Su Nian and Duie's Secret Moment of Love
It had been raining heavily for the past three days.
Night had fallen, but Su Nian continued training with unyielding dedication
determined to become the Emperor's top disciple.
Not even the storm could deter his resolve.
But the rain had turned the ground into a slick, dangerous terrain.
His footing slipped
and he fell, landing hard on a small stone.
The impact crushed into his back, right into his muscles.
Duie, standing at his window, had been silently watching.
And the moment he saw Su Nian fall,
he didn't waste a second.....he ran.
Straight toward him.
Without a word, Duie lifted Su Nian into his arms and carried him back to his room.
He left again to fetch medicine from the infirmary,
and when he returned
as he pushed open the door
Su Nian was standing there, his upper garments removed,
trying to look over his shoulder at the injury.
His long hair had been pulled to the front,
and his slender back was bare, exposed to the flickering lamplight.
Duie stood frozen.
After some time....
He closed the door quietly.
He placed the medicines gently on the table but he did not take his eyes off su nian
Then walked up behind him.
The storm outside raged on....lightning cracking through the sky
but the thunder in Duie's chest was louder still.
His breaths were shallow.
There was a strange ache blooming in his heart.
He couldn't hear what Su Nian was saying.
His body felt like his heart was beating everywhere all at once.
He took two steps forward...
Su Nian was still saying something
Outside, lightning still flashed.
But Duie reached out, his fingers gently touching the bruised mark on Su Nian's back....
as if touching the surface of a calm lake.
So gently that not a single ripple would form.
Duie and Su Nian fought like cats and dogs every day,
masking their unrest with playful brawls.
In their teasing and taunts, they had touched countless times.
But tonight
Tonight, Duie's touch was different.
This was... real.
And Su Nian felt it.
Immediately.
That Duie was touching him with something more than sympathy.
Something his heart could no longer ignore.
Duie had no idea what he was doing.
Not a single thought to stop entered his mind.
In that moment, he forgot everything
the academy, the rules... even himself.
All he remembered
was the pain he'd seen two years ago
in Su Nian's eyes,
the deep wounds across his body,
and the way he'd looked
shattered.
His eyes were wet now, again.
But Su Nian didn't speak.
He just stood still
heart racing, breath caught in his throat.
He had never felt a touch like this.
He had never known what kindness could feel like.
All his life, he had only been beaten, insulted, discarded.
Love was a stranger to him.
Duie stepped closer.
His clothes brushed Su Nian's back
like feathers sweeping softly across flushed skin.
And then Duie's fingers reached his shoulder.
Slid slowly down his arm,
until they found Su Nian's trembling hand.
Su Nian couldn't move
his body frozen, paralyzed in everything except heartbeat and breath.
Duie's other arm wrapped around his waist,
and for the first time in his life
Su Nian felt the touch of someone's lips on his skin.
A soft kiss at his shoulder.
Then another.
And then... more.
Su Nian's eyes glazed over.
His head tilted back, resting against Duie's shoulder
unwilling, unable to resist.
Three hours passed.
Su Nian now lay curled in Duie's embrace,
held close.....without a word,
without a complaint.
No confessions were spoken aloud.
But everything... everything had been said.
The first kiss had joined two broken souls.
Two fated beings
as if heaven had sent them to Earth solely for each other.
Tears shone in Su Nian's eyes.
Memories came flooding back
the nights when his stepbrothers used him for sword practice,
when his stepmother locked him away without food,
when he was treated like a prisoner, not a son.
The day the letter came from Liuguang Sect Academy,
for the first time in his life,
he had hoped.
And now...
remembering all that, he broke.
He cried.
Uncontrollably.
But Duie said nothing.
He just held him close.
He knew exactly why Su Nian was crying.
Su Nian had finally understood
he was being loved.
Truly loved.
And Duie had shown him that love
not through words,
but through the soft, sheltering touch
that felt like wings wrapping around his heart.
A touch that would never let go.
Even as Su Nian feared that he would soon be forced to return to that hell again,
Duie promised him silently
he would never let that happen.
Not now.
Not ever.