WHO: Jun Li and Ash Liang WHEN: Evening of January 26 WHERE: The back deck at their house SUMMARY: Jun asks Ash a question at the start of the new year. WARNINGS: None BINGO PROMPT: Relationship Upgrade
Though the Lunar New Year had begun the day before, Jun had decided to wait until the following evening to celebrate with his closest friends. This was, in part, due to the fact that he had unexpectedly (though it shouldnāt have been as much of a surprise as these things always seemed to be for him) been asked to take part in their Chinese New Year Parade. Heād been glad for the honor, of course, and for the opportunity to celebrate an important part of his own culture with others and with the people that meant the most to him.
After a day full of festivities, though, heād been ready to get home to the house he now shared with Ash and the food and celebrations heād been preparing for weeks now. Heād even made traditional rice dumplings by hand. And so he and Ash had spent the next several hours with Xing and Rachel, Everett and Stella, and Ang enjoying old traditions and a holiday for reconnecting and new beginnings.
This, Jun hoped, would definitely be a new beginning and reconnection, it turned out, was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
Their guests had left for the evening and, as Jun joined Ash out on the back deck where she watched the stars and the lanterns theyād each hung that night, his palms turned clammy and his heart seemed to race just a little bit faster. When heād first reconnected with Ash, heād never imagined that their relationship would become what it had. It felt like an entirely different lifetime whenever he thought back to the circumstances that had brought them face-to-face again. His ex felt like sheād happened to someone else, though she was the reason heād found it difficult to see himself back in the position of wanting to commit so fully to another person, if only because it had felt impossible at the time to trust anyone so fully again that heād be ready to do so.
But so much had happened since then. It wasnāt just the days he spent with Ash, laughing and feeling freer than heād felt in years. It wasnāt just the time theyād spent learning each other again, or the shared dreams. It was the realization that he could no longer imagine waking up without her being the first one he saw or spoke to. He couldnāt imagine her not being the first person he wanted to text when he saw something that was funny, or when he was having an especially long day. And the fact that he could remember another incarnation of himself being forced into a marriage he never wanted, living without the opportunity to make the choices he wanted to make, sacrificing everything that he was over and over again for the sake of a people he never knew how to save was part of it. Jun didnāt want to let time slip by them without him acknowledging all of the reasons why he never wanted to lose Ash from his life again. He didnāt want to wake up one day and regret not taking advantage of his freedom that Kai could never have.
She wasnāt the girl with the grease-smudged gloves, and he wasnāt the boy in the hoodie with too much responsibility and loss on his shoulders, but he knew he loved Ash as fiercely and completely as Kai loved Cinder, and he wasnāt going to let the chance he had to be with the woman he loved when he knew full well that Kai would have given anything for that chance himself.
He picked up one last lantern from beside the back door and walked toward Ash.
āThereās one more if you want to hang it. I think someoneās already attached a note to it, though, so youāll just have to unroll it first.ā
Scrawled upon the tightly scrolled parchment was a single question.
The time was now. He took a breath and handed the lantern toward the woman whoād had his heart the whole time.
In the past three years, Ash had spent two of them celebrating the new year in China itself and the most recent with her family in DC. The celebrations in China had been an experience unlike any other as she'd found herself immersed in the culture she had grown up hearing stories about and the traditions that her grandparents and father had done their best to try to introduce the newest generation of Liangs to. Coming back to Virginia after being in the country that was half of her heritage had happened to fall just before the Lunar New Year, meaning that she had been back for more or less a year.
This year's celebration was very different than the one prior. Ash of a year ago would have never imagined celebrating with Jun, but Ash of a year ago would have never imagined her life might make the turns and twists it had, either. She had accepted that the only part that Jun Li might play in her life would be a friend, if that. And yet, it was a year later and they had found their way back to one another.
She thought about all of that as she stared up at the stars, leaning against the railing of the deck that was part of their house -- their house. It wasn't until she heard Jun behind her that she broke from her reverie, turning and giving him a warm smile. Being able to share in the festivities of the day with him had brought up memories of their past, when they had been just kids. It felt good to be able to make new memories with him, ones that were separate from those years long gone and the memories of Cinder and Kai. Those memories, even those of royalty and Lunars, were part of them, but the time that they had together now was what was most important to Ash.
Ash's eyes dropped to the lantern, her head tipping just a fraction to the side. "How did we miss that one?" she asked, not really expecting an answer as she held out her hand to take the lantern from him. She had taken her left arm off, it having needed to charge after a full day's use, but it wasn't hard for her to hold it and unroll the note.
