16. Keeping It Together
Blood SisterPotentially a double update. Make sure you've read the previous one.
The third day of meetings really dragged for Sehun. A lot of the theories and plans presented were ones he’d heard before, either old models that had been tried out or new ones that had been dismissed on grounds of impracticality. He was also on edge about the whole Weiyi situation and the best way to handle it. He was not comfortable at the way old and painful memories were resurfacing, but at the same time, it was unfair to Weiyi to take it out on her, and showing that discomfort wasn’t going to help her settle. It was also obvious that she’d noticed he was getting uptight, because she’d been quite nervous on giving the phone back to him and had flinched when their hands brushed together, only calming when he managed to give her a reassuring smile.
It hadn’t helped at all that he’d also slept very badly, echoes of the time that he’d been left alone with Byun Baekhyun ghosting through his mind, and that had contributed to his sour mood. By lunchtime, it was clear that Weiyi was becoming uncomfortable too. Sehun tried his best not to be terse and snappish, but it was difficult.
Once the conference was over – bar the ball in the evening that he was planning on skipping in any case – Sehun took himself off for a walk on the beach to calm down. The walk turned out to be a lot longer than he’d intended, and it was early evening when he got back. Women were already floating around the hotel foyer in ball gowns and men in smart tuxedos. Sehun managed to avoid the conference manager and escape up the stairs to his room at a run.
Knocking the door open a little too harshly in his haste was apparently the wrong thing to do: he just caught sight of Weiyi hopping off the bed and cowering behind it before the realisation that he’d been aggressively loud hit him, and he closed the door more carefully behind him.
When she realised it was quiet again, Weiyi poked her head up over the top of the bed again. Her skin was glowing, and Sehun wondered what she’d done all day. He hadn’t exactly been very accommodating in giving her suggestions. Frustrated at himself and the day in general, he stomped over to the desk and plonked his files down on it, and then took out his completely dead phone to start charging it.
That seemed to put Weiyi on edge again, because when he turned around, she’d scrambled over to the other side of the bed and was clutching a pillow to her as if in defence. She met his gaze with a questioning look, and then flickered it away and back again.
“What?” Sehun demanded, not in the mood for trying to decipher her body language. She shrank back. Sehun returned to his files and began sorting through them, pulling out a few sheets that he was going to need to write up a report later. After a couple of minutes, he found himself able to focus on it. If he got the papers he needed and planned out his report, then he’d be able to get an early night, write the thing up the next day, and then have done with it and enjoy his holiday. As best he could with a tagalong. He’d been holidaying alone for the past two years after splitting up with his girlfriend, and it honestly felt odd to have somebody else there with him.
Not long after that, there was a rustle of clothing and he became aware of movement over to his left. Weiyi was crouching as unobtrusively as possible next to the desk, trying to keep hidden by its side – Sehun actually had to lean over to see her – and she had his charging phone in her hands, trying to guess the lock pattern. With a disgruntled sigh, Sehun took it off her and unlocked the screen.
“Ask next time,” he grumped.
There was a pause of well over a minute before she did.
“Luhan…?” she asked, holding the phone up. She’d managed to get to the apps running screen, and she’d clearly opened up several.
“Not right now.” Sehun buried his nose in his work, trying to hide his aggravation. The last thing he wanted on his mind was Luhan. She toyed listlessly with the device for a while before setting it down.
Sehun had almost finished searching through the pages when she spoke up again, this time in a full sentence.
“Shixun.” She sounded incredibly nervous just saying his name. “Are you… angry with me?”
He raised his head.
“Is it because I went to the spa again without permission?” The words were all blurted out in one breath, and it was definitely the most he’d ever heard her say in one go.
Sehun blinked at her and back at the final page. “No.”
“Wh-what did I do wrong?”
“Can you let me finish this and then we’ll talk?”
That was apparently the wrong thing to say.
“Oh.” She sat back on her heels. After fidgeting a little, she asked, in a very quiet voice, “Is this punishment, then?”
Sehun felt like somebody had dropped a bucket of ice on him. “No! No, no, no, nothing of the kind!” he exclaimed frantically, getting to his feet and closing the file. Weiyi looked up at him, expression oddly blank as though anticipating something unpleasant, but refused to come out from hiding beside the desk. Sehun took a deep breath to calm himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just been a rotten day. I’m in a pretty bad mood right now.”
Weiyi tilted her head to one side, as if asking whether it had anything to do with her.
“Listen,” he said. “I’m not your boss. If you want to go to the spa, you can go to the spa – I really don’t mind at all and I’m more than capable of footing the bill. It’s not best to ring your brother right now because this is around the time my sister’s family feeds the children and they don’t like being disturbed. You can ring later if you’d like. Tomorrow we can even go out and get you a phone so you don’t have to use mine.”
Weiyi looked a little hesitant to believe him. He crouched so that he was also on her level and she wouldn’t feel intimidated.
“Come on,” he said softly, holding out his hand. “Let me finish reading this one page and then we’ll go down to eat together.”
At the sight of his proffered hand, Weiyi gnawed on her lip for a bit before straightening herself up. After a moment or two, Sehun straightened up as well and moved away to allow her out.
“I’m not angry,” he assured her, catching sight of her nervous expression. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”
It wasn’t until dinner was over, when Sehun was in a considerably better moo
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