Stella Grace now regretted her decision to stay here. If she went to the bamboo house with Jasper, it would be safer.
The bamboo house was surrounded by trees, which could block out most of the wind.
But now, it was too late for them to go to the bamboo house.
It was scary at night, not to mention in the forest, it would be even darker. They might get lost, but they could not bring torches because the strong wind could easily blow out the torch. Once it rained, it would disappear even faster, and the road would be muddy. The umbrella would become a burden instead.
“I’m sorry. I should have listened to you,” Stella apologized.
“It’s not too late to listen to me now.” Jasper Milton smiled dotingly. “Stay on the bed and don’t come down. Wait for me.”
Stella climbed onto the bed. In the past, the bamboo ladder would be put on the bed. However, Jasper was worried that she would come down to find him, so he put the ladder on the ground and left quickly.
Stella’s stomach hurt so much that she lay on the bed and curled up.
The wind was blowing fiercely. The strong wind was howling in her ears, sounding like a battlefield.
The wind blowing through the crack of the leaves was stronger than she had expected.
About fifteen minutes later, the heavy rain poured and crashed on to the wooden board.
She could feel the moisture coming in.
She didn’t know what Jasper was doing outside. Did he take the umbrella? Did he get wet in the rain? Was he in danger?
Stella did not have a watch, and felt as if time had slowed to a crawl without Jasper by her side. The longer she waited, the more anxious she became.
Not only did the rain outside not stop, it became even heavier instead. The wind was also getting stronger.
“Jasper! Jasper!” Stella shouted, but her voice was drowned by the rain.
She wanted to get out of bed to look for Jasper, but she was worried about being a burden to him.
But what if something had happened to him?
No one was around to help him.
If something happened to him, she would feel guilty for the rest of her life.
She opened the door a fraction, and a gust of wind blew in.
The leaves could no longer withstand the beating. At first, there was just a small crack on one of the leaves, and then a long strip was torn apart. The leaves were split into two halves, and the lower half slipped down.
The rain came in.
Stella couldn’t even open her eyes. She narrowed her eyes and vaguely saw something moving in front of her.
Because the sky was too dark and the rain was too heavy, she couldn’t see it clearly at all. She shouted, “Jasper, Jasper.”
There was a snap.
Stella was startled. The wind was getting smaller and the rain was gone.
“Jasper!” Stella shouted.
“Stella!” Jasper’s voice could be heard.
Hearing his voice, Stella calmed down immediately. “Where have you been? You’ve been out for a long time.”
Jasper raised the torch, and the surrounding was lit up.
She saw that his whole body was soaked through, and behind him was some tied bamboo. “Did you go to tie up some bamboo?”
Jasper put the bamboo ladder on the bed.
She came down from the ladder.
“The wind was too strong. I guess that the leaves would not be able to withstand all that for a long time. Plus it was not convenient for us to go in and out. I still have some work to do. You must be hungry, so you should eat first.” Jasper explained.
“How long will it take? You are drenched..” she said in distress as she held his arm.
“If I put the bamboo this way, it means that the pressure at the top of the house would be too strong. I need to use a big tree to relieve some of that pressure away. It won’t be long, I’ll be done in about half an hour. Why don’t you heat up the chicken soup first and wait for me to eat together?”
“Okay, I’ll do just that.” Stella walked to the bottom of the little house.
As they didn’t cook under the house previously, they’d just surrounded the fire pit with stones.
Stella adjusted the distance and shape of the stones and chose two stones of the same height as the fulcrum to hold the pot. She surrounded the rest of the stones in front of the fire to act as a windshield.
Jasper put the wooden board under the house between the new bamboo board and the tree trunk and tied them tightly.
He climbed onto the bed, pulled out the bamboo board above, and moved it until it was pressed against the two bamboo boards outside. After all was done, he got out of the bed.
Stella handed the bamboo bowl with a chicken drumstick in it to Jasper and said apologetically, “I’m sorry.”
He took the bowl from her and sat down on the stone prepared by her. “I should be the one who’s sorry. I didn’t think it through. These things should have been prepared in advance and done earlier. In the end I had to rush it last minute.”
“Take off your clothes and I’ll dry them for you.” Stella spread a large leaf on the ground.
“Don’t worry. You should eat first. It’s been 12 hours since you said you were hungry,” he insisted.
“it’s been so long that I don’t feel hungry anymore. I’ll wait for another ten minutes and dry your clothes first. If you catch a cold, who will protect me?”
Jasper thought about it and agreed. He took off his clothes and handed them to Stella.
She laid his clothes on the stones blocking the fire.
She put the other pot outside and sat next to Jasper while drinking the chicken soup.
The chicken soup had been cooked for a long time. With the mushrooms that were recently added, it tasted delicious.
After drinking a bowl, Stella flipped Jasper’s clothes over and continued to dry them.
Jasper ate three bowls of soup.
But Stella had only two.
Both of them finished off the pot of soup.
Stella put on thin ropes in her palm as a makeshift oven mitt, took down the pot and put it outside.
She brought back the pot that she had put outside before. There was already some rainwater in the pot, and she added some firewood.
“We were worried that we did not have enough water before this. Now, we have so much of it that we can’t keep it all.” Stella sighed.
Jasper smiled and said, “My clothes should be dry by now, right?”
Stella touched his clothes. It was dry and hot. On the cool rainy day, she felt warm holding them.
She handed the clothes to Jasper. “Take off your pants. If you feel cold, sit in front of the fire.
“Okay.” Jasper answered and untied his belt.
This action was too natural, and she couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable. “Turn around,” she said.
Jasper turned around, and Stella put on a new “sanitary pad”. With a red face, she threw the used one into the fire, took Jasper’s pants, and spread it on the stone.
She felt that Jasper’s gaze on her was burning. She changed her mind and asked, “What time is it now?”
Jasper looked at the time on his watch. ” It’s 7:15 p. m.”
“Time really flies.” Stella sat down on the stone.
Jasper looked at the water in the pot. “Actually, I’ve thought of staying with you on this island forever. We could build a wooden house. In order to prevent wild beasts from attacking us, we could build a two-story house, with three rooms upstairs. One for us, one for our children, and the other for storing ingredients.”