Surviving the apocalypse with a wife and a system! [GL]

Bai Li thought maybe this was what it felt like when someone was slowly forgiving you. It was not loud or dramatic. It was just a little softening here and there.

Yan Cijin leaned closer and stuck the band-aid over the scratch on Bai Li’s cheek. It was not a plain one either. It had a tiny cartoon cat printed on it, round and bright and a little silly. Bai Li stared at it for a second.

"Are you serious?" Bai Li asked.

Yan Cijin raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"This cat."

Yan Cijin looked at the band-aid like she had only just remembered what it was. "It was the first one I saw."

Bai Li looked at her. "You kept a children’s band-aid in here?"

"I keep supplies for Lili."

Bai Li nodded slowly. "So this is really Lili’s band-aid."

Yan Cijin’s expression remained calm, but her eyes seemed a little amused. "You can say that."

Bai Li touched the edge of the band-aid very lightly. "Then I guess I should thank her too."

Yan Cijin gave her a tiny glance. "You do not need to thank her for getting injured."

Bai Li laughed under her breath. "I was talking about the band-aid."

"You still do not need to thank her."

Bai Li lifted a hand as if surrendering. "Okay, okay."

For a while, Yan Cijin stayed close, checking the band-aid one more time and then softly brushing Bai Li’s cheek with her fingertips. "Does it hurt?"

"Not much."

"Does it itch?"

"Only a little."

"Can you sit still?"

Bai Li gave her a dead serious look. "I am sitting very still right now."

Yan Cijin glanced at her. "You are sitting still because I told you to."

"That is still sitting still."

Yan Cijin looked away, but Bai Li could tell she was smiling a little. That made Bai Li feel a lot better than before. She was not the best with emotions, and she still did not know exactly how to say all the things she felt in her heart, but she knew one thing very clearly. She did not like seeing Yan Cijin unhappy. It made the whole day feel wrong. It made her think back on every bad decision she had made and want to fix them all at once. If that meant sitting here and being gently scolded while getting a cat band-aid slapped on her cheek, then so be it.

A soft sound came from the other room, followed by Lili’s voice calling out something excitedly. Bai Li turned her head a little toward the door.

"Is she playing with the kitten?" Bai Li asked.

Yan Cijin nodded. "Yes."

"She likes it?"

"Very much."

Bai Li smiled. "That kid is easy to make happy."

Yan Cijin looked at her. "She is a child."

"I know."

"Then do not talk like that."

Bai Li blinked. "How should I talk?"

"Like a normal adult."

Bai Li tilted her head. "But I am a normal adult."

Yan Cijin gave her a look that clearly said she did not believe that even a little bit. Bai Li only laughed. "Fine. I will talk more normally."

Yan Cijin hummed in response and finally got up to put the leftover band-aid pieces back into the kit. Bai Li sat quietly, but her gaze kept following Yan Cijin. There was something very nice about being looked after like this. Not because she needed someone to treat her like a child, but because it made her feel that someone really was paying attention to her. That kind of care was rare. In this world, especially now, people were too busy surviving to notice the little things most of the time. Yet Yan Cijin noticed the scratch on her cheek, noticed whether she was angry, noticed whether she was crying, and even noticed the way she sat and held herself. Bai Li did not say it out loud, but that attention made her feel strangely safe.

Yan Cijin returned to sit beside her again and crossed one leg over the other. "Are you hungry?"

Bai Li shook her head. "Not really."

"Then why are you sitting there looking so serious?"

Bai Li touched her own face. "Am I?"

"Yes."

Bai Li thought for a second, then said, "I am just thinking."

"About what?"

Bai Li hesitated. It felt a little embarrassing to say it directly, but Yan Cijin was looking at her in that quiet waiting way again, so she answered honestly. "About you."

Yan Cijin froze for just a second. "About me?"

Bai Li nodded. "Yeah."

"Why?"

Bai Li rubbed the back of her neck. "Because I do not really know how to explain it."

Yan Cijin looked at her without speaking.

Bai Li let out a breath and tried to put the feeling into words in a simple way. "I just know that when you are upset, I feel bad. And when you look at me like I messed up, I want to fix it right away. I do not really know why I feel that way. I just do."

Yan Cijin did not answer right away. The room went quiet again, but this time it was not uncomfortable. It was just quiet. Outside the room, Lili’s small laughter came and went, mixed with the faint sound of the kitten moving around. The whole house felt steady and ordinary in a way Bai Li liked. She looked at Yan Cijin’s side profile and thought she was very pretty, not in the loud kind of way, but in the kind of way that made people want to look again and again.

Yan Cijin finally spoke after a while. "Then do not keep things from me next time."

Bai Li looked at her. "Even if I think it will make you worry?"

"Especially then."

Bai Li smiled a little. "You are really not very easy to deal with."

Yan Cijin turned to look at her. "Are you complaining?"

"No." Bai Li shook her head very fast. "Absolutely not."

Yan Cijin held her gaze for a second, then said, "Good."

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To be continued.

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