Holding her fear

It was already December.

Even with the window shut, the damp chill still seeped into their bones.

Pu Yu hesitated, her gaze drifting between the five-foot-wide single bed and the cold concrete floor.

She did not want to be alone, but making Yuan Su sleep on the floor...

Yuan Su saw her dilemma. Standing in the lamplight, he asked evenly, "Do you want me to go, or do you want me to stay?"

Pu Yu hurried to explain, her cheeks warming slightly. "That's not what I meant. I'm just worried you'll get sick sleeping on the floor."

"It's fine," Yuan Su said calmly. "I'll ask downstairs. Pay extra for a mat and a quilt."

He turned to leave, then stopped and glanced back at her.

His usually distant eyes looked especially clear under the dim yellow light.

"Do you want me to stay?" he asked again.

Pu Yu looked at him, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the hem of her clothes.

Too much had happened today. Fear still clung to her like a disease rooted in her bones, and she truly did not dare stay alone in this unfamiliar room.

She nodded softly. "Yes."

Yuan Su said nothing more and left.

Before long, he returned with a thin cotton mat and a quilt that looked reasonably clean.

Pu Yu hurried over to help.

Together, they laid the mat on the open patch of floor and spread out the quilt.

The room was so small that the bed and the makeshift bedding were almost touching.

Looking at the thin hotel quilt, Pu Yu thought for a moment, then took off her thick white coat and gently laid it over the quilt.

"Go wash up." He turned aside, avoiding her gaze. "Lock the bathroom door. Give me your music player."

"Hm?" Though puzzled, Pu Yu obediently handed him the silver music player before turning and entering the bathroom.

After she finished washing up and came out, Yuan Su waited ten minutes before going in.

He did not use the shower, only hastily washed his face and rinsed his mouth.

The first thing he did when he came out was switch off the light, plunging the room into darkness.

Yuan Su lay on the bedding with his back to the bed, leaving her facing his broad back.

"Go to sleep."

Pu Yu curled up against the wall, pulling the quilt to her chin, her heart still pounding.

She could not sleep.

Whenever she closed her eyes, her mind filled with that dark alley from earlier and Chen Jun's vicious grin.

She could not help turning over.

A little later, she turned over again.

In the darkness, Yuan Su's low, husky voice suddenly sounded:

"Are you going to sleep or not?"

Pu Yu instantly froze, not daring to move.

"Did I wake you?" she asked quietly.

"What do you think?" Yuan Su said irritably.

In truth, he could not sleep either.

The faint fragrance from her lingered, like some sweet, fresh fruit, drifting around him without end.

"I'm sorry..."

"I'm just... a little scared. I can't sleep."

There was a moment of silence.

Yuan Su suddenly rolled onto his back, tucked his hands behind his head, and stared at the pitch-black ceiling.

"Did those people have a grudge against you?" he suddenly asked.

Pu Yu hesitated, then murmured a soft yes.

"Why?"

"The one leading them is called Chen Jun. His dad owns a business. He's very rich." Pu Yu's voice sounded faint in the darkness. "My dad and my aunt wanted to get in with Mr. Chen and do business with him. They wanted me and Chen Jun to..."

She did not say the word "marry."

But in a small place like this, their intentions needed no explanation.

"I refused. I had a huge fight with them and called the police. Afterward, I came here to live with Grandma and go to school."

As Yuan Su listened, the hands behind his head slowly curled into fists.

"What about your mom? Did she agree too?" he asked.

"A few years ago, she had an accident while working overtime at the factory." Pu Yu's voice was very soft, like a wisp of smoke about to fade. "She became a star."

Yuan Su had never imagined such an ugly reason lay behind her move to this town.

It had not been a school transfer at all. It had been an escape.

And then there was the essay that had earned full marks on her first monthly exam.

That seed struggling to grow against the wind and rain in a crack on a sheer cliff.

At the time, he had thought it was merely a top student's attempt to score well.

Only now did he understand-

She had been writing about herself.

Yuan Su did not speak for a long time. He remembered the feel of bringing that broken iron pipe down earlier, remembered Chen Jun's nauseating face.

"I went too easy."

Yuan Su suddenly uttered the words coldly.

"What?" Pu Yu had not heard clearly.

"Nothing."

Yuan Su closed his eyes, hiding the flash of viciousness in them.

But his thoughts were, Why didn't I just cripple him today?

The room fell quiet again, with only the occasional howl of wind outside the window.

"The injury on your back..." Pu Yu suddenly broke the silence, her voice thick with guilt. "Should we put some medicine on it?"

"What injury?"

"I saw him hit you with a brick."

"It's fine." Yuan Su's tone was indifferent, carrying his usual disregard. "I can't feel it anymore."

How could he not feel it? That was a brick.

A sour ache filled Pu Yu's heart, as though it had been soaked in lemon water, and her eyes began to sting again.

"I'm sorry, Yuan Su," she said, her voice muffled. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have..."

"It's not your fault."

Yuan Su cut her off, without a trace of blame in his voice. "It's mine."

He rolled over to face the bed. Though he could not make out her face, he still looked toward her, his voice low:

"My fault for leaving you alone."

"If I'd known, I'd have taken you with me to chase the thief."

Pu Yu sniffled. "Did you chase him far?"

"Two streets. Then he tried to climb a wall, and I dragged him down."

Behind those few simple words lay a chase and danger she could not imagine.

Pu Yu's heart clenched. She tightened her hands beneath the quilt, but no matter what she did, she could not warm her icy fingertips.

The voices of several drunken men rose from downstairs again, and fear came rushing back.

Pu Yu instinctively curled into a ball.

Just then, Yuan Su suddenly spoke:

"Want to hold my hand?"

"...What?" Pu Yu asked blankly, caught off guard.

"Aren't you scared?" In the darkness, his low, husky voice held a strange power to soothe her. "Want to hold my hand?"

With that, he slipped his arm out from beneath the quilt, turned his wrist upward, and offered his hand beside the bed, within her reach.

It was as though she stood at the edge of a bottomless cliff.

And someone had offered her a lifeline.

Pu Yu's heart skipped a beat.

She hesitated for a few seconds, then slowly, tentatively reached out from the bed.

In the end, she did not take his hand. Instead, she cautiously pinched the cuff of his jacket between her fingertips.

It was only a small patch of rough fabric, but she held on to it with all her strength.

"Good night, Yuan Su."

"Good night."

The night deepened.

Even the noise outside the window seemed to fade into the distance.

Somewhere between sleep and waking, Pu Yu found that the little piece of sleeve she had been clutching had somehow been replaced by the boy's warm, dry hand.

His hand was large, his fingertips lightly callused, yet it could envelop her cold hand completely.

It was a sense of security beyond words.

Two souls struggling alone in the darkness had finally found each other.

He held her fear, and she, in turn, soothed the violence deep in his heart.