Take My Breath Away

"Yes," Blair replied with a nod. "I wonder how your brother's doing. Should I call him? Did you call him?"

Wesley's brows knitted. "No. He deserved it." He felt Niles had crossed the line when he lied to their grandfather.

"What? I heard him screaming in pain over the phone when I called your grandpa. Don't you care about him at all? He's your brother."

"He was asking for it. So he screamed. He's always been loud, anyway. If he could still scream, it means he didn't get hit hard enough." Sometimes, Wesley thought that Niles should become an actor instead of a doctor. He'd be a superstar.

Blair knew Niles. He could be melodramatic sometimes. Still, she said, "Listen to you! I'd like to see you take a beating and see how well you do. You should call him later to make sure he's okay. He probably needs a friendly voice."

"I don't want to. Niles is a grown man. If he can't take his lumps like a man, then he needs gender reassignment surgery. It was just a ruler," Wesley retorted stubbornly.

'A ruler? Was that what his grandpa punished Niles with?' Blair wondered. "Fine. Then I'll text him on WeChat. You still busy?" she asked quietly. It felt so good to talk to him on such a serene night.

It bugged Wesley that Blair worried about Niles. He couldn't take his mind off it. "I'm not. Don't worry. I'll call him. I'll tell you how he is when I'm done."

"Okay. Coming back any time soon?" She missed him and couldn't help scrawling his name over and over again on a notebook.

Then her name. Blair. Wesley. She imagined their names as they'd be printed on their marriage licenses.

"No, I can't make it. If you need anything, call those guys I told you about."

"Oh..."

She was disappointed. Then for a moment, neither of them spoke. Pouting, Blair doodled over Wesley's name. "Call Niles. Talk to you later."

"Okay."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Blair hung up reluctantly.

She sat at her desk, dispirited, reading the WeChat updates, waiting for Wesley's message.

The minute Wesley got off

parkled, and they went chasing after Talbot like lightning. It seemed tonight wasn't Talbot's night after all.

It wasn't long before Blair got Wesley's message. "He's fine. Don't worry."

"That's good. Then I'll let you go back to work." Not wanting to disturb his work, Blair wasn't planning to send him any more messages.

But Wesley replied, "I'm not busy right now."

Blair wondered, 'So? What am I supposed to say back?' "Can you take some time off in the next few weeks?" she typed. But she deleted it. It didn't feel right.

"Then, take care of yourself," she said in the end.

"All right. Thanks," he replied.

Something suddenly struck Blair. After she talked with Wesley, she walked into her bedroom and found the lipstick he bought her, and put it on.

She looked in the mirror. It looked awesome. So she took a few selfies.

But she only kept the best one and deleted all the others.

She opened a photo editor and beautified the selfie. Afterwards, she sent it to Wesley. "I'm wearing the lipstick you bought me. You like?"

When Wesley's phone buzzed again, he was standing by the window, with a cigarette in his teeth. On the training field, Talbot was going through his calisthenics under the other soldiers' supervision.

A picture from Blair. Wesley clicked on it to get a clearer image. When he did, he froze.