Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 356: We Were A Family

Chapter 356: We Were A Family

I awoke from the best sleep of my life. I had never felt so relaxed, so safe in a really long time.

Sure, I knew that Rip would do everything possible to keep me safe and secure, but I think this was the first time I allowed myself to truly believe it.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," murmured a deep voice behind me. Turning over, I looked straight into Cheng Bo Jing’s eyes.

"I still think that Snow White is more appropriate," I smirked before turning bright red. It didn’t hit me until right this moment just why I was able to sleep so well.

"Now, now, this is not the time to get all shy on me," chuckled Cheng Bo Jing as he pulled my naked body toward him. I thought that I would be more sore... or, at the very least, more sticky.

"Bin An Sha gave you a bath last night while Rip changed the sheets," said the man, staring at me as if he could read my mind. Then again, I knew I had an expressive face.

Once again, I could only blush, my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth as I remembered asking to go harder and faster last night.

Was it possible for the bed to create a giant hole so I could just disappear? I was so frigging embarrassed.

"If Sleeping Beauty is awake, we need to feed her," grunted Fan Teng Fei, standing at the entrance of my room, his arms crossed and a spatula in his hand. "Now that we are here, we can get away from the road food and back onto a real diet with eggs, fruits, and vegetables."

Cheng Bo Jing looked at me for a second as if studying my reaction to the other man’s words.

If he really thought that I was going to argue about eating fresh fruits and eggs, he really had another thing coming.

"You know," I started instead. "If you are all going to insist on calling me Sleeping Beauty, I am going to need to downsize." I pulled off the blanket and pretended to be okay with my naked state. At some point in time, they were all going to see me like this.

I also wanted to be more comfortable in my own skin, in my own house.

Taking a steadying breath, I walked over to my closet and pulled out leggings and a sweater. It might not be apocalyptic chic according to old world standards, but it was beginning to feel a lot like my uniform.

Quickly getting dressed, both happy and embarrassed that both men were openly staring at me, I turned to look at Fan Teng Fei.

"You promised food?" I smiled at him. Reaching up, I rested my hand on his crossed arms and kissed his cheek. "Because I am hungry."

"For you, there is always food," he smiled back at me, leaning down so that I could reach him better. "For the lazy ass that can’t be bothered to get out of bed... he can have an MRE if there is nothing left."

I chuckled as I heard Cheng Bo Jing quickly getting out of bed. Following Fan Teng Fei, I walked into the kitchen.

"Is that bacon and eggs?" I asked, stupefied as I watched Bai Long Qiang supervising one of the pans on the stove.

"It is," grunted Fan Teng Fei, pushing the other man out of the way and taking over again.

"Hey! I was just making sure that nothing burned," shouted Bai Long Qiang in outrage.

"Yeah, yeah. And knowing you, counting the number of eggs cooking and trying to figure out how many you could eat before the rest of us got a chance," Fan Teng Fei replied, rolling his eyes.

"I’m a growing boy!" snapped back Bai Long Qiang, and I couldn’t help but laugh. This felt exactly as it did before the world came to an end.

"Growing boy, my ass," grumbled Fan Teng Fei as he flipped the eggs. "You are growing outward, not upward, and the only person who is going to eat is my Treasure. The rest of us are going to wait until she is done."

I turned pale at that idea. I didn’t want to eat by myself, and I definitely didn’t want to eat their food. Food was scarce, and I really didn’t need as much as the guys did.

Opening my mouth to protest, Fan Teng Fei spun around and pointed the spatula at me. "You are not going to argue with me, and you are not going to eat less just because you think we need more. We weren’t able to provide for you on the road, and we weren’t able to save you from Camp Hell. I need to make sure that you are looked after today. Please, do this for me."

There was a brief look of vulnerability on Fan Teng Fei’s face and I realized just how hard this had been for him, not able to do anything to help me.

"Okay," I nodded. If this was what he needed to feel more secure, then this was what he was going to get. "I’ll eat first. But I don’t promise not to eat all the bacon on you."

Bai Long Qiang let out a squeal of disapproval and got a spatula in his face for his effort, which caused me to burst out laughing.

"Did you find everything you needed in the pantry?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.

"I did, and more. In fact, I even made a plate of biscuits. They should be done any minute now," smirked Fan Teng Fei. "Just admit that I am your favorite, and I’ll give you two."

"What?!? Wait!" shouted Bai Long Qiang. "There needs to be rules on this. We can’t bribe our woman to love us more than another!"

I shrugged my shoulders. It sounded like a good idea to me, but I wasn’t going to tell them that.

However, we all knew at the end of the day that I would never be able to choose one over the other.

Together, we were a family.