Take My Breath Away

The words "handsome" or "beautiful" always get people's attention. Hearing Joslyn say this, Blair merely nodded and followed her into the crowd of students.

Much to Blair's surprise, she discovered Wesley and the other drillmasters were onsite at the training ground.

Wesley led the other drillmasters in regular military exercises, like lying down, crawling on the belly and crawling in different postures. Every soldier needed to finish a whole set of exercises.

Blair elbowed her way to the front row and watched them training with keen interest. Now the soldiers were practicing capturing techniques, roundhouse kicks, wrestling, throwing left and right hooks, and switching opponents. The crowd was excited by the show.

Then the most interesting part: More than ten drillmasters surrounded Wesley, backing him into the metaphorical corner. He had no choice but to fight back. In the blink of an eye, all of his opponents were dispatched—thrown to the ground, or signaling they were unable to continue.

The deafening screams from the crowd made Blair's ears ring. Nonetheless, she ignored it and locked her eyes on the handsome and capable man, eyes glimmering with admiration. The way Wesley took down his own men was so cool that she wanted to scream as well.

Her anger towards him vanished into thin air. She completely forgot what she had said earlier. Drawing closer to Joslyn, Blair whispered, "I take it all back. He's so hot and I'm not giving up on him now." He was sharp-tongued. But his handsome face and his nearly superhuman ability outweighed his shortcomings.

'I knew it.' Joslyn rolled her eyes at Blair and said, "Good luck to you. If you can win over a guy like that, you'll feel secure every night in his arms."

Practically drooling, Blair nodded and echoed her words, "Agreed."

After a day's classes, Blair and Joslyn had dinner together and then went their separate ways.

It wasn't until she was back home that Blair found her body temperature was a little high. She touched her forehead. It seemed like she had a fever.

She sighed gloomily. One misfortune followed another.

She was held hostage in the library, got heatstroke on the playground, scalded her arm at the cafeteria and now had a fever. Probably, the fever was caused by her burn. But she did have quite a week.

Drained of energy, Blair changed into her pajamas without a shower, and then climbed onto bed.

She had just closed her eyes when the doorbell rang. 'Who is it now? It's late, ' she wondered. After she trudged across her apartment, she pulled open the door. Wesley was there, gasping for breath like he'd just run a marathon.

She guessed he must've taken the stairs, rather than the elevator. Expressionless, she said, "Hi, Mr. Li."

Wesley threw her a quick glance. "Your uncle asked me to check on you."

'Uncle Adalson is so concerned about my love life. He helps out a lot, ' she thought, though her head was heavy and all she wanted was rest. Blair merely nodded and added, "Thanks."

She didn't invite him in, and he really didn't want to do that, either.

He looked at her arm—she had slathered some ointment on it. "How's the arm?"

"Better. I put some ointment on it. Thanks for your concern, Mr. Li."

Wesley nodded his head. Before he left, he caught a glimpse of her bright red and weary face. Her eyelids drooped. She didn't seem all right. But he didn't press the issue.

Watching him go back to his apartment and shut the door without giving her a second glance, Blair smiled bitterly and closed her own door.

She plodded back to her bedroom and hit the hay at once. She was fast asleep in no time, thanks to the fever.

It barely seemed like she closed her eyes when a doorbell invaded her sleep. But it was faint. She wondered if she was dreaming. She kept her eyes closed and drifted off.

Wesley stood outside her apartment and called Adalson. "Hi Uncle Adalson, what's the password to Blair's apartment?"

On the other side of the line, Adalson was stunned for a moment. "Why? What's up? Is she okay?"

Wesley thought of Blair's red face earlier and replied, "I know what I said, but something didn't feel right. I'm ringing her doorbell, and she's not answering."

Adalson told him the password and reminded him, "Let me know!"

"Sure, Uncle."

In her dream, Blair felt a big hand on her forehead. She wanted to open her eyes to see who it was, but no matter how she tried, she just couldn't open her heavy lids.

At the hospital

Wesley silently watched the girl lying in the hospital bed. She was put on a drip. He called Adalson. "She has a high fever—39.8 degrees Celsius. Her burn wounds are infected. She's been put on a drip in the hospital."

Adalson frowned deeply. "39.8? Wow. She can't even take care of herself? I'm busy these days. Hartwell just left the city and her parents..." He paused, let out a sigh and continued, "Wesley, please take care of her for me, for just a few days."

Wesley looked up at the ceiling, baffled. After a moment's silence, he promised, "Don't worry, Uncle Adalson. I got this."

After ending the call, he returned to the ward and sat down in a chair beside the bed. He fixed his eyes on the sleeping girl.

He remembered how she glared at him at noon. She was full of life then, but now she lay motionless in the hospital bed, with an IV drop.

When he checked on her the first time, she didn't look that bad. The second time, she'd fallen into a stupor induced by the high fever.

He felt so helpless. Why didn't she take care of herself?

After thinking for a moment, he stood up from his chair and grabbed a cotton ball. He dipped it in a glass of water and cleaned her wounds. After that, he applied the new ointment to her arm.

She trembled a little in her sleep, maybe because it stung. Wesley adjusted his technique and did it more tenderly and carefully.

He noticed the complexion difference between his arm and hers. Her skin was fair and creamy-white.

It looked as soft as a baby girl's arm.

Wesley put the ointment away. Hardly thinking about it, he took her small left hand in his big one.

It felt so soft and smooth. He had never felt anything like this. He totally lost himself in this special feeling.

Niles had come to the military hospital with his teacher to attend a medical seminar. It wasn't easy to get a chance to attend that seminar, so he had hurried here. He heard from an acquaintance that Wesley was there too. He asked the ward number and came to see his brother. When he was about to push the door open, he was taken aback at what he saw through the windows in the door.

'Oh my God! Will wonders never cease?

That's my idiot brother! And he's holding a woman's hand!' Niles exclaimed in his mind.

An idea popped up in his head, and immediately, he took out his phone, switched it to silent mode and aimed the camera at the pair inside.

Wesley was supposed to be pretty savvy and aware of his surroundings. He was hard to sneak up on. But since he was so engrossed by the touch of Blair's hand, his guard was down. He didn't know Niles was standing at the doorway, snapping pics.

Suddenly, Wesley came back to his senses. Realizing what he was doing, he was flustered and dropped her hand at once.

He shot to his feet and ran his fingers through his hair, annoyed.

Niles carefully put his phone back into his pocket and politely knocked on the door before coming in. "Oh! Hey, Wesley."

Wesley wasn't surprised to see Niles. Or if he was, he didn't show it. Instead of explaining anything, he said, "You came at the right time. Watch her. I need a smoke."