Work Text:
It was a rather sunny day at Glanzend Castle. Liu-Shen had just finished his bath and made his way to his room. There were a lot of things in his mind, and he ought to start to sort them out one by one to ease the burden from his head. As he sat on the chair, he picked up some papers and a quill and ink to start writing.
"Alright…"
He dipped the quill in the ink. First, think of a strategy to—
"GOOD MORNING, LIU!"
Startled, the mint-haired boy quickly turned his head to the source of the loud, familiar voice. The cheery boy, Sieg, was standing at the door, grinning from ear to ear before making his way towards Liu.
"Goodness, Sieg, don't startle me like that! It's still early in the morning, and everyone could jump out of the bed because of you!"
Thank the Gods he didn't accidentally ruin the paper with the black ink.
"Haha, sorry, Liu!" He stopped beside Liu, who sighed and couldn't help but smile a little to see the ruckus Sieg made so early in the morning. Even after becoming the leader of the company fighting against the so-called 'One True Way', no more than an extremist cult, Liu believed, Sieg never changed -- always the clumsy guy who was reckless, but loveable in all the right way.
The leader leaned forward to the desk where blank papers scattered. "What're ya doin', anyway?"
"I'm about to doin' some strategy writing and stuff," answered Liu. He was ready to write again, but he was disturbed... again.
"Ya should just take it easy, ya know," said Sieg with a worried expression. "Ya look so tired. I'm afraid that you'll get sick or somethin' cause ya use your brain too much."
"Well, thanks for your concern, but I'm fine, really," Liu smiled. Sieg shot him a skeptical look, but Liu just shrugged it off. He continued what he was about to work on when he heard Sieg muttered, "Well, if ya think so" quietly, and from the corner of his eyes, he could see him rubbed his head in frustration. One thing was odd though. A minute, or two, has passed, but there was no sign of Sieg wanting to leave the room yet. He was just leaning his back on the desk while staring down at Liu the whole time.
Eventually, Liu put down his quill and stared back at Sieg. "Sieg, is there anything you want to talk about?"
Liu swore that Sieg's face lit up when he asked that question. "Okay, so, how do I put this... There's something bugging me lately... I'm not sure I could ask you about it though..."
"Come on, Sieg. You can talk it out with your great strategist here," he didn't like to address himself as a great strategist, but at times like that, he'd sometimes do it for fun. "Well?"
Sieg swallowed hard before he finally spouted a question that Liu hoped to never come out again out of his or anyone's mouth. "I was wondering… Do you have any feelings towards Len-Lien?"
Liu's heart stopped beating for a split second. His eyes went wide open from shock and anger. "Not that AGAIN!"
Since he arrived at his homeland and brought Len-Lien, his childhood friend, with him, his life hadn't gotten any easier. He was grateful indeed that she and Luo-Tao willingly helped him and the company to oppose the One True Way, but he never guessed that their presence at the castle would make him a bit uncomfortable. He has been haunted by various questions regarding his past ever since, and he didn't like it one bit.
"What an interesting topic!"
Out of the blue, two familiar heads popped out from the back of the wall to Liu's chamber entrance which opened widely.
"M-Marica? Jale!? What're you two doing here!?" Liu stood out from his chair, surprised to see the girl and the blonde boy.
They both entered the room with a bright smile — Jale still had this calm and cool expression though.
"You know, since you became a strategist and got busier, we hardly meet with each other… I'm a bit worried, so I thought I'd stop by and make sure you're in a good shape!" explained Marica gleefully. "Then I invited Jale as well. I guess we arrived here at perfect timing, huh."
"How rude! You decided to visit Liu and not me?" Sieg crossed both his hand across his chest, demanding an answer with a silly pout on his face.
"We thought about giving you a visit after we see Liu. Fortunately, we heard your voice and found you here," Jale answered calmly.
"Wait a sec... Sieg, you ARE the leader, and it's your job to check out and interact with all of the residents here," said Marica.
Sieg looked confused. "So?"
"You're the one who should've visited us, not the way around, you dummy!" Marica blurted. Realizing that, Sieg just flashed his usual grin.
"Now back to the topic," Jale turned his head to Liu. His sharp eyes met with Liu's. "Is that right? That you have a crush on Len-Lien?"
Liu's face went as red as a tomato — either from anger or embarrassment or both. He thought they have forgotten about it, but unfortunately, they haven't. It made Liu wondered why people have to be so curious about his love life.
He took a deep breath and sighed. "As I said before, I don't. I didn't back then, and I presently don't. Come on guys, don't you have any other, you know, more interesting things to mind?"
Marica put her hands on her hip. "This IS interesting! I know you're lying, Liu."
