Take My Breath Away

Garnet was the one to quickly kick the leader's hand. This was her first mission after she had started working in Y City. Wesley reacted immediately and caught the knife which had flown out of the leader's hand. He lunged forward to stab the man in the arm.

The man yelled in pain and couldn't hold onto Blair anymore. Without his support, she staggered and fell backwards. Garnet was the nearest to her and immediately caught her, preventing her from falling to the ground.

Seeing that Blair was now safe, Wesley didn't need to hold back. He tried to kick the man again, but the leader knew some kung fu and dodged his attack with some difficulty.

Supporting Blair with one arm, Garnet fired twice, and the bullets hit the man's leg. He yelped at the top of his lungs and went down on his knees, weak as pudding.

The goons were soon under control. Wesley walked towards Garnet and gently took Blair in his arms. He rushed towards a military car.

Two military doctors got out of the car. Wesley slowly placed Blair in the back seat and told them, "Her fingers and feet are hurt."

"Understood, Colonel Li."

Wesley looked at the unconscious woman, his eyes full of affection. His hands balled into fists. Her eyes were closed, and her face was as pale as a ghost. He took a deep breath and got out from the vehicle.

Wesley watched as the car drove off. When it was out of sight, he turned around and walked towards the house. The criminals were being taken, under escort, to the vehicles.

"Wait!" Wesley stopped them, his face deadpan.

After questioning some of them, he let the soldiers take two-thirds of the bandits to the vehicles and he took the rest of them back into the house with him.

Soon, several noises came from within the house—the sounds of wine bottles breaking, and heartrending cries of the criminals.

After a significant amount of time, he brought the criminals out once again. Their faces were black and blue.

They were all barefoot, and their feet were covered in blood. Their hands lay limp at their sides.

The leader looked the worst. His mask was now gone, revealing his face which was covered in burns. In any other situation, he would have looked terrifying. But now, he couldn't even walk. He was almost crawling on the ground; Wesley had broken his legs and arms. He looked like the Little Mermaid, trying to walk on daggers. There was a trail of blood-stained footsteps behind him.

Garnet looked at Wesley, who was the last to leave the house. She had mixed feelings.

She knew that he had tortured the criminals to avenge Blair.

After all of them were placed securely in the cars, Wesley told two of the soldiers, "You two come with me. We need to find something."

Garnet walked over to him. There was a complicated expression on her face. "Your wound has reopened. Are you not going to the hospital?" she asked. What she really wanted to ask was, "Are you not going to the hospital to see Blair?"

Wesley looked at her meaningfully and answered, "I don't have the time right now. We have more important things to do here." There was work to do before he could have his wound retreated and before he could run to check on Blair.

Garnet was rendered speechless. But as a soldier herself, she understood why Wesley had made this decision. Soldiers had to give priority to their missions.

Before Blair passed out, she had told Wesley where she had hidden the SD card. Wesley and the two soldiers went to the location she had given him and soon found the SD card among the flowers. It was the very SD card the mysterious man had given Blair.

The moment Wesley found the SD card, he heard some noise coming from behind him. He immediately pushed the soldiers aside, and flung himself down as well. "Watch out!" he yelled.

The bullet hit the soil. The sound was barely audible. Obviously, the gun had a silencer.

The three of them were quick enough to find places to hide themselves. Wesley took out his gun and told his men, "Enemies at four o'clock and eight o'clock. There are innocent citizens around. Do not get them involved."

"Yes, Chief!"

At the hospital

After Wesley was finally done with the mission, he went to the in-patient department to check on Blair before he could get himself treated. Blair was already awake, though her face was still pale. There was a man standing by her bedside. Orion was in a nice suit and a shining pair of leather shoes.

Wesley was about to open the door when he saw the pair in the room. He pulled back his hand and stood outside the door, peeping through the glass window.

"Blair, drink some water. You must be thirsty, right?" Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Orion had never taken care of anyone before. He was holding the glass of water with utmost care as he stared at Blair with concern.

"Thank you, Orion. But, I'm not thirsty." Blair shook her head. Before Orion had arrived, her aunt had already given her some water.

Orion placed the glass on the table beside the bed and asked nervously, "Are you hungry? What do you want to eat? I'll ask someone to buy something for you."

Blair looked at the IV bottle and answered helplessly, "I'm neither thirsty nor hungry. Orion, please sit down. You are overreacting."

Orion realized that he was being too nervous. He pulled a chair over and sat down next to her bed. Seeing the bandages on her feet and fingers, he felt his heart break into a thousand pieces. "If the criminals weren't all caught already, I would have personally gone there to avenge you." Saying that, he stood up and held her in his arms.

Blair felt a little embarrassed. She wanted to struggle away from his grasp, but had no strength left in her. "Thank you, Orion. I'm fine now. But my work..." she started to say, changing the topic.

Orion patted her back and assured her, "Don't worry. I've already informed the HR manager. Just take your time and get well. You can return to work after you have completely recovered."

"Really? Thank you so much, Orion."

Wesley's hands balled into fists when he saw the scene inside the ward. He turned around and left the place to find a doctor to treat his wound.

As he walked away from her ward, he couldn't help but remember what Blair had told him before. "Orion is pursuing me."

"I'm a bit moved..."

"Wesley, do you think I should accept his love?"

Wesley recalled what he had answered to that.

He remembered saying, "If you like him, then you should go out with him." "Then don't break up with him."

Blair waited for Wesley all day, but she was disappointed.

The room was quiet in the dead of the night. All kinds of thoughts crossed her mind, keeping her awake. 'Wesley was not fully recovered when he had come to rescue me. Did he get injured again? Is that why he hasn't come to visit me?'

She picked up her phone with her left hand. It was less injured than her right. She scrolled down her contact list and found Niles' number. She wanted to call him, but on second thoughts, she decided to send him a message instead. "Niles, are you in bed?"

Niles' reply came quickly. "No, I just arrived at the in-patient department to visit Wesley."

"How is he?" she couldn't help but ask.

"I haven't seen him yet. Wait. Are you not taking care of him?" Niles was confused. His mother had told him that Blair was taking care of Wesley.

Apparently, Niles didn't know that Blair was injured. After some consideration, she typed, "I'm still busy working. You go check on him first."