Amber pretended to be dead; she wouldn’t move no matter what Ian did. Ian prodded her in the face a few times, but she still didn’t respond.
In the end, perhaps due to how pitiful she seemed, he stopped bothering her and left the room, bathed, changed clothes, and once again assumed his role of the diligent househusband.
As Amber pretended to be dead, she eventually ended up falling asleep. When she woke up again, it was from her hunger, which was being stimulated by a concentrated, mouthwatering aroma of tasty food wafting into her nose. She almost floated off of the bed and towards the smell, and discovered Ian in his apron and frying the last dish with a chef’s posture in the kitchen.
There were already a few finished dishes on the counter, and the most eye-catching one was a plate of twice-fried pork cutlets.
Amber didn’t even think as she reached out with her hand, but even though Ian was concentrating on frying the last dish, he seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He deftly blocked her hand without even looking as he coolly asked, “Have you washed up?”
Amber was speechless. She felt like she was about to die from starvation!
Suddenly a lightbulb went off in her head. Inspired, she walked behind him, hugged his waist, and started rubbing against his body. “What a fragrant smell, Mr. Axton. You’re so capable.”
The capable Mr. Axton asked, “Have you stopped hurting?”
“Mm, I’m going to go and wash up now.” Her demeanor instantly frosted over as she swiftly let go of him and rushed out of the kitchen. But before she left, she nimbly stole a slice of cutlet and ate as she ran off. She even provokingly commented, “How fragrant.”
Ian put down his pan and turned around. Sensing that something was amiss, Amber slipped away like an eel.
Looking at the doorway that she had vanished into, Ian smiled slightly.
When Amber next came out, she had finished washing up and had even changed her clothes. Ian was sitting in front of the dining table, typing out something on his phone. The meal in front of her was as beautiful as a landscape painting, and the beautiful man … she ignored.
Amber sat down and started eating right away. She really was about to starve.
Ian also knew her condition, so he had made barley porridge and other easily digestible dishes. He even started introducing the dishes one by one. “This one reduces swelling, so you should eat more of this.”
“Yup yup!”
Then he pointed at the cucumber and beef liver dish. “This enriches the blood!”
“Okay!” Amber said with her mouth, but her hand reached out for the cutlets instead.
However, she was stopped by a pair of cutlery. “Eat less of this. There’s too much sodium, so it won’t be helpful for your recovery.”
“….”
She laughed. “I’m getting a piece for you.” Her cutlery picked up a piece of cutlet and headed towards his bowl, but at the halfway mark, when Ian wasn’t watching, Amber quickly changed course and stuffed it into her mouth.
With a full mouth, she even said, “Let me see if it’s salty.” There was a crunchy bone in the cutlet, and it made a crisp crunching sound as she bit down, and as she did so, she nodded with clear eyes smiling like a crescent moon. “It’s not salty at all. It’s really quite tasty!”
Her actions were just to vent her anger, but she didn’t realize that Ian merely saw her behavior as very juvenile. He placidly looked at her and coolly replied, “If it’s not too salty, then have a bit more. In either case, you’re the one who’ll be in pain if you eat too much, whereas I’ll be quite comfortable regardless.”
Amber instantly thought, ‘You beast!’
She really was unable to stand him sometimes, and she severely reprimanded him. “Can we not talk about this at the dining table?”
Ian actually agreed. “Alright.”
Amber found it quite shocking, and was happy that she was able to eat a peaceful meal without hearing any more “reminders” from him and stuff her stomach with a whole table of food meant to enrich her blood and reduce swelling.
Since it was the weekend, they even leisurely lazed around after they finished their meal. Amber was still thinking about Frank and Sarah’s situation, and she asked Ian to make another phone call and ask about the progress of the blood drawing.
The reply she got back was, “Both of these people have quite severe throat pain and fever. However, they’ve been treating it as if it were the common cold.”
This year’s flu season was unusually bad, and many people around them had exhibited similar symptoms. So, the two of them didn’t suspect that anything was wrong with their body, and hadn’t gone to the hospital. They had simply bought some over the counter medicine to use at home.
When Ian’s men showed up to provide free medicine and a blood-drawing test allegedly in response to the flu outbreak, both of them were very cooperative.
Their blood samples were taken without issue and then sent to the corresponding lab for analysis. The two of them had also been instructed, for safety reasons in the name of preventing the spread of the flu, to abstain from close contact with other people, which temporarily relieved the potential problem of them unknowingly spreading the disease to others.
Ian’s call was made on speakerphone, and the other person spoke clearly and with a well thought out plan. When Amber heard all of it, she was finally able to relax, saying, “This person’s pretty capable.”
Ian, however, replied, “His technique isn’t very good.”
“Hmm?”
“If it were, then maybe his wife wouldn’t have divorced him.”
!!!
Amber slapped his face. “Ian, you silly dolt!”