#can't wait to see y'all again when underworld arc rolls around

[fragrantpines]

Meng Po Soup's favourite flowers are red spider lilies.

They are the only flowers that bloomed in the underworld, helping lost souls find their way back onto the path of reincarnation with their fragrant scent.

Despite living in the underworld all his life, he had never really paid attention to them. After all, they were just some flowers, why should he care about them?

Yes, he never cared about the flowers. What he cared about was the smile you would give him whenever he gave those flowers to you, watching your face bloom with happiness as you accepted the flowers gracefully, a shy blush spread across your cheeks.

Once upon a time, he had been nicknamed by the masses as "Heartless" for a number of reasons. His face that was as still as a rock, his voice that never faltered while speaking the cruelest of thoughts, his body that never flinched when he was handing out punishments mercilessly-- there were too many to list out and he didn't feel comfortable listing anymore anymore when tears started to appear at the corner of your eyes.

"What they say is not true! The fact that you love me is proof that you have a heart!"

Is that so?

Perhaps you were right.

After he had met you, he began to learn about the various emotions in his heart in order to love you the way you deserved to feel loved. Every day, his heart was packed with emotions that he never knew the names of till you taught him what they were, why they were there and how each ones were significant. Those days were the best days in his immortal life, ones that he wished to perserve in the library of memories so that he could revisit them whenever he wanted to.

So why did he have to meet you in that field of red spider lilies?

"I'm sorry, Meng. I have to leave now."

"You don't have to. You can drink the soup and stay here as my servant again."

You don't have to go, so stay. Stay here with me please.

He wished that he didn't see you shake your head, shattering his ideas of keeping you all to himself.

He wished that you didn't approach him with a sad smile before embracing him tightly, just like how you would greet him whenever he paid a visit to Kongsang.

He wished, oh how he wished, that he didn't feel how cold your body was against his, devoid of the warmth that the living had within their bodies.

"Take care, my love. Remember that your heart is always here with you no matter what."

No, no it wasn't. His heart was never with him. It was in the hands of the person that smiled for him, cried for him, died for him.

That day, tears fell from his eyes as he pressed you close to his chest, praying that this nightmare would disappear the moment he woke up. Alas, when he saw your memories slowly disappear the moment you drank the soup--his soup--, a part of him died along the memories they shared. Memories that only he would carry from today onwards.

Meng Po Soup's favourite flowers were red spider lilies.

Now, as he looks over the sea of red spider lilies, a sneer appears on his lips.

Maybe they would look more beautiful if they were burned down with the world that dared to hurt you.