Ash spoke many languages and the one on the slip of paper was one that she knew particularly well. But still, she had to read the characters once, twice, then look up at Jun for just the barest of seconds before her eyes dropped back to the note and then -- the ring.
"Stars." The word slipped out easily, one borrowed from Cinder as she looked up to Jun once more. Her fingers found the ring and she held it delicately, between her thumb and index finger. She had known that they were headed this way, of course. They had slipped back into a relationship with relative ease once they let themselves and had been learning who the other was until she'd started to feel like an expert once more. But still, she couldn't help but ask, even as a wide, excited smile bloomed across her lips, "Really?"
āOh, no,ā Jun replied, feigning a wince. āThat was meant for this other girl that Iāve been madly in love with for the better part of my life. I meant to have you unroll the one with Will you let me have the last rice dumpling? on it. Here, Iāll just take that back.ā
Though she wanted terribly to play along, Ash's smile refused to dull or tone down to let her have even a bit of a straight face. Still, as she carefully pulled the ring from where he had attached it to the note, not wanting to rip it since she knew that she was just sentimental enough to want to keep it, she said, "Well, no. You can't have the last rice dumpling, so there's your answer on that." Ash stepped in toward Jun, holding the ring between her fingers and letting her eyes drop to look at it. "And you can't have this back, either. I'm going to wear it for the rest of my life instead."
Though his expression grew more serious, now punctuated by the endless well of affection Jun felt for this incredible woman he had in his life, the playful, teasing smile never faltered. He stepped forward, taking the lantern from her and setting it at their feet before lifting his hands to frame her face.
āAsh, I will give you the last rice dumpling, or slice of pizza, or glass of wine every day for the rest of my life,ā he said. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. āAnd everything that is mine is yours for the rest of your life.ā He kissed the tip of her nose. āIn Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Latin, the words are the same. Marry me, Ash Liang. Nothing else matters, nothing, when Iām not sharing this life with you.ā His lips pressed softly against and lingered at the corner of hers.
There were times when Ash almost wished that she and Cinder also had a lack of tear ducts in common; though she didn't cry often, it often felt like it was poor timing. Right then, though, she was glad for the difference as very happy tears starte to well up in her eyes with each word Jun spoke. It wasn't just that they were wonderful to hear because what person didn't want to hear such things from the love of their life. No, it was because she understood exactly what he was saying, because she felt the very same way for him. After seven years together, they'd had ten years apart and she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she never wanted to live that way again. This was how it was meant to be.
Ash leaned into Jun, turning her head just enough to kiss him squarely, taking her time and letting it linger before she inevitably had to let it break to speak. She'd never been as good at words as Jun, but she had also never felt like she had to try but so hard with him, either. "I love you," Ash said, though she spoke the words in the Mandarin that he'd used to ask his question in the first place. As she continued, she switched to English. "I love you more every single day, which seems kind of impossible because I already love you a lot." She smiled a bit indulgently at that before continuing, "So... yes. I would really, really like to marry you, Jun Li."
Heād known that it was unlikely Ash would say no. It wasnāt like theyād been subtle about how they felt about one another or the thought of their permanence. It was one thing to assume the answer, though, and a completely different thing to hear that yes in Ashās own voice. His grin split his face in half as his arms fell to wrap around her waist, pulling her into him as he spun her around once. Jun kissed her, then, and all of the love and hope and joy he felt for their future was reflected in it.
Pulling back, he said, āJust try not to tranquilize me on our wedding day, okay?ā
A wry smile took over Ash's face as she looked up at Jun. "I can't make any promises, but I'll try my best."
At that, she lifted the ring and held it up between them to consider. Though not much of a jewelry person, this was an exception that Ash would be more than happy to make. She didn't want to drop it as she attempted to maneuver putting it on her finger with her hand, only to have it fall between the cracks of the deck or worse, so she offered it toward Jun. Normally she was pretty adamant about doing things for herself, but this was another exception that she was happy to make. "Help me put it on?"
Without missing a beat, Jun took the ring from Ash and slipped it easily onto her right ring finger. His chest tightened pleasantly as he realized that this was officially happening, that she had said yes and there was a ring there to prove it. He didnāt need her to wear it all the time if she didnāt want to, and he didnāt feel like he needed to prove the status of their relationship to the public, but in this moment that tangible symbol of their future together was everything to him. He leaned down to pull her into another kiss and marvelled at the fact that his future was going to be full of this.
āHappy New Year,ā he said, murmuring the words against her lips. This, it turned out, was a much better way to spend the occasion than in a grand ballroom with a murderous lunar queen and a mechanic heād already been undeniably in love with.