Gulf glares at Mild again and he wiggles his eyebrows. "What?"

He shrugs and Gulf sighs turning around from his annoying best friend. "Slept well?" Mild hums and stands in front of him.

"Yes! Why do you keep asking me that? If anything, I should ask you that question. Slept well 'adorable Mymi'?" Gulf points at the hickeys on his neck.

Mild blushes and walks out of their kitchen as Gulf chuckles.

Mild is so lucky. He is happy for his best friend.

They came really late last night and Thorn waited patiently to be fed by Mama Mi. San did not care and ate everything Mew had given him and passed out on the man's chest.

Gulf smiles remembering the offering from the nearby temple, Siwat had given him.

It is so delicious; Gulf never had one before. He could not believe Mew went berserk seeing Gulf eat that powder. 'What is he eating? Why are you giving him? Is it a medicine? Is Gulfie sick?'

Gulf sighs. P'Siwat finally said it was the merit offering from the temple.

Normally husbands give their breastfeeding wives but Gulf does not have one, so why not. A big brother can also take care of his breastfeeding younger brother, can't he?

How is that Mew's business anyways?

He pours salted ginger over the pickle and sets them under the sunlight.

It was so beautiful last night. One of the most gorgeous Bleeding Twilight Gulf had ever seen.

He had placed hungry Thorn next to tired but glowing Mild, so his baby can have his dinner.

Then it was just Gulf. He had lied on the big rock by the pond looking up at the red and pink bleeding sky for long.

People say that was the day, the Moon Goddess lost her virginity to the Sun God on his bed; sky. The blood she spilled is so vibrant and Gulf just let the colours and loneliness take him to his own past and fantasies until...

"How did I wake up in my bed?" Gulf gasps. He does not remember going to his bed.

It must be P'Siwat. Gulf will not accept any other answer. If it is...

"Will this firewood be enough for now? I will get you more in the evening. The women are bathing in the lake and they are whistling." Mew grumbles and wipes his sweaty forehead.

Gulf takes one look at the naked chest and he turns around just like that. 'Why can't the King wear a shirt or tunic or something?'

He can't prance around like this where there are...

Nobody cares, except you Gulf.

"Oh, you are done? Good!" Mew starts collecting the dirty dishes and Gulf turns back forgetting the man is half naked.

He jumps back around just in time almost knocking the pickle jar. "I got it!"

"No, no... you have been cooking all day. This is the least I could do."

"P'King! Gulf made Gola juice. Mind you, it is sour at first but then sweet, so take the first sip cautiously. Are you going to wash the dishes? I can do it." Mild does not care Mew has no shirt on but Gulf is still glaring a hole through the ground, still not looking.

"Yeah... Gulfie has back pain. I will get them washed under the tap."

Gulf peeks a little and Mew is now wearing a shirt, though unbuttoned at the chest. "I can do them myself."

"What is wrong with my doing it? I am already eating all your food." Mew takes the heavy pots and pans to the bamboo tap outside and Gulf runs behind.

"My pots and pans."

Mew laughs. "Did not know you were that petty. I am not stealing them. Relax. I am good at washing dishes."

"You are? But you are the Emperor." Gulf notices his voice is tiny and full of curiosity, so, he clears them immediately. "Uhm... it does not matter. I can clean them."

"Yes, I am an army commander too. When we go for wars, we do not take servants with us. So, all the commanders will take turns doing chores when we rest. My cooking is okay to eat but not as delicious as yours. So, I will take the dish washing duty or chopping woods, if I have a choice. So, do not worry. Your pots and pans are safe with me."

Mew gently flicks water to his face and Gulf scrunches up his face cutely.

Big mistake as Mew gets a big problem he has to hide with a pan lid.

His wife glares at him and turns around quickly to smack on Mild who was walking to Gulf lost in thought.

"HEY! Watch it!" Gulf scolds Mild.

"I watch it? You watch it dummy."

"Dummy?! Oh you gonna get it." Gulf threatens and wiggles his fist.

"DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY!!!" Mild runs away sticking his tongue out with Gulf hot on heels. They run around the home until a scroll is thrown to the letter box.

"Oye we are standing right here!" Mild pouts and goes to the letter box with an adorable stomp. "She could have just given me..."

Gulf watches as his best friend quickly goes through the scroll but that bright smile slowly fades until they start wobbling.

"Mild?" Gulf calls and Mild rushes to their home with a fake teary smile.

Mew and Gulf look at each other for a moment and Mew nods at him to go after Mild. Gulf rushes inside and sees Mild already crying.

"What is wrong Mi?"

"What wrong did I do, Gulf? I love him... he loves me... where is the 'mistake'?" Mild hiccups and Gulf hugs him close before reading the scroll.

