"Take my hands."
Adonis stared at the silhouette of the person in front of him for a while and hesitantly grabbed his hands.
"We'll reach the town in a short period of time."
Adonis nodded his head but if Magnus saw or not was a mystery.
It was pitch dark then. They were still walking in the jungle.
Fear, you ask?
Adonis had not even thought about it.
That was the effect this man had in him. With Magnus, Adonis would feel safe. He'd feel like, with this man no one can ever hurt him. He could be himself with this man and he wouldn't judge him too.
The heightened senses of the dark made Adonis overly conscious of how Magnus was holding his hands tightly, like he will never let go of it. His hands fitted on Magnus's big hands like it had found it's perfect match through the beautiful imaginary thing called fate.
He blushed.
Adonis saw flickers of lights in ahead.
"Duke, are we there?"
"Umm."
Adonis beamed as he had found a place to fill his poor empty stomach. He was extremely hungry.
They entered the bustling town.
The town was brightly lit. People walked around with a happy smile on their faces and a paper object in their hand.
Adonis looked at it curiously. He turned towards the Duke who was already looking at him, tiptoed and whispered near Magnus's ears,"Duke, what's that?"
Magnus's eyes widened at the sudden intimacy.
"Why are you whispering?"
"Because we need to be careful. We're in disguise. I'm intelligent enough, don't worry, Duke."
He nodded his head.
Magnus had this urge to laugh out loud.
He turned around and on pretense to clear his throat he smiled.
He turned around with a calm face and said,"This village is called the Village of Paper Lanterns. The residents living here moved here 100 years ago from somewhere in the East. They have preserved their culture well. Today is their lantern festival, they light those paper lanterns, launch it in the sky together with their friends and make wishes."
Adonis did an 'oh' with an impressed look on his eyes.
He again went near Magnus's ears and said,"Duke, you're so intelligent."
Magnus smiled at the little impressed lamb and smiled.
Adonis blinked his eyes and stared at him for a while in amazement.
He thought he'd never be able to see Magnus smile in his life. But now Magnus was in all his glory, smiling at him. At him.
Adonis wanted to kiss him. He wanted this man to smile at him everyday.
That thought sent a slight pain in his chest.
He smiled and said,"Duke, let's do it."
"Huh?"
"Lanterns. Let us also launch the lanterns. Let's go."
Adonis took his hands and started running to a lantern shop.
He stopped in front of it and started choosing lanterns. All while holding Magnus's hands.
"How's this?"
He showed a lantern with pink cherry blossom on it to Magnus.
"Anyone you want."
"But they're all so beautiful."
The stall keeper smiled at him and said,"If you don't mind, can I recommend something?"
Adonis smiled back at him and said,"Please."
After looking around through his stuff he came with a paper lantern in his hands.
It had a pair of green flowers beautifully painted on all the four sides.
Adonis took it and looked around.
"It's beautiful. What flower is it? It looks like Carnations."
With a warm smile on his face, the stall keeper spoke in his kind voice again,"Sir is correct. It is indeed Carnations. It's Green Carnations."
Magnus and Stall keeper looked at each other for a second.
Adonis was still amazed and turned the lantern around.
"It's beautiful. So beautiful."
Looking at the happy face Magnus said,"How much is it?"
"One silver sir."
Magnus took out two silvers and gave it to him.
"We'll paint."
"Thank you so much, sir. I hope both of your wishes come true."
With that they walked towards the lake with Adonis holding the Paper Lantern with green carnations painted on them.
"Duke, isn't it so, so beautiful?"
Magnus looked at those shining eyes, beautiful smiled and excited face.
"Indeed."
"Green carnations are beautiful. I want to grow some."
Magnus didn't speak anything and kept on walking.
A man came from behind and hugged the stall keeper.
"Wasn't it ours?"
The stall keeper held his hands on his stomach and said,"I can paint countless for you. Let their blooming love have that. They reminded me of us while he reminded me of Jia"
"He's happy with his Gege."
Both the men looked lovingly at each other.
"Let's quickly make one or else I might miss the auspicious time."
Magnus and Adonis stood on the spot beside the vast lake.
It also had quite a number of wooden decks at different places.
A lot of people had already gathered at the lake with lanterns on their hands.
Childrens, old couples, young couples, mid-aged husbands and wives.
All of these people had a content smile on their faces.
After a while a woman wearing red flowy unique robes with something on her hands rowed to the middle of the lake.
"She's here, she's here. Messenger with Red Strings."
"Let's light our lanterns, she'll start playing the Guqin soon."
As soon as the young girl spoke to her lover. A melodious music started playing.
With every note touching the heart. It was like, instead of the Guqin she was playing with the heartstrings of people.
With everyone lighting the lanterns, Magnus and Adonis did the same.
They observed the people and proceeded to do the same.
Standing opposite to each other, they placed the lantern in the middle.
Adonis closed his eyes first followed by Magnus.
When he opened his eyes, Magnus was already staring at him. The yellow light, lighting his handsome features amplified his handsomeness.
Magnus thought the same.
Both of them, unknown, only had one thought in their mind. They glances at each other's lips.
Without breaking the gaze, they let go of the lantern.
The pretty lantern with a pair of green carnations pattern on them floated towards the moonlit sky.
Moving closer to each other, they watched their lanterns merging and mixing with others and flew making the sky look indescribably magnificently beautiful.
Magnus stole a glance at Adonis who was now holding his hands and smiled, again looking at the sky.
Adonis stole a glance at the man beside him and smiled feeling the hands they were holding.
Both of them thought,
[If I could hold these hands forever, I would.]
The growl coming from Adonis' stomach ruined their moment and now both the men were walking in the town, searching for a place to eat.
"Are you looking for something?"
Adonis turned around to see the stall keeper from earlier.
"Oh, it's the stall keeper. We're looking for a place to have dinner, sir."
"If you don't mind, can I recommend one?"
"Please do."
"Follow me."
"Okay."
Adonis moved to follow giddily but he couldn't as the mountain-like man was standing still with blank face.
"Let's go."
He complied when Adonis pulled him.
The stall keeper smiled at them.
"Sirs, you can call me Chun. That's my name. Let's go quickly, my husband is waiting for me. A little late and he might get upset."
Magnus suddenly became enthusiastic. He took the lead and said,"Let's not make the gentleman's husband wait."
Adonis without giving much thought to it followed him.
They entered a cozy diner.
Chun went to a table where a guy was already sitting.
"He's my husband, Hua."
"Greetings to the sirs."
"Greetings to you too."
They sat and had dinner peacefully.
Adonis looked at Magnus looking at his plates intendly. He smiled and removed the carrots from his plates.
Magnus started eating after that.
When it was time to part, Adonis asked Chun,"Why did you help us?"
He smiled and said,"Your smile looked so much like a friend of mine."
Magnus and Hua came.
"Let's go."
Adonis looked at him and nodded.
"Take care."
"You too take care, Adonis. It was nice meeting you."
They left in the carriage that Hua and Magnus had brought.
Hua held Chun's hands and said,"let's go."
Chun followed him,"Yes, hubby."