CH337

CH336
Ren


We left the restaurant not long after. I was still half-floating from the way he’d looked at me and the thought of marriage when it was clear that he’d be getting married to Morgan due to obligations.
But it didn’t seem like he planned to stay married to her. As we reached the elevator, Ryuu suddenly stopped walking. He turned sharply towards me.
“What is it?”
He turned to me, his eyes scanning down and his jaw tightened.
“Ren,” he said, voice low and urgent, “you’re bleeding.”
I followed his gaze. A dark patch was blooming across the side of my shirt, just beneath my ribs.
“Oh,” I whispered, as a wave of dizziness hit me.
“Let’s go.” He slipped an arm around my waist before I could argue, steady but careful. He didn’t rush, but he moved with a sharp purpose that didn’t allow room for protest. The ride back up to the penthouse was a blur.
Ryuu sat me down on the edge of the couch, his touch surprisingly gentle as he peeled the fabric away to get a look. I winced, not from pain, but from embarrassment. He didn’t flinch. He retrieved a sleek black case from the cabinet under the bar and knelt in front of me.
“This might sting,” he murmured.
It did as all antiseptic did, but he was more gentle than I expected him to be.
“It doesn’t seem too bad,” he murmured, narrowing his eyes.
“Do this often?”
He smirked. “More often than you’d think.”
The touch of his hand on my bare skin made me shiver, and if it was affecting him too he didn’t let on that it was. When he finished re-dressing the wound, I exhaled.
“Thank you...” I sighed, relaxing back against the couch. “I’ll... see you in the morning.”
“What do you mean?”
I pushed myself to sit forward on the couch, looking down the hallway toward the guest room where all of the clothes for me were.
“There are pajamas, right?”
“Of course,” he said, slowly. “But what does that have to do with what you said.”
I blinked at him. “I... assumed I would be sleeping in the guest room...” I looked at the couch. “Unless...”
“No,” Ryuu said without looking away. “You’ll sleep in my bed tonight.”
I stared at him. “Ryuu—”
“It’s not up for debate.” He stood and pulled me gently to my feet, his arm settling around my waist like it belonged there. “You’re hurt. And you’re safe with me. After cuddling up with my jacket all this time, did you think you wouldn’t have access to the real thing?”
I blinked, scrambling for words and reasons to refuse, to make him see that’s ridiculous, but I had nothing. There was something in his voice that undid every defense I had left.
He guided me down the hall to the guest room to let me change for bed. He came back just as I’d slipped into one of the nice nightgowns. The real Ren had never owned a nightgown and she seemed to think it was the best option.
He took my hand and led me to his room and pulled back the covers. When I hesitated, he curled one hand around my cheek, thumb brushing my skin like I was something delicate. Something precious.
“I’ll keep you safe,” he whispered. “Just get in.”
I didn’t argue.
I slid beneath the sheets, and when he joined me I shuddered at his warm, solid presence so close I could feel the rise and fall of his breath. The world seemed to tilt, correcting itself in some way that I had never known it was broken. Everything in me exhaled. I didn’t mean to fall asleep curled against him. Listening to the odd sound of his heart, like a turning star, so familiar and completely foreign as it seemed to shift, change and sync with the beating of my own hear.
The strangest thing was that I felt as if I’d done it a hundred times before.


The morning sun streamed through the high windows, warm against my skin. I stretched slowly, expecting the familiar sting from the stitches, but there was nothing. I blinked and sat up, pushing the blanket aside to check. The flesh where the wound had been was smooth and whole, pink with new skin, but no longer raw. No tenderness. No ache.
It didn’t make sense. Not really anyway, but it didn’t feel odd. Ryuu was gone. I slipped from bed, finding the robe Ryuu had left for me hanging on the back of the door. I headed toward the sounds in the penthouse.
I found Ryuu in the kitchen, barefoot and shirtless, watching the espresso machine as if daring it to malfunction. He looked up the moment I stepped in, eyes narrowing as he scanned me from head to toe.
“You look less pale... but something tells me that look on your face isn’t about resting today.”
“I’m healed,” I said quickly, lifting my shirt just enough to show him. “Completely. I don’t know how.”
He crossed the room in three strides, his fingers hovering just shy of touching.
“It means... more than likely that you are some sort of Celestial.” he glanced up at me. “Have any thoughts about what type?”
I shook my head. “I... don’t remember there being any Celestials in my family.” I smiled. “Maybe it’s you. Think you heal people in your sleep?”
He didn’t laugh. But he did brush his knuckles lightly along my side with a thoughtful expression.
“Unlikely, otherwise I would have spent much fewer nights holding Kaito in the throws of a cold.”
“Right...” I said, trying not to shiver under his touch, “can I go back to work now? Please?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Work?”
I nodded. “I’m... not used to just lounging around, and I appreciate you housing me and... well everything but...”
He drew up to his full height. Ryuu’s eyes bored into me. I could tell he didn’t want to, but there was a slow growing reluctant approval.
“I’ll have someone escort you.”
I nodded, oddly flattered. And expecting it, too.
“Thank you.”
“Will you at least have breakfast with me?” He eyed me. “Proper breakfast?”
I nodded. “I... can help make eggs.”
He snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. Breakfast should be here in a few moments.”
The bell rung and he walked to the door to get it, carrying in several tall bags of food that smelled so good, I was already drooling.
We sat down and if we sat on the same side of the table, leaning into each other as if we had always eaten meals like this, no one else would know.
There was a low, uneasy feeling in my stomach. I looked up and across the room I saw a vision of a beautiful woman with glowing golden eyes, draped in a gold and red robe. She smiled softly at me and nodded in approval.
I looked at Ryuu and saw him staring where I had just been looking.
“What do you see?”
He turned to look at me, meeting my gaze.
“How do you know I saw something?”
I swallowed but I didn’t answer. His lips twitched into a smile.
“We should... talk more about it over dinner.” He leaned close. “I’ll come to the shop.”
I bit my lip and nodded. “Okay.”