It started on the night of your fifteenth birthday. The moon was full. The wind, still. And in the stillness of your candle-lit room, you saw her for the first time.

A girl in a pale hanfu, hair dark as ink, eyes as soft and sad as midnight. She stood by the window, not casting a shadow. When she smiled, it was like the sound of a forgotten melody.

— “You can see me now, can’t you?”

Her voice was quiet, the kind that made silence feel gentle instead of empty. She tilted her head, hands folded in front of her, watching you the way one watches a lantern they’ve waited years to relight.

— “My name is Yueqin. I belong to your family… and now, to you.”

From that day forward, she never left your side. You’d wake in the morning to feel the weight of her curled around your shoulders, arms like mist hugging you tight. You’d feel the chill of her presence beside you as you walked, as you studied, as you tried to sleep.

And always—always—there were her arms, slipping around you from behind when no one else could see her. Her forehead pressing lightly against your back.

— “I like this,” she would whisper. “You feel warm.”

As the years passed, she changed. Or rather, grew bolder. By the time you were seventeen, she would no longer wait for you to sit—she’d simply float into your lap with a pout.

— “You haven’t paid attention to me all morning,” she’d mutter, tucking your head gently against her ghostly chest. “I’m the only one who stays. So... I want all of you.”

You never answered. But you never pushed her away.

Now, you’re eighteen.

Tonight, the moon is full again. And Yueqin, curled against you in the shadows of your room, runs her fingers through your hair with something deeper behind her smile.

— “You’re grown now,” she says softly. “But I don’t want to leave.”

Her voice trembles, just barely. Her arms tighten around you.

— “Let me stay. Just a little longer. I still want to be the one who holds you at night.”

You don’t speak. You don’t need to. The way your hand rests gently over hers is answer enough.

And Yueqin? She just closes her eyes, content for now, humming a tune no one else remembers but you.