might think I somehow found out about his memories. Mn … Maybe I should make up some reason for telling him."
He stuffed some other fruits into his spatial ring before hurrying back to the clearing where he had left Jing Yi.
When he reached there his beloved seemed to have woken up long ago. He had folded up the two blankets, washed his face and even changed his robes already. Qiu Ling stared at him and couldn't help but look in the direction of the tree where the other three dragons were sitting. Never mind Fu Heng and Fu Min, that couple of lovebirds but Xin Lan wasn't married yet. He wouldn't have watched anything he shouldn't, right?
Jing Yi looked at Qiu Ling and took a sigh of relief. Actually, he had already woken up when Qiu Ling got up. He hadn't opened his eyes though. How could he? Wasn't it awkward to face Qiu Ling after he snuggled up to him like that just some days after their breakup? No, he didn't have the face to do that. Thus he had pretended to be still asleep to wait for a better opportunity. Who could have known … Things would turn out differently than he had expected?
He had heard and felt everything. From when Qiu Ling put the blanket around him, over how he quietly busied about to get him some water so he wouldn't need to kneel down at the side of the pond. Even that gentle kiss. He had been awake through all of that and his heart had beaten faster and faster. He had hardly managed to keep his eyes closed when Qiu Ling behaved like that.
He had forced himself to do so, thinking that it was the best to keep things the way they were right now. Qiu Ling had finally accepted that they weren't a couple anymore. Well, he might forget himself every now and then but it wasn't as bad as in the beginning anymore. He couldn't waver himself now. He definitely couldn't become weak.
Saying so was easy but actually following his own advice turned out to be even harder than he had thought. He might have been able to do so in the beginning when Qiu Ling was busying about. At least he could sit there and concentrate on what Qiu Ling was doing. But when he suddenly left …
He hadn't been able to hold back for even a moment. His eyes had opened almost on their own and he had looked to where Qiu Ling had been right before, his heart beating wildly. When he couldn't see him his whole world seemed to come crashing down.
That kiss before … could it be that Qiu Ling had reconsidered? Had he decided that he didn't need to stay around now that he knew how to fly or could at least figure it out on his own? Did he want to leave because of that? Had that been a farewell-kiss?
He didn't know but at least he couldn't see Qiu Ling anywhere and there wasn't any kind of message around. He had only been able to busy himself and then dilly-dally in the hope that Qiu Ling would come back. Now that he stepped onto the clearing …
His heart once again pounded faster. He felt the urge to run over and throw himself into Qiu Ling's arms, to tell him how much he had been afraid that they wouldn't see each other again.
But just when he moved to do so he stopped himself. If he did what his heart told him to do … then what would happen to him and Tian? Could he just throw that relationship away and forget about the man that he had loved so much in his past life?