Moonlight spilled past the window lattice. Yun Ying dozed in the wicker chair beside the bed.
She cradled the old outer robe she had changed Qu Yong out of. Medicine stains still marked her cuffs, and loose strands of hair veiled the redness at the corners of her eyes.
She had watched over him for five days and five nights.
The candle on the table had formed a knot of charred wick. At its faint crackle, she startled awake and hurriedly wiped her face and smoothed her hair, afraid he might wake and see how haggard and disheveled she looked.
"Cough..."
An exceedingly soft sound came from the bed, like a drop of water falling into a porcelain bowl.
Yun Ying's breath stopped short. She stared at Qu Yong's pale lips and saw them slowly curve into a smile. He had finally awakened.
"Yun... Ying?"
His voice was as rough as sandpaper scraping an earthenware jar, its final note trembling weakly, yet to Yun Ying, those two words were nothing less than celestial music.
She sprang to her feet. The wicker chair scraped shrilly across the floor, and the medicine bowl on the table crashed to pieces at her feet, splashing brown liquid over her skirt. She cared about none of it.
"You're awake?... You're finally awake!"
She rushed to his bedside, not even feeling the pain when her knee struck the bed frame. Her palm hovered over Qu Yong's forehead, but she was afraid to touch him. At last, she gently rested it on the back of his hand. His hand was still cool, but a little warmer than it had been last night.
Qu Yong gazed quietly at her.
Moonlight filtered through her hair, making the redness at the corners of her eyes more vivid, like pomegranate blossoms