The Last Lotus

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"Are you sure that we're going to be able to pull this off?" The question is unusual coming from the boy considering that normally he is the one getting asked such a question.

Song Chin only rolls her eyes at the other man as she elbows him lightly in the side. The two of them stood outside the doorway of the main household inside of the Song mansion. They are about to set the plan that the two of them had gone over thoroughly for the past few hours, finally into motion.

Kyan has his doubts that the two of them are going to be able to pull it off, but Song Chin seems rather confident that they can.

"Have a little bit of confidence, would you?" Song Chin retorts to him as she sends a small glare his way.

Kyan only lets out a sigh. "Let's just get this over with."

Song Chin doesn't comment on the doubting tone in the boy's voice. She only reaches a hand out to knock on the red door in front of them. Kyan tries to push the anxiety that is building up inside of him down as he watches as the wooden barrier is opened to reveal a woman that is very dear to his own heart.

"Erzi!" The woman on the other side exclaims with a bright smile spreading across her face as she stares at her youngest son.

Kyan is almost lost for words at the sight of his mother, or well Song Yan's mother it may seem. She looks identical to his own mother he holds so dear. Her same long, dark hair that is pulled up onto the top of her head in an intricate hairstyle, her bright amber eyes that he, himself has inherited smile back at him along with that perfect set of white teeth. She is dressed in a light blue outer robe that has the same common cloud pattern embroidered into it and falls to just below the knees. Her inner robe is a light pink pattern that contrasted very well with the blue, this one falling down past her feet.

"Muquin," Kyan answers the woman fondly, nodding at her politely.

His mother smiles as she takes in the figure beside him, sending Song Chin a nod. "It's nice to see you as well, Song Chin," she greets the girl, having always thought of her as a second daughter.

Song Chin returns the nod and smile. "You as well," she tells the woman politely.

The woman only smiles as she takes a set back out of the doorway so she can allow the two of them to make their way into the main household. It is much bigger than the one that Kyan resided in himself, but holds the same sort of set up. His mother leads the two of them to a fairly large table motioning for them to take a seat upon the silk cushions surrounding it. "I'll get you both some tea as you make yourselves comfortable," the woman says before disappearing into the kitchen part of the house to do just that.

Kyan sends Song Chin a look as the other woman is too busy preparing them tea to pay attention to them. "What do we do now?" He whispers to the other girl and she only kicks him from the other side of the table, causing him to have to stifle a wince.

"Just leave it to me," she tells him quickly, watching as Kyan's mother makes her way back towards them with a porcelain tea set in tow.

The woman takes a seat across from her son and gets the three of them each a serving of tea. "So what do I owe the honors of a visit from the two of you?" She suddenly asks the two of them from behind her tea cup.

Song Chin smiles as she holds her own tea cup between her hands. "Song Yan and I had something we wanted to discuss with you that we thought you would understand," she goes on to explain, turning to look at the boy sitting across from her.

Kyan fakes a smile of his own as he reaches out to cover one of the girl's hands with his own, just like they had practiced in his own room. He turns to stare at his mother with an almost sad look. "See mother Song Chin and I are in love," he announces.

The words invoke a gasp out of the older woman as she stares between the two of them. "I knew it!" She shouts, a bright smile spread across her face. It is almost as if that's the happiest news she's heard in a while.

"But you see mother, dad wants me to marry a daughter of the Chen village to join us into an alliance, but how could I do such a thing to Song Chin?" Kyan asks dramatically, thanking that year of musical theater that he took in his senior year of high school, solely for the fact that Silas had also taken that class.

A sad look crosses his mother's face at the words, looking as if she's about to cry as she looks between the two of them. "Do not fret you two, I will talk to my husband about this and hopefully we can work something out," she says, sending the two of them a reassuring look.

The two of them nod politely in response to the words, the fake sad looks still spread across their faces, but when the other woman isn't looking they send each other a bright smile. Their plan has fallen right into place.

****

It is around an hour before Kyan had agreed to meet up with the Silas from this time period, or what he said he'd like to be called: Shen, when a knock is heard upon the doorway to his small home. He had just been going through the papers on his desk trying to make sense of any of it, Song Chin having left him alone after they left their meeting with his mother. So, he is trying to find something to attempt to occupy his time before he makes his retreat into the forest.

He rises from his position on the silk cushion to answer the door, not remembering that he is supposed to have any visitors at that time. Around here people usually don't show up unannounced very often from what Kyan has been noticing. So, the knock has him a little anxious as to who could be on the other side of the door.

Kyan opens the crimson-colored barrier to reveal his father standing on the other side of the doorway. The man is wearing the same robes as the previous day, much like himself. A polite smile spread across his face. "Hello, Erzi," the man says to him in greeting with that usual polite nod. "May I come in?"

Kyan returns the nod politely and moves out of the doorway to allow his father to slip inside of his home. The man makes his way to the small table in the middle of the home and takes a seat upon one of the cushions, and Kyan takes that as a sign to do the same. He takes a seat upon the cushion across from the other man.

"I apologize for showing up without notice, but I had a conversation with your mother," the man goes on to explain, and Kyan perks up at that, wondering if Song Chin and his plan really had worked that well.

"Your feelings for Song Chin weren't that much of a secret, Erzi," he tells his son with a small smile, and Kyan hides the grimace that was about to show on his face. Does everyone really think that Song Yan likes his best friend in that way just because she's a girl?

"But you still have a duty to your family, and that is to marry a woman of the same status as you that can bring two of our villages together," These are the words that he was regretting, but it was inevitable, nothing could have ever been as easy as that in this new world, or any world for that matter.

Kyan smiles sadly at his father as he sends him a small nod. "I understand, father. I must put my duties over love," he tells him what he knows the other man would want to hear.

The man across from him only smiles at him brightly. "I knew you would understand son, but as a compromise no matter what Song Chin can stay by your side as your personal maid," he says.

Kyan has to hold in the laugh that is building up at those words. I'm sure she'll be thrilled with that outcome of things. Instead of saying anything out loud he only nods in understanding at the words.