May this promise last a lifetime

Chapter 33 - A pained first meeting

TW for graphic description of wounds mentions of abuse.

I'm seriously clueless if this even requires a TW but I'll put it here anyway.

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Baizhu's POV

 I sighed as I listened to Neuvillette finish recounting the events of last night.

 What a mess.

 How glad I am to be his doctor and not his therapist.

 Instead of commenting on last night's event, I turned to look at Wriothesley.

 He had been wearing a displeased frown all throughout Neuvillette's story so...

 "Now I want to hear it from you." I told him.

 I stopped Neuvillette before he could protest, focusing my attention on Wriothesley.

 "First of all, he did not just choke me out of nowhere. I reacted to his touch rather violently and suddenly. In one way, I provoked it and that will be the end of the discussion about that." He glared at Neuvillette.

 Well, well, well.

 Just the start of the story and it was already so different from Neuvillette's self-balming version.

 For obvious reasons, I'm more inclined to believe this one.

 "Secondly, he was communicating just fine and he was calm throughout the whole thing. After we talked for a bit he put the string down and he was even fine with physical interactions after a bit."

 Hmm?

 Physical interactions?

 "What kind of physical interactions do you mean?"

 "Holding hands and hugging."

 Neuvillette...

 He allowed someone to not only hold his hand but hug him when he was that vulnerable.

 Putting aside times when he is vulnerable, he never allows anyone to hug him at all.

 Aside from children, the only person who was ever able to hug him was his grandmother.

 The last one who tried got punched in the face.

 I guess this is progress.

 Though not a lot, seeing as Wriothesley still got slammed into the bed for grabbing him so suddenly.

 But progress, nonetheless.

 Phew...

 Okay, let's go through everything one by one.

 "May I take a look at your neck?" I asked Wriothesley.

 He hesitated for a moment before nodding.

 "I'm going to put some pressure on a few points. I want you to tell me what you feel."

 Fortunately, contrary to how bad it looked, there didn't seem to be any major damage.

 Still...

 "If you feel any discomfort, make sure to see a doctor immediately."

 After all, I didn't exactly have an x-ray here to properly check.

 Now on to the more troublesome things.

 "Could you please go out for a while?" I asked Wriothesley.

 He gave me a questioning look in return, prompting me to further explain.