Baring It All

After telling Bai Lei everything that happened to me, aside for the really dark stuff, he silently sits for a long time but never once does he stop rubbing my back in his familiar, soothing way. After a while, he says "You've been brutally broken yet still have the courage to be gentle and loving towards others..." 

I chuckle a little and say "I'm going to be extremely honest right now... I want to say that I'm brave enough to face him but..." Bai Lei holds me close and when I struggle to say it, he softly says "The fear you feel was ingrained into you, it's not something that will disappear overnight but when the time comes, you'll be able to do it. I'll be right beside you." 

After a few more hours of talking and just basking in each other's presence, we walk outside to the garden everyone was in yesterday. It was still early but when Bai Lei and I walk through the gates, we see both our mothers sitting at the table, drinking tea with Zhen.