Elisa was extremely embarrassed, feeling her ears burn hotly.
Autumn, who was walking beside her, responded very naturally, “Yeah, I like her.”
Hearing this, the orphanage director laughed even harder, “I didn’t expect Autumn to finally become interested in girls. He would be so much better if he were smarter.”
Autumn frowned slightly and said in a stern voice, “But I am smart already.”
The director didn’t take his words to heart at all. After all, he was a big fool.
Besides, even if he did really like Elisa, what could come of it? Elisa was a married young lady. How could she be interested in a fool like him? It was just wishful thinking.
Elisa inadvertently glanced up and met Autumn’s serious eyes. Her heart suddenly tightened. “Why, why are you looking at me like that?”
“You already know my name, but I still don’t know yours,” Autumn replied.
Elisa breathed a sigh of relief. He was only asking for her name. “Elisa,” she said.
“Elisa, Elisa, Elisa,” Autumn repeated her name. His voice was very nice to listen to, deep and magnetic. When he spoke Elisa’s name, it was like the melodious sound of a cello, making her heartstrings tremble.
Elisa scolded herself for being so easily captivated by the voice of a stranger, and one who was a fool at that.
Autumn had a bad memory. He had to repeat something many times before he could remember it. Afraid of forgetting Elisa’s name, he kept saying it aloud until it was truly engraved in his mind. Only then did he stop repeating it.
Autumn knew he was a fool. People at the orphanage often called him “the big idiot”, scorning his low IQ. He didn’t dare get too close to Elisa, for fear that she would look down on him too. But he also didn’t want to stay too far from her either. He followed close beside her, gazing at her profile.
Elisa was the most beautiful person he had ever seen, and her name was lovely too.
He unconsciously called out to her, “Ellie.”
Elisa turned her head in surprise. That was her nickname, something only close friends and family called her. To hear it from the mouth of a man she just met was unexpected.
After the initial surprise, she felt a strange sensation. The sense of familiarity grew stronger. She had never met Autumn before, so why did she feel like she knew him, as if they had met a long time ago?
Elisa didn’t mind him addressing her so intimately. “What is it?” she asked.
Autumn seemed a little embarrassed. He tilted his head back and looked up at the sky, the corners of his lips curled in a barely-there smile. “Can I call you Ellie?”
Elisa had to laugh. “Didn’t you just call me that already?”
“Your name is so nice to say,” Autumn said, smiling even more happily. After they returned, he stuck close to Elisa the whole time, watching her from a short distance away. He didn’t get too near, just stood where he could keep her in view, gazing at her with eyes like an abandoned puppy’s.
Elisa was playing with a group of children and forgot to eat lunch. The creamy smells in the air made her nauseous and her stomach started to hurt.
Elisa hurriedly unzipped her bag, rummaging inside. Other than her phone, keys, and cosmetics, there was nothing else. She had forgotten to bring her stomach medication.
When her gastric cancer acted up, the pain could be endless, even making people pass out. Elisa had a high tolerance for pain but even she couldn’t withstand the agonizing sensations in her stomach.
Her face instantly turned pale and Elisa swayed unsteadily as she sat down, breaking out in a cold sweat.
Autumn had been watching her the whole time. The instant she sat down, he noticed something was wrong. He rushed over, “You’re sick.”
Elisa wanted to smile and tell him it was nothing, but she couldn’t get the words out.
Hearing Autumn’s voice, the director also hurried over. Seeing Elisa’s pale face and clammy sweat, her features twisted in pain, the director became anxious too. “Miss Powell, what’s wrong?”
“I’m not feeling well. Director, I have to leave early,” Elisa said weakly.
Seeing her clutch her stomach, the director thought it was food poisoning. “You’re in so much pain, you should still go to the hospital and get checked out. I’ll take you there.”
The large orphanage still needed its director. Elisa held her stomach. “No need. It’s my old condition. I can go myself.”
Autumn grabbed Elisa’s wrist stubbornly. “I’ll take you there!”
“No need,” Elisa started to decline but the director interrupted her words.
“Just let Autumn take you. Although his IQ is low, he understands common sense. I’ll feel assured with him escorting you.”
“Let me go with you, or else I’ll just follow you,” Autumn stared fixedly at Elisa, like a wolf dog.
Elisa’s heartbeat quickened under his gaze and she fell silent for a moment.
The director said, “You’re in so much pain, you definitely can’t drive. Just take a taxi to Bankshire Hospital, it’s not far. Autumn can find the way, he’s carried sick kids from the orphanage there before.”
Hearing it was Bankshire Hospital, Elisa finally relaxed. Micah was there and could give her medicine. She could also get checked to find out why she’d been so tired and nauseous lately, when gastric cancer didn’t cause those symptoms.
“Alright,” Elisa gave in, unable to refuse both the director’s insistence and Autumn’s equally stubborn temper.
The director saw the two to the door and repeatedly exhorted Autumn to take good care of Elisa before letting them leave. Autumn obediently nodded.
Bending down to get in the car, Autumn asked, “Does it hurt a lot?”
The pain had sapped Elisa’s strength. She leaned weakly against the car door. When her gastric cancer flared up, it was like being stabbed with a knife. With a nasal hum, she murmured, “Mhm.”
Seeing her in such distress, Autumn felt helpless. His eyes also reddened and when they reached the hospital, he didn’t care whether Elisa was willing or not. He simply bent down and picked her up, running into the hospital.
He ran very fast. The wind blew Elisa’s hair as she caught the scent of jasmine.
Originally pale-faced, being carried and running at this speed made Elisa’s face go nearly transparent. Afraid she would fall, she clung tightly to Autumn’s shoulders. Her voice trembled, “Put me down!”
Autumn seemed not to hear, focused single-mindedly on running to the hospital. The security guarding the entrance saw him racing over carrying a woman and thought she was at death’s door.
“What’s happened?”
Autumn gradually slowed his steps. “She has stomach pain. Needs to see a doctor.”
The security guard said, “You can’t run like that in a hospital. What if you bump into someone?”
Elisa also nodded. “Right, put me down. I can walk.”
The man’s arms around her tightened and his expression showed he didn’t really want to let her go.
Elisa frowned, “If you don’t let me go, I’ll get angry. I won’t want to see you again.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw a look of nervous fear flash over Autumn’s face.
He carefully set her down, head bowed low before her like a boy who had done something foolish.
Looking at his dark, fluffy head, Elisa suppressed the urge to reach out and touch it. Supporting her stomach, she called Micah and described her current condition.
Micah was with a patient but after hearing about Elisa, he quickly had someone bring medicine to her. He also scheduled an obstetrics appointment for a thorough exam.
The results came back very quickly and unexpectedly – Elisa was 5 weeks pregnant.