Looking at the unusual PD Xu Cui, Su Wanyan felt her back dampen with sweat for reasons she could not immediately name. He was still smiling.. and that was exactly what made it worse.
The expression sat on his face the way it always did—easy, familiar, almost lazy—but the pressure underneath it was wrong. Heavier. More deliberate. As if something he usually kept folded away had been allowed to lean forward into the narrow space between them.
Without meaning to, she looked aside.
The moment she registered the avoidance she corrected it. Don't think too hard about this, she told herself. Overthinking had never helped her in an operating room and it would not help her here. She shook her head once, hair shifting with the motion, and rebuilt a gentle, professional smile before meeting his eyes again.
"What part of the story do you want to hear, PD?"
The question came out smooth. The unease stayed behind it, carefully fenced off where it would not show in her voice.
