What else was there to say now? He didn’t love her. Even now, he still didn’t say he loved her. What else was she hoping for?
So, just not saying anything! Perhaps that would be for the best.
Then, both of them were silent.
She was watching the liquid drip from the intravenous bottle. The fluid dripped down the plastic tube into her veins. She felt a little dizzy. She remembered that he was with her last time when she had an intravenous drip in the hospital. It had only been a week, and she was in the hospital again. She needed more exercise. Her physique was too poor.
After that, Hudson also looked upset. He seemed to be thinking a lot or think nothing at all. He just felt very confused…
He looked a little haggard because he hadn’t slept all night, and she was sleepy too. Neither of them had slept last night.
He smiled and said gently, “You sleep! I’ll look after you. Your fever will be gone after the drip!”
“Aren’t you sleepy?” She yawned.
He couldn’t help but laugh, “Not sleepy! I can stay up for three days and three nights in a row. It’s only been a while!”
“I won’t sleep if you don’t. You better sleep!” She listened then she frowned.
A hint of doting care flashed in his eyes. He stretched out his hand and tried to touch her hair. She was shocked and tilted her head to the side. He slowly withdrew his hand, and his smile slowly faded away.
She felt the hurt in his eyes. She suddenly turned her head and looked at him again seriously. She wanted to say something, but she paused. Finally, as if she had made up her mind and didn’t say anything.
He was stunned. He remembered that she had answered the phone last night and said she was going back. Was that what she was going to say?
“Where’s your phone?” He asked.
“I left it in the taxi.” She didn’t even take her bag. It could be imagined that how panicked she was.
“Do you want me to borrow a phone so you can give Rio a message?” He said thoughtfully.
“Hudson!” She was stunned for a while. She suddenly felt a little depressed. Why was he so concerned about her? So eager to let her go?
“Huh?”
“I’ve really had enough with you. Are you meddling too much?” She really had enough with him. He was even worried about the matters with Rio. She was calm at first. But because of his words, she suddenly felt breathless and as if she was being suffocated.
He slightly closed his eyes. There was a sudden pause in his eyes. “I heard you say last night that you’ll go back today!”
“This is my business. Can you not worry about it?” She turned her face away and not looking directly at him.
“Oh!” He nodded. “Okay! I got it!”
It was after ten o’clock in the morning when she finished the intravenous drip. Her fever also had been brought down. Her hair was dirty, and she wanted to take a shower. But then she still seemed down and didn’t say anything. He didn’t sleep either.
He only left his wallet with him. The phone, the car, everything was in the river. He didn’t want to call back either. She insisted on being discharged, and he had to take her to the hotel.
She wanted to take a shower, so he asked the attendant to help her to buy two sets of clothes and pajamas according to her size.
Winnie took a shower in the bathroom. Her hair was still full of sand. She felt much more comfortable after taking a shower. But she felt a little lost. She loved him and was eager for him, but why did she choose to pretend to be strong and make herself so miserable?
She saved him but he unexpectedly didn’t say anything about it. She was his savior now! Ugh! Just forget it. Wasn’t that what she wanted? Previously, he said he wanted to be with her, and she refused. Now, he didn’t say anything about it, then she felt frustrated. She felt disgusted with herself. It was the same as those women who were phony and pretentious!
She despised herself for being like this!
She took a deep breath, put on her bathrobe, and walked out.
Hudson wasn’t in the room. There were two sets of clothes and two sets of pajamas on the bed. The pajamas were delicate nightgowns and looked like that of a princess.
He was gone. A note rested next to the nightgowns, ‘Winnie, I will be at next door. Call me if you need anything. After you shower, I’ll ask the waiter to bring you the food!’
Did he get another room?
She didn’t know why she was inexplicably a little lost again. She sighed, changed into her nightgown, and wiped her hair.
Someone knocked on the door. She knew it was Hudson, so she went over to open it.
The door was opened. She looked at his handsome but tired face, and she panicked. She didn’t say anything and walked back into her room.
He followed her inside. He dared not look at her exquisite figure. He was afraid he would be thinking too much about it. He asked as he walked, “Do you feel better? Don’t catch a cold. Why did you open the window? You’ll catch a cold!”
He too had just showered and put on his pajamas. He walked over and closed the window.
Then, he turned around and saw Winnie was looking at him. He raised his eyebrow, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing! Thank you. This nightgown is beautiful!” She was just trying to start a conversation and sat down on the couch.
“It looks good on you!” He was desperate to find something to talk about to break the awkward atmosphere. But it was already awkward for them to discuss pajamas, “Well. Can we have the meal in your room? After that, take a break before we go back to G City tonight!”
Winnie quickly interrupted him, “I want to sleep.”
Hudson was stunned. He then grinned and nodded. “Okay, it is fine!”
After a while, the waiter brought the food. Hudson smiled lightly, raised his glass, and said to Winnie, “Cheers. To our survival, and for us to be able to have a meal together again like this.”
