"What's good?" Skye asked, genuinely perplexed by his strange declaration.
"It's nothing complicated," Su Zhan chuckled, leaning back on the plush sofa, watching her reaction. "I just think it's remarkably good luck that neither of us has ever had a girlfriend or a boyfriend. It means we get to start with a blank slate."
Skye narrowed her eyes playfully. "You don't look like a guy who's never had a girlfriend. You look more like a playboy who specializes in collecting them."
"Even if I am a playboy, I assure you, I am not the 'Stark type,'" Su Zhan retorted, injecting a hint of self-deprecating humor. "I prefer to respect the furniture."
The following days were an intentional blur of manufactured perfection. The sun shone relentlessly, reflecting off the glittering glass of the skyscrapers. Su Zhan indulged his male pride, basking in the envious stares of pedestrians as he walked down the street with Skye. She was striking—that unique, exotic beauty of a mixed-race heritage, her features a perfect blend of East and West, just as he knew they would be. She even dressed up, recognizing the shift in dynamic, wearing clothes that accentuated her smart, agile figure.
They were an exceptionally good match, visually and intellectually.
The relationship deepened through shared, unpretentious moments: stumbling upon a hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant with legendary food, arguing passionately over a cryptic coding error on her laptop, or simply sitting in comfortable silence, watching the sunset over the recovering city.
Skye, fundamentally a lonely person driven by a singular, consuming quest for her identity, found herself utterly dependent on Su Zhan's company. This feeling—a warmth, a security, a sense of being truly seen—was entirely foreign to her. She savored every minute, terrified that the magic would dissipate.
After nearly a week of forced proximity, Su Zhan felt a genuine, unfamiliar shift in his goals.
Initially, Skye was a means to an end: an access key to Coulson's team, a brilliant future asset for his kingly enterprises, and, yes, a beautiful woman whose company he enjoyed. But somewhere between arguing about Chinese history and dissecting Tony Stark's flawed security protocols, the calculation had changed.
He had fallen for her.
He believed the feeling was mutual. Their relationship had evolved into that thrilling, awkward 'ambiguous period'—a minefield of unspoken feelings and electric tension.
But happy times are always fleeting, and the mechanic's call was the unavoidable reality check: the van was fixed.
The car's repair meant the end of their accidental domestic bliss. Skye would leave, and the momentum of their relationship might stall, forcing them back into separate, lonely orbits. Su Zhan couldn't allow that. He needed to lock down the relationship—not just for strategy, but for the sake of the genuine connection he felt.
He knew Skye was holding back secrets—her hacker identity, her involvement with Rising Tide, and her desperate, unspoken investigation into him. But she hadn't confessed, which meant she was protecting him or testing him. Su Zhan, therefore, had to be the first to drop the shields, even if the shields he dropped were entirely fabricated.
Bang!
The bedroom door flew open. Skye stood framed in the doorway, her backpack clutched in one hand and her laptop bag in the other. Her expression was a painful mix of forced cheerfulness and profound reluctance. She was prepared to leave.
"Are you... leaving?" Su Zhan asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Yes. The car is fixed now, and I can't just stay here forever, especially since I have other things—things I need to do—so..." Skye trailed off, unable to complete the sentence that felt suspiciously like a breakup.
The pain on her face was clear. A solitary person finding connection and then having to voluntarily break it off was agony.
"Before you walk out that door," Su Zhan said, his voice dropping to a low, serious rumble, "there is something critically important that needs to be addressed. It might sound absurd, even crazy, but it's something I absolutely must get off my chest."
Skye dropped her bags and walked over, sitting beside him on the edge of the sofa. Her expression was expectant, fearful, and hopeful all at once.
Su Zhan took a deep breath, locking his gaze with hers. This was the moment of strategic honesty, wrapped in a comfortable lie.
"I told you it was true that I've never been in a relationship. I may have acted like a playboy, and I certainly had instinctive male thoughts about a beautiful woman in my room. But those were just thoughts, not true feelings. Over the past week, watching you, talking to you, laughing with you—it became real. I've fallen for you, Skye."
