Take My Breath Away

Night had fallen, and the town was covered in a velvety darkness. Someone knocked on the door to Blair's bedroom. She sat up immediately. "Coming!"

She opened the door to see Wesley standing there calmly. "We're eating out, right?"

"Oh, right. Give me a minute to change." It would look a bit weird to go to a restaurant in her uniform. She closed the door and entered the walk-in closet.

Wesley sat on the couch, waiting. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes. And then a quarter. Twenty minutes later, Blair finally opened the door again.

From the amount of time she took, he expected that she'd be more made-up. But she had only changed her clothes. Nothing more. He didn't understand how a simple outfit change could have taken so long.

Just then, something dawned on her. "One more minute," she said.

'I don't think she could do anything that only took a minute.' Wesley felt defeated, wondering why it was so hard to get ready.

In her bedroom, Blair found the perfume Wesley had bought her, and applied some of it to her neck and wrists.

Ten more minutes later, they finally left the apartment. This took way too long, at least as far as the soldier was concerned. Wesley only had a few outfits. The patterns of his clothes varied, but he always wore the same color.

Blair wore a long white turtle neck with a slim waistline. It set off her slender figure and fair skin.

When she walked beside Wesley, there was a distinct contrast between the colors of their skin.

A long azure coat hung from her arm. She rocked a pair of fashionable, black-laced martin boots.

They went to Shining International Plaza, which was close to the apartment.

On the way, Wesley asked Blair what she wanted to eat. She actually was in the mood for steak but figured that it might not be his cup of tea, so in the end she said, "I don't know. Anything, I guess. I'm not a picky eater."

Just like him, she wasn't particular about food either.

Wesley looked at her and asked, "Really? I know someone who doesn't eat cabbage, carrots, towel gourd, pork, or duck. I wonder who that might be?"

'Sounds familiar. Oh, right. It's me.' Blair blushed when she realized that. "I can eat them. I just don't like them," she argued, feeling defensive.

If she had to, she would eat them. When she went to the grocery store, usually she wouldn't pick those particular vegetables.

Wesley smiled and kept silent.

They came to a restaurant in the Alioth Building. Blair chose a window seat and sat down. Wesley sat opposite her.

A waiter brought them a couple menus. "Your choice," Wesley said.

"Me?"

"Sure."

"Okay." Blair opened her menu. "Anything you don't like? Vegetables or meat?" she asked as she read the menu.

"Anything is fine by me. I'll show you what a non-picky eater looks like." Blair rolled her eyes at him. Wesley was dumbstruck. 'Huh? What was that for?'

There were too many tempting dishes on the menu. Blair wanted all of them, but she couldn't. She had to take time to decide what she wanted most. And it wasn't easy. Her mouth was watering and her stomach complained about its empty state.

Looking at her troubled expression, Wesley frowned. 'Is it that hard?' Before long, he figured out what was bothering her.

"It's okay. You can order some things today and the others can wait another time." He had been waiting so long he started to have a nic fit, but this was a non-smoking restaurant. He touched the pack of cigarettes in his pocket and steeled his resolve. He could wait.

Without raising her head, Blair replied, "Ever since Joslyn got married, she can't hang out with me anymore. Even when she has a little free time, I have to work. I'm alone most of the time, and I don't want to eat here alone. It's weird." Her tone was thick with disappointment and resignation. Sometimes adulting could be a bitter pill to swallow.

Wesley announced, "I'll take some time off. Then we can eat here again."

That was a nice surprise. Blair lifted her head abruptly, her eyes shone with excitement. "You mean it? You'll take some vacation time?" It was like he never had any days off, at least that was what Blair thought. Maybe one or two vacations a year at most, she supposed.

"Yeah." Seeing the joy in her eyes, he nodded.

"Great! You don't get much bang for your buck here. I'm thinking of ordering these six dishes and a soup. Think that's enough?" Blair asked, showing Wesley what she had chosen on her phone.

Wesley looked at it and said, "Good. Let's order those first. If we're still not full we can order more."

She placed their order, and the waiter came and collected the menus.

While Blair had just started drinking the water, Wesley's phone tinkled. A new message on WeChat.

Reflexively, her gaze landed on his phone. Without picking it up from the table, he unlocked the screen to read the message.

The message was from someone named Crystal Sugar Heart. "You had dinner yet?" the message read.

And that wasn't the first message she'd ever sent him. Blair could see many other messages on his phone, like "Good night!" "Good morning!" "Take care of yourself." But Wesley seemed to have replied to very few of them. Blair was not sure about the other messages, but he hadn't interacted with the ones she saw.

She put her glass down, and couldn't help wondering who the mystery person was. Her gut told her it was a woman. 'That's quite a few messages. Did she text him every day?'

Blair couldn't even remember the last time she texted him. Come to think about it, she always contacted him for a reason. She never said good night or good morning to him, much less tell him to take care of himself.

She felt like a loser after having that thought. She wanted to be with this guy, but she hadn't shown much concern for him. She knew his job was dangerous, but she never asked him if he was alright after work.

Now even she herself couldn't believe she was like that. How could she expect Wesley to believe that she loved him? Guilt overwhelmed her. She felt like weeping. She took a drink to try and cover her emotions.

Holding a glass of water, she stared at his phone, motionless, her mind elsewhere. Wesley noticed the change in her mood. 'Her eyes are red and glassy from tears, ' he realized.

He was curious what was going on, so he followed her gaze and looked at his phone. The screen was displaying the records of the conversations between him and Crystal Sugar Heart.

Wesley's heart tightened. He cleared his throat and said, "Blair."

She didn't respond, barely moving.

"Earth to Blair," he called again.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm here!" She came to her senses. Her heart was aching, but she tried her best not to show what she was feeling. She set the glass of water back on the table and looked at him with wide eyes.

Wesley was amused by her reaction, tilting his head to smile secretly. Then he began, pointing at his phone, "I don't know her. She was a hostage I saved in a mission."

"What?" Blair blinked. 'Is he trying to explain?'

"It's true." Without saying anything more, Wesley deleted the woman's WeChat records from his phone. Blair watched as the messages vanished before her eyes.

She was stunned. A thrilling feeling of joy flooded her heart