Winnie got a little shivered in her heart. Then she raised her glass too.
They clinked their glasses. Winnie drooped her eyes and took a sip. She raised her head and found out that Hudson was staring at her. She was overwhelmed by his intense gaze and she could only focus on cutting her steak. It wasn’t sure that whether she was too nervous, or the steak was overcooked, she couldn’t cut it properly.
Hudson suddenly stretched out his hands and took away her plate. He carefully cut the beef into small pieces before gave it back to her. His tone was gentle and doting, “It’s done, you can have it.”
Winnie could only pretend not to hear it. But her ears reddened, it showed that she was shy. “Thanks!”
Hudson was mesmerized by her adorable pinkish face. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. When he lowered his eyes, he could see her fair and slender neck. As he looked further down… He could not help but stare blankly at it.
Winnie was a little annoyed by his stares. She pouted and said, “You, why don’t you eat your food? What are you looking at?”
Hudson had gotten back his composure and felt a little embarrassed. He thought he was so bad for staring at her. He shouldn’t be like that. However, he smiled and said, “You look gorgeous.”
Ugh!
Winnie felt that this was ambiguous, seriously. But he didn’t say anything. Was she supposed to be molested by him?
For some reason, he started to serve her soup, get her a tissue and help her wipe the jam off the corner of her mouth. It seemed like he was possessed in front of her.
She wanted to finish it in a hurry, but he said, “You can’t eat too fast, it’s bad for your stomach!”
It seemed that he returned what she said to him.
After finishing the meal, she finally said, “You can go back now!”
“There’s no rush!” He stood up to clean up the dishes and called for someone to pick up the mess.
After the plates were picked up, she said again. “You can go now, right?”
Perhaps to hide her embarrassment, she turned on the television.
Coincidentally, the television was playing the news. It was the news about the bridge collapse that happened this morning. The entertainment news actually filmed the moment she jumped into the river. Although it was far away, the scene had been zoomed in. It could be easily seen that the white figure was her. She ran all the way to the place where the bridge collapsed. She then jumped into the river almost without any hesitation.
The picture was so clear. Hudson was also captivated by the screen. His heart clenched when the figure on the television jumped into the river. It turned out that his heart couldn’t bear it anymore when he witnessed the scene with his own eyes.
His gaze lingered on the television. He watched her dive into the river and seemed to shout something.
His heart could no longer be calm.
She was also a little stunned. She didn’t expect the scene to be caught on camera by the reporter. He was right next to her now and he was obviously watching on the television. She felt her face burning. It really looked like she was dying for love. She felt herself being touched when she looked at the scene now.
However, she was a little nervous and didn’t know what to say. “You, you go back and have a rest!”
Instead, he turned around and looked at her. He was in distress and he said deeply, “Actually, I want to spend my life with you! Really, I want it very much. It is not because of responsibility or deficit. I just want to be with you. We have missed too much …”
Winnie’s hand trembled for a while. She felt that she was about to cry.
“I know I’m bad as I’ve broken your heart. I also know that you won’t forgive me. But I still want to protect you. Even if it’s fine to protect you silently in a corner where won’t be found by you! If I choose not to continue to protect you, I would have decided not to come to the bank of the river! I’ll stay at the bottom of the river forever, and maybe then you will remember me! In that way, my heart can be in peace!”
Her tears suddenly trickled down, and her heart suddenly trembled. He actually wanted to die. She felt panicked. No! How could he have such a thought?
“Hudson-” she whimpered. She ran over and wrapped her arms around his waist. She buried her face in his broad back. The feelings that she had been holding back were all burst out, “How can you think like that! You can’t have such a thought. If you die, what can I do? What about me?”
She called him Hudson, and he smiled. There was sorrow yet surprise behind his smile. He turned around all of a sudden and hugged her tightly. He buried his face in her hair and indulged himself in her scent. That pure and naive woman was back after leaving him for some time. “But then I realized that I had to protect you. So, I struggled to come to the bank of the river, but it was hard for me to open the door. If you hadn’t jumped in, I wouldn’t be able to come to the bank of the river even if I wanted to! Come back to me, okay?”
Her stiff body slowly softened in his embrace.
He carried her to the bed. But this time, he didn’t intend to do anything to her. He just held her. He was rubbing the thin stubble on his chin against her forehead from time to time while waiting for her answer.
“Do you love me?” She asked.
“If I say I do, do you believe me?”
She was stunned, and she felt a little despondent in her mind. “Just forget it. I know you don’t love me. I know that!”
“Who says I don’t love you?” He countered.
She was shocked, “What did you say?”
He wrapped his arms around her tightly. His fingertips stroked Winnie’s soft lips. The silky touch made him lower his head …
He pressed his warmish lips against her seductive soft lips.
She was anxious. What did he say? Was it a dream?