Title: Sunshine and Daisies
Author: colorless_landscape
Chapter: One-shot/drabble
Word Count: 436
Rating: PG-ish at most
Genre: um... general?
Warnings: none, really
Character(s): Vicki Zhao Wei, brief mentions of other unnamed Asian celebrities
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.
Summary: Short introspective drabble written for my beloved Miha (_defyingtheodds). Love you, darling. ♥ I apologize in advance for teh suckage. -__- Roughly based on RPG at own_the_sun@insanejournal.com where her Vicki and my Totchi have sort of adopted each other.


Valentine's Day is almost here. Everywhere I look, I see happy couples doing the couples thing and making silly, sappy plans for "the most romantic day of the year".

I've always dreamed of being one of those couples, ever since I was a little girl. Like the princesses I portray onstage when I dance, I'd meet my Prince Charming, and everything would be picture perfect, all sunshine and daisies everywhere.

Real life isn't like it is in the fairy tales, though. I thought I had found my prince. I didn't get my "happily ever after", though. One day he was here, and the next, he was just... gone. I was crushed, naturally. I wanted to give up, thought maybe I wasn't worthy of being loved after all. It didn't shatter my faith in true love, though. I'd still dearly love to find my prince one day.

Maybe it was for the best, though. In just a few weeks, I'll turn twenty-one, and on that day, I'll be handed over to the man that my aunts have chosen for me to marry. They've always looked down on Mama and I, but they promise that this will recover the family honour my mother lost years ago. And after all she's done and sacrificed for me, giving her that much is the least I can do in return.

Does the idea of marrying a man I've never met bother me? Of course it does. But, I'm sure, unless he's truly a horrible person, I'll come to love him, eventually. Perhaps not with the same fire and passion I see in others, but a love born of friendship and trust and companionship.

I haven't told anyone this. Well, I did tell Gege. I'm not even sure why I told him. Maybe because he was so supportive and reassuring when he left. Or maybe because he knows what it's like to lose one love and find a different kind. Or maybe just because he makes me feel safe. That's not really fair, though. All of my "brothers" do. They'd go to the ends of the earth to protect me, of that I have no doubt. And maybe that's why I keep it from them. I can't live my life expecting them to always bail me out, even if I know they would without question or complaint. But this is something I have to do.

I have to remain strong for them. I am strong because of them.