The warmth left on his forehead was burning in her hand.
Jennifer thought of Hans’s motion sickness in the morning. The journey was bumpy, and they had a meeting all afternoon. He didn’t eat much dinner, and he had some wine in the evening. Plus, they walked back to the hotel in the cold wind, so of course he would catch a cold and have a fever.
“Hans? Hans? Can you hear me?”
Jennifer’s first instinct was to wake him up and send him to the hospital.
But Hans who was lying on the bed did not respond, except for frowning even more.
Jennifer was a little flustered. She didn’t have any medical knowledge, and she didn’t know if the online information were reliable. Thinking of this, she decided that calling the hotel’s customer service would be more reliable.
The hotel staff came quickly. There was a house doctor in the hotel who measured Hans’s temperature and confirmed that he had a fever. The fever was a little high, but it was nothing serious.
“The fever isn’t too high. It’s at 38. 5 degrees celsius. He doesn’t need to go to the hospital. He just needs to cool down physically. You can try to give him a sponge bath to cool him down.”
The doctor was a woman and did not know the relationship between Jennifer and Hans. In front of so many people, Jennifer could not explain anything, so she just nodded.
Jennifer set the hot water on the bedside and adjusted the temperature of the heater to a little lower. Then, she lifted the quilt on his body and unbuttoned his shirt. She wrung dry the towel and wiped him down bit by bit. The towel brushed against his chest, and she could clearly feel the bounciness of his skin.
Jennifer’s face was burning hot for no reason.
She sat by the bed and looked at Hans sleeping, she sighed silently.
It seemed that she had never carefully observed him at such a close distance. His forehead was just the right size, his eyebrows were thick and close to his eyes, making it seem like he had deep-set eyes. He had very thick eyelashes and a sharp nose. He probably inherited it from Uncle Thomas. His lips were very thin, but it was very beautiful. He didn’t get it from Uncle Thomas so he probably inherited it from his mother.
Jennifer had never seen his mother, but she had seen photos of her. On his headboard, there was a photo of Alice and him. It was a photo from his childhood. Beside him, Alice was smiling very gently. She looked like a very warm and lovely woman.
Compared with Alice, her mother Stephanie was a very passionate and unrestrained person. She didn’t know what was on Thomas’s mind at that time, but his taste in women changed drastically.
Jennifer wiped Hans’s face with the towel in her hand and she suddenly felt very contented. With Hans beside her, she forgot about all the unhappiness.
She was reminiscing and whispered a lot in his ear. Although she knew that he might not be able to hear her due to the fever, she felt safe because he was sound asleep. She could say everything she wanted to say that she did not dare to.
“When I was a freshman, I heard that you can’t marry someone from your family. At that time, I was particularly sad. For a period of time, I really hoped my mother and Uncle Thomas would get a divorce so that I could marry you…”
“At that time, you always sent snacks to my dormitory. The girls in my dormitory envied me for having a brother. They all thought that you were my actual brother…”
“All these seemed like a long time ago. A while ago, when you were particularly mean to me, I got through it by thinking about those memories. I know that I shouldn’t have gone to grandma without your permission and said that I want to marry you. But I really don’t want to marry anyone else… and I don’t want you to marry anyone else.”
Her chattering gradually stopped and was replaced by loud breathing.
Hans slowly opened his eyes and looked down at Jennifer who was sleeping on the back of his hand. There was a hint of pity in his eyes. He put her in bed, pulled her into his arms, and covered her with the quilt.
The next morning, when Jennifer woke up, she was on the bed in Hans’s bedroom. She got up from the bed, but there was no one beside her. There was some noise in the living room. She put on her shoes and carefully opened the door slightly. She saw a familiar figure.
After the room service set up a breakfast spread, they left with the dining cart. With his back facing her, Hans was answering the phone.
“Well, plead for mercy? No, I don’t intend to see them, nor do I intend to hear any excuses.”
“…”
“As for Cindy, give her an agent and rebrand her accordingly like other artists. We will relaunch her on the streaming platform and see how it goes.”
“…”
“No, I’ll attend the meeting as usual in the morning. I’ll be ready in about fifteen minutes. You can wait for me downstairs.”
Fifteen minutes?
Jennifer was slightly stunned. She looked down at her pyjamas and rushed out of the door, disregarding her dishevelled look.
Hans was still holding his mobile phone in his hand. When he saw Jennifer coming out like this, a trace of astonishment flashed in his eyes, but his tone remained calm. “Well, that’s it.”
After hanging up the phone, Hans looked at Jennifer, who was standing behind the sofa. The faint smile in his eyes made Jennifer shiver.
“I… I’m sure I can get ready in 15 minutes.”
She touched the back of her head and rushed into her bedroom. She didn’t hear Hans telling her, “No hurry.”
The corner of Hans’s mouth curved into a smile as Jennifer ran like the wind.
The breakfast in the hotel was surprisingly delicious.