The sound of the bathroom door opening pulled them apart. Lu Yuze released her imdiately, stepping back to give appropriate distance as Yuyan and Chen Xiao erged wrapped in towels, their wet hair dripping onto their shoulders. He couldn’t maintain that level of intimate affection in front of the children, not when they were still learning what healthy family dynamics looked like.
"All clean?" he asked, imdiately shifting into caretaker mode.
Both children nodded, Chen Xiao clutching his towel with one hand while his other gripped the stuffed rabbit that had survived the entire day’s adventures.
"Good. Your mother will take her shower now," Lu Yuze said, gently nudging Shuyin toward the bathroom. "I’ll help with your hair. Can’t have you going around with it wet."
He retrieved a hairdryer, gesturing for Yuyan to sit on the edge of their bed first. She settled imdiately, completely trusting, and he began the careful process of drying her long hair. His movents were practiced and thodical. After finishing with Yuyan, he turned his attention to Chen Xiao, drying the boy’s shorter hair with equal care.
"All right, you can get dressed now," he said once both children’s hair was dry. "I’ll just check on your mother."
Before either child could respond or question, he walked to the bathroom and opened the door, stepping inside with the casual confidence of soone who believed he had every right to be there.
Shuyin had only just removed her muddy clothes, leaving them in a heap on the floor. She stood at the sink completely bare, reaching for her toothbrush, when the door opened.
She froze, her hand halfway to the toothbrush holder. Heat flooded her face instantly, embarrassnt and surprise, and sothing else she couldn’t quite na warring inside her chest. "You...." she started, her voice coming out higher than intended. "You..."
He’d seen her body before, she knew that logically. During her recovery from various injuries, during dical treatnts that had required assistance. But she’d been unconscious or barely conscious for most of those instances, existing in a haze that made the mories distant and unreal.
This was different. This was her fully aware, fully present, completely exposed while he looked at her with clear appreciation.
She turned around hurriedly, awkwardly reaching behind herself for a towel to cover her nakedness.
Lu Yuze caught her hands gently before she could grab the fabric, his fingers circling her wrists without applying pressure. "What are you being shy about?" His voice was quiet, carefully modulated so it wouldn’t carry to the children in the bedroom beyond the closed door. "Aren’t you mine? Just because we haven’t consummated our marriage yet doesn’t an I haven’t seen your body. I know every part of you—cleaned it, cared for it, bandaged wounds." His thumb traced slow circles on her pulse point. "Nothing about you is new to ."
"That was different," Shuyin managed, her embarrassnt making a coherent argunt difficult. Her face felt hot, her heart racing under his touch. "I wasn’t aware..."
"You weren’t watching look at you," he finished, understanding imdiately what she couldn’t articulate. "You weren’t conscious of being seen, so it didn’t feel as vulnerable. But you are now. And that changes everything."
"Yes," she admitted in a whisper so soft it was barely audible.
"Don’t shout," he said gently as she opened her mouth to protest again. "You’ll frighten the children. They’re right outside, and they’ve had enough stress for one day."
Before she could formulate another objection, he pulled her back against his chest, his arms wrapping around her from behind. The embrace was firm, possessive in a way that should have alard her, but sohow it only felt comforting. Safe. "What are you doing?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.
"Helping you," he said simply, as if that explained everything, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I can shower by myself..."
"I know you can. But let help anyway." He reached past her with one arm, turning on the bathtub tap and adjusting the temperature with practiced ease. "Relax. Let take care of your hair at least. You’re exhausted, and you’ve been taking care of everyone else all day. Let soone take care of you for once."
"How can I shower with you here?" The question ca out almost plaintive, caught between wanting to assert independence and wanting desperately to surrender to being cared for. "I can’t just..."
"The sa way you’d shower alone," he said with maddening calm, "except soone else washes your hair for you. Which, given how exhausted you are and how much tension you’re carrying in your shoulders, seems like a reasonable compromise."
He added bath salts to the running water, the fragrance of lavender, and sothing else rising with the steam. Foam built in fragrant clouds, providing a barrier of modesty that made the situation slightly less mortifying. Then, before she could protest further or rebuild her defensive walls, he simply picked her up, one arm under her knees, the other supporting her back, and carefully lowered her into the warming water.
The heat sank into her muscles imdiately, and despite her lingering embarrassnt, Shuyin couldn’t suppress a small sound of relief that escaped her throat. She was so tired. Bone-deep exhausted in ways that went beyond physical weariness. The water felt like heaven against skin that had been scraped and strained and pushed to its limits all morning.
Lu Yuze knelt beside the tub, rolling up his sleeves thodically to keep them dry. "Lean forward," he instructed gently. "Let clean your hair properly."
And sohow, caught between exhaustion and the genuine care in his voice, Shuyin found herself complying without further argunt. She leaned forward, drawing her knees up slightly and letting him gather her long hair. He began the process of washing it with careful, thorough attention that spoke of extensive practice.
His fingers worked through the strands with surprising gentleness, massaging her scalp in ways that made tension she didn’t even know she’d been carrying slowly release and drain away. He took his ti, thodical and patient, working shampoo through every section before rinsing carefully so water wouldn’t run into her eyes.
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