Hearing his question, I almost reflexively nodded. "Yes."
My voice was quiet but steady. "Captain, you were seriously injured. If I hadn't taken care of you… you simply wouldn't have recovered this quickly."
Captain lowered his gaze to his own body. His upper torso was bare, white bandages wrapped around the left side of his abdomen, already seeping with a faint red stain, it seemed he'd moved too forcefully just now, reopening the wound.
"Captain!"
I immediately frowned and stepped forward, pressing him back down. "Don't move anymore. The wound's torn again."
My tone was sharp, my manner so fierce that even I found it a little ridiculous, yet something faint flickered in his eyes. He obediently lay back down without arguing, only staring straight at me, deep and slow like he wanted to carve my very image into his bones.
"Where are my clothes?"
He asked hoarsely. His body was clearly still weak, yet he carried a hard, unyielding presence that made it impossible to look away. In the firelight, the lines of his muscles and the white bandages formed a dangerously striking image, enough to throw my heartbeat off rhythm.
I instinctively glanced once, then immediately turned away. My cheeks burned especially when the scene from last night suddenly surfaced in my mind: lips touching as I fed him medicine. I wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and bury myself.
Pressing my lips together, I pointed toward the wooden rack beside us."It rained too hard yesterday. All your clothes were soaked. I took them off to dry them for you… they should be dry by now. Do you want to put them on?"
He didn't answer, only looked at me with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. My scalp tingled. I stood up at once, grabbed his jacket, and draped it over his shoulders as if it were something urgently necessary.
"It's cold. Put this on."
I avoided meeting his eyes. "I'll change your bandages."
He said nothing, silently cooperating, as if tacitly allowing me to touch him.
I took a deep breath and carefully removed the gauze. The wound had split slightly, but fortunately it wasn't serious. I quickly stopped the bleeding, sprinkled anti-inflammatory medicine, and wrapped on fresh bandages, my movements so practiced that even I was surprised.
When I finished, I let out a soft breath and lightly patted my hands together."Captain, how do you feel now?"
"Very good."
His reply was brief, his voice low and rough.
He lightly licked his lips, as if savoring something. After a moment, his gaze darkened just a little. In last night's delirium, he had vaguely felt someone feeding him medicine… but if he'd been unconscious, how could he have swallowed?
I caught that look immediately and instinctively stepped back several paces.
"Captain," I hurriedly changed the subject, my voice dropping, "the mountain in the distance collapsed and caused a landslide. All the roads around here are blocked… it seems we're trapped."
He braced himself and sat up, ignoring the sharp pain in his left abdomen.
"A landslide?"
I nodded and sat down by the fire. "The mountain collapsed last night, and today the rain is even heavier. Ronan… will they be able to find us? Can we hold out until rescue comes?"
His expression grew heavy.
"The phone."
I handed it to him. "I checked earlier, no signal. But I don't know about now."
He turned it on. The screen was blank. No signal.
His hand tightened around the phone. The air in the cave seemed to cool by a degree, making me unconsciously rub my arms. But then that chill dissipated as if he'd withdrawn something invisible.
I let out a breath of relief, only then realizing my stomach let out a quiet growl. It had been more than a full day without food. My medical bag was full of herbs, not a scrap of anything edible.
If we didn't find food… Even if we didn't die from his wounds, we'd starve.
"Captain," I said hesitantly, "are you hungry? Or… should I go out and look for something to eat?"
Outside, the rain was still pouring, landslides everywhere. Even as I said it, fear crept into me.
"You want to go out?" He narrowed his eyes. "Trying to die?"
I bit my lip and argued softly, "It's not that I want to risk my life. But without food… we won't survive either. We don't know when rescue will arrive."
He fell silent for a long while, clearly understanding that I was right.
"I'll go."
He finally said.
I startled and immediately stopped him. "No! I worked so hard to save you, if you go out, your wound will get infected again. Medicine is precious now. Can you not cause more trouble? Your life… I'm the one who saved it!"
Only after saying it did I realize I'd gone too far. But it was already too late.
He raised an eyebrow, his gaze deepening. "My life… belongs to you?"
The corner of his lips curved slightly. His mood seemed noticeably better.
"I'll just go nearby," I said quickly, firm. "I'll be back very soon."
"One hour."
He said.
I blinked. "Huh?"
"One more hour," he repeated, his tone allowing no argument. "If you're not back, I'll come find you."
My heart trembled with a strange, inexplicable beat. I immediately brushed the feeling aside, turned to step into the rain, then heard his voice behind me.
"Take this."
A black windbreaker was tossed into my hands.
"To keep off the rain."
I clenched the jacket. It still carried his body heat, warm enough to make my throat tighten.
"Thank you…"
I put it on and plunged into the rain.
After wandering around for quite a while, I finally found a fruit tree still intact branches heavy with bright red apples. My eyes lit up. The rain made the trunk slippery; it took a lot of effort to climb, but in the end I picked more than twenty apples.
On the way back, I also discovered a corner where shiitake mushrooms were growing in clusters. Not poisonous. Edible.
When I ran back to the cave, I was drenched, my face smeared with mud, a complete mess. But in my eyes, joy practically shone.
"Captain!"
I squatted in front of him, hugging the windbreaker. "Guess what I found?"
He reached out and wiped the mud from my face. "What?"
I opened the jacket like presenting a treasure. Red apples and shiitake mushrooms were revealed.
"Big apples! And mushrooms! Am I amazing?"
He didn't say anything, but the curve of his lips was unmistakable.
"There are more than twenty," I said excitedly. "If we ration them, we can definitely last until rescue."
His gaze paused on my pale lips, his brow knitting slightly, as if he'd seen something that displeased him.
"Take off your clothes. Warm yourself by the fire."
I froze within a single breath.
His hand had already reached out, fingers nearing the buttons at my chest. That familiar sense of danger instantly pulled every nerve taut.
I snapped back to my senses, almost reflexively pushing his hand away while clutching my clothes tightly to my chest, my voice coming out a bit rushed:"I can do it myself! You rest, your wound needs time to heal."
With that, I turned my back on him as fast as I could. My face burned as if licked by flames, my heart pounding so wildly I didn't dare linger another second. In the end, I only dared to remove the soaking wet outer layer, then wrapped myself tightly in his windbreaker from neck to knees sealed up like a self-built wall of defense, absolutely refusing to expose even a little more.
Behind me, I could feel his gaze still fixed on me.
A soft laugh sounded, low and brief, carrying a clear hint of mockery as if I were guarding against him no differently than against a hungry wolf.
The third day passed.
The fourth day.
Then the fifth.
Rescue was still nowhere to be seen.
Only ten apples remained, neatly stacked in the corner like a cold reminder of dwindling supplies. The mushrooms had been gone for a long time. Outside the cave, the rain continued to pour without pause, heavy and relentless, as if the sky had decided not to spare us.
A growing, uncontrollable unease settled in my heart.
A quiet but terrifying question crept into my mind, repeating over and over...
Could it be… that no one would truly come to save us after all?