‘You don’t have to care about Beryl’s words at all.’
Ian grunted. Since it was after work hours, the hospital was quieting down, and only occasionally did someone walk down the long corridor.
Amber leaned her head against the wall and thought about what Trysta had revealed at the entrance of the hospital. She haphazardly tried to piece together what Trysta had done to Sarah, but her suspicions were so frightening that she was somewhat afraid of uncovering the truth.
Amidst a patch of somber silence, Ian suddenly spoke up. “I’m not cold and detached.”
Amber looked at him with shock, and when she saw his serious expression, she nodded and responded equally seriously. “I know.”
“You don’t.” He looked like he had been somewhat maligned, but his tone remained as calm as ever. “I know that she’s pretending. I can see it very clearly. All she wants to do is get rid of her, and she can get rid of her.”
Amber didn’t know what to say to Ian’s words, and the truth that she wanted to ignore, but couldn’t, had been brought to the forefront, just like that.
‘Why did Trysta know that Sarah might have AIDS when even Sarah herself didn’t? And from Trysta’s reaction, she was quite certain!’
At that moment, Trysta came out. She immediately noticed the strange atmosphere between Amber and Ian, and was slightly surprised by it. “What’s the matter?”
But before they could answer, she grabbed Amber’s hand and animatedly said, “Amber, I just heard them say that there’s an interception drug that’ll be effective as long as I take it within 72 hours of the transmission event, and pregnant women can take it! Let’s go find a doctor and have him prescribe me some, alright?!”
Trysta was visibly nervous, and for good reason too; AIDS was massively stigmatized in the public eye. During the earlier bedlam, who knew if Sarah’s hands were clean, or if her saliva had somehow gotten into Trysta’s wounds?
But Amber knew that the likelihood of this was almost zero. From the start, Trysta had been guarded against Sarah, and the only reason why she had been scratched was because she had been too nervous and had resisted too much.
Trysta didn’t appreciate Amber’s silence. She grabbed Amber’s hand tightly, clenched her teeth, and venomously said, “I don’t want to take even the slightest of chances.” Her tone hardened even further as she cursed, “I also don’t want to ruin myself for a wench like her!”
Amber sighed in her heart, and gave up on persuading Trysta. She could only let Trysta do what she wanted.
After Trysta picked up her medicine, it was already a little late, and Silvia and the others had already called them a number of times. Trysta said, “In my condition, I can’t head over. But you guys should still go.” She looked toward Amber, wanting to say more, but she stopped herself, ultimately saying nothing.
Amber only said one thing in parting. “Think of a way to let her know. Trysta, don’t spread even more misfortune in this world.”
Amber didn’t know if her words reached Trysta, as she had always been a stubborn and obstinate person. Once she set her mind to do something, then even an ox wouldn’t be able to hold her back.
The main reason why Amber had refrained from saying anything was because she didn’t want to destroy Trysta’s plan and expose her in front of everyone-Amber was almost certain that Trysta had caused Sarah’s illness, but for Amber, between her friends and her ethics, she’d rather discard her ethics and save her friend.
But this sort of choice left her with a weary heart.
When Trysta left, Amber relaxed imperceptibly. Later on, Amber and Ian went to see Silvia and the rest as planned.
Because they were late, they were forced to drink a few cups of wine as penalty, and perhaps it was because of all the thoughts consuming her mental resources, but Amber fell drunk quicker than usual. Originally, they had planned on going out to karaoke after dinner. However, since Amber was drunk, she could only return home first.
***
When she woke up, she was in her own house. The small lamp by the bedside was emitting a soft lambent glow, and more importantly, Ian wasn’t here.
She looked at the time, it was already 11 PM. She soon realized that her clothes had already been changed, and that she felt fresh and relaxed all over. She couldn’t help but smile, ever since a particularly attentive person had moved into the apartment, her quality of life had improved greatly.
Her head was still spinning a little, a symptom of her drunkenness. Amber laid in bed, just staring at the ceiling in a daze with the same small smile on her face, until Ian came in again.
He had also changed. Whenever he went outside, he would always dress appropriately and formally, but at home he was a lot more relaxed. Tonight, he was wearing an ocean blue set of pajamas, giving him an unusually languid aura.
He sat down by the side of the bed, reached out and patted the hair by her temples.
Amber asked him, “Is it troublesome to bathe a drunken person?”
He shook his head, looking at her. “You’re unhappy.”
She smiled. “That’s right.” She stretched out her hand towards him. “Ian, will you hug me?”
Ian’s hand paused for a moment, but Amber had already climbed onto him and wrapped herself in his embrace. She played with the buttons on his clothes.
At this moment, even though her emotions were heavily repressed, she knew that Ian must have guessed everything that had happened by now.
In a moment of weakness, she couldn’t help spilling out her true feelings. “I feel like everything that happened in the afternoon was just a dream. Trysta has always been rational, independent, a perfectionist, and maybe a little petty.
However, she’s not a bad person. I always had a feeling that she wouldn’t let Frank go so easily, but I never expected that she would do something so … extreme.”
‘AIDS. Just how on earth did she do it?’ It was only now that Amber finally understood why Trysta had refused to admit that Sarah was the mistress. Perhaps it was all for this day.
Sarah still thought that Trysta had only found a man to harass her, but when she found out that she had even contracted AIDS and realized what had happened to her, she would certainly realize that it was Trysta who had set her up, and then … Amber didn’t even want to think about what would happen then.
She was worrying frantically for Trysta.
“Is this considered fierce retaliation?” Ian asked indiffierently as he wrapped her hair around his fingers one curl at a time, breaking Amber’s train of thought.
“Isn’t it?” She tried to sit straight up and look at him, but she had forgotten that her hair was tangled up in his fingers, and her movement only yanked her hair and caused her to hiss.
Ian didn’t let go, continuing to hold her hair tight, a bit of mirth in his eyes. He coolly replied, “I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but I think that I should recant my evaluation of her. That woman isn’t stupid, she actually did quite well. Why be polite to people who betray you? If you do something wrong, then you have to pay a price. Otherwise, there’d be no pain in betraying someone.”
Amber was speechless at Ian’s words.
She felt as if Trysta’s incident had unleashed something terrible from within Ian’s heart.
She grabbed his hand tightly, and, trembling, said, “Ian, I’m a good woman who won’t betray anyone.” No matter what, it was important to first state this clearly to him.
Ian started smiling.
“Yes.” His fingers lightly brushed over her face. “Good woman, today was the last day of my treatment. Let’s make love to each other. I’ve been waiting for this for a very long time.”
Amber just couldn’t keep up. “….”