Chapter 72 - The Goddess’ Heart

Feng Xuan engaged Qing Chen in a conversation after a few deep breaths. She did not want things to get awkward between them so she talked… well, more like babbled about random stuff about the fair, such as: "Colas here taste too sweet."

Qing Chen coughed, burying his laughter in his throat. "Yeah, soda companies actually adjust the taste per country—or at least per continent—to the people's preference."

Feng Xuan fidgeted in her seat. She squeezed her prize from the shooting game. If the penguin on her lap could scream, it already would have. The sky had already turned dark and the moon hung low from it. The trees loomed over them like huge monsters closing in on the car.

She was about to try her luck again in failing to start a good conversation after what happened in the ferris wheel but then they already arrived. She was most relieved when the gate of the house came in their view.

Her own thoughts had slipped her mind the moment the car entered the property. Yellow lights illuminated the house that made it seem like something was burning inside. She did not notice the lamps earlier this morning but it now filled the place.

Lanterns hung over the wall and the ceilings, some were planted on the soil and little Christmas lights glowed like fireflies in the dark. A tent stood near the water garden and a fire was crackling in a small pit.

"What?!" Feng Xuan laughed, her eyes wide as she got out of the car. She felt like she had stumbled in the middle of a forest fairyland. It had been a while since she last used a live authentic concrete fire pit. She peered inside the tent and found blankets and pillows inside. She pushed the penguin and the elephant in. "Are we sleeping here?"

"No." Qing Chen's door closed. "But we're going to stay for a few hours."

Feng Xuan was disappointed. "Aw, why not?"

"Because the mosquitoes would feast upon our flesh."

She sucked her cheeks in and dropped to the checkered blanket just outside the tent. She got close to the fire and realized just how cold it was already. She slightly shivered in her red tank top and denim shorts. The sun scorched her earlier that day and now the wind felt like it was making up to her, blowing cool breeze on her skin. "Are we having dinner here?"

"Yes," Qing Chen answered from the side of the tent and took the covered tray on top of the small table. He dropped down next to Feng Xuan, the grass soft under him. "What do you want to grill first?"

They placed the corn cobs, the foiled potatoes, pieces of spiced meat, and skewered vegetables on top of the grill, alternately turning them. Qing Chen noticed that the smile had not left her face.

He grinned. "Do you like this?"

"In the cooking academy we had to try different kinds of cooking methods and I got to use one of these fire pits. I completely ruined my dish," she chuckled at the memory. "We did not know how to control the heat and," she shrugged, "we all failed miserably."

"Did you burn what you cooked?"

"Yeah," she said. "But we ate the good parts while we laughed over our failures. The next day we got to have our second try, we burned less, we learned how to take out wood to lessen the heat, to add more to boil something, to take out the grill at some points, and to lift pans off the fire. The food got better but we all got blisters in our hands that it hurt to move. After about a week we figured out some styles on how to cook." She reached out and took out the skewers gingerly off the grill. "That's cooked already."

She sat back down as she blew on some of them. "The really helpful tip above them all in my opinion is that, anything that comes off the fire should sit and should only be cut if you're going to eat it already. It seals the juice and keeps it from drying. And one more is that wood from fruit trees add to the flavor."

"Really?!" Qing Chen asked. "So if I cut, say, a banana tree, the meat is going to taste like banana?"

Feng Xuan laughed. "No! It just adds to the flavor and the smell and sometimes the color too. The most common to use is cherry wood but for me applewood is the best." She poked several marshmallows on the tip of a skewer. She was just about to ask him to tell her a story but she saw movement in the water.

It must be a trick of light, right? But then again, a shadow moved underwater. Nervously, she asked, "Are there fish in the water?"

"Yeah," Qing Chen answered distractedly as he poked at the fire on the side.

Feng Xuan saw that the lily pads moved, just the barest inch. "Big enough to move something on the surface?!"

"No, they mostly stay in the bottom."

She clutched Qing Chen's shirt and pulled him down. "There's something moving in the water."

"What?!"

Then she saw it again, and it left a little ripple—barely noticeable. "Did you see that?" she whispered, feeling like she wanted to pee.

Her attention shifted to Qing Chen when he started laughing. "It's fine, Feng Xuan," he said. "This is what I really wanted to show you."

Her breath got trapped in her lungs. "Are you going to fish something there? Is it big?" then in a scared whisper. "Are we going to grill it?"

"No!" Qing Chen answered with full glee. "Come here," he said and dropped on his stomach, peering at the water.

"Don't do that," she said. "It might bite your face."

"Nothing's going to bite my face." He beckoned her with a finger. "You wouldn't want to miss this."

