Chapter 407
The only difference now was that Soren was my boyfriend.
The question I’d been holding onto resurfaced. “Why are you so good at taking care of people? It almost feels like you’ve had practice.”
Soren smiled while smoothing healing cream onto my injuries. “Are you wondering if I picked up this skill from my last relationship?”
“That’s not what I was thinking,” I said.
He had told me before that his time with his ex had been brief and shallow. I doubted he’d had any reason to care for her the way he did for me.
–
Soren blew lightly on the cream. “You don’t need experience to know how to care for someone. We’re adults. We should already know what to do or at least what not to do. The real question is whether we want to. It has nothing to do with technique. Sincerity is all it takes.”
Again, I was caught off guard by how plain and heartfelt his answer was. But he was right. How hard could it be to care for someone? All it really took was the will to do it.
He wanted to care for me, so he simply did–gently, attentively, lovingly.
“Oh, Soren.” I breathed.
“Hmm?”
“You’re such a gem. How does someone like you even exist, and how did I get lucky enough to meet you?”
Oh God. I must have caught whatever disease he had, blurting out romantic things without warning.
He chuckled and moved on to my other wrist. “I could ask the same about you. You’re stronger, braver, and more formidable than I could ever be. Most people raised in your environment wouldn’t have made it out intact. They’d be broken, struggling… if they even survived.
“But you? You’re nothing like that. You’re independent, self–reliant, kind, and good. That’s amazing.”
I was listening so intently that I forgot about the pain.
“I’m privileged,” he murmured. “Like a flower raised in a perfect garden, cared for by expert gardeners. But you… grew up in adversity, in toxic soil without any nutrients. And still, you bloomed into the most beautiful flower.” His smile was the kind that stole breath away. “So who, between us, is the real gem?”
Emotion swelled inside me. This man knew me better than I knew myself.
He didn’t love me for my looks or my body. He loved my soul.
That’s why he could accept every part of me without hesitation. That’s why he’d never once looked down on me.
My eyes stung. I started to cry… and laugh.
“H–How am I supposed to respond to all of this, Soren?! I don’t even know what to say!”
I was completely overtaken by feeling. I loved him. I loved him so much.
I loved him, I loved him, I loved him!
How could I possibly put it into words?
1/2
Chapter 407
I threw my arms around him and covered his face with kiss
Soren flinched in surprise, hastily setting the medkit aside
I didn’t answer. I didn’t know what was going on. I just kne
I kissed him again and again, my tears dampening his skin
