Bedtime Story (Confession of Love)

“Luhan! Tao!” Yifan called for his two sons who was perched on the sofa playing angry bird before blaming each other because they failed to finish the level.

Approaching the two growing boys, Yifan took their smartphones and stared them down. “Bed. Now.”

Both Luhan and Tao groaned before putting on their best pout against their father. “Pa, we want to play more.” Luhan, the older one whined before Tao adding up. “Just let us finish a level.”

Already used to that pout, Yifan sternly said. “No.” Pointing at the clock on the wall, he reminded the two boys. “It’s already past your bedtime. And tomorrow you have school.”

“But I don't go to school.” Tao raised his hand.

Turning to his three years old son, Yifan raised his brow. “Not yet.”

“I'm not sleepy yet.” This time the first grader boy reasoned, but Yifan had already had a lethal answer to fight that defense.

“Do you need me to remind you that you fell asleep two minutes after you said that line some nights ago?”

“But, this time, I'm not really sleepy yet.” Luhan said back, his eyes opened wide staring back at his papa who stood tall in front of him.

A little yawn from his side, made Luhan and Yifan to turn to Zitao who rubbed his eyes cutely. “I want to sleep…” He muttered.

Shoulders sagged in defeat, Luhan moved from the sofa. “I'm going to bed now.”

Smiling triumphantly, Yifan patted Luhan’s hair softly. “Good.”

“Come on, Taozi.”

Tao grabbed Luhan’s offered hand before the two boys went up to their room. Out of caution, Yifan followed them, making sure that the two would arrive in their beds safely, and he was satisfied when he saw Luhan helped his little brother up to his bed before he slipped in next to the younger boy because once again Tao didn't want to sleep alone.

“There are monsters in the closet and under my bed! They will come out if I sleep alone!”

“Yeah yeah. Now sleep.” Luhan uttered, dragging the blanket up until it reached his chin.

“Pa! Will you tell us a story?” Tao looked up excitedly at his father who checked on them.

Not minding it one bit, Yifan nodded as he slipped into the room. “I will.”

“I'm too old for this.” Turning to his side, Luhan pulled the blanket over his head.

“You can't be too old for story, Ge!”

“Tao is right, Lu. Beside, you're only six years old.”

“I don't want to hear stupid stories about the prince saving the princess from danger.”

“It won't be a story about that!” Tao exclaimed before looking at their father. “Right, Papa?”

Patiently, Yifan nodded at Tao’s request. “Yeah. There is no princess this time.”

Groaning, Luhan pushed the blanket down from his face and looked at his brother and father. “Fine. Now, tell us.”

Chuckling at the pout, Yifan sat down at the edge of the bed near Tao. His eyes fleeted from a spot to another, looking for an idea before they landed on a dragon doll resting between Tao and Luhan.

“So, this is a story from another world.” Yifan started and Luhan still had enough sass to interrupt.

“How do you know it if it comes from another world?” When Tao and Yifan sent him a stare, Luhan raised his hands. “Okay. I will shut up.”

Nodding appreciatively, Yifan repeated. “So this is a story from another world...”

-----

It was a magical world where lot of creatures lived among human. One of them was a big dragon who had blazing red eyes with vermilion colored scales covering his body, the scales were thin but they were strong enough that even a sharp blade couldn't hurt the dragon. His big wings helped him to fly to wherever he wants and his ability to breathe fire fend off other being who wanted to kill him.

-----

“Why does the other want to kill the dragon?” Tao interrupted with his curiosity.

“That's because the dragon is cruel and always scared the human.” Rolling his eyes, Luhan threw a  snide comment.

Reaching for his dragon doll, Tao held it close to him. “No! Mister Dragon is not cruel!”

“Now, now, stop bickering and just listen to Papa.”

-----

The big dragon whose height could easily surpass a home, had been living peacefully with his family, far up in the steepest mountain to protect themselves. He was still so young and had never met with other beings beside the small animals who lived in the mountain. And one day, out of his curiosity, he went against his parent's warning about going down to town.

With the help from small animals who told him the way to nearby town at the foot of the mountain. He was fascinated by the sight which greeted him, it wasn't like where he had been living, there were small houses, people going around the town and the forest which was filled by lot of animals and forest men. The dragon flied closer before landing on the clearing in the vast forest. He roamed the area, watching lot of different types of plant greening the area. His eyes gleamed with excitement until he met a group of men clad in dirty clothes with rude attitude.

-----

“What’s going to happen to the dragon?” Tao asked terrified, clutching his dragon doll protectively.

“Because the young dragon was still so innocent and naive, he didn't know that he was being trapped by a group of hunters. He was led to a big cave where the hunters kept their treasures and there, the leader of the group put some sort of golden necklace around the dragon's neck.”

“Necklace?” Luhan scrunched his nose. “Is it something like the one around Ace’s neck?”

Knowing what Luhan meant, Yifan nodded before explaining to his other son. “Our Ace is wearing blue colored necklace, right?”

Blinking his eyes to find out what his father was talking about, Tao tried to imagine their dog inside his mind. The white shih tzu dog indeed had something blue around his neck. “Yes. The blue thing where you attach the leash to guide Ace?”

“Right. That is not exactly a necklace, but a collar.”

“Collar?”

“Yes, collar.”

