Be good and let me put the ointment on

The room was at the end of the second floor. It really was tiny, with the bed right inside the door.

The window faced the alley behind the building, and the distant bustle was faintly audible.

Yuan Su set his backpack on the chair and turned to Pu Yu. "Lock the door. Don't open it no matter who knocks. I need to go out for something."

Pu Yu looked up almost immediately. "Where are you going?"

Yuan Su noticed her unease and softened his tone a little. "Just downstairs. I won't go far."

"How long will you be gone?"

"Ten minutes."

Pu Yu stared at him for two seconds, then nodded. "Okay."

The lock clicked into place.

She was left alone in the cramped room.

Pu Yu sat on the edge of the bed, watching the second hand on the wall clock tick forward one notch at a time.

One minute, two minutes...

Occasionally, voices and footsteps from the other rooms drifted through the hallway.

Every sound set her nerves on edge.

In the twelfth minute, a knock came at the door.

Knock, knock.

Pu Yu startled and asked warily, "Who is it?"

"Me."

It was Yuan Su's voice.

Pu Yu hurried over and opened the door.

Yuan Su walked in with the chill of the night clinging to him, carrying a plastic bag containing boxed meals and a tube of ointment.

"Eat first." He set everything on the table.

Pu Yu didn't move. She just looked up at him and said quietly, "You're late."

Yuan Su was unscrewing a bottle of water. His hand paused at her words, and he turned to look at her. "What?"

"You said ten minutes," Pu Yu said earnestly. "It's been twelve."

Yuan Su was both amused and a little helpless. He handed her the water. "There was a line at the pharmacy. It held me up a bit. You really counted?"

"Mm." Pu Yu took the water and cradled it in her hands. "Because you said it."

Yuan Su looked into her clear, innocent eyes, filled with absolute trust.

Something seemed to give his heart a gentle bump, leaving it a little softer and a little heavier.

"You believe everything I say?"

He asked quietly, his tone complicated, "Aren't you afraid of being lied to?"

"Then would you lie to me?" Pu Yu asked in return.

Yuan Su said nothing. He simply took the ointment, cotton swabs, and two takeaway containers out of the plastic bag.

He unscrewed the ointment and rather clumsily dabbed some onto a cotton swab, then looked at Pu Yu and motioned her over. "Sit here."

Pu Yu obediently walked over and sat on the room's only chair.

Yuan Su crouched down and leaned forward, studying the injuries on her face intently.

The ointment on the cotton swab was cool. When it touched her hot, swollen skin, Pu Yu instinctively flinched.

"Tell me if it hurts," he said quietly.

Pu Yu shook her head, watching him without blinking.

They were very close.

Close enough for Pu Yu to make out his striking features and the somewhat sharp lines of his brow.

"Yuan Su," she suddenly said.

"Hm?"

"Would you lie to me?" she asked again.

Yuan Su's hand paused as he applied the ointment.

He lifted his eyes and met her stubborn gaze.

A trace of panic still lingered in those eyes, but more than anything, there was trust-pure, unreserved trust.

The dim yellow light lent the room an intimate air, stretching their shadows long.

He remained silent for a long time.

Long enough that Pu Yu thought he wouldn't answer.

"No," he finally said, his voice very soft but clear.

The corners of Pu Yu's mouth gently curved upward. Even when it tugged at her injuries, she kept smiling.

"Still smiling." Yuan Su frowned. "Doesn't your face hurt anymore?"

"It does," Pu Yu admitted. "It really hurts..."

Yuan Su didn't respond. He just continued applying the ointment.

His fingertips occasionally brushed her cheek, warm against her skin.

A few seconds later, Yuan Su abruptly stood up, putting distance between them.

"Done." He turned away to tidy up the medicine packaging on the table, his back a little stiff. "Let's eat. Get some sleep afterward."

They sat at the little table and ate quietly. It was a simple meal of tomatoes and eggs over rice, but Pu Yu ate with relish. She really was hungry.

By the time they finished eating, it was late at night.

The occasional roar of a motorcycle rose from the road outside the window, loud and disruptive.

"Go wash up and get some rest."

Yuan Su picked up his backpack and looked at Pu Yu. "I'm heading out."

"Where are you going?" Pu Yu had been about to sit on the edge of the bed, but she immediately stood up at his words.

"There's an all-night internet café downstairs. I'll make do there for the night," Yuan Su said. "There's only one bed here. It wouldn't be convenient."

Just as his hand settled on the doorknob.

A sudden uproar broke out in the hallway outside, as though someone drunk was pounding on a door, accompanied by a woman's shrill curses.

Bang-

Something heavy seemed to slam into the door next door.

Pu Yu trembled all over in fright and grabbed the hem of Yuan Su's shirt almost instinctively.

Everything she had been through that day had drained every last bit of her courage. Now the chaotic sounds outside brought back memories of that terrifying dead-end alley.

Yuan Su's hand stopped on the doorknob.

He looked down at the small hand clutching his shirt, its knuckles white from the force of her grip.

He frowned, glanced back at the bed that was only a meter and a half wide, then looked at the panic-stricken girl.

Spending a night out was no problem for him. It was practically routine.

But leaving her alone in a place like this, with all sorts of people around...

Another sharp crash came from the hallway as a liquor bottle shattered.

Pu Yu tightened her grip and looked at him pleadingly, like a kitten about to be abandoned.

"C-can I go to the internet café with you?"

Her voice was very quiet, carrying a barely perceptible tremor.

Yuan Su looked at her pale face and frowned. "The internet café isn't a good place to rest. You won't be able to sleep."

"That's okay." Pu Yu shook her head. "I... I don't want to be alone."

He looked at her in silence.

The commotion in the hallway gradually receded, but the room was so quiet they could hear each other's breathing.

After a long while, Yuan Su sighed.

He tossed his backpack back onto the chair, walked over to the bed, and shoved it all the way against the wall with both hands.

That cleared a space roughly a meter wide.

"You take the bed." Yuan Su pointed to the empty space by the door. "I'll sleep on the floor."