In an instant, Blair's arm was scalded. It turned red and swelled, and her face went pale.
Wesley let go of her arm, and quickly unscrewed the lid from the bottle of water Talbot had drunk from. He took her arm again and pulled her to the nearest trash can, dumping water onto her arm to cool the burn.
The student who bumped into Blair was scalded by the hot soup too. Some of the soup had splashed on his chest and legs. Worse, it was summer and he was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. So he was now groaning in pain on the floor.
Many students around were still in a daze as everything happened so quickly. Luckily, Talbot and the other soldiers reacted quickly and took charge of the situation. Some of them handed their bottles of water to Wesley one by one, while the others began to comfort Blair. "Does it hurt?"
"Blair, are you okay? Oh, my God. Your arm is so red now..."
The noise of the crowd snapped Joslyn back to her senses. She shot to her feet and ran to Blair's side. "Bless, you okay? Let's see your wound," she said worriedly.
Face still pale, Blair shook her head, though tears were threatening to fall from her eyes. She gritted her teeth and reassured her friend in a weak voice, "Don't worry. I'm okay."
Wesley knitted his brows and cast her a sidelong glance, wondering if she was pretending to be strong. But her face was already white as a sheet. And strangely, her pained expression made his heart ache a little bit...
Students ringed around the boy on the floor; some came forward to help him to his feet. He pulled up his T-shirt to check his scalds. His chest was just a little red, and compared to Blair's wound, it wasn't worth mentioning.
Wesley had gone through all the water bottles he had been given. He still felt it wasn't enough. So he grabbed her hand and led her towards the nearest sink in the cafeteria, while giving Talbot orders. "Talbot! Go buy some aloe vera cream."
"Yes, Chief!" Talbot responded and turned on his heels to carry out his orders.
Dragged by Wesley, Blair felt embarrassed as they walked through the crowd of students. But the pain in her arm was so intense she could scarcely put up a fight. Bowing her head, she just let him take her to the sink.
Joslyn pondered her options, but in the end, she decided against following them. Blair was alone with the man she loved. Why was she to get in the way?
She then turned around to get even with the boy student. Lenard had told the boy to pour some mineral water onto his slight scald. Joslyn told him off angrily, "This is the school cafeteria! Why would you run around like a wild animal in here? Do you know what you did to Blair?"
The boy student didn't mean to hurt Blair. He felt guilty and apologized quickly, "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to. Sorry..."
Before she could harangue him more, a girl student suddenly interrupted her and asked curiously, "Joslyn, what is it with Blair and Wesley, anyway? He seems to care for her a lot."
"I know, right? He carried her to the clinic when she got heatstroke the other day. He even stayed there with her!" another girl said.
So now they were gossiping about Blair and Wesley.
Wesley's men wanted to go over and check on Blair's wound. But hearing what the girls had said, they all froze on the spot and contented themselves with just watching at a distance.
The two had already reached the sink. Wesley had turned on the faucet and placed Blair's arm under the running water.
They observed their leader carefully. His face wasn't as cold as usual, but instead, there was a hint of tenderness.
Wesley's men couldn't believe their eyes. They stopped staring and averted their eyes, not wanting to be caught looking. "Could it be true? Is he a softie?"
Bowman felt hard to believe it. "Could be..." He had never seen Wesley treat a woman like this.
Although, as soldiers, they didn't see too many women, Bowman saw how Wesley behaved around Megan. This was different. They used to tease him about Megan, and Wesley would silence them with his death stares.
Not privy to Bowman's thoughts, Joslyn merely glared at the nosy girls and said, "Why are you even talking about this? Can't you see Blair's hurt?"
The girls felt a little guilty. Begrudgingly, they went back to their seats to continue eating.
But Wesley and Blair were unaware they'd drawn any attention to themselves. They were more concerned with healing her burns. When Blair bowed her head, a few teardrops fell into the sink, joining the running water from the tap.
"Thanks. If it weren't for you, I don't know what I'd do," she said, trying to sound as calm as possible.
"It's okay." He noticed the tears, and his face turned grim. For the first time in his life, he didn't know what to do next.
He had seen women cry many times. Each time he went on missions, he would see tons of women crying hysterically in the face of danger or catastrophe. But all he needed to do was make sure they were safe. He wasn't ordered to help them feel better. This wasn't something he was used to.
He saw Megan cry, too—a lot. The tiniest thing would open the floodgates. But most of the time, when Megan cried, he would let Damon handle it or call Curtis, the patient gentleman, to comfort her.
Watching Blair, he had an overwhelming desire to do something or say something. So he tried. "Hey...hey...you were held hostage with a knife to your neck. You were brave then. Why are you crying now? It's just a little scald. Maybe you're not a fan of my first aid skills..."
Blair was angry. A bitter laugh escaped her lips. How could she fall in love with such a rude guy?
A normal man would comfort her. But why was he acting like this? Like she was doing this intentionally.
Blair shook off Wesley's hand and turned off the faucet. Eyes red from tears, she said, "You should know better than anyone. I'm a girl, like any other. I didn't go through endurance training in the military. It hurts, dammit! But I get it. You did your best. I'm not bitching or anything. Thanks for your help, Mr. Li. Goodbye!"
She had never talked to him like this. Frowning, Wesley called out to stop the woman from leaving. "Wait!"
Blair froze on the spot without turning around. She asked, "What now?"
"Blair Jing, I'll never fall in love with you. You're such a stubborn and unreasonable woman!" he announced firmly.
'I'm stubborn? Fine, yeah, I am. But unreasonable? Seriously? So everything I did, all my dreams of him and me, just made him hate me!' she thought sadly.
She turned around and glared at the expressionless man. Gnashing her teeth, she asked, "Anyone tell you you're an absolute jerk?"
Her eyes became redder. He replied calmly, "Nope." His men would always tell him he was a demon. Maybe that was the same thing, but he didn't care.