-||chapter twenty three - what is it between her and i?||-

"That day when the Crown Prince saved the First Princess from the carriage accident, some things changed. Things, that weren't noticeable at the moment but will be defined and clearer in the future. The accident evoked and provoked something deep inside the Crown Prince's. Out of all the emotions that he felt as that moment, the most pronounced one was fear.

And why he felt that fear tore through his heart he could not explain, express, and understand.

It made him restless, it made him want to make sure that the First Princess was alright. It was as if the injury was on the First Princess's body but it was the Crown Prince who felt the pain."

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Yi Chen gently moved closer to Lu Zhi and adjusted her head on his shoulder so that she was comfortable as she slept. Her warm breath fanning across his neck made him feel assured that she was alive, that she was okay. Taking her hand in his, Yi Chen kept on stroking her wrist with his thumb, sometimes feeling her pulse.

The incident shook him more than he was letting it show. The fact that someone could have just died right there in front of him if he had not moved fast enough was haunting him. What if he had just froze at the spot like Lu Zhi did?

What if he had missed her by just a second? What if he wasn't fast enough?

It pained him to think that Lu Zhi could have been severely injured or would have lost her life in a freak accident like that. He didn't want to lose a friend like that, not when they just became friends, and definitely not like that.

Yi Chen felt a pang of pain slash across his chest as if someone just stabbed him in the heart. It was suffocating but the warmth of Lu Zhi's body, the fell of her breath on his neck and the rhythmic pulse that he could feel beneath his fingers were enough to ease the suffocation but the pain remained.

"How much more time will it take to reach the hospital?" Yi Chen asked the driver in a low voice.

"In another 10 minutes, sir." informed the driver.

"Hhmm."

Lu Zhi, who was still unconscious snuggled in closer to Yi Chen, almost laying her head on his chest. To accommodate her, Yi Chen wrapped his arm around Lu Zhi's shoulder and let her snuggle into him. He filched slightly when he felt Lu Zhi's arm wrap loosely around his wait but he let her be and wrapped his own arms around her in order to secure her so that she won't fall.

Even though Yi Chen would not let anybody come this close to him but he could not deny an injured and unconscious Lu Zhi. If it had been someone else, he would have felt repulsed, it was a reflex. But things were different with Lu Zhi. Not only did he himself initiated the hug to comfort earlier, even now he let her snuggle close to him because he touch didn't make him nauseated.

With her, things have been different since the moment they had met and Yi Chen had no idea why it was so.

When they reached the hospital, Yi Chen had a hard time getting Lu Zhi off him. She was locked around him in a tenacious grip and Yi Chen chalked it to the fear and shock she must have felt earlier when the car had come so close to crash into her.

Once he was able to untangle himself from her, Yi Chen once again picked Lu Zhi in a bridal carry and carried her inside the hospital while calling for a doctor. A nurse lead him to the general physician's office and helped him in laying down Lu Zhi on the examination table.

"It was freak accident. She was almost run over but I managed to pull her away. She has injured her knee and fell unconscious while coming here." Yi Chen explained the situation to the doctor.

The doctor performed a thorough check-up before telling the nurse to treat Lu Zhi's wound. The nurse pulled the curtains around the examination table, hiding Lu Zhi from his sight.

While the nurse treated Lu Zhi's wound, the doctor told Yi Chen, "She is perfectly alright. The wound on her knee is superficial and she fainted because of shock."

"Before falling unconscious, she did tell me that she had been in an accident before, which is why she froze when she saw the car coming towards her." said Yi Chen.

The doctor nodded and added, "Like I said, it was because of shock and previous trauma that she fainted. Don't worry, she'll be conscious in some time."

"Thank you, doctor." Yi Chen felt relieved that Lu Zhi was fine.

A few minutes later, the nurse pushed back the curtains having cleaned and bandaged Lu Zhi's wound. He went over to stand beside the examination table and stared at Lu Zhi for a minute before bending over to kiss her on the forehead.

It was an involuntary action on his part, something that he had no control over it. Like breathing, the beating of his heart, the blinking of his eyes. He had done it before he could even think what he did.

Yi Chen moved back when he realized what he did. He turned around and was about to ask the doctor something but was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. Yi Chen was confused momentarily as it wasn't his phone's ringtone but then the nurse pointed at the handbag that he was holding in his hand.

All this while, along with carrying Lu Zhi, Yi Chen was also carrying Lu Zhi nude pink handbag. 

