Slipping under his wrist, her hand finds his cheek as his coughing fit starts, and he turns his head from her hand even as he bows through his back. Her touch at his face limits the fold of his body to a slouch jarred by the harsh effort to clear his airway. A deeper inhale follows after the coughing ceases, and he falls back into ragged breathing as another murmured apology slips breathless from his lips, “...s...rry...sorry.”

Then Sadie moves closer to him, leans to him, only to react with a pained hiss. His eyes snap open behind the cover of his hands, and those hands tremble as he draws them from his head to look towards her in disbelief and horror.

Did he already hurt her?