He took her hands in his, the warmth of his powerful grip a stark contrast to his earnest expression. "So, Skye. Will you be my girlfriend?"
Skye's breath hitched. Joy exploded on her face, but it was quickly shadowed by a familiar fear. She loved him, yes, but the complications were immense.
"Su Zhan, actually... I like you too. More than I thought possible in this short time. But I'm sorry, I can't be with you because I..." She hesitated, her identity as a government-defying hacker and budding activist jamming her gears. She couldn't drag this sweet, mysterious guy into her war against S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Stop," Su Zhan interrupted softly. "I know you have concerns. I have mine, too. I've been hesitant to tell you this, but my identity is... special. The fragmented memories, the lack of a background—that wasn't a clever evasion. It's the truth. I'm from China, but my memories are incomplete; a large part of my past is a complete void. I'm like a helpless kid who just showed up here, completely lost."
He deepened the lie, injecting genuine sounding pathos. "Until I met you, Skye. You've given my life structure, meaning. You're the first real thing in this world for me. I know you might mind these things, the missing history, the blank slate..."
"No! Stop!" Skye cut him off, her own emotional barriers shattering. She hadn't expected his secret to be so profound, so devastatingly simple. The thought of this charismatic, powerful man wandering a hostile world alone, without an identity, pulled at her fiercely guarded empathy. "I don't mind. I don't care what happened to you. Believe me, we will find out your past together!"
"The past is secondary," Su Zhan murmured, gently caressing the back of her hand. "I'm focused on the future. And I'm looking forward to having you in that future." He made the final plea, a subtle emotional manipulation that felt absolutely right in the moment.
Skye looked down at their joined hands, her resolve to leave entirely evaporated. "Okay. I'll stay. But I need to be honest now, too. I have secrets."
"Go on."
"I'm a hacker. A really skilled one. I just joined a grassroots organization called 'Rising Tide' that operates on the fringes. Things might get complicated, dangerous, and I'm genuinely afraid it will implicate you."
Su Zhan smiled, a genuine, relieved smile of victory. "Don't worry, I will protect you. But as for being implicated... maybe it's me who will implicate you. After all... I'm already being watched by S.H.I.E.L.D."
Skye looked up, her eyes wide with shock and fear. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is watching you? Why?"
"Because of my special ability," he explained, leaning closer.
"Special ability?" Skye whispered, her mind already racing, correlating this confession with his blank identity and the incredible feat of curing Pepper Potts.
"Yes. You know about the Avengers and the X-Men. I also possess something unique," Su Zhan confirmed. "I'm not a mutant, and I'm not a product of a super-serum. This ability—it felt like it suddenly awakened when I got here—allows me to absorb all external energy and exotic powers without suffering any adverse reactions or instability."
He lowered his voice further, creating a bond of shared danger. "I absorbed the Extremis Virus from Pepper Potts. That's how I cured her. That's how S.H.I.E.L.D. detected me. They know I have power, and they know I have no identity."
Skye was breathing quickly, her face pale. "No… they won't trust you. Not after knowing your ability. The potential is too high. There's a good chance they won't just observe you, they'll want to capture you and bring you to a S.H.I.E.L.D. research lab. No... I absolutely can't let them take you away!"
The thought of the mysterious, charming man she loved being dissected by a government agency spurred her into furious action. She grabbed her laptop, slamming it open and her fingers started flying across the keyboard in a rapid, complex sequence of commands.
"What are you doing?" Su Zhan asked, feigning concern.
"I'm going to erase every digital trace of our recent movement! I'll scramble the hotel records, wipe the tow truck manifest, and then we are leaving this city right now!" Skye insisted, her hacker instincts fully engaged. She was in full protective mode.
"Wait, wait a minute..." Su Zhan called out, putting a restraining hand on her shoulder.
Skye didn't even look up, still typing frantically. "Trust me, Su Zhan. I can do this! I can make us disappear!"