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Beside her, seeing that she was awake, Ellsworth spoke in a

calm voice, “Awake?”

Hearing Ellsworth’s voice, Harriet took her hand away and

turned to look at him.

Then, she propped herself up on the bed with both hands, sat

up slowly, and asked him, “Is your meeting over? Did you finish your interview?”

Her voice was a little hoarse.

After speaking, she covered her mouth with the back of her

hand and coughed a few times.

Seeing this, Ellsworth didn’t answer her previous question.

Instead, he got up, poured a ss of warm water, and handed it

to her.

Taking the warm water from Ellsworth with both hands, Harriet

said softly, “Thank you.”

After drinking a couple of sips, her throat felt much better.

Harriet looked at Ellsworth again.

Listless and dull-eyed, she said weakly, “I think my cold is pretty

bad. Maybe you should switch rooms, or you’ll catch it from

me.”

Harriet said her cold was serious, but Ellsworth still didn’t

respond. He just turned, walked to the side cab, opened the

bag on top, took out some medicine, and came back to the bed

to hand it to her. “Take your medicine first.”

Holding the cup in both hands and looking up at Ellsworth,

Harriet hadn’t expected him to buy her medicine.

She didn’t reach out to take the medicine, and the atmosphere

froze between them.

She stared at Ellsworth for a long time. Seeing that he was still

holding out the medicine to her, Harriet finally came to her

senses, quickly took her right hand off the cup, epted the

medicine from him, and said, “Thank you.”

After thanking him, she didn’t even look at it and just tossed it

into her mouth.

Seeing this, Ellsworth tugged at the hem of his pants and sat

down again without a word.

After Harriet finished the medicine and put the cup on the

nightstand, Ellsworth looked at her and asked, his expression

unreadable, “Were you avoiding me? Did you take a cold shower

Harriet gave a tired smile. “No.”

She exined, “Maybe I caught a chill on the beach. Anyway, my cold is pretty bad, so maybe you should…”

Before Harriet could finish, Ellsworth looked at her coldly, and

she swallowed the rest of her words.

Harriet avoided his gaze. Ellsworth leaned forward slightly,

brushed aside the hair on her forehead, and asked, “Are you

hungry?”

Harriet pushed his hand away. “I’m fine.”

She said she was fine, so Ellsworth withdrew his hand and

turned to the kitchte.

Soon, Harriet smelled the aroma of food.

When Ellsworth set the reheated food on the desk, he looked at

Harriet and asked, “Can you get out of bed? Can you eat by

yourself?”

“Yes.”

Harriet replied, putting her feet on the floor and slipping on her

slippers.

As she pulled out the chair to sit down, Ellsworth had already

arranged the food, deliberately cing the shrimp farther away

and putting the beef and ribs in front of her.

Noticing how Ellsworth had arranged the dishes, Harriet looked

up at him, and Ellsworth nonchntly stuffed a fork into her

hand.

He didn’t say much, but he did everything.

Holding the fork Ellsworth had given her, Harriet finally realized

it wasn’t evening-it was three thirty in the afternoon.

Looking up at Ellsworth, she asked, “Don’t you have an interview

this afternoon? Are you done with your work?”

If she remembered correctly, he was supposed to have

interviews between three and four o’clock.

Harriet held the bowl in both hands, moved the fork away from

her mouth, and two grains of white rice stuck to her lips.

Ellsworth looked at her calmly, raised his right hand to remove the grains of rice from her lips, and said in a mild voice, “It’s

been postponed.”

After Ellsworth finished speaking, Harriet stared at him without

moving.

She hadn’t expected Ellsworth to postpone the interview for her, nor had she expected him toe back to see her, or to stay

and take care of her.

Although he had taken good care of her before their marriage, after they got married, the two of them had long be like

strangers.

Seeing Harriet staring at him, Ellsworth said with a hint of

amusement, “Staring at me-will that fill you up? Will it cure your

illness? Eat.”

Reminded by Ellsworth, Harriet snapped back to herself and

said in a calm voice, “Sorry for troubling you.”

Ellsworth ignored her, picked up the fork beside him, and put a

piece of pork rib into her bowl.

“Thank you.”

After expressing her thanks, Harriet lowered her head and

continued eating, but memories surfaced uncontrobly.

“Ellsworth, I’m afraid to jump. What if I break my leg?”

“You’re already on the wall. Either way, you have to jump. Jump

toward me, I’ll catch you.”