It hurt.
That much was easy enough for Xu Kai to see. Bai Lu was in pain, and that killed him. But what killed him the most was the fact that he wasn't there to protect her from the danger of it all. He wasn't there to save her from some drunken stranger who rammed into the back of her car at a red light. He wasn't there to take her to the hospital as her arm seared with pain, the angle of it being unnatural. He wasn't there when the surgery happened, the doctors placing the correct bones in the correct areas. He wasn't there then, but he sure as hell was going to be there for her now.
"Where's it hurt?" He asked her, seeing the grimace that she tried so desperately to hide. But it was hard to hide from the man who knew her like the back of his hand. "Stop acting like you're not in pain. I'm your husband, love. I can read you like a book," he vocalized her thoughts.
Bai Lu attempted to climb out of the bed, but a gentle hand on her waist stopped her from doing so. Xu Kai laid her back onto the springs of the mattress, being as gentle as he possibly could. "Kai," LuLu whined with his restrictions.
"My arm's broken, I'm not dying."
"The doctor said you needed to take it easy for the first few days into your recovery, love," he reminded her, taking the doctor's orders more than seriously. He just wanted to see her better. He wanted the cast around her arm to be no more. He just wanted to pick up the broken pieces and make her all better.
Bai Lu sighed, laying back down on the pillows to appease him. "My pain medication is downstairs on the kitchen counter. Can you please get them for me?"
Xu Kai's eyes brightened up with her request, jumping off the bed in order to get to her needs quicker. "Of course, love. I'll be right back."
And he really was because within a span of three minutes she could hear the sounds of his heavy footsteps bounding up the stairs of the home they resided in. Once he entered the room, she almost laughed with the amount of items he carried in his arms, ranging far more than just the pain meds she requested.
"What's all this, babe?" Bai Lu giggled as he struggled to dump the contents of it all on the bed; a glass of water he held in one hand was placed on the nightstand next to her.
"I just brought what I thought you'd need," he shrugged.
"You thought I'd need party streamers?" She laughed as her toe nudged the package of colored strips of paper. Xu Kai chuckled once he saw those laying on the bed, shaking his head as he did.
"Huh," he hummed. "Actually not quite sure how those got into the mix of things, but alright."
Bai Lu laughed. "My scholar of a husband."
Soso chuckled a bit before he began sorting through the items shrewn across the bed. Bai Lu watched as he did so, taking an ice packet in his hand before wrapping it in a towel. He gently leaned over her, placing the wrapped up ice on her left side where there was slight bruising from the accident. But as he did so, his fingers plucked the fabric of her shirt, pulling it up slightly. Her skin was painted with splotches of blue and purple across the expanse of her side. She watched as Xu Kai's eyes grew painful with the sight of the markings; his desperate wish to keep her safe was impaired with them.
"Hey," she whispered as he pulled her shirt down, placing the ice on top of the material.
With the sound of her voice, Xu Kai's eyes flickered around, but didn't move to look up at her. "Please, look at me, baby," she whispered, and if she wasn't for the pleading in her voice, Xu Kai wouldn't have looked. But he did.
"What?" His voice was strained, eyes flickering from her face to the cast enclosing her arm in. He despised it.
She cupped his face within her hands as she took notice in his moving eyes. His head remained stationary in her hands, offering no other choice than to look at her. "This isn't your fault, Xu Kai. Some drunken guy who shouldn't have been driving hit me. You didn't, okay?"
