A waiter came in, bringing a fine dessert. He looked at Amelia and said, "Was that lady just now your friend, Ms. Harper?"
"No... But how is she now?"
"Don't worry. The bottle she smashed wasn't anything expensive. She's home now."
After hearing that, Amelia felt relieved and got her appetite back.
Ethan watched her dig in with a smile and sipped on his wine.
It was already late in the evening. Rosetta sighed and tossed her body pillow on the sofa.
"I was planning to see my cousin there, but little did I know..."
"I haven't seen him for a good while, so he's not gonna blame me for calling him, right? He's always kind to me, after all," she thought.
Ethan looked at his vibrating phone. Thinking of Rosetta helping Amelia just now, he picked up the call.
"You're still up."
Sure enough, it was bedtime already.
Rosetta was stunned and thought, "Is he trying to care about me?"
"I... It's just I haven't seen you for a good while, and I went to Chinchol Manor today..."
"Yeah. Anything else?"
Rosetta was interrupted. Someone must have already told him what had happened.
She thought about what she was to say for a good while. Now that she got interrupted, she was at a loss for words.
"Just try and get some sleep. Have a good night."
"I..."
Before she could add anything, Ethan had already hung up the phone. Rosetta couldn't help blaming herself.
"That was stupid. I knew I had nothing much to say, but I still called him. Now I'd be a boring person to him."
"You're done?"
"Yeah."
It had been a couple of nights, and Ethan didn't force her into anything. That was more than reassuring for Amelia. She even let all her guard down and sat down beside him.
Ethan, on the other hand, was rather pleased.
"Your turn now. I'll get some sleep."
Amelia lay flat in bed. His staying with her, feeding her, and chatting with her for the entire afternoon did somewhat make that place feel like home. He started to feel like family as well.
As Ethan came back from the shower, he saw Amelia already fast asleep. He couldn't help reaching out to touch her pretty face.
"What is that?"
The touch instantly alerted Amelia. She was never asleep, but rather, she was enjoying all the peace with her eyes closed. That touch then broke everything.
"Are you asleep?"
Ethan could almost see her dodging from him the moment he touched her face.
"For real?"
Amelia kept her eyes shut and stopped having any reactions. Ethan smiled.
He then quickly nudged closer and threw his arm around her waist.
"What are you doing?"
She flung her eyes open and stared at him with heavy breaths. Even at such a moment, she couldn't help appreciating all the tenderness on his face.
Their eyes met. Amelia suddenly realized that she never did dislike him for real. She even wanted to keep looking at him like that.
"Am I looking at him? Is his arm around my waist?
What's going on? I can't let him get me," she thought.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing."
It was quite a simple conversation, but they then started to look at that arm around Amelia's waist together. Amelia looked confused and embarrassed.
"It was him trying to put his hands on me. What's going on with me?" she thought.
"Your hand..."
"What? Anything wrong with doing this to my wife?"
"But you promised me you wouldn't force me into anything. What do you want?"
Amelia got her alert back and stared at Ethan.
Ethan replied with a gentle laugh and started to move his hand up to her shoulder. He patted her.
"Of course, I'm not doing anything you don't give consent to. I'm a man of my words."
"What was that, then?"
"I was just trying to tuck you in. I didn't do anything..."
Amelia's cheek started to burn. She felt drunk.
Ethan looked at her, and a mysterious gleam went across his eyes.
"I didn't do anything or even say anything. Why are you blushing?"
Amelia hurriedly checked her cheeks with her hands. Ethan pressed on, "Wondering what we're doing next?"
"Hey..." Amelia blushed worse.
She lay down, wrapped the blanket tight, had her back at him, and stopped talking.
"Oh, come on. How am I supposed to sleep like this?"
"You don't deserve a blanket."
Ethan smiled at that. He lay back without getting any bit of the blanket back. Glad it wasn't too cold that night.
"How are you still awake?"
As Delilah came downstairs, she saw Bella still sitting there. She froze there as if something got her, and she let out frantic laughs from time to time.
She looked mental.
Delilah tried moving closer, but Bella started to laugh again.
"What's going on? Why are you like this in the middle of the night?"
Delilah watched her with much concern. Her daughter went to see the legend of the business world and came back like that. Was she making progress or something?
"Now, tell me. What happened? Did you see that man? Was he pretty? Did you talk to him or something? Do you like him?"
She went on with her questions. Ethan was a man important enough to get all her care if he could be her son-in-law.
Bella looked at her and blushed.
"You know what? He didn't even look at all those other ladies, but he even smiled at me..."
"Is that so? You're making some progress, sweetheart,"
Delilah couldn't help feeling proud. So money was coming their way, and that was why Bella couldn't sleep.