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₊⊹⭑⩇⩇:⩇⩇⭑⊹₊ㅤ
3RD PERSON
With an iron grip that belied her lithe stature, Xiě clamped her fingers around Cheng's arm and began dragging him away from the scene of the altercation. Her steps were purposeful, guiding them both along an indiscernible path until the clamor of the park had faded into a distant murmur, leaving them ensconced in a secluded alcove where prying eyes and unwanted ears could not intrude.
Only once they had achieved this modicum of privacy did Xiě's steely grasp begin to soften. Slowly, almost reverentially, her fingers trailed along the contours of Cheng's arm until their hands were intertwined, palms pressing together in an oddly intimate gesture that seemed to transcend its outward appearance of mere physical contact.
"Why..." The single word emerged as little more than an anguished exhalation, yet it carried within its sparse syllables an entire panoply of recrimination and sorrow. "Why must you do this every time someone takes a liking toward me or MeiYing?"
The question hung in the charged air between them, suspended amid the roiling eddies of unspoken history and unresolved tensions. Xiě's gaze bored into Cheng with an intensity that should have been unendurable, laying bare every fleeting nuance of the tempest that raged behind her façade of practiced serenity.
Yet Cheng could not withstand the profound depths of that scorching scrutiny. His eyes skittered away, refusing to embrace the raw emotionality that burned within Xiě's with such relentless fervor. To meet that gaze was to confront the unvarnished truth of his own motivations, to strip away the protective veneer of bravado and lay his vulnerabilities bare before the world.
The silence stretched onward, amplifying with every labored heartbeat until it was as tangible as the corporeal space that separated them. Xiě seemed content to let the weight of her question linger, allowing the thickening tension to foster cracks in Cheng's steadfast defiance.
