Chapter 67: Nothing Was Required
The house was silent when Hanchuan carried Zhiyi upstairs.
She had made it through the ceremony, photographs, dinner and nearly three hours of reception before her steps began losing their usual precision. Hanchuan noticed before anyone else did. He ended a conversation with two foreign executives, crossed the ballroom and lifted her without warning.
Zhiyi had gone still for less than a second before recognizing him.
After that, she rested her head against his shoulder and allowed five hundred guests to watch her husband carry her out of their wedding reception.
The last camera flashes disappeared when the car door closed.
Zhiyi remained against him throughout the drive home. Her wedding dress covered most of the rear seat, and the removable train occupied the space beside them inside a garment bag Zeyu had insisted someone preserve properly. Hanchuan kept one arm around her waist while his other hand rested against her knee beneath the layers of fabric.
He didn’t attempt to start anything inside the car.
Tonight had already required Zhiyi to accept more attention, noise and physical contact than she ordinarily tolerated in a week. He could feel the exhaustion in the weight of her body and the delay before she responded whenever he moved.
By the time they reached the bedroom, her eyes remained open only because she hadn’t completed the task attached to the wedding.
Hanchuan set her carefully on her feet.
Zhiyi looked toward the bed.
He knew where her thoughts had gone.
Hundreds of people had spent the day referring to tonight as their wedding night. Zeyu had made several comments before Qinghe threatened to remove him from the reception. The hotel staff had filled the car with flowers, and someone had covered Hanchuan’s bed with enough petals to require fifteen minutes of cleaning before anyone could reasonably sleep in it.
Every part of the day had created an expectation.
Hanchuan locked the bedroom door.
Then he walked past the bed.
Zhiyi followed him with her eyes as he entered the adjoining sitting room and returned with a glass of water. He placed it in her hands and waited until she drank.
"The dress comes off first," he said.
That instruction gave her somewhere to begin.
She turned her back to him.
Hanchuan removed the small fastenings concealed along the upper edge of the gown. The dress had been constructed around her body that morning, with layers secured in an order he hadn’t witnessed. Zeyu had forced him to learn how to undo it anyway.
Apparently, the information had been provided for a reason.
His fingers moved down her back, releasing each fastening without touching more skin than necessary. Zhiyi remained still, but her breathing changed when the gown loosened around her.
Hanchuan noticed.
He didn’t comment.
The last closure released, and he lowered the fabric from her shoulders. The gown settled around her waist while the softer layer beneath it remained against her skin.
"Step out."
Zhiyi placed one hand on his shoulder for balance and stepped free of the skirt. Hanchuan gathered the dress before it reached the floor, laid it across the long bench near the closet and returned to her.
She was still wearing the thin white slip the stylist had placed beneath it. The fabric fell to the middle of her thighs and concealed far less than the gown.
Zhiyi looked down at herself.
Hanchuan removed her shoes before she could decide whether the slip required another instruction. He lowered himself, lifted one of her feet and unfastened the narrow strap around her ankle. The second shoe followed.
The pressure marks along her toes were red but shallow. Nothing had blistered.
Hanchuan ran his thumb once across the side of her foot before setting it down.
Zhiyi’s toes curled against the carpet.
He rose behind her and began removing the pins from her hair. There were thirty-seven. Hanchuan knew because Zeyu had made him count them before the ceremony as though misplacing one would result in structural collapse.
Each pin released another section of dark hair.
By the time he removed the last one, it fell down Zhiyi’s back in a smooth line nearly to her waist. Hanchuan pushed his fingers through it slowly, separating the strands that had been fixed together for most of the day.
Zhiyi’s eyes closed.
The response was small enough that another man might have missed it.
Hanchuan had spent seven years learning to see her.
He continued until every hidden pin had been removed and the tightness around her scalp disappeared. Then he unclasped the necklace at her throat and placed it beside the earrings and bracelet on the dresser.
Only her wedding and engagement rings remained.
Hanchuan turned her toward him.
The silence between them had changed.
Zhiyi no longer looked exhausted enough to fall asleep standing. Her attention had fixed completely on him, following his hands and every movement that brought him closer.
Hanchuan touched one finger beneath her chin and tilted her face upward.
He kissed her forehead.
Zhiyi stopped breathing.
Hanchuan felt the moment recognition reached her. Her eyes opened, but she didn’t pull away from the hand resting lightly beneath her jaw.
"You kissed me there when we died," she said.
"I know."
"That was the only time."
"I thought it would be."
The shelter had been too hot, the ventilation had failed and Hanchuan had known neither of them would live long enough to see another night. Zhiyi had been pressed against his chest, still trying to calculate a solution after every possible route ended in death.
He kissed her forehead because there was nothing left to protect her from except fear.
He had never expected to do it again.
Hanchuan lowered his mouth to the same place and kissed her more slowly.
"This time isn’t the last."
Zhiyi’s fingers closed around the front of his jacket.
Hanchuan waited until her grip tightened before moving. He removed the jacket, loosened his tie and unfastened the first buttons of his shirt while keeping his attention on her face.
She watched every step.
Nothing in her expression resembled fear, but uncertainty remained. She knew the expected outcome of a wedding night. She didn’t know what sequence would take them there or which parts belonged to obligation rather than choice.
Hanchuan had no intention of allowing her to perform something because she believed a wife was supposed to.
"You don’t owe me anything tonight," he said.
Zhiyi’s gaze lifted from his hands.
"Marriage didn’t create a requirement. If you want to sleep, I’ll put you in bed and hold you until morning."
"You want to have sex."
It wasn’t a question.
"Yes."
Her fingers remained against his shirt.
"I’ve wanted you for years," he continued. "That doesn’t mean you have to give me anything before you want it too."
Zhiyi examined his face as though checking whether the statement contained disappointment he had attempted to conceal.
Hanchuan let her look.
He didn’t soften the desire he knew she could see. He also didn’t move closer.
"If you want me to stop, say my name."
That was the only instruction she needed.
Hanchuan lowered his hand from her face, giving her enough space to end the moment without having to push him away.
Zhiyi didn’t use it.
Instead, she reached for the tie hanging loose around his neck and pulled.
Hanchuan stepped into her.