Chapter 198 - 198 - Really Dead!!

Sipping his coffee slowly, Xia rolled the little pearl in his palm. Under the evening sunlight it appeared almost translucent, with a pink glow in its centre. 'It's a cute shade of pink,' he thought with a small smile.

"Xia, don't drink that. You already got addicted to it," Long said with a pout. He threw the duvet from the bed and trotted over to him. With a small smile, he plucked the mug from his hands. "You are allowed to drink only one cup per day,"

"No way, I want to drink more. Why are you restricting my food intake, huh? You are the one who told me to gain weight in the first place," Xia whined. He threw a small glare at him and continued to enjoy the evening scenery.

"What do you have in your other hand? Are you hiding that coffee packet?" Long questioned him doubtfully. He tried to get to his other hand, but Xia hid his hands behind his back.

"No, it's nothing; go away, I'm angry with you. You won't allow me to drink coffee," the little crayfish glared at him.

Long tried to get a hold of him, but Xia sat right on top of his clenched fists.

"I'm not giving it to you," Xia said with a pout.

Long sighed and gave up. He sat right behind him. The space was quite cramped, but he hugged his lover tight, fitting Xia's back to his chest. "Fine, I won't take it from you. Don't be angry with me," he whispered close to his ears.

"hump," Xia humped and faced the window.

"Darling, come on. Talk to me, I will let you drink coffee again," Aotian said with a small pout. 'Maybe I being too strict with him, he really is too thin let him eat and drink all he wants,' He thought caressing his lover's small tummy.

Xia turned over and pouted. "You should not give me orders. I don't like it," he said softly.

Long Aotian snuggled next to his neck and nodded. "I won't. I didn't mean to," he mumbled.

Achieving his point, the crayfish cheerfully kissed his chin. "By the way, I'm not hiding coffee," he said and showed him the pink pearl in his palm.

Long picked it up and sniffed it. It did not smell like a usual pearl, rather it had a weird scent to it. He sniffed even more, but he could not pin point this new scent. Puzzled, Long gave it back to his lover. "It smells weird," he mumbled.

"Really? I think it smells like my river." Xia said, sniffing it deeply. It had subtle sweet lotus scent to it. Sighing, Xia rolled it around in his palm. "It really doesn't look like a pearl, rather looks like a candy," he mumbled.

Long distractedly nodded.

Watching the beautiful pearl Xia suddenly had a weird thought. 'If it smells so good, would it taste good?' He subtly glanced back at the distracted dragon and popped it in his mouth.

"What did you just eat?!"

"N—nothing," Xia mumbled, rolling the pearl under his tongue.

"Xia, did you just eat that pearl. Oh my god," Long shouted and rushed to him.

"Don't overreact, it's just a pearl," Xia evaded his hands and rushed to the door.

Long easily picked him up and threw him over his shoulders. "Xia, spit that out right now! It might be poison, spit it out," he said glaring at him.

Xia popped his tongue out and mumbled, "It tastes like a rock,"

"For goodness' sake, you are like a kid god darn it," Long placed Xia on the bed and pried his mouth open. He put his finger inside and searched around. He could feel his soft mouth, but not the pearl. "Where is it? Did you....did you swallow it?!"

Xia's eyes went wide. He to put his finger inside, but he could not find the pearl. "No...I did not swallow it though. What happened?" he whispered confusedly. Suddenly his senses were assaulted by a salty taste. It swirled around in his mouth, making his entire mouth salty. "I think...it—it melted," he stuttered.

"What! Then spit the liquid out. It's definitely poison," Long exclaimed anxiously. He even held his palm cupped so that his lover can puke in it.

Xia gazed at him with a frown. He tried puking it out, but it did not work. Watching Long's anxious expression, he unknowingly gulped.

"Did you just swallow it?"

"Yes," Xia answered in a small voice.

"Xia, you stupid crustation... Wait here, Let me find Bao he might have herbs to fight poison," Long frantically rushed out the room.

The crayfish sat silently scratching his chin. "But I don't think it poison though," he whispered.

Shrugging nonchalantly, he plopped back on the bed. His eyes went tired and limp. "I'll take a small nap," he mumbled, dozing off.

In his sleep his vision went white all of a sudden and familiar scene appeared. He blinked and glanced around. He was standing in the void realm, surrounded by many spatial rifts. 'Eh, why am I dreaming about this?' he thought as he hopped around.

From the distance, he heard sounds of someone arguing.

"No, I guess, we are gonna have to send you back," a man said.

"It can't be, I'm so close…..my son is nearby," a woman cried.

Xia slowly crept behind them. The woman was facing away from him and from his angle he was only able to see the man. 'Oh, isn't that the masked man?' He thought with a small smile.

Nearby, he also noticed a handsome man standing with the masked man. He did not know who he was, but he looked familiar.

"For all we know, Xia escaped this void realm with his lover. Well….that stupid guy is strong, he can protect Xia well. I can assure you that when I meet them, I will bring them back safely. So..." the masked man said, trying to comfort the wailing woman.

Xia was stunned for a second. 'Eh, they are talking about me. And Why is this woman crying for me?' he thought as he slowly walked forward.

His eyes went wide. The wailing woman was his mother, Yukiya. "Mum! Mummy, I'm here mummy why are you crying?" he shouted and ran up to her. He tried hugging her, but his hands went through, like she was just a hallucination.

Mortified, he glanced down at his almost transparent hands. 'What is this? Am I—dead? No, it can't be. I'm not dead. ' he thought as his heart lurched in fear. He did eat that weird pearl, maybe it really was poison as Long guessed. He hugged himself, but his hands went through his body.

Yukiya wailed louder, hugging a man closer.

Xia slowly stepped closer and stood in front of her. "Mommy, don't cry. I'm here mommy. I'm here. Your Xia Che is here," he shouted, but Yukiya kept wailing loudly. "You can't see me? Mommy looks like I'm.... dead," he whispered.

Tears uncontrollably rolled down his cheeks. He could not even wipe them away. He sobbed along with his mother. "Mommy, I was wrong. I should have listened to Long. Now...now I'm dead," he cried, hovering his hands close to her small hands. "I can't even touch you and console you mommy. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I'm dead," he whispered softly.

His mother suddenly snapped towards the masked man. "But, I want to see for myself if he is safe. What if that guy is not his lover, but a kidnapper? What if Xia is mortally wounded? What if….." she cried.

"No mommy, I was not kidnapped. Aotian he—he is my lover. He is a good man. He would never hurt me mommy. I was... very happy," he cried.

His ears rang all of a sudden. Startled, he touched his ears. 'I can't hear anything,' he could only see his mother crying something and the man next to her saying something to her. "Mommy, it looks like my time is here. I—I think I'm going to rebirth," he whispered softly.

One last time he hugged her and stepped back further and further away from her.

Even in death he only had one regret. He was not able to say his final goodbyes to his lover. His baby, Aotian. 'He would be devastated. My poor little dragon. I—I hope he would live a good life after me,'

The ringing in his ears stopped.

He saw the masked man open a portal wide for his mother. Tearfully, his mother approached it. "Yes, please. And... just so you know He too has been waiting for you for almost two thousand years." She whispered and wiped her tear away.

It turned into a small pink pearl and rolled into another spatial rift.

Xia noticed this, but he was too preoccupied by her words. "Who did you mean, mother? Who waited?" he whispered. 'Is she talking about me? Who did I wait for?'

All of a sudden, her words made sense. With his eyes wide open, he peered at the green clothed-masked man. "Don't tell me...he is my.....father?"