If there is anything Gulf hates the most, it is the 'harlot'. Harlot is not a person; it is a profession!

Why people are throwing them around as an insult?! Mild is not a harlot. He was a faen and now a wife! There was no money involved for the love of bodies.

"Nong..." Mew calls and Mild wails.

"P'King... am I a bad thing? I love Siwa to death. Shouldn't his mae be happy that I love his son?"

Gulf and Mew just look at each other and let Mild pour his heart out.

"Mild..." Gulf makes Mild sit on the chair and gets him half a glass of waterberry wine. He notices the Emperor staring at the beverage. So he places another glass next to the jar, if the man needs a taste.

Mew thought he will also burst out crying when the taste of waterberry explodes in his tongue.

'It was you...' He thinks looking his fawn who is wiping Mild's tears.

"I love Siwa's mae, Gulf. He used to babysit us when I was tiny... how can he forget that so easily and call me..." Mild looks at the scroll and starts crying again. "Gulf, he used to be my mae too..."

Gulf sighs and rubs Mild's shoulder. "Well... it is... it is time for you to stop loving that person, Mild..."

"I can't... all my childhood memories and... is there a time to stop loving someone? Why does it hurt so much?"

Gulf takes a deep breath. "We should stop loving a person when our love brings pain to them." He hugs his best friend tighter. "At this moment... your love, your memories... are only giving them pain and frustration... it is time for us to let go... the hurt that you feel now is the hurt they feel because of our love."

"Gulf..." Mild's heartbroken face makes Gulf sniffle too.

"You have new people to love now. I... am one of them and dear god, the happiest moments I have ever gotten in a very long time is with you. I promise to cherish your love, Mama Mi. Love me... I am here and let those people go. We... are your family now. Please do not waste your precious attention, love and care to those people, when I will die of heartbreak if I can't feel your love anymore... You mean so much to me, Mi."

Gulf gently wipes Mild's tears again. "Do not love people if your love brings them nothing but pain. That is the worst thing we can do to a person."

He kisses that tear stained cheek.

Siwa comes in laughing with the two babies in the buggy until he sees his beloved wife wailing on Gulf's chest.

"LOVE!" He shouts and runs to his wife, handing the buggy to Mew.

Gulf watches when Siwa picks Mild and takes him to their half furnished bedroom.

San and Thorn goes crazy in the buggy to go with the couple but he knows the parents need some time for themselves.

"Later... let Pappa kiss Mama, okay?" Gulf leans down and kisses both the babies. "I promise to never be hurt by your love. I will cherish your love, care, trust and compassion to me till the day I leave this world and I promise to give them back a tenfold."

He gently rolls the buggy to his own bedroom, not aware of a stunned Mew.

Mild and Siwat only come out for dinner and by then Mild's face was tight and red with saline tears. Gulf sighs and takes rose infused water to pat Mild's swollen eyes.

"It is not easy." Everyone winces at Mild's nasal voice. He has cried a lot.

"Will be worth it... I promise." Gulf serves everyone food but Mew is elsewhere with spoon drawing patterns on the plate of boiled rice.

"No one has told me to..." Mild wipes his nose with Siwa's shirt tail.

"I am sure my mae loves you... he just does not..." Siwa tries again but he knows his words are empty with no rational reasoning behind it.

Truth is, Siwat wants his mae to love Mild like before and he just hopes the more he says it, the more truthful it becomes.

"If this is how your mae's love is..." Gulf points to the swollen face of Mild. "... do you want it for Mild?" He asks Siwat and the man looks away. "Mild has us now... and that 'us' includes two babies who literally need their mae... this kind of 'love' or whatever it is, will take their 'mae' away bit by bit until Mild is no more."

Gulf picks up crying San and he leaves; not an ounce apologetic.

This is not the first time Mild has broken down in front of him. Always the same pain; always the same tears.

Gulf knows the scrolls, the words from Siwat's mae is affecting Mild. Or why else that one time, he accidently admitted to Gulf that some days he wishes Siwat to slap him for being a bad omen.

That was not Mild who talked that day.

These frequent scrolls will turn Mild permanently that way and Gulf will lose his best friend.

"Gulf..." Mew stands next to his wife to say something but he has no words. When he followed Gulf he had so much to say. "Uhmm... Thorn is looking for you."

His fawn's eyes are shiny under the moonlight but they do not dip down in shyness anymore. The boy stares at him like a stranger all the time and Mew may now know why.

When they were married, this beautiful being was in love with Mew. Now that the love is lost, Mew is as well a stranger.

Why shy of a stranger?

