"You can get my back. I’ll do the front myself," Sebastian Forrest said in a low voice.
I quickly said, "It’s no problem, Senior Forrest. You don’t have to feel embarrassed. I’ll put it on for you. It’s inconvenient for you to do it yourself..."
Sebastian Forrest chuckled, a smirk playing on his lips. "It’s not that I feel embarrassed. I’m afraid I don’t have enough self-control..."
’Self-control?’
’Aren’t I just putting on so ointnt?’
’How... how does self-control even factor into this?’
I blinked, confused, not quite understanding what he ant.
"Well..." Sebastian Forrest raised his hand and rubbed his nose, his expression pointedly suggestive. "That *kind* of self-control, you get it?"
I froze for a mont. When his aning dawned on , my face flushed crimson.
For a mont, I just stood there clutching the cotton swab, unsure whether to put it down or keep holding it...
"I’ll... I’ll do your back first, then..." I couldn’t take the way Sebastian Forrest was looking at , so I had him turn around.
It was much better without his eyes on .
After I finished treating the wounds on his back, my hands moved much more deftly and confidently when I got to the front. Before long, I was finished with everything.
"All done..."
I let out a long breath. A thin sheen of sweat had already ford on my forehead.
Sebastian Forrest casually grabbed his shirt from the sofa and put it on. With the movent, a scent mingled with sandalwood and dicine filled the air. The clean fragrance was tinged with a slight bitterness, but it wasn’t unpleasant.
"Where are you going?" Seeing him reach for his jacket, I realized he was about to go out and quickly asked.
"To the office."
"You’re still going to the office, injured as you are?" I asked, my brow furrowing.
’Even though Sebastian Forrest was in much better shape than the average person, his back was still a ss of open wounds from being whipped. A normal person wouldn’t even be able to get out of bed, yet he was still planning to go to the office?’
"A few scratches like this are nothing." Sebastian Forrest laughed it off. "When I resigned from the research institute a few months ago, the beating I got was much worse..."
It felt like sothing was squeezing my heart tight. A sharp, suffocating pain made it hard to breathe.
’Resigning from the research institute...’
’Sebastian Forrest must have left the research institute, and its limitless future, for my sake.’
’And he got beaten because of , too.’
’So this was the second ti...’
’All this ti, while I was completely oblivious, Sebastian Forrest had been silently sacrificing so much for ...’
"I’m sorry..."
But before I could finish, Sebastian Forrest reached out and ruffled my hair. "Silly girl," he said, cutting off. "What do you have to be sorry for? Everything I’ve done, I’ve done willingly."
But hearing him say that only made feel worse.
Seeing that my brow was still knitted in a frown, Sebastian Forrest seed to sigh. In a low voice, he said, "Chelsea, the first half of my life was bland and pointless. I never knew what I was here for, or who I was here for. You were the first ray of sunshine to break into my life..."
His voice faltered. Then, he let out a self-deprecating laugh. "So, I never really expected anything from life. Until that banquet a few months ago... for the first ti, I wanted soone to be mine..."
The room was so quiet that Sebastian Forrest’s voice seed to resonate with every word. "I wanted nothing more than to lay all the world’s wonders at her feet, and even then, I’d still be afraid it wasn’t enough..."
’My vision blurred. Why would soone like him, a man who had everything, value so highly?’
’I always thought I wasn’t worthy, but here he was, telling he’d used almost all his strength just to take a single step toward !’
"Chelsea, there’s really just one thing I want to ask. Do you... like ?"
"I do!" The words tumbled out of instinctively as tears blurred my vision. "Of course I do."
"Really?" His eyes were filled with disbelief.
"Every ti I needed comfort the most, you were always there for . I even thought about letting myself be selfish for once—to stop caring what the world thinks, to ignore the rumors and gossip, and just be with you!"
"But I was terrified that if I gave my heart away this ti, I’d just get crushed again. I was even more afraid that this was just a fleeting interest for you, that one day you’d realize you didn’t like as much as you imagined..."
"Chelsea..." Sebastian Forrest started to say.
But I cut him off. Taking a deep breath, I said, "Let finish."
"I used to think our relationship was dood from the start. If our feelings were mutual, I was afraid it would only escalate into a full-blown disaster."
"So, I tried desperately to control my feelings. I didn’t want to drag you down into this ss with ..."
I looked at Sebastian Forrest, my gaze intense, as if I had finally made a decision. "But now... I’ve suddenly changed my mind."
It was as if a brilliant light had shattered in Sebastian Forrest’s eyes. For a mont, I thought I saw a galaxy of stars.
"I want to be with you. I want to risk it all one last ti. Even if I end up getting my heart shattered into a million pieces again, I won’t regret it."
"Chelsea..."
Sebastian Forrest pulled into his embrace. In that instant, I thought I heard a deafening heartbeat, though I couldn’t tell if it was his or mine.
...
Once the dust had settled, I found myself feeling strangely at peace with everything.
I snuggled into Sebastian Forrest’s arms, feeling perfectly happy just being there, doing nothing at all.
"There’s sothing I’ve always been curious about..." Sothing suddenly occurred to , and I quickly sat up in his arms.
Sebastian Forrest’s eyes crinkled with amusent. "What are you curious about? Go ahead and ask."
"If you already... felt that way about at the opening ceremony..." I was a bit too embarrassed to say the words.
Sebastian Forrest, however, just grinned, his smile radiant. "Fell in love at first sight."
I couldn’t help but blush. Pretending not to see the teasing glint in his eyes, I continued, "Then... why didn’t you tell back then?"
’Why did you have to wait until after I’d fallen for Theodore Grant?’
’Co to think of it, that gym class was over a month after the sester started. It might not seem like a huge gap, but it was still a pretty long ti.’
"What do you an I didn’t tell you?" Sebastian Forrest reached out and tapped my nose. "It’s just that that day... was also the day you confessed to Theodore Grant."
"What a coincidence!" My jaw dropped.
’Why not a day earlier or a day later? Why did it have to be that exact sa day?’
’Was there so invisible hand secretly manipulating everything?’
’Cruelly making us miss our chance for over a decade?’
"Yeah." Sebastian Forrest nodded, seeming to recall that day again. A hint of grievance crossed his features. "Chelsea, why did you like that Theodore Grant fellow anyway?"
I could practically sll the faint scent of jealousy in his words...
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