Page 271 of DATE
His somewhat rough yet warm palm gripped her hand again, their palms aligning perfectly.
Leonardo instinctively interlaced their fingers, careful not to hurt her.
He held her hand gently yet with a hint of nervousness, smiling as if he had received a gift.
“Just for a moment,” Hedy glanced at him and said, “I still need my left hand to hold the bandage in place.”
“I still have a left hand,” he raised an eyebrow and said, “It’s nimble enough to finish any church mural.”
She gave him a skeptical look but handed him the bandage.
To her surprise, his left hand—despite being reversed and on the same side—moved as smoothly as if it were her own hand.
Whenever she lifted her hand, he knew to press tightly; whenshe picked up the tweezers, he reached out to twist the bottle cap; if she needed to pick out stones or remove dead skin, he helped adjust the angle of the wound.
No spoken instructions, no hesitation.
Hedy almost forgot that one of her hands was still being playfully held by him as she became more and more focused on tending to the various wounds.
In this era, there were no band-aids, and the bandages could only be secured with clean cotton threads.
Even when she and he tied the knot together, it felt as though they were both controlling their hands perfectly.
Once Hedy finished tying the knot, she instinctively looked up at him.
His amber-colored, deep brown eyes held a gentle smile, neither overly eager nor flattering, yet full of subtle emotions that she could feel.
In fact, Leonardo was ambidextrous, able to use both hands with equal skill, and the agility of both hands was unmatched by anyone else.
He usually painted and wrote with his left hand, and the written words would appear as a mirror image.
However, when he needed to correspond with friends or complete a specific task, both of his hands could serve the same purpose.
He had never considered sharing the same hand with anyone, but in that moment, he focused all his attention on it.
He didn’t want to let go of her hand.
He wanted to stay this close to her, to keep her always in his line of sight.
A few years ago, the resolute resistance and avoidance seemed like nothing more than a distant memory now.
For some reason, Leonardo felt a bit relieved that he hadn’t followed his father’s advice to go to the so-called “official brothelfor homosexuals.”
He only wanted to spend every night with her.
“This wound is a bit deep…” Hedy furrowed her brow as she looked at him. “And it’s slanted upward. I’m not sure if I can remove it in one go. There’s also a small wooden splinter that went in; it might hurt.”
He nodded quietly, looking calm and obedient.
Hedy adjusted the candle and brought it closer to his slightly outward-turned wound, starting to remove the splinter.
As the foreign object was moved, the intense pain radiated sharply from the wound and spread to the surrounding areas.
He remained silent, and when the pain became unbearable, he lowered his head to kiss the back of her hand.
The warm kiss was filled with reluctance and dependence—though it was just a kiss on her hand, it felt solemn and sincere.
“It’s out,” Hedy sighed in relief, then began cleaning the area scratched by the stones. “Next time you do such an experiment, make sure to mark a bigger safety zone, and leave the fuse a bit longer.”
