The bed sagged under them. Sheets twisted. Pillows everywhere. Mo Ye leaned back, remote in one hand, flipping channels. Laptop open on the bedside table. Half-forgotten.
Fiorella sat cross-legged. Knees to chest. Eyes on him. Stolen glances. Every now and then he looked back. Calm. Nothing on his face. Like two years never happened.
She liked that. Liked it but hated it too. Words stuck in her throat. Apology. She owed him that. Didn't know how.
"Mo Ye…" She tried. Low. Careful.
"Hm?" He didn't move. Didn't lift the remote.
"About… before. Two years ago. I"
he waved his hand in a dismissive manner slowly "Don't don't think of that atleast not now ,Later."
Her stomach twisted. Relief? Frustration? Both. She stared at him for a while, her heart beat faster. He always Made her feel.
She stole another glance he was still flipping channels, Thumbs brushing the remote ,she felt him right there with her
Tonight she could just watch. Let him be,Let herself be , tomorrow she will apologize.
For now.
____________👘_______
The car rolled to a stop in front off a temple . Mo Ye got out first he was home.
Fiorella dragged her bag out, eyes darting everywhere. The stone steps. The old doors. Incense smoke curling faint from inside.
"I want you to see where I grew up," Mo Ye said without looking back. "I want you to meet my Shifu."
Her throat went tight. She only nodded. Followed him up.
Inside, it was quiet. Familiar for him, strange for her. Shifu sat where he always did, back straight, gaze steady.
"You're back," Shifu said.
Mo Ye bowed his head in greeting,
Fiorella hovered near the doorway, suddenly small she could feel this mans power radiating off him but she didn't know what to do with her hands, eyes or her breath. This wasn't her space. It was his.
Shifu's eyes flicked to her, then back to Mo Ye before resting on his cup of tea,Nothing said after that and shifu didn't ask anything either.
Shifu's eyes flicked once to Fiorella then back to Mo Ye. He lifted his hand, a small gesture.
Mo Ye hesitated. "Shifu"
"Go," Shifu said, steady. "Wait outside."
Mo Ye's mouth pressed thin but he obeyed "yes shifu", he bowed once then stepped out and shut the door behind him.
The silence pressed heavier now. Fiorella shifted, her hands useless at her sides. Shifu's gaze stayed on her like he could read every thought.
"You made him sad," Shifu said finally. No rise in tone, no anger. Just flat. Heavy.
Fiorella's throat went dry.
"He never says it, but I know. The way he carried himself when he came back to me. He is my blood, sweat, years. I see when his spirit bends." Shifu's hand curled slow on the armrest. "You bent it."
Fiorella's lips parted but no words came.
"Do you understand what it means for me to give him to the world?" Shifu leaned forward just slightly, eyes sharp now. "I raised him in the mountain, loved him with my own life. And you" his voice cut sharp, the first crack of heat. "You walk away, leave him bleeding, then come back? For what? To test him again?"
Her stomach twisted. Shame hot in her chest.
Shifu leaned back, the calm sliding over him again like water. "If you cannot hold him, then don't touch him. Better to cut the thread clean than strangle him with it."
Fiorella's nails bit into her palms. Words finally broke loose.
"I was wrong," she said, voice low, shaky. "I left him when I shouldn't have. I was a coward. But I love him, Shifu. I want to stay. I want to do it right this time. Please… let me love him."
Shifu rose slowly, his robe gliding across the floor. His shadow stretched long against the wall. He turned as if to leave.
Desperate, Fiorella reached, fingers clutching his sleeve. The fabric bunched tight in her hand. "Please."
In one clean motion Shifu's hand flashed. Cold steel glinted. A dagger. Its tip stopped just at her throat.
Her breath caught.
Shifu's gaze pinned her, sharp as the blade itself. "What you want, say it to him. Not me." His voice dropped, final, unyielding.
He pulled free of her grip and stepped toward the door.
____👘____
Shifu left the room slow. No trace. He set the dagger away like it had never been. Wiped the cup and straightened the mat. The hall looked untouched .
she stepped out later that night.
She moved like a ghost. Bare feet on cold stone. Moonlight cut the courtyard into silver strips. She slipped toward Mo Ye's door/courtyard Her heart beating louder than a drum.
He wasn't there. She kept wanted to keep going but a figure stepped out of the shadow Shifu was standing there... Standing like a wall.
She stopped moving, Words completely failed her,She dropped to her knees without thinking, hands on the stone, head bowed. she whispered raw"Why did I leave him? Why did I run?"
Shifu didn't say a word at first. He looked at her the way someone looks at a storm that just passed. Then he crouched, slow, so his face was level with hers. He didn't touch her. He only asked one word"Why?"
She forced the story out like a thing she hated but could not hide. "I saw the report," she said. "The minister… he was using his power to hurt the children he claimed to sponsor. They were scared. They were trapped. I saw their faces. I learned what he did. I thought… I thought leaving would keep me safe. I thought I could walk away from it all. I was wrong."
Shifu listened. No reaction on his face. He stood then, a single long movement, and said what he believed like it was iron: "Mo Ye does no wrong. They deserved death. Mo Ye brings it to them."
He turned and walked back into the temple, his robes whispering, leaving her on the stone with the cold pressing up at her knees. The night swallowed the sound of his steps. She stayed there a long time, kneeling, the weight of his words heavy and sharp in her chest.