The Healing Sunshine (一厘米的阳光)

Chapter 16.2 - Life's Tender Dependence (2)

Jì Chengyang was genuinely tired. His muscles were all sore and aching and had no strength.

The two nights and one day of psychological stress had been even more exhausting than when he had gone for three days and three nights without sleep in a war zone. At that time, what had pushed him through was his professionalism and drive to, at any time, follow the current political situation. However, this time, rather than saying that what carried him through was love, it would actually be more accurate to say that it was fear.

His fear had arisen from being scared that his life henceforth would change, and what it would change to was an unknown.

An unknown that left him feeling panicked.

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Fortunately, right now, in this moment, nothing had changed.

He was breathing lightly, as if he had already sunk into a deep sleep. As Jǐ Yi's eyes took in his face, it felt like she could not gaze at him enough.

"Hurry and go have breakfast." He finally could not help hurrying her on with a laugh. And then, he perceived that that sweet scent near the tip of his nose was drawing even closer. In that instant when he opened his eyes, he felt her lips press softly against the corner of his.

Jǐ Yi very quickly pulled away from him again, feeling as if she was about to have a heart attack. This little action that she had plotted for several minutes beforehand seemed actually to sap her of all the strength that she had only just recovered.

Jì Chengyang was rather still.

A dozen or so centimetres is a very dangerous distance. It is particularly dangerous when it is between two people who have just experienced a panic-inciting false alarm that, out of worry for the other person's health and even life, has drained them mentally and physically.

He even felt that this feeling was not really a pleasant one.

Jǐ Yi summoned up all of her bravery and stared into his eyes.

This was the greatest courage that she could muster. She had thought that she would be able to say it: Jì Chengyang, I've liked you since I was little. And also, even though there are still actually quite a few more months before the end of the two years... Alas, she truly was unable to make herself utter even one word. Gnawing on her lower lip, she gazed somewhat hopefully and expectantly at him.

If this time she truly had had SARS, then by now, the two of them would have already been in the hospital, or perhaps they would have become one of the contributors to the continuously rising death toll.

Maybe it's not necessary to be so adamant about carrying through on some things, she thought.

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Giving a faint sigh, Jì Chengyang pulled her over and into the circle of his arms.

This time, it was not because her unceasing tears were inciting him. His heart no longer felt that agitation and powerlessness from not wanting her to cry. For the first time, he could feel that the body of the girl in his embrace was soft and so very beautiful. This feeling was completely different from the time when she was little and he had carried her to the clinic to bandage her wound, or when he had held her in his arms and brought her away from that stretch of ocean in New Zealand's night.

From the moment he pulled her up from the carpet and onto himself, Jì Chengyang became completely and utterly aware that what he felt for her was a man's desire for a woman.