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Qiangwei stared at his hands. His hands, well his whole body was badly injured. This is the heroic one, she muttered to herself. The young man earned the scars on his body by protecting others who had no one else to lean on. Qiangwei was filled with admiration as she wrapped his bandages. He was passed out now, so his body lay limp on the bed as she treated his wounds. She purposely made him lose consciousness by performing special acupuncture before she started treating his injuries so that he wouldn't feel any pain. Also, she thought to herself, it would have been awkward if he was awake the whole time staring at her. She was afraid that she might lose focus if she knew he was watching her. It made her nervous.
"How long will he stay like that?" the hero's companion asked her, obviously nervous about his continuous sleep.
"As soon as I am done treating and bandaging his wounds, I will wake him up," Qiangwei said as she tried to work faster. She heard another disciple come into the room looking suspiciously at her. He heard what she had said.
"Why did you put him to sleep anyway?" He plopped down next to the hero's quiet companion and joined in the conversation uninvited. "He walked the whole way here just fine, I don't think he was in that much pain."
Qiangwei ignored him as she wrapped up the last bandage on his leg. She reached for her needles and used her special acupuncture technique to wake him up from his induced sleep. His eyes opened slowly and he stared at her with disdain.
"What's this girl doing here?" he asked as he rolled his eyes. Qiangwei's heart dropped.
"Wang Ai, she completely healed you, stop acting like that" the hero's companion said with his eyes to the ground.
Wang Ai. So that was the hero's name, Qiangwei thought. She tried her best to avoid Wang Ai's eyes, just as his companion did earlier, while she picked up her medical equipment. She was reaching for some of her needles which were near Mingjun's stomach, when all of a sudden, her hand refused to move. She looked down and saw that a hand grabbed her wrist firmly, and she knew it was Wang Ai's.
"I'm sorry okay, don't be mad," he said in a sweet voice. Qiangwei's forehead started to drip sweat. She didn't like being this close to him. She wanted him to let go of her wrist so that she could get away.
"Why won't you look at me?" Wang Ai asked. She could see his beautiful smile even from the corner of her eye.
"Look at me!" he shouted playfully while gently shaking her wrist. She couldn't resist anymore. Qiangwei slowly moved her eyes from the floor to his face. His chestnut colored eyes stared back at her with an intensity that made her heart race. She quickly looked back down.
"You're pretty" Wang Ai said as he pulled her wrist close to his shoulder, which made her come involuntarily closer to him. Her other hand landed on his chest as she tried to stop him from dragging her, and she stared up at him in surprise. Wang Ai's smile became larger as her eyes met his. She looked down again, but he quickly grabbed her chin and gently lifted her head to meet his eyes. She thought about taking her hand off his chest, but was afraid of falling on him. She felt trapped.
"You're so shy, it's cute. What's your name?" His gaze kept steadily on her.
Qiangwei's heart started to race even more, so much so that she could hear her heart beating. His hand was still on her chin, and his gaze was intense. She knew he wouldn't leave her alone until she said something.
Her lips began to part when Chen, the disciple who entered the room earlier, suddenly rushed to the bed where Wang Ai was lying. He was busy having a conversation with Wang Ai's friend in the corner of the room, then looked up and saw how close Qiangwei was to Wang Ai, and how Wang Ai was firmly holding on to her wrist.
"What's going on?" Chen said as he approached Wang Ai's bedside. "Qiangwei, I thought you said you were done treating his wounds." As he got closer, he saw Wang Ai's hand holding Qiangwei's chin and Qiangwei's hand on his chest, struggling to pull her wrist from his grasp. He figured out what was going on and pulled Qiangwei away from him. Wang Ai tried to keep holding on to her wrist, but he was weak because of his injuries, so he resigned to his loss and let her go.
"Qiangwei, that's your name?" Wang Ai said as he looked at her again with that same beautiful smile. Chen quickly stepped in front of her and answered Wang Ai.
"Didn't you just hear me call her Qiangwei? Of course it's her name!"
"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Qiangwei" Wang Ai said as he searched for Qiangwei and met her eyes.
"Do you have to flirt with every woman you see? Weren't you irritated when you first saw her?" Chen paused for a moment, and then added "She's engaged."
"Wow, Qiangwei! You're engaged?" Wang Ai's eyes widened when he asked the question, but his smile was still there as before, not a trace of sadness on his face. In fact, he looked delighted to hear the news.
"He loves to flirt, '' Wang Ai's friend said as he emerged from the other side of the room. "Qiangwei, you're so shy and quiet, you make it easy for him."
"I wasn't flirting," Wang Ai said defensively. "I just wanted to make sure she wasn't mad at me because of my attitude before." He was looking at his bandages now, seeing how many wounds he had, completely unconcerned.
He's playing a game with me, Qiangwei thought to herself. He has to be. She rolled her eyes at him and frowned. Wang Ai saw her and smiled.
"Were you hoping I was interested in you?" Wang Ai said as he laughed. "You're a woman who belongs to another man, and yet you were trying to get my attention?" Wang Ai let out another laugh. "Qiangwei, you're not as innocent as you seem."
"Hey!" Qiangwei shouted. All three men looked at her in surprise. That was the first word she had said to Wang Ai. "I never wanted nor hoped for your attention. You constantly kept bothering me!" She looked Wang Ai in the eyes once more and gave him a fierce glare. "Just leave me alone. I'm done with you" she said with a firm voice as she left the room. In her heart, she felt bad. She knew that she was so defensive because his words were true. She did like Wang Ai. Even though she was engaged, she still was attracted to him and hoped deep down that Wang Ai really did like her. And she knew that her feelings were wrong.
"Maybe he was right. I'm not as innocent as I think" she said silently as she walked to another part of the manor.
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