Keqing had been determined to impress Aether with her camping prowess. So much so, that she forged ahead on the stones lining the river and slipped on a stone. Her ankle twisted. Before she could fall, he rushed to her side and caught her.
"Thanks," she said.
Keqing tried to stand on her own, but pain shot through her leg and she winced.
"I'm fine," she said. "I just…"
Without a word and quite unexpectedly, Aether picked her up. Keqing's face exploded crimson. Not noticing her embarrassment, he carried her bridal style to the campgrounds where Collei and Amber tended to the fire.
He placed her down inside a tent. After moments of rummaging through the supplies, Aether returned with an ice pack. He took Keqing's leg in his hand and pressed the ice pack to her ankle.
On one hand, being treated like a delicate flower made her indignant. On the other hand, she'd never turn down an excuse to get closer to Aether. The cold ice numbed her pain. Aether's hand massaged her calf tenderly, making her heart race.
She then noticed that both Collei and Amber watched with amusement. She shot them both a stink eye.
"What?"
"It's nothing," said Amber. "It's just kind of cute seeing you like this."
"I can take care of myself," she snapped. "Aether, you can stop this now."
"No can do," he replied. "Besides, you can't lie to me. I know you like this."
She reddened even more.
"Come on, K," he said with a smile. "You got to get used to me looking after you. I'll probably be doing things like this for a long time once we… you know? Start a family."
She nearly exploded. Stunned by embarrassment, Keqing could offer no rebuttal. So, Aether continued to pamper.
As the embarrassment subsided (which took a long time), Keqing found her thoughts wandering. Aether was right, of course. One day, she'd have to depend on him for basically everything. Pregnancy would make everyday tasks so much more impossible.
Pregnancy… the word echoed in her head like a song.
Aether focused entirely on her, tending to her twisted ankle, and fetched her whatever she needed. Relying on someone else was odd for the Yuheng. Although it was not so odd as to be disagreeable.
Maybe, she could get used to this.