"Gulf..." Mew calls again when he is back from thoughts and sees the boy has already left. No one answers him and the noise of silence is deafening.

Siwat knows what Gulf said is correct when Mild keeps on zoning out. His mae may not be a bad mother but his words and actions are bad for his wife at present.

"Mymi..." A fresh drop of tear falls from that gorgeous almond eyes and Siwat can only watch. He gently turns his wife's face towards him. "You have us. Why do you want them too?"

"Do you not hate me, Siwa? At least be angry at me... beat me... tell me it is all my fault... I am the reason why you don't have a family anymore..." Mild stops when Siwat's eye fill up too. "I am sorry..."

"I will stop being your husband when I beat you and I can't live with not being your husband, love. Even when we were young, I wanted you as my wife. So, how can I? I already have a family... the family I grew up with is still there... you gave me a new one too. You doubled my joy. Where is the mistake?"

Siwat clutches his wife tighter to his chest who fell asleep in the midst of crying. "I will not let anybody change you, Mymi. If there is no you, there is no me; then what will happen to our sons?"

Gulf brushes the hair off San's face. He was worried San will not sleep peacefully away from his mae. Thankfully Mew took the baby out to the lake and they played until the baby passed out of sheer exhaustion.

Yet, he can't let that man near Thorn. He does not care how many scrolls and notes Mew hides for him to find, he can't ignore the fear in his heart.

The Emperor may have lots of people to love and be loved. Gulf only has Thorn to call as his only.

Even San, he knows he is only the second person in that baby's life.

He will not let Mew into Thorn's life. Mew and his faen will have a baby one day. Then where will his son be? He will die before Thorn will know the pain of rejection that way.

Gulf's bedroom door slowly opens and he sits up seeing Mild coming in. His best friend lies with head on his lap and deeply sighs.

"You are right..."

Gulf runs his fingers through Mild hair. "Hm..."

"I will stop trying to mend our bridges if he really does not want me and my love in his life... but I cannot let Siwa take the hit of my choice." Mild sits up. "I have agreed to take San to his grandmae for visit. I will not go."

"Mi... that is what you want?"

"Not really, no... but my San deserves the love of his grandmae. He will love San, just not me. Siwa will not leave San in his mae's only care and the visit will always be supervised but... I will stay away."

Gulf does not understand.

"Why would you do that?"

"Mae Ka loves his grandson and I should not be the reason why my son does not know how a grandparent's love feels like... I will wait patiently for Mae Ka to make amends but you are right, if it does not happen, I will forgive myself for hurting him with my love and move on. We should not stand in between people who love, Gulf. If I did, I am same as Mae Ka."

Mild takes San with him and leaves to his own bedroom.

Gulf is troubled.

Is he standing in between Mew's love towards his own son?

It is different but... is it really?

The man loves his son, Gulf has seen. Mew says there is a huge misunderstanding and Gulf knows it too.

Mew never really liked him.

Of course he did not. Mew is an Emperor and Gulf is just an orphaned simple boy from a faraway village.

He should have just asked himself how a person like Mew would ever fall in love with him instead of putting on the wedding gown.

Mew was not the one who made everything worse for all. It was Gulf.

So, when the next day comes Gulf does not move away when Mew tries to strike up a conversation.

"I have given you reasons to hate me, Gulf..."

"I don't... hate." Mew is surprised to receive a reply and he stares far too long that the fawn checks if the lion is still there.

Oh the irony!

"It was not you... you know... that I married... I mean it is you but not you... I am not making any sense." Mew is nervous and he is stuttering. "I was supposed to have a paid drama artist as my wife... for a year until I could prove..."

Gulf turns to him and Mew knows he is willing to listen but dammit.

"You could prove..." Gulf nods for the Emperor to continue.

"There was someone I had to prove that my marriage will not affect my..."

"Your faen. You wanted him to know the depth of your love."

Mew cringes at the acceptance in Gulf's eyes but what else he could do but to nod. "There was a statement in my horoscope that questioned my attraction for him and yeaah... Prema said he will help and he got me a... harlot."

"Oh. I guess I am that harlot."

Mew tells him everything. How no 'actors' were willing to take up the role claiming it would affect their public image and only a harlot agreed for 100 gold bars.

"Aaah... that is why there was so much gold." Gulf cannot believe his peers were so jealous of that. "And the diamonds... they just happened to be in the 'Empress Crown'. You did not give it to me."

Mew wants to say something but what? So, he sighs and nods.

"You ended up being the victim of all... this misunderstanding."

Gulf nods but Mew can still see the doubts swimming in those pretty brown eyes. "Ask me anything, Gulf."