Reluctantly, Feng Xuan got down on her elbows. The grass smelled fresh but the water smelled a little like moss. There was a small fountain that heaped on a make-shift hill and water poured down from an unseen opening. The water drifted and flowed and produced a calming sound.

"Don't focus there," Qing Chen said. "Look here."

She followed where his eyes were and it was on the collection of lily pads with flower buds peeking through the gaps. A border made of rocks kept them from straying off the rest of the water. "You want me to look at… lily pads?"

Qing Chen took an impatient look at the moon and at his watch. "It's about time. Just watch."

So they stared. And they stared some more. The meat's smell started to fill the air so Feng Xuan took everything off the grill before she came back there. She popped a mushroom in her mouth and felt the juiciness of it. "Qing Chen, if this is some sort of a prank and something was really gonna come out of the water and try to bite my face off, I promise I'm throwing you in there with it."

Qing Chen let out a frustrated sigh and tilted his head. "It's supposed to work already," he muttered under his breath.

Feng Xuan placed a piece of zucchini in front of his mouth and he inattentively bit it off. His lips brushed her fingertips and she stared at them as she took them back. How come they felt so soft?

She suddenly felt an excited nudge on her elbow. "Look!"

Feng Xuan did not really know what she was looking at or what was it that Qing Chen saw. But she stared at the plants and the small one in front of her suddenly moved. Fear crept to her whole body until she watched as it magically unfolded in front of her—the petals slowly unveiling the pink center of it—like a ballerina's arms making outward arches. She thought the flower was pink until it unfurled and she realized only the inside of it was, the pink lightened to the white on the outer petals.

As if it was a dance number, the other plants started to move too, the petals fell one by one as if it was being pushed from the inside. Soon enough, the clear water garden was filled with color.

For a moment, she was lost for words.

In the water, the moon's reflection was no longer alone. It was like another sky with beautiful flowers instead of stars. If she were a painter, she would have painted this.

"What was that?" she asked.

Qing Chen smiled at her victoriously, his eyes bright and seemed to twinkle like the stars in the sky. He said something in another language before he translated. "They call it The Goddess' Heart. In their mythology, a water goddess fell in love with a mortal and when her parents found out about it, they killed the boy. The water goddess could not take the pain and wanted to join him in the afterlife than to spend eternity with her parents, she took a spike and punctured her own heart. It was said that when she fell back in the water, this flower sprang from her chest."

"But why does it only bloom at night?" she asked, nibbling on a piece of meat she had chunked off.

"Because that was the only time she could be with her lover." Qing Chen took a skewer and started at it. "Or something along those lines."

"Isn't that romantic?"

"I don't think a Romeo-and-Juliet storyline is romantic," he grumbled as he took a forkful of potato.

"You don't think it's romantic to die for your lover and joining them in the afterlife willingly?"

"Well, there's more to life than just the afterlife. Why not try to save them first before killing yourself too? Try your best to come back to life," he pointed at her. "Put up a fight with death then coming back to life? Now that's romantic."

She cut up the meat partly. "Does that mean, if you are on your deathbed, you'll come back to life for me?"

Qing Chen let out a soft laugh. "Yes, Feng Xuan. I'll beat death and come back to you."

It raised a smile to her lips. It was nice to know he would do that. But they both knew that when you die, there was no such thing as coming back. When you die, the only option was to rest in peace.

When she took a look at him, he was looking right back at her. Then she was in that ferris wheel car all over again with the air closing in on them, taking their breaths away. She raised her finger. "Do you want some?"

Qing Chen only opened his mouth and she pushed the meat in, her fingertips brushing on his lower lip. It sent shivers down her spine with a sweet tingle. It did not satisfy the curiosity burning in her. He chewed.

"It is good?"

"It's perfect." He stared at her like he actually meant something else entirely. Feng Xuan felt like she had been set on fire.

It was like something snapped in her. That was it. She was not going to prolong this any longer with all the teasings and not doing. She stood up and brought the tray of food with her. "I think a mosquito bit me. I'm going to go and take a shower."

Qing Chen stared at her with wide grayish blue eyes that seemed the reflect the moonlight. His eyes were asking what he did wrong but she could not tell him the answer. Not yet, at least.

Feng Xuan scrubbed her body and when she looked at the mirror, she had come face-to-face with the fact that she wanted—no, not want—she NEEDED him. She needed to get close to him, to feel his fingers cupping her face, on her lip, or anywhere else on her body. She needed to feel his body on hers, to feel his nose against her own for another moment. She was aching to be with Qing Chen.

There was just this inexplicable need to touch him and to be touched by him.

Whatever happened in the ferris wheel, she wanted it again. Only this time, she wanted more than just that.