“Marley, Aila’s obviously at fault here! Isn’t she jealous of Sylvie, so that’s why she deleted the file?”
“You have to have proof to make an accusation! I am angry over the fact that she skipped out on work!” Marley suddenly said, although his handsome face still looked indifferent as he rubbed his eyebrows. “She’s acting up because she’s upset!”
“Aren’t you upset as well? She’s just a child, and you’re demanding too much. A lot of children like her are still out fooling around!”
“But she’s not a child, she’s the heir to the Mccarthy Group. I made a promise to Cassius, and I intend to honor it! Yes, I’m not qualified either! Both of us should reflect on ourselves! I really am too temperamental today.” In other words, they were both the heirs, and their high status isolated them and made them lonely. There was no way common folks would understand the kind of loneliness they felt.
“Well, first time seeing you berate yourself like this!” Tyler said, “Actually, you don’t have to give yourself that much pressure. Aren’t you two on good terms? And Sylvie looks like she’s doing well! Even as a secretary, she’s doing well these days.”
Marley lowered his tone, “Her work still needs to be examined! But as for what I’ve promised Cassius, I will see it through!”
Tyler kept quiet for a while; he just looked at Marley and sighed.
The second he woke up, Ryan felt pain all over his body, and his throat felt like it was burning. He grunted with his eyes shut.
“Ryan? Do you need something?” Someone beside him asked, “Do you want water?”
“Sylvie?” Ryan was startled. What was she doing here? He couldn’t make sense of it. It appeared that his fever was quite severe.
“Ryan, your fever has short-circuited your brain!” Sylvie was glad to see him awake and handed him a warm towel, “Hear, wipe your face, you’ll feel better. Your fever just subsided, so you can’t shower just yet!”
Ryan then acted as if he just remembered something, “Oh, that’s right! I opened the door for you!”
“Glad you remember!” Sylvie laughed. As long as he was fine, she felt relieved.
As for work, she didn’t care whether Marley was furious or not. She couldn’t handle both sides at the same time. She and Marley didn’t get along well in the morning, and now there was trouble in the afternoon. Surely he must be pissed by now?
Ryan’s mind was clearer, and his fever was gone. His strength gradually came back to him, “Sylvie, you were here this entire afternoon?”
“Yup!” Sylvie nodded.
“You took care of me during this whole time?” Ryan was quite touched.
“I didn’t do much, all I did was sit here and look over you. If your fever didn’t go away, I was ready to call an ambulance!”
“Thank you!”
“What are you thanking me for? I’ve never shown such formality to you before!” Sylvie said as she laughed, “If you have the energy, get up and eat something. I had someone bring some ingredients and made some porridge and simple dishes. Do you want to eat?”
“Did you cook?” Ryan said with a laugh and threw the blanket to the side, “This I gotta try!”
“I’ll go get some! You freshen up, I made your favorite!”
Sylvie said as she stood up and headed toward the kitchen.
Ryan rinsed his face and sat on the sofa. “Sylvie, did you skip work this afternoon?”
“Uh, yeah!” Sylvie said as she brought the porridge.
“And Marley’s OK with that?”
Sylvie’s body was noticeably stiff, and she changed the topic. “Ryan, try this cucumber. Do you think it’s too salty?”
Ryan looked at her; he wanted to say something but stopped short. He could tell she was trying to change the subject. He took up his chopsticks and tried the food, “Tastes just fine! Good! It’s not too salty or too bland. Looks like your skills have improved quite a bit.”
“The markets here are quite convenient. Just give them a call and they’ll deliver!” Sylvie said to herself.
Ryan secretly glanced at her again, then sighed again. “Sylvie, is everything alright?”
Sylvie looked up at him and laughed, “I’m doing fine. Why do you ask?”
“Actually…” Ryan wanted to say that he knew her well and that she’d try to change topics whenever she felt unhappy. But she never took notice of this fact.
“Actually what?”
“I’m feeling much better already!”
“Don’t forget to take some medicine after you’re done eating,” Sylvie instructed. “You can’t take a shower, it won’t do if you catch a cold. How did you catch a cold, anyway? You looked fine yesterday, then you suddenly got sick?”
Ryan’s mouth slightly twitched, then he sighed, “Must be just unlucky!”
He was playing dumb. If she knew that he was by the ocean all night, he didn’t know whether she’d laugh at him or call him a fool. Thinking back, he was pretty foolish to go to the beach late at night.
“Anyway, look after yourself; call me if you need anything!”
“Are you leaving?” He said as he frowned.
“Yeah! I’m going back to my place, just across from you. Call me if you need anything!” Sylvie also poured herself a bowl of porridge and began to drink.
“Got it!” Ryan said as he nodded.
After they were done eating, Sylvie cleaned up the utensils. Her foot was hurt from the broken glass from earlier in the day, so there was a noticeable limp in her step, which Ryan noticed. “Sylvie, what’s wrong with your leg?”