He opened her bag and took out her cell phone. He wouldn't have had answered the call if it weren't Lu Zhi's mother who was calling.

"Hello, Zhi Zhi! Sweetheart are you alright? I don't know why but I have been feeling a little anxious as if something bad was going to happen. Are you okay?" Bai Yan, Lu Zhi's mother started speaking before Yi Chen could say anything. She sounded extremely worried. Perhaps, this was a mother's instinct.

"Hello, Mrs. Lu." said Yi Chen but was interrupted by Bai Yan.

"Who's this? And why do you have my daughter's phone with you?" now she sounded a little angry.

"Mrs. Lu, I am Zhang Yi Chen. Actually, Lu Zhi and I met today to discuss some business. We were leaving when Lu Zhi was almost run over by a car." explained Yi Chen. He hid the true reason of their meeting from her mother deliberately.

"WHAT?! Is she okay? Where is she? Are you at a hospital? Which one? Tell me!"

"Don't worry, I pulled her away on time. I brought her to the City Hospital and had the doctor check upon her. Lu Zhi is fine, she just scraped her knee and fainted because of shock. Otherwise, she is in perfect health." explained Yi Chen and he could hear Bai Yan's sigh of relief.

"Please stay there with her. I am coming there along with Lu Zhi's father. We'll be there soon." informed Bai Yan before ending the call.

While the Lu family were on their way to the hospital, Yi Chen had the nurse arrange for a private ward for Lu Zhi. He told his driver to bring the medicines that the doctor prescribed and also informed his assistant to delay his meetings by an hour.

He stayed by Lu Zhi's side until her parents arrived and was there when she gained consciousness. He sat there beside Lu Zhi's bed, holding on her hand. Yi Chen felt Lu Zhi's fingers move in his hand before he noticed the movement behind her eyes; the telltale signs that she was gaining consciousness.

Yi Chen placed his other hand on Lu Zhi's head, caressing it gently as he called out her name in a soft voice, "Lu Zhi?"

She had to blink her eyes thrice to adjust to the bright light in the ward before she could see properly. Lu Zhi noticed that Yi Chen was looking down at her with concern in his eyes, his one hand was holding onto hers while the other was on her head. 

"What?" she croaked, "What happened?"

Yi Chen poured a glass of water for her and helped her drink it as he explained, "You got hurt after that accident, so I brought you to the hospital. Don't you remember? You fainted after I told you that I was bringing you here."

"Oh."

"Are you feeling okay? Are you in pain? Should I call the doctor?" asked Yi Chen. Lu Zhi could hear the same concern in his voice as she had seen in his eyes.

"I am fine. It doesn't hurt much." replied Lu Zhi, "Are you okay, though? You didn't get injured right?" 

"I am alright and don't worry I didn't get injured either." smiled Yi Chen as he patted Lu Zhi's head. He was doing it a lot lately. Hugging her, kissing her, caressing her, and now patting her. Intimate actions like these were a first for Yi Chen. He had never behaved like that with anybody.

As it registered in Yi Chen's mind, he pulled back his hand but he could not stop himself from locking his eyes with Lu Zhi's.

What was this feeling?

Why did she have such an affect on him?

What was so magnetic about her that pulled him to her?

Who is she to me?

He stared into Lu Zhi's eyes in search of the questions that were running through his mind. But he only saw his own reflection in her eyes.

"Zhi Zhi!" the frantic sound of someone calling Lu Zhi's name broke the moment that Yi Chen and Lu Zhi were lost in.

Yi Chen turned his head in the direction of the sound and found an elderly couple rushing inside the ward. 'It must be Lu Zhi's parents.' thought Yi Chen.

"Oh my, baby!" cried Bai Yan as she rushed over to pull Lu Zhi in a hug but released her the very next instant, "I am not hurting you, am I?" she asked.

"I am fine, Mom!" smiled Lu Zhi and opened her arms to hug her mother.

The mother and daughter pair were joined by Father Lu as he hugged them as tightly as he could, "You had us scared, baby girl." he said in a hoarse voice.

Standing at a side, Yi Chen watched Father and Mother Lu check on Lu Zhi, hug her tightly and voice just how worried they were when they heard about her accident. The sight made Yi Chen feel happy and sad at the same time. He was happy that Lu Zhi had such loving parents who cared a lot about her and he was sad because his parents were nothing like Lu Zhi's.