Chapter 1277:

Eventually, she couldn’t keep it to herself any longer. She leaned in and whispered, “Would you mind not staring at me like that?”

Jeffry’s lashes quivered, and when he finally spoke, his voice came out rough. “I just need to be sure you’re really here with me.”

That one honest line made something ache in Lydia’s chest, as if her heart had been pricked. Her thoughts flashed back to the memory of Jeffry fighting against the waves, searching for her in the sea. She had never seen him lose control like that—so desperate and frantic.

All at once, Lydia snapped back to the present when she felt the gentle pressure of his hand on her arm.

Jeffry was holding onto her, his eyes downcast, keeping whatever he felt hidden from view.

She nearly jumped from her seat, startled, and quickly pulled her arm away. “What are you doing?”

Heat rushed to her ears and spread down her neck as she shot him a wary look. For a moment, Jeffry kept his hand in the air, hesitating, and then let it fall, as if he could feel her discomfort.

He pressed his lips together and said in a rough tone, “You’re hurt.”

Jeffry still looked weak, his hair plastered to his forehead, his eyes shadowed and hard to read, his lips drained of color.

Lydia thought she caught a flicker of vulnerability in his expression. She tried to speak, but nothing came out. A heavy silence stretched between them.

She found herself at a loss when it came to this side of Jeffry. After a long pause, she finally stretched out her arm. A small cut marked her skin, probably left by debris from the plane during her parachute jump. She hadn’t even realized it was there until Jeffry pointed it out.

Her lips felt dry as she tried to brush off her unease. “It’s nothing, just a scratch. It’ll be gone before I know it.”

Without another word, Jeffry reached under the seat and pulled out a first-aid kit. “Saltwater can turn a small wound into something serious if you don’t treat it,” he said.

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Lydia fell silent, but she let him handle her arm without protest.

With steady hands, Jeffry dabbed iodine on the cut using a cotton swab, working so gently that he never hurt her. When he finished, he leaned in and blew softly on her skin.

A jolt ran through Lydia’s body. That simple gesture sent a tingling warmth from her arm right to her chest, leaving her shivering and confused. She could not understand why his breath on her wound made her feel so many things all at once.

After covering the scratch with a bandage, Jeffry tucked the kit away. Every move he made seemed as careful as if he were tending to something precious. Lydia quickly looked away, trying to steady herself and quiet her heart. Her next words came out in a rush. “When you were lost at sea and almost drowned, what was going through your mind? Why didn’t you just give up? Wasn’t your life important to you?”

She had parachuted out before the plane crashed. From a distance, she had watched Jeffry struggle across the endless water in search of her and noted the fatigue etched on his face each time he almost sank. Anyone else would have let go, but he kept searching, again and again.

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