A long silence passed before his breathing finally calmed. "I didn't mean to make you worried," he said quietly and tightened his arms around my shoulders. "I wasn't lying when I said I have all the faith in you. But …"
He nuzzled my hair, his voice trailing off to a sigh. I understood what he wanted to say. "But you don't want me to risk anything just to save you?" I asked. "Because you fear for the price I might pay treading a path that I don't have to choose?"
The hush around us answered my question, and his firm embrace told me that he was still trapped in that fear. I wondered when was the last time I had felt him so vulnerable like this. "Bai Ye," I whispered. "Look at me."
