He Loves Him, but He Doesn't Love Him [Sentinel and Guide]

Tang Tianqin first met Ji Yaoxing at his company. Ji Yaoxing was nineteen.

The pale, slender young man sat quietly by the window, his bright eyes making him look like a well-behaved high schooler from next door. Someone nearby introduced him as one of the highest-ranking sentinels in the military district.

He was also one of the hardest sentinels to match with a guide.

Fifty percent was the threshold for a sentinel-guide match. Tang Tianqin was just 0.7 percent above it, making him the only guide currently available who could match with Ji Yaoxing.

The person who introduced them asked, "Do you know what it means for a sentinel and guide to bond?"

Tang Tianqin said, "I do."

Ji Yaoxing nodded quietly.

Of the sentinel-guide pairs who formed a mental link, nearly 99 percent became lifelong partners. Most of the remaining one percent were widowed young.

Ji Yaoxing had spent years on missions. His senses were overloaded, and his mental instability had reached a high-risk level. An unbonded guide whose compatibility fell below the threshold couldn't provide effective treatment.

That was why he'd come to Tang Tianqin.

Tang Tianqin looked over the military district contract the introducer had brought, glanced at the young man's profile, and thought absently:

Oh. A marriage of convenience.

-

Two years later, Tang Tianqin received Ji Yaoxing's medical report and was called into a military district conference room.

Ji Yaoxing was a little madman, taking on high-risk missions in batches.

His guide had barely passed the compatibility threshold and rarely saw him, making it difficult to treat him completely.

The latest medical report showed that the sentinel's danger level had exceeded the threshold. The people present had to decide what would happen to him.

If the guide agreed to vouch for him, the bonded sentinel could go home to recuperate.

If the guide also judged the sentinel to be high-risk, the sentinel would be detained until his condition improved, though that usually ended in death.

Tang Tianqin looked at the business partnership offers pouring in on his phone, casually voted to have Ji Yaoxing detained, then hurriedly excused himself and went back to negotiating a deal.

He didn't even look at Ji Yaoxing.

Someone blocked his way and demanded an explanation. Tang Tianqin replied coldly, "It's not like we're really in love."

In this exchange of favors, he had no obligation to take responsibility for Ji Yaoxing.

-

They met again at the border. Tang Tianqin had been assigned a mission against his will, along with a bodyguard: his sentinel.

And a horde of pursuers behind them.

Ji Yaoxing, who had once shown Tang Tianqin all his feelings without a trace of caution, seemed like a different person. He moved with blood on his blade, his gentle face now touched with a striking, sharp beauty.

Tang Tianqin couldn't sense his emotions. All he could see was his straight back, like a pine or bamboo, and his cold, keen gaze, like a lone wolf.

The little madman on the battlefield.

Ji Yaoxing raised a hand to wipe the blood splashed across his face. His frosty eyes swept calmly over the people behind him.

At that glance, Tang Tianqin heard his own heart begin to race.

-

#Chasing-the-wife-to-the-crematorium; essentially a bad ending. The gong is even more of a scumbag than the synopsis makes him sound, but in the end, his ashes get scattered. The shou will also fall in love with someone else.

#Sentinel-guide story, with a guide and sentinel pairing: Tang Tianqin (older guide) x Ji Yaoxing (younger sentinel). Primarily a romance-focused writing exercise, with the setting as a backdrop.

#Short story under 100,000 characters. I'll start writing whenever I feel like it.

Theme: Don't force it.