Placing their hands on his cheeks, to feel the softness of their palms.
"You've lost so much weight…" Emily finally spoke, her voice filled with undeniable heartache. With her other hand, she gently, as if tracing an artwork, caressed his chiseled cheekbones and his hollow eye sockets.
"But also... stronger." Aliya touched the lines of muscles on his neck, made more pronounced due to muscle loss, and his arms, which felt as hard as steel.
"I'm fine." Lin Yu'an closed his eyes, enjoying the long-lost, gentle touch,
"I just... left all the excess fat in Labrador."
His words brought a round of soft laughter from them.
Lin Yu'an opened his eyes, looking fervently at Emily, then tenderly placed his hand over her still flat belly.
"The little one here... is it a boy or a girl?" he asked softly, as if afraid of disturbing the tiny, unformed life.
