His hands tightened on hers, his grip firm but not painful, anchoring rather than restraining. "Whatever else you are, whatever inhuman characteristics you possess or abilities you can use, you’re not a threat to my family. You are my family. And I know you won’t hurt Yuyan or Chen Xiao. I know that in my bones, in my gut, with a certainty that has nothing to do with logic or evidence. Regardless of what I just witnessed, regardless of how little I understand about what you truly are, I know you would die before letting harm co to those children."
He paused, his eyes searching hers with uncomfortable intensity, like he was trying to read her soul through her too-dark eyes. "So you don’t need to be afraid of . You don’t need to hide what you are, not completely. You don’t need to pretend to be sothing you’re not when we’re alone. I’m not going to call authorities or try to have you locked up or studied. You’re my wife, and whatever that ans, whatever complications co with it, I’m choosing to accept it."
Shuyin felt sothing crack in her chest, not breaking but releasing, like pressure that had been building for years suddenly finding an outlet. The tight, painful knot of fear and isolation that had lived in her sternum since waking in this body, since realizing she was alone in a world that would never understand her, loosened just enough to let her breathe properly for the first ti in what felt like forever.
"You’re not scared?" she whispered, and her voice ca out smaller than she’d intended, vulnerable in a way she hadn’t allowed herself to be since the research facility, since learning that vulnerability ant exploitation and pain.
"Of you?" Lu Yuze’s lips quirked slightly, sothing that might have been amusent crossing his features despite the surreal circumstances of standing in a hospital room with a corpse and a wife who’d just revealed herself to be sothing decidedly inhuman. "Shuyin, you’ve done quite a lot that should have terrified long before this mont. You managed to kill all the Chen family mbers without leaving a trace of evidence that could be traced back to you, and orchestrated their downfall with precision that would make professional assassins envious. I should have been scared then, if I was going to be scared at all."
He glanced at the corpse on the floor, his expression shifting from that brief mont of dark humor back to pragmatic assessnt. "Though we do need to handle this situation before soone cos looking for Dr. Zhang. The hospital will notice he’s missing eventually, and a dead doctor in a private examination room raises questions we don’t want to answer."
"I’ll take care of it," Shuyin said quickly, her mind already racing through possibilities for disposal, for covering tracks, for making this problem disappear the way she’d made other problems disappear. "I can...."
"We’ll take care of it," Lu Yuze corrected firmly, his tone brooking no argunt. "Together. You’re not alone in this anymore, Shuyin. Whatever this is, whatever complications arise from it, we handle them as a unit. That’s what marriage ans, contract or otherwise."
He released one of her hands to pull out his phone, but his other hand stayed wrapped around hers with deliberate intention, maintaining that physical connection as if anchoring both of them through the warm, steady pressure of skin against skin, his fingers laced through hers in a grip that was grounding rather than possessive.
"Ah Ling," he said when the call connected, his voice returning to that crisp executive tone he used when issuing orders that needed to be followed without question. "I need a discreet cleanup operation. Third-floor private examination room at City General. One deceased individual. Natural causes as far as any docuntation is concerned. And we need a different doctor for Yuyan, soone competent enough to handle basic toxicology screening but who she doesn’t know personally and who won’t ask unnecessary questions."
He paused, listening to whatever response Ah Ling was giving on the other end, his expression remaining neutral even though Shuyin could imagine the kinds of questions his assistant must be asking about why exactly there was a body that needed disappearing.
"Yes, I’m aware of the complications this creates. Handle it anyway. Twenty minutes maximum."
He ended the call with a decisive tap and looked back at Shuyin, his eyes tracking the changes in her appearance as her inhuman features continued their slow recession back to human normalcy. "Your eyes are back to normal," he observed with the sa clinical attention to detail he probably used when reviewing quarterly reports.
"I’m sorry," Shuyin said, her voice coming out rougher than she’d intended, scraped raw by emotion and transformation and the adrenaline crash that was starting to hit her system. "I should have controlled it better. Should have maintained better composure instead of losing myself completely the mont I saw him. I endangered Yuyan by bringing violence into this room while she’s unconscious and vulnerable."
"Should have what?" Lu Yuze interrupted before she could spiral further into self-recrimination. "Not reacted to seeing soone who tortured you for years? Not defended yourself against soone who represents a direct threat to your safety and well-being? Shuyin, I’m not angry about what happened. I’m concerned about the logistics of managing the aftermath, not the morality of your actions. That man participated in your suffering. Whatever you did to him, he had it coming."
He squeezed her hand gently, his thumb brushing across her knuckles in a gesture that was probably ant to be comforting. "Though going forward, perhaps try not to kill people in hospital rooms with my unconscious daughter present. It’s not ideal for her psychological developnt if she wakes up and there’s a corpse on the floor. Tends to create trauma that requires expensive therapy to resolve."
The comnt was so dry, so utterly pragmatic in the face of supernatural murder and inhuman transformation, that Shuyin felt a slightly hysterical laugh bubble up from sowhere deep in her chest, escaping as a sound that was half-sob and half-genuine amusent.
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