"Yeah! What about that green stone she gave you? Three years've passed, and ya still keep it until now. That stone's clearly a precious thing for ya!" Sieg adding the fuel to the fire Marica has created.
Ugh, I shouldn't have asked his help finding that stone! Thought Liu full of regret.
"And whenever she's around, you're always acting weird," said Jale with his famous toneless voice.
"I… don't..." He went speechless. Now that the three of his childhood friends confronted him, he couldn't escape. There was no other way to end this rather than confronting them back. "Why do you really eager to know my love — err, childhood story!? It's my privacy!"
"That's because you never told us!" complained Marica. "I always tell you guys about my love story, don't I? I've known Sieg and Jale since I was a kid, and I very much know about their pitiful love life. They're not doing well with girls — many girls have a crush on Jale, but he doesn't care at all, and Sieg... Oh, well, he had Maybelle fawning over him, so that's a good thing, I guess."
"Oh, no, she's a nightmare! A complete stalker!" Sieg's body shivered upon remembering things he shouldn't remember.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Jale whispered to him, and they both shared a deep, understanding nod with each other.
"Look, the point is, I feel like there're so many things that I don't know about you. You're our best friend. It's totally normal to discuss this kind of stuff. Perhaps I could even help you with it!" Marica smiled genuinely. But, the agitated Liu saw that as a force to spill his story right away. Marica usually didn't like to stick her nose into other people's business, but this case was different — it was about love, and who doesn't love a love story?
Sieg and Marica stared at him in the most annoying way — their eyes widely sparkled with hope, hands tightly clasped. Jale was still staring at him with his sharp eyes, but he had a faint smile painted on his handsome face, as if saying, "come on, dude. I know you can do it." Liu bit his lip hard. It was a nightmare, except it happened in the morning that should've been peaceful.
"Alright. I give up…" He sighed. "But promise me you'll leave me alone after this and not tell this to anyone!"
"You have my word!" shouted Marica cheerfully. Sieg let out a joyful 'yay' and Jale relaxed his face muscle a bit. Out of the blue, Marica hit Sieg and Jale on the shoulder, signaling them to make a promise.
"Yeah, yeah, I promise!" Sieg yelled half-heartedly.
Sieg, Marica, and Jale quickly took a comfortable position to hear Liu's story. Liu closed the door and sat on the chair. He opened his mouth as he started telling his love story.
"Well, how to begin… I… I admit that I did have a crush on her. We grew up together and were very close. She was pretty, really kind and caring… The feeling was inevitable… Y-You guys understand, right?" He stuttered and his face blushed real red. Marica nodded deeply.
"I… I think we shared a mutual feeling. Her eyes... were different when she looked at me. Being with her was — was one of the best times in my... life," Liu's head bowed deep down as he couldn't bear his embarrassment. "T-that's it, alright! I'm embarrassed!"
"But what about now? You still like her?" asked Marica.
Liu sat still. It took enough time for him to finally nod his head.
"I KNEW it!" Marica shouted ecstatically, like a kid who got a correct answer.
"Aaaw, our Liu is in love!" teased Sieg as he poked the shoulder of the totally-embarrassed Liu. It was only Jale who kept his composure even though he couldn't keep his lips from smiling.
"C-can you two just shut up!?" Liu suddenly felt an enormous amount of regret. He could imagine the news about his crush spread throughout the entire company in one night.
Despite Liu's pledge, Marica just couldn't control herself from digging out more juicy info. "Have you made a move yet?"
"W-well, it's none of your business!" answered Liu whilst avoiding eye contact.
Marica smirked. "You have, then."
Liu was completely dumbfounded. The oblivious Sieg turned to Marica and looked amazed by her skill in seeing through someone's lie. She was indeed the expert on this matter.
"Then what's her response?" Jale asked. He himself couldn't even deny that he was interested in the topic, but he tried his best not to show it.
Again, Liu didn't move an inch. He bent down his head and stared at the stone floor beneath him. His hair swayed down and concealed his face. None of the trio realized that he was slightly smiling.
"C'mon, Liu! We wanna know!"
"It's... I said it's NONE of your business!" Liu suddenly stood from his seat. "Now that you guys know much about it already, interview time's over."
"B-but—"
Liu pushed them to the door and opened it for them. "And I believe you all have your own business to attend to. It's... nice to have a chat with y'all, though, but I got lots of stuff to do, so we can continue next time, okay? Bye!"
He forcefully pushed them out of his room and quickly shut the door. He took a deep breath to calm himself, but his heart hasn't stopped pounding hard. Finally, it was over. What a tiring, frustrating way to start the day, but amidst all that, he smiled. He loved those three more than anyone, but he believed he wasn't ready yet to tell them about the truth behind the development of his relationship with Len-Lien. Until then, the continuation of his love story will always remain his utmost secret.