“Oh!” Sylvie turned around and met Ryan’s gaze. She felt a bit touched that he noticed her slight mishap, “Nothing, just a slight cut on my feet!”
“Feet? How did you get a cut on your feet? Were you not wearing shoes?” Ryan said as he walked nearer to her.
Sylvie shook her head, “I’m fine!”
“Let me take a look!” He didn’t care whether she said she was fine, and he squatted, down, “Which foot?”
“Left!” Sylvie honestly replied, “Really, I’m fine, Ryan.”
Before she was done talking, Ryan already picked up her foot and removed her shoe, only to see the bloodstains on the side of her stocking.
Sylvie had a pair of really beautiful, tiny, white feet. Ryan held onto her small foot, fixated on the blood that came out of the wound. It wasn’t a large cut, but it looked deep. He just squatted there observing her foot closely.
Sylvie unconsciously pulled her foot back, but Ryan held onto it tightly, “Don’t move, Sylvie, let me look at the wound!”
Ryan’s hand was quite large. He held her foot, and her toes were rosy red and soft like a baby’s skin. With the stocking torn at the area of the wound, the bloodstain was quite noticeable and imposed quite a shock.
Ryan frowned and his eyes were filled with a deep sense of pity, “What happened? You bled so much already, and you insist on saying that you’re fine. How old are you now? Don’t you know how to take care of yourself? You should have at least bought a Band-Aid and put it on! You might get an infection like this! How many wounds are there?”
As he spoke, he glared at her angrily, then got up and swooped her up. He brought her over to the sofa and put her there.
“Ryan, I’m fine!” Sylvie busily tried to explain herself. “There was some broken glass, and I accidentally stepped on them. It’s just a small wound, don’t worry. It’s because I moved the stocking around that it looks worse than it is, but there’s only one wound.”
“How can you be so careless, you didn’t even use any medicine. What if it gets infected? Don’t you know that bacteria or germs might make you sick! You might think it’s just a small wound, but don’t you underestimate it. It could kill you! Also, this wound is too deep, it’s not just a small wound! If you get tetanus, you’ll be dead!”
“Ryan, it’s really not that bad!” Sylvie laughed as she shook her head and tried to pull her foot back. “Ryan, it’s nothing, before, I-”
“Before you were lucky, but you can’t always depend on luck; it’s bound to run out sometime. Got it?” He began to nag her like a grandma.
Sylvie was both touched and found the scene hilarious. “I got it, I’ll be careful from now on, Ryan!”
“You little girl, you are always like that. If you don’t want me to nag, then you better be more careful!” Ryan continued.
“Alright, I got it, really, I’ll be more careful!” Sylvie promised.
“Don’t move, I’ll go get some medicine!” Ryan said as he got up and headed into his study. Shortly after, he came back with a first-aid kit. “Alright, I got iodine, alcohol, and Band-Aid!”
Sylvie looked at her foot; the cut was actually quite deep.
Ryan took out a cotton ball dipped in rubbing alcohol, then he looked at her and said, “Sylvie, this is going to hurt a bit, so bear with me. I’m going to disinfect the wound!”
“I’ll be fine!” Sylvie braced for the pain.
“It’s going to hurt, but just hang in there!” As he said, Ryan began to apply the cotton ball over her wound.
It stung… Quite a lot…
Suddenly, Ryan felt his hand shaking, and the moment he looked up, he saw Sylvie’s face scrunched in pain as she bit her lips. Tears were rolling around inside her eyes, and the scene made his heart sunk.
“It hurts a lot, doesn’t it?” He was quite good at disinfecting, and he discarded the cotton ball away after he was done. Then he took up a new cotton ball to prevent infection. He tossed the second cotton ball into the ashtray on the table. “Hang in there, Sylvie, you’re the bravest!”
He was just like a big brother, consoling his hurt little sister.
Sylvie could feel a warmth in her heart, as well a kind of sourness in her nose. At the present moment, Ryan had the feel of a mother’s tender care, the kind found in textbooks.
But Ryan was no mother; he was her brother, her best brother, her closest kin, much kinder than her mother by a hundred folds. She had never felt anything like this from Sadie at all.
Ryan looked back down and continued. The rubbing alcohol still stung, and the pain was almost unbearable. Ryan could see her body tighten, so he frowned and quickly applied the alcohol over the wound. “Don’t worry, Sylvie, almost done!”
“Ouch, it really hurts!” Sylvie chuckled a bit and said, “Big brother Ryan, I don’t want any more medicine!”
“Bear with it!” Ryan continued to frown and held her down as she began to struggle. His expression became quite serious, and he reached over to grab another cotton ball.
“Ah!” Sylvie couldn’t control the tears lingering around her eyes any longer. As the alcohol penetrated the wound, the stinging pain made her entire body uncontrollably begin to shake and quiver.
After countless cotton balls, the wound and blood were finally cleaned. Ryan then applied some iodine, then alcohol, and then iodine again, until they dried up and the wound was completely disinfected.