HOW TO LIVE AGAIN (girlxgirlxgirl)

Twelve; Palace of flowers

"Spend the rest of my life- with this guy?"
38

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"So, I guess we're roommates then"

The young noble Aiguo chuckles awkwardly. A soft summer wind blows through the "window", which is really just a perfect square opening to the garden outside. The curtains over the window rustle with the slightest movement of the air, and it looks wonderful. The material is see through, soft pink, and it compliments the rest of the pinkish and wooden and gold furniture in the room.

Two beds lay on each side of the room, big wide beds with the most expensive rose pink and golden satin sheets. There are at least a dozen pillows on each bed, made from different shades of pink velvet. On the floor there is a pale rug from the far west, hand made and sewn together. Against the window there is only one desk, probably because the consorts aren't exactly known for using their desks. At least not for any work or studying, they don't really do that here.

Together with his roommate, Aiguo has arrived at his room in the palace of flowers, inside the far depths of the imperial palace. A garden and a huge pond surrounds them, but in this wooden building there are eight rooms on each side, five of which are in use. Aiguo and his roommate got room number one.

"..."

His roommate is silent, meditating on his bed. Aiguo glances at him when he doesn't respond. The air is thick with awkwardness, at least for the usually confident Aiguo. While he considers himself handsome, Aiguo has to admit that his roommate is very attractive as well. A tall guy, relatively well built, with a sharp jaw and high nose. He looks regal, but very intimidating and serious at the same time. And his clothes seem to have a simple design, but very expensive fabric. A guy that knows what he wants, and takes nothing more. And on top of that, he is silent.

Aiguo curses his luck. He had to be stuck with this guy, a person who doesn't talk, for god knows how long. Don't take him wrong, he loves the fact that he gets to be the empresses consort, apart of her harem. He loves that he was picked, and takes huge pride in that too. Actually, the buzz from the festival that was less than an hour ago is still rushing through his body. He loves it. But...

As a consort he'll have to stay here until the empress decides that she doesn't need them anymore, and that could take years and years. If he doesn't have a good roommate, how can he stand it? His uncle used to be a consort to the former empress, and according to him, days can get very boring if you don't have friends to hang out with. Nights can also get boring without a proper roommate. After all, a consorts job is mostly to just be there, to exist. They don't have many tasks during the day, just to walk around and appeal to the empress maybe. And considering that the empress is most likely not attracted to him because she is definitely attracted to women, Aiguo doesn't even have to do that.

He's already starting to feel bored. F*ck. No, he can't give up yet. He'll just have to speak to this guy again. What was his name again? Aiguo racks his brain for an answer. Then it hits him. Constantine! The guy who answered the complicated question that senior Fei asked. Of course! Constantine, the son of the senior historian. A very rich guy, and intelligent of course. Basically the only competition that he has here is Constantine, otherwise these other guys can't measure up to him.

"Constantine, right? That's a foreign name, are your ancestors from the west?"

Constantine finally blinks his eyes open. But he looks annoyed. Aiguo gulps, but keeps his positive and brave face. He's going to ignore the butterflies that he gets when the serious guy in front of him intimidated him. He's going to ignore that. Totally not think about it. Except now he's thinking about it. F*ck.