Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 178: Looking To Expand

Chapter 178: Looking To Expand

Si Dong watched the woman in his friend’s arms relax, her nose so close to his neck that it was a surprise that she could even breathe.

"Good call," grunted Fan Teng Fei, but Si Dong simply shrugged the words off.

"Not hard to see the battle going on in her head," he said as he grabbed a bottle of hair oil that was left on the counter. Turning it around to read the instructions as well as the ingredients, he raised his eyebrows.

Before the end of the world, this brown bottle the size of his palm would have been worth a lot. He didn’t even want to think about its worth in today’s society. Or maybe it wasn’t even worth the ingredients. After all, when you were being hunted down by zombies who really cared about how luxurious and soft their hair was.

Following the instructions, he poured a good amount of the liquid into his hand and rubbed them together. Once the oil had warmed up a bit, he reached forward to take her hair and spread it out.

"One second," grunted Fan Teng Fei when Si Dong paused. Removing the elastic keeping the hair up, he nodded to Si Dong to continue.

"Thanks," grunted the other man as he rubbed the oil into the mass of hair.

He continued the process until everything, including her scalp, was saturated with the stuff.

"Should we cover her hair?" asked Si Dong, cocking his head to the side. He didn’t want her to ruin her new pillows and bedding with all of the oil when she went to bed.

"There should be a shower cap under the sink," grunted Bin An Sha from where he stood at the door, watching the process. "But I would like to point out that this was my idea; I should have been the one doing it for her."

Si Dong smirked at him as he quickly washed his hands and found the shower cap. "You snooze, you lose. There are six other men willing to step in; you’ve got to be on your toes if you want one-on-one time with our woman."

Bin An Sha rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t like the other man didn’t have a point.

After putting the shower cap on Wang Tian Mu, Fan Teng Fei stood up. Gripping his treasure tighter to him, he walked past the two men and into the closet that they had set up for her.

Laying her down on the blankets, Fan Teng Fei leaned over her. "You can stop faking it now; they are gone."

"Screw you, who said I was faking it? Ask any woman; playing in her hair is the best way to get her to calm down, be happy, and put her to sleep," she murmured, not bothering to open her eyes.

"Good to know. But I’ll leave you alone for now and let you get some sleep," he chuckled as he started to rise up. But Wang Tian Mu wasn’t having any of it.

"Stay, please?" she asked. Her hand was gripping his shirt so hard that he really didn’t have a choice in the matter. Not that he wanted one.

"Of course," he said. Laying down beside her, Fan Teng Fei waited until she got comfortable on top of him before he pulled the covers up and over her.

She let out a soft sigh and snuggled down even deeper into sleep.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"You never have to thank me for this," he replied, holding her closer. "In fact, if I had my way, I would be sleeping like this every night."

A sleepy smile appeared on her face, but she didn’t say anything.

She didn’t need to, though. Fan Teng Fei could feel her body softening as sleep took her. She had given him a precious gift by trusting him enough to fall asleep in his arms. He wouldn’t do anything to betray that.

"You good?" asked Rip from the doorway of the closet. The guys had all agreed that that space was all Wang Tian Mu’s, and only she could invite people into it. It might not seem like a big deal, but it was yet another step toward proving to her that she, once again, had power and control.

"I’m good," grunted Fan Teng Fei, not willing to move too much.

"I bet you are, lucky bastard," Rip replied before he turned around and walked away. He left the closet door slightly ajar so that it would be able to offer security without feeling like yet another cage she couldn’t get out of.

Fan Teng Fei didn’t even bother to disagree with his statement. He was a lucky bastard in more ways than one.

----

It was way too early the next morning when a knock on the door woke Bin An Sha. He had been sleeping on the hospital bed since he had given Wang Tian Mu his bedroom.

His condo only had two rooms; it wasn’t like he needed more of them with it just being himself, but now that eight people were living in it, he would need to try and find a bigger place.

He wasn’t willing to give up time with his Firefly, and he knew that the others felt the same.

Maybe he could break down the wall between his condo and the one next door to expand. There were only two condos in use on this floor, his and Zhao Jun Jie’s, so that was really no reason why he couldn’t.

Completely forgetting about what had woken him up earlier, he went about thinking about what walls to destroy and how many apartments he would need to take over.

"Aren’t you going to get the door?" asked the asshole currently living for free in his house. Bin An Sha raised an eyebrow at the man before he, too, heard the knock. "They are loud enough that they might wake up Kitten."

That statement was enough to get Bin An Sha moving. Not caring that he was in nothing more than a pair of grey sweatpants, he stormed over to the door and swung it open.

Firefly needed her sleep, and he would kill anyone that prevented her from getting it.