Eventually Mei Hua made her way back home. She hadn’t even bothered looking for Ye since he hadn’t appeared at the pond when she’d called him. If he didn’t want to be found, she wouldn’t find him. And it was too hot to bother at that point.

Jin and Ye did not return till some time later. When they did, Mei Hua ignored them both. Ye because she was furious with him and Jin because she didn’t dare look him in the eye.

No matter how hard she tried, her mind keep replaying the scene at the pond over and over again. She’d gotten quite an eyeful in what couldn’t have been longer than a minute. And her brain would focus on details she’d miss in the initial viewing whenever she saw Jin. When he got close, she’d break out in a light sweat and her mouth would glue itself shut.

That night, she went to bed early. Ye tried to get on the bed too, but she threw him off.

“Think about your wrongs!” She’d hissed in anger after tossing him. The throwing didn’t hurt him at all, and he landed gracefully on his feet, much to Mei Hua’s annoyance.

“Aw… MeiMei…” He pouted, sounding cute and innocent.

“Are you going to apologize?”

“…”

“Right, go sleep with Jin then!”

Ye’s mouth fell open. Of course he knew she’d be angry, and he’d willingly accepted that. But pushing him off to Jin was taking things a bit too far.

Jin had gotten in his own bed, despite not being tired. Hearing their conversation he frowned.

“I don’t want him, send him somewhere else.”

Mei Hua’d body stiffened at Jin’s voice. Clearing her throat, she mumbled awkwardly. “..I.. I wasn’t being serious… heh.. Just joking..” Then to Ye with more severity, “Go sleep outside, you moldly leaf!”

“But MeiMei—!”

“Don’t ‘but’ me. If you’re not going to admit your wrongs and apologize, then don’t expect me to be nice to you.”

Ye stomped his tiny feet in frustration and then thought hard. After a while, he approached MeiMei, looking repentant.

“I’m sorry I made you angry.”

“But not for what you did?”

“…I won’t do it ever again.”

“Do you promise?”

“Yes!”

“Will you promise not to do something similar?”

Ye tugged on his hair and scowled. MeiMei hadn’t been around him for years for nothing. She understood perfectly well how he thought and how he wiggled around words.

Finally, he slumped his shoulders. “I promise that too.”

MeiMei turned around and gave him a hard stare.

“Promise what exactly?”

“You really won’t leave me any outs…” Ye muttered quietly in annoyance, and then loudly, “I promise not to prank, plan, or conspire in a manner similar as today, any time in the future.”

Her expression softened and she gave him a relieved smile. Seeing this, Ye instantly cheered up and hopped over to her bed.

Getting on her pillow, Ye gave a small giggle and hugged the side of her face. “I love you MeiMei!”

Patting him gently on the head, she gave a hopeless chuckle. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t stay angry at him for long. “I love you too, you little troublemaker.”

Laying in the other bed, Jin’s face was stormy. Ye hadn’t apologized, yet he was accepted back. Why was it so easy for Ye to be forgiven but so hard for him? Why did Ye obtain so easily what Jin had to work so hard for? And what’s all this talk about loving each other? Who did Ye think he was, saying that kind of thing? Didn’t they just talk about MeiMei being Jin’s wife? Didn’t that mean MeiMei was his, all her love was his, everything about her was his? Why should he have to share—?

Jin’s dark feelings felt suffocatingly strong and he began to tremble from their intensity. Shakily he got up from bed and put his outer garments back on.

Hearing his movement, Mei Hua looked up. Was he going some where? She wanted to ask but at the sight of his back, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth.

Ye, however, was not suffering from her problem.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

Saying so, he turned on his heel, not even bothering with his shoes, and walked out in a rush.

The stifling humidity hit Jin in the face the moment he opened the door. He silently cursed. He was not in the mood for this ridiculous weather.

Closing the door, he leapt straight up. He passed the sheer, smooth rock of the house entrance, and landed on the ragged outcroppings far above. Despite having gone quite a bit further up in elevation, he could still feel the humidity clinging to him like cobwebs.

“Tch.” He scowled, the gold in his eyes swirled, eclipsing the blue. He raised a hand and made a sweeping motion in front of him. A furious wind rose up at his movement, angrily flowing over the mountains around him.

Far below, smaller trees snapped in half and branches were ripped off, crashing into trees nearby. Large and small animals sought shelter. Unfortunate birds flying at the time were dragged several miles off course and away from nests and territories.

As quickly as the wind appeared, it disappeared. The forest became deathly quiet, the smarter animals wondering what had offended their ruler to cause such sudden devastation.

But the humidity was gone and replaced with an unusual coolness for summer.

Jin, still far above the disaster he caused, was simply happy not to be sweating any more. The cool air was a relief to his skin and his temper.

Sitting cross-legged, he set his hands on his knees and took several deep breaths, calming his body and mind. These past two years he’d worked hard to control his temper and possessive tendencies.

Generally he was successful, but sometimes (like today), those emotions would hit him with overwhelming force. In such instances he simply ran away from whatever the cause was and did meditation until his mind was tranquil again.

It wasn’t the best solution, but it was better than losing himself in his anger and doing something he’d regret later. The thought of being so lonely again was unbearable. MeiMei was his second chance to do things right, he refused to mess it up.

After several hours of meditation, he uncrossed his legs and lounged on the rock lazily. His heart and mind now calm, he could focus on more practical aspects of making things work with MeiMei.

The first, most obvious, thing was how to be a good husband. He understood the basics of human families, but he’d skimmed over the details of spouses and parenting. He would need to do some studying to really understand what was required of him.

With that in mind, he jumped down, several hundred feet, to the cave entrance. Dusting himself off, he quietly opened the door. MeiMei was already asleep.

Smiling, he walked over to her. She’d always been a heavy sleeper, so she didn’t notice when he reached out and gently stroked her hair.

Ye, however did notice, and gave him an accusing stare.

Jin simply smirked. Barely above a whisper, he said to the little fairy: “Get used to it, I’ll do worse than this by the end.”