Thieren staggered back a few steps.
"You lied to me," Stacey said through gritted teeth, pushing him again. She wanted to hit him. Hurt him. Beat him up. "You lied to me."
Thieren caught her hands and pulled her to sit down on the bed beside him. He put an arm around her in a sort of sideways hug, trapping her there. Stacey pushed and hammered at him with her fists but he didn't let go.
"Wait. Come again," Thieren frowned, looking into her eyes. "I lied to you? How? When?"
"You made me think we were married because of love. I didn't know you. Don't know you," Stacey tried to pull his arm off her and accused. She had just started trying to trust him and now all her trust had been shattered. It felt like she'd been betrayed. "You only married me because you saved my life in the battle. I went crazy or something. I may have forgotten everything again but I can read between the lines. You had something to do with it, didn't you?"
Suddenly, she was pinned down onto the bed. Mr Huo pressed her hands down and caught her lips. His warm lips caught hers, silencing her. Stacey's eyes grew round with shock and her body stiffened without any other reaction. He examined her facial expression and then kissed her again. Deeper this time, leaving Stacey speechless. While she was still shocked and unable to reply, he kissed her once more. This time, he didn't stop.
Stacey felt like she was drowning. Or melting. Suffocating. In fact, she wasn't sure what she was thinking or feeling. She just felt like she was a big ball of conflicting information and confusion.
"Who said I didn't marry you for love?" he asked in a soft voice. "Why would I save or rescue a woman I didn't care about? Yes, your poor mental health prior to the battle was partially my fault but if I didn't do anything, you would have definitely been killed or carried away. It was already a very close thing. Didn't you see your videos? You were still almost... I nearly lost you. Several times. But because of the training, you came back. You made it. Who says I don't love you?"
He kissed Stacey deeply, taking her breath away. And then she began to cry. She curled up in his arms and Thieren hugged her tight, rocking her and stroking her head and back.
She still couldn't believe it. Or accept it. Could she trust him? Who and why would any man love her? Had something happened between them that she couldn't remember?
"It's ok. You're ok," he soothed. "I'm here. I've got you. You're going to be fine. The injuries will heal. Your mind will heal. You were injured badly. You were traumatised by a lot of things when you were already quite unwell. Take your time. Let it all out. You'll feel better for it."
Stacey woke up to find Thieren's face beside hers. He had fallen asleep on a chair with his head resting on her pillow by her side. The bed had been too small for two people.
While he was sleeping, she examined his face. He was handsome. Almost sculpt-worthily handsome. The contours of his eyebrows and cheekbones. That jawline and straight nose. Almost symmetrical face. The only thing that marred his beauty was the bags under the eyes. The tired lines that had begun to wrinkle his skin. He was wonderful. And he was her husband? How improbable was that? How and why had he chosen an ordinary person like her? He was the kind of husband she felt she would normally have only daydreamed of.
She felt she was ordinary anyway. And yet out of place. She felt everything she saw in this world was strange. As if she belonged to another time and space. This world. Had she come from another world?
Seriously, how and why had she forgotten so much? Would the memories ever come back? Would she ever remember who she was and where she was from and make sense of everything? Would the mess in her head ever get sorted out?
Thieren had been right about one thing. She felt a lot better after her long cry. Maybe a few more long cries and she might be ready to leave this hospital and face the world. Or not. Face the world. That sounded frighteningly confrontational. What she really needed to do was learn. Learn everything she could to catch up on what she had forgotten. Fast.
Her husband should be able to help her with that. He seemed to be quite rich and powerful, given the number of bodyguards he had organised for her. The way he talked and ordered people about. Lord Huo, they called him. Big Boss.
Her husband. She had a husband now. A strong, powerful man who had pretty much said that he loved her. How crazy was that? Loved her. It sounded so strange. If he loved her, she supposed she could try loving him back. That should be ok, shouldn't it? They were husband and wife now, right?
Thieren watched her with a gentle smile while she was lost in thought. Her eyes shone with determination and she looked so innocent. So beautiful and so lost. Unable to resist, he leaned over to kiss her. He'd finally caught himself a wife who didn't just want him for his money, status or power. A girl of his own choice, who was wholly reliant on him to teach her the ways of the world, and whom had a blank slate to start from. She didn't have any preconceived ideas about him. She was someone he could slowly reveal his true self to because she might see him for who he was, not just his image.
He had to restrain himself here but once he brought her home, he was not going to let her go.