“Don’t go!”
Amber looked over and saw that Trysta was still rational, but her body seemed to be paralyzed with fear as she was uncontrollably trembling violently.
Amber patted Trysta’s back, trying her best to soothe her. “It’s fine. Don’t be afraid.”
“Is she really gone?” Trysta asked timorously.
“Yes.”
Trysta’s had an ambivalent expression, as if she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. She slowly turned around as she stretched her arm out towards Amber.
There had been too many people around them, so only now did Amber notice the scratches on Trysta’s arm. It had been moderately warm these past two days, and while Amber had draped a jacket around herself, Amber was only wearing a short sleeved shirt, allowing Amber to clearly see a long, long laceration crawling up Trysta’s jade-like arm, revealing a few skeins of blood.
But at least it was just a superficial injury. Amber was about to console Trysta again when she noticed Trysta’s face go pale and her shivers intensify. “Amber, I need to get out of the car and go to the hospital.”
Amber immediately noticed that Trysta’s emotions were off-balance. Trysta wasn’t a squeamish person, and this light wound from Sarah’s fingernails should have been far from enough to make her turn ashen.
Amber clutched her hand tightly. “What’s the problem?”
Trysta was close to tears by now. She retracted her hand, and with trembling lips, she stuttered, “Sarah … She may have contracted AIDS.”
This single sentence sent Amber reeling in shock, and even Ian, who was sitting in the front and pretending to be an innocent bystander, was left open-mouthed in shock.
***
Beryl and the others were still worried and hadn’t gone far as a result. They were just waiting quietly by the side, carelessly tossing out random reasons and half-baked theories for the whole debacle.
But before they could guess the right reason, however, they saw the tightly shut car door suddenly open. Amber then emerged as she helped her friend out of the car with an ugly expression on her face.
Beryl quickly rushed over. “Is everything fine?”
Amber nodded. “It’s nothing. Thank you for all your help. Have fun tonight.”
And then she walked Trysta towards the hospital.
Beryl glanced at Ian. He hadn’t actually left the car, and was just sitting inside it with a disdainful face. Beryl turned around and said to the rest of his group, “You guys go first. I’ll head over later.”
They were all colleagues, and since Trysta’s state of mind was clearly out of sorts, they were worried that Amber wouldn’t be able to handle it herself. Thus, nobody argued against Beryl.
The rest of them separated into two parties accordingly.
By then, Amber had already brought Trysta inside to seek treatment. Thankfully, there were actually still some doctors around, and Amber was actually familiar with one of them.
She dragged Trysta in front of him, and succinctly explained the situation. The doctor said, “AIDS is usually transmitted through blood and other bodily fluids. So if you were only scratched, and haven’t had contact with the other party’s blood or body fluids, then you shouldn’t have been infected.”
“But she was scratched until she bled. Is that still fine?”
“Usually, yes.” The doctor’s words made Amber and Trysta relax, but as a precaution, Trysta still took a blood test.
While Trysta was getting tested, Beryl found Amber in the lobby. Trysta had gone inside to get her blood drawn, whereas Amber and Beryl waited for her outside.
“Why is she getting her blood drawn?” Beryl asked curiously.
Amber didn’t respond. At this point, her brain was a mess, and her vague guesses at what had transpired left her truly frightened.
Beryl was still rambling on. “Is that the kind of man you like? Someone who just watches from afar even after seeing you get in trouble?”
Just then, in her line of sight, a familiar pair of legs appeared, with bright leather shoes covering the feet. Amber lifted her head and saw the “innocent bystander” slowly walking towards them.
But Beryl felt like he hadn’t said enough. He stared right back at Ian provokingly as he continued, saying, “He’s cold towards others and emotionless toward you. What’re you trying to get from him? Money? I have money too.”
Amber had no energy to respond. “….”
In this world, there were always some self proclaimed chivalrous knights, who would point fingers at others in the name of justice.
If Amber had known that helping Beryl would have endowed him with such a strong sense of “justice”, then she … All right, she still would have helped him out, but she wouldn’t help him for his sake, but rather for the hospital and for the patients’ sake.
Amber massaged her forehead. “Stop making things worse, will you?” Then she greeted Ian with a smile. “You’re here?”
Ian looked at her, and then at Beryl. “You seem quite dissatisfied with me?”
Beryl made a sarcastic “hah” sound, but it wasn’t to show his displeasure with Ian, whom he thought of as just a patient; instead, he was displeased with Amber.
Ian spread his palms open. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure who she is to you, but we’re already living and sleeping together. So, no matter how dissatisfied you are, you’ll have to just bear it.”
Ahem ahem, Ian’s poisonous tongue revealed itself again after a long hibernation, and Amber and Beryl both choked a bit on his caustic words.
Amber couldn’t help but laugh, whereas Beryl became even angrier. In the end, Beryl decided that it would better to avoid Ian, so he promptly left.
Before Beryl was out of earshot, Amber said to Ian. “You don’t have to say ‘and sleeping’ next time.”
“Why?”
“It’ll sound more domineering.”
Beryl turned around, and for the first time, saw the two of them standing side by side. Just by appearances, they did look quite compatible: the male was tall and handsome, and the female gentle and graceful. It wouldn’t even be inappropriate to describe them as a match made in heaven. He couldn’t help but sigh ruefully.
But Amber didn’t care about her senior’s gloominess, because at this point, her own head was buzzing, and the only reason she was still even talking to Ian was to appease his jealousy.
When her words didn’t have any effect on him, she could only turn around, look him straight in the eye, and directly say, “Ian, I know what type of person I like.”
‘You don’t have to care about Beryl’s words at all.’