"You're here" a mellow voice noted. Aya turned to see Yixing leaning against the door. "Yixing" she said, breaking out of her trance. He smiled and for a moment Aya was reminded of everything she had ever loved about him. She smiled ruefully as she turned back to gazing at the cityscape.

The breeze had become chilly and the yellow lights from apartments had begun to dim and completely shut down. The stars weren't visible over the city but if they were they would be twinkling about now. Tiny gems embedded in deep navy fabric spread across space. It was a shame the all ading ether theory had been disproven.

"You'll catch a cold" he told her gently. He covered her with his jacket before taking the place next to her on the ledge overlooking the multi storeyed establishments. "Thank you" she said in a small voice. Yixing nodded looking ahead.

"You know, I once saw a movie. There was a man and he was in love with a woman" Aya told him. "Okay" Yixing nodded. He had learnt over time that Aya some times took the roundabout way to say something she really didn't want to say. "Except they couldn't be together because he was married to another and they were parents and the woman refused to mess up her daughter's life."

"Sounds complicated" Yixing noted. "It was too. They were sitting together just like we are now. There was a line she said, that I will always remember" she hummed. "What was it?" he asked playing along. "Well she had her feet dangling off the bed. She said the moment her feet touched the ground their beautiful dream would end. That would be the end" she told him. Aya swung her feet and Yixing took the hint.

"Are we a beautiful dream too then?" he asked her with a wry smile. "Do you love me Yixing?" Aya asked. "Yes. There are no two doubts about it" he replied. He didn't have to ask her because he already had her answer. "Next question then. Do you love me because you love me or because you've never had the chance to love someone else?" she continued. Yixing stayed silent.

"I love you" Aya said after a moment of silence. Yixing turned to look at her, surprised. He hadn't expected that. She was looking at him now. He noticed the steeled determination in her eyes. What did her conviction indicate?

"I was selfish. I thought love would be enough" Aya confessed. "Why wasn't it?" he asked beginning to feel bitter. His love for her was enough for him! This wasn't fair. "Because you can't love a person if they don't love themselves" she said calmly. Her grip around his jacket tightened and for a moment he had to wonder if she was referring to him or herself.

"Why now? On the night we are supposed to get engaged?" he asked.  Try as he might, he wasn't able to keep the disappointment out of his voice. "Because we aren't marrying, we are settling" she said firmly. "It isn't a bad deal" he argued. "But a deal nonetheless" she pointed out.

"It isn't that easy. We have responsibilities. We can't run away from them" he replied. " And we can't suffocate ourselves in the process of fulfilling them" she added. Yixing looked at her. Aya closed her eyes and took a deep breathe. She lay her head on his shoulder and his arms wrapped around her waist pulling her close.

"If we weren't getting married then what would you do?" Yixing asked her. "Go for higher education. Take over the family business maybe" she told him. "I thought your father wanted your brother to do it" Yixing frowned. "Gege doesn't want to do it. He wants to become a singer. He has an offer from a talent scout waiting. Given three years he'll be making his own music if he accepts." "And by then you would have finished your education and would be ready to take his place" Yixing deduced. "Yeah" Aya affirmed.

"What would you do Yixing?" Aya asked. "Me? I don't know what I want to do yet" he told her. "I thought you'd take the chance to travel the world. Study art. Paint some of your own. Why did you stop drawing in high school?" she asked him. "Baba fell sick. I had to support Mama" he answered.

"I don't regret my choices Aya" he told her firmly. "I don't want to be first you regret then" she told him in the same tone. A thick tension shrouded by silence covered the two.

"You could be so much more" Aya said wistfully. "We'll never know" he told her coldly. "We could run away you know. Go to a different place. Start anew. Fall in love with each other for real. Or maybe even fall out of it and find different paths. We could be so much more" Aya reasoned. "We'd be cowards who ran away chasing castles in the sky" Yixing cut her down. They stared at each other till they were interrupted by a message tone.

"Gege is looking for us. We need to go" she told Yixing quietly. They turned around on the ledge. Yixing stepped down first, dusting and straightening his clothes. He turned to help Aya who looked at her feet and then at the ground. "You dream too dangerously" he told her softly. "Each of the endings I proposed tonight is a dream Yixing. I'm not scared of choosing now. I am scared of not knowing what dream I chose till it's too late" she admitted. 

Yixing smiled at her with glassy eyes. He leaned in and kissed her, his hands going under the jacket to pull her by the waist. "You'll know when you put your feet on the ground" he whispered in her ear before pulling away. She looked at him hesitantly as he held his hand out. 

Either way,  it was a leap of faith.

-x-