“The hunter put that collar on the dragon? Why did he do that? Mister Dragon is not a dog!” Tao sat up abruptly in panic, his small hands patting his own neck as if he could feel the golden collar was there.

Putting Tao back down and placed the blanket over his chest, Yifan explained. “The hunters needed someone to protect their treasures. You know that the dragon was big and strong, right?”

“Yes.”

“The hunters wanted the dragon to keep their treasures safe from robbers.”

“But why did they put the collar on Mister Dragon's neck?” The young boy looked upset as he got himself two small fistfuls of blanket.

“They did that so the dragon couldn't leave from the cave.”

“Can Mister Dragon break the collar? He is strong!”

Feeling enough of Tao's babbling, Luhan commented. “If he can, this story will be boring.” Ignoring Tao's disbelief look, Luhan looked at their father. “What happened next?”

-----

The dragon tried to break off the collar and cut off the chain which attached to it, but he couldn't do it even with his strength and fire. The magic in the collar prevented him to do so, it weakened him whenever he attempted to break it.

“That collar and chain was layered with magic.” The leader laughed, waving the key in front of the dragon. “Now, you have to stay here.”

“I don't want to!” The dragon roared angrily but deep inside he was a bit scared. He wanted to go home.

“You have to.” the hunters mocked. “Now be a good useful dragon and kept others from taking these treasures.”

With that, the dragon was left alone with the gold treasures deep in the big cave. He was scared to be in that cave which wasn't big enough for him to spread his large wings and every time he heard noises from the other side, he got cautious. Hoping that whomever it was, they didn't come for the gold or he had to harm them.

Days slowly changed into weeks. Then turned into months. And years slowly had passed away for the lone dragon in the dark cave. He missed the outside world, he wanted to fly high in the sky, basking under the hotness of sunlight and relaxing under the shower of moonlight. He wanted to breathe the fresh scent of spring, the fruity summer, the chilling woody autumn and the freezing winter. And most of all, he wanted to meet his family and friends again.

Being in the cave was so lonely for the big dragon who had always had numerous friends up on the mountain. And even though there were some who went down toward him, they were all people who wanted to steal the golds.

Because of the magic collar, he had to fend off the robber or the collar would constrict his airways. Lot of people got hurt because of his fire and scratches and he felt guilty for everyone he had hurted.

The dragon waited and waited so long that he wasn't sure anymore of what he was waiting for. Was he waiting for another robber? Or the hunters who had locked him? Could it be that he was actually waiting for someone who can save him from this cave?

It had been long enough since the hunters locked him with their useless golds, the dragon started to wonder why they didn't come back to that cave. They said that they would come back once  they got a better hiding, but why didn't they come back yet? And how did those people knew about this gold anyway? Was this place really not safe like what the hunters had said?

----

“Wait!” This time, it was Luhan who interrupted Yifan. “What did the dragon eat?”

Blinking at Luhan’s question, Yifan glanced down at the green dragon on Tao's chest. “The dragon…” Well, he didn't know how to answer that. What the dragon ate wasn't part of the story.

“The dragon?”

“He is magical creatures.” Yifan clipped in. “He can stay alive without food as long as he consumed large amount of magic.”

“From where?”

In confusion, Tao only watched his older brother throwing his logical questions to their father.

Was it really matter? It was a magical story in magical world! Who care about what the dragon ate as long as he was alive in the story? Yifan wanted to rant, but obviously he couldn't do that. Not in front of TaoTao. So he opted to the most possible answer he could create. “The golds? The gold collar has magic in it. Surely all the other treasures had them too.”

Luhan stared at Yifan long enough before making an unamused expression. “Sure. Acceptable.”

Looking at Luhan who changed his position on bed a bit, Yifan wondered where he had gone wrong during the seven years of him raising Luhan. “Because the one he had been waiting for never come, the dragon got mad and out of his anger, he started  to attack anyone who dared to approach him. And he made scary noises to fend off whomever wanted to come in even before they stepped inside.”

Satisfied with none of the boys interrupting him, Yifan continued.

-----

Behind all those attack and scary noises, the dragon still wanted to be saved. He still had hope, and he hoped every day and every night, all throughout the decades that someone would come in, able to put off his fire and break the magic collar.

Once there was a man with thunder, he came down loudly, crackling electricity every paths he went that the dragon felt the tickle of it down to his cave. But he couldn't go past his fire.

Another time, there was a man who froze the cave. The dragon wasn't affected by it, because of his thick skin, but the man also had good strong defense against his fire with his ice. If it continued, the dragon had to put a stronger fight against the ice controller and harmed him. So, because he didn't want to do it, he gave the man two easy options. He could break the collar and take the treasures with him, or he could go home with empty hands.

The short man obviously chose the first, but his ice magic wasn't strong enough to break off the magic. He went out with disappointment.

Long after him, another man with the power of water challenged, he had heard from the ice man about the dragon and the golds. The dragon gave the same options, but the result wasn't satisfying because his water didn't have any effect on the gold collar. He too, went with no gold to bring.

Surprisingly one day, the dragon met a young man who didn't have any intention over the golds. Shixun, the man introduced himself, was a controller of the wind. The dragon didn't know what this Shixun wanted, but the young man wasn't even scared of the big fiery dragon at all.

“This place .” The tall young man commented, looking at the cave in disdain. “How could you live in this place for years?”