Did he...he hurt her?
Qin Ye looked down at his own hand, then at the red mark on her fair wrist. The anger that had clouded his judgment due to jealousy quickly faded, replaced by panic and heartache, like a child who had committed a terrible crime and was at a loss for what to do.
"I'm sorry... I..." He opened his mouth, but his throat was too dry to make a sound, leaving only a hoarse apology, "Did I hurt you?"
Su Tang didn't say anything. She took his hand and turned to walk towards the temporary shelter not far away.
Back at the shelter, Su Tang asked him to sit down.
She took a clean, dry towel from her storage space, walked up to him, stood on tiptoe, and began to gently wipe his still-dripping hair and his cheeks stained with seawater salt.
Her movements were very light and gentle.
Qin Ye sat motionless, letting her do as she pleased, but his deep eyes stared at her without blinking, filled with complex emotions.
After drying her face, Su Tang put the towel aside, then squatted down in front of him and looked up at him.
“Qin Ye,” she looked into his eyes and spoke earnestly, word by word, “Sit still.”
Qin Ye's Adam's apple bobbed, his body remained stiff, but he obediently straightened his back, like a new recruit waiting for instructions.
Su Tang felt both annoyed and amused by his appearance.
She reached out and gently, tentatively, covered his large hand resting on his knee.
Feeling her touch, his fingers instinctively twitched slightly, but he didn't pull away.
Su Tang then continued speaking, her voice even softer.
"You're not angry."
She looked into his eyes: "You're scared."
yes.
He wasn't just angry that the man touched her.
He was still afraid.
He was afraid she had a past he knew nothing about.
She feared that in that past, there was a man like him... so well-matched with her, so familiar, even more understanding of her than he was.
He feared that one day she would return to this world that belonged to her, leaving him all alone.
This fear gripped his heart from the very first second he saw the man appear, making it hard for him to breathe.
His name is Jiang Xubai.
Su Tang didn't give him a chance to escape and spoke directly.
"He was my...former partner."
"He is also my comrade-in-arms."
To help Qin Ye understand more intuitively, Su Tang added a sentence, using the method he was most familiar with.
"It's the kind of comrade-in-arms with whom you can completely entrust your back on the battlefield."
Qin Ye's breath hitched.
Comrades...
He knew the weight of this word better than anyone else.
That trust was forged with blood and lives, a bond that transcends all others.
Su Tang looked at his taut jawline and knew he had taken her words to heart.
She held his hand, applying a little pressure.
"Qin Ye, I admit that I kept many things from you at the beginning. The past was too complicated and too dangerous, and I didn't want to involve you."
"Qin Ye, listen carefully."
"The past is the past."
“And you,” she said, looking into his eyes with utmost seriousness, “are my present and my future.”
"Now, I am here, I am your wife, Su Tang."
"From this day forward, everything I have will be given to you without reservation..."
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