"Is just... I am a slowpoke. Excuse me but... why were you mad then? For my being a 'harlot'. You were expecting such a person, right? I mean... someone who seduces other as a profession; for money."

"Harlots are such dirty creatures! Disgusting! They have no values... they have no respect for their bodies and..."

"They agreed to help you. Yes, for a hundred gold bars. But... they agreed not to work anymore and pretend to be a wife and an Empress... for you. I mean it from your perspective. Isn't an enough reason to treat them... maybe not kindly given your apparent hate to that profession but at least... like a living thing? They were there on your side; to help you work out with your relationship. So why?"

Mew knows he has an answer and Gulf waits patiently for Mew to stop imitating a fish.

"The Royal Dancers and Entertainers... they actually do what harlots do, right? Without taking the money from the persons but from you... I have seen how they entertain your guests and you pay them heftily if the guests are happy. How are they any different?"

Mew knows there is also answer for that but why cannot he say anything?

"Is it because normally a harlot does not have anyone to stand up for their rights... a family or a faen or anybody but your Royal Courtesans are from very respectable and powerful families? I mean I cannot imagine you..." Gulf looks away. "being cruel to the Lady Rupa. Her father is your Army Banner Holder."

Mew looks where Gulf is looking and sees his son sitting on Siwat's stomach.

"I am glad." Gulf sighs and his lips twitches indicating his fawn is really happy. He does not smile anymore and... that is all there is; the twitch. All his extreme happiness is always behind his palms.

"I am glad, it was me, not a real harlot. You would have killed them... for doing what their work describes. They would not know that you hate them. And a baby is a liability to their profession if not planned. I am happy, that I am the one that married you instead."

Mew is speechless.

"I am alive because you could not really find me working, right, King? So, yes... this is how should have been but thank you... for telling me. You are right, the cleared misunderstanding has given me closure."

Gulf is still staring at his son, not Mew and the Emperor can see how soft Gulf truly is. The only way to see that softness is to look at him when he stares at his son.

"Gulf..."

"You know there were days I felt guilty for taking away my son's future. He was supposed to be..." Gulf clears his throat and whispers. "... the future King, the future Emperor and my being his bad omen mae took that away from him..."

"Gulf... no. I... it was not your fault and I..."

"... no, he was supposed to be born as a bastard if it was not for me. I am fereking happy that he is not. I am his father and I am his mother. I am now happy that it was me there in the palace not an innocent soul."

'You are an innocent soul. The purest of all.' Mew wants to say but Gulf is talking to himself.

"So your faen... he now knows that how much you love him, right? You should tell him everything. I mean he will be troubled to know you are here living with me, given I used to be your wife; a fake one but... Faens are possessive; every other person is a threat. I can't stand it if you two break up now. For one, the pain you went through... the pain I went through... it was all for that, right? Then, if you break up, that is on me. My bad omen would be to blame..."

"Everything is fine!" Mew shouts. "I mean..."

Gulf's lips twitch. "I am glad. Really. That everything worked out well for you in the end, as it had for me."

"MMMAAAA..." Thorn screams jumping on Siwat's stomach.

"Coming baby..." Gulf covers his smile behind his palm and Mew desperately needs to have a glimpse. The beautiful bunny smile he is so aching to see. "Oh... I heard uhmm... that you want to take Thorn to... Famen Festival. You can... if you want. Just be careful of my son; it will be crowded."

Mew cannot believe his ears. "Re... really?"

Gulf nods. "Yeah... Thorn deserves every love that does not hurt him... and I received your promise scroll that you will never. I am trusting you with him and remember my butcher knife? I was not lying, King..."

"Never Gulf! You know I will die than hurt him... he is my s..."

"That is the other thing. He is not your son and you cannot tell anyone that ever, except maybe to your faen. No one should lie to their faens. Causes problems in the family but you cannot tell anyone else. Thorn is mine and it stays that way... and you can't buy him things or anything. You have to tell your faen that you are... close with my son and only if he allows it as your other half... then yeah... you can be in Thorn's life... But promise me you will always respect and adhere to my decisions regarding my son. Promise me, King."

Gulf extends the top of his palm for Mew to touch as he promises.

Mew gently squeezes that soft palm and his eyes go to Gulf's adorable ears.

No blush.

What is there to blush about a stranger's touch?

"I promise..." Mew wants a moment to himself desperately or he will...

"Okay... So you can take Thorn to Famen Festival, tomorrow. I will get him ready. I know fathers take their kids to this festival but... you..."

"I am not his father and I will not enter my name as his father anywhere. I will take him as an... older... friend or a distant relative."

"Good. Tomorrow then..."

"MMMMMMAAAAA!!!!"

"Coming son!" Gulf answers back and leaves Mew without a second look.