Two days later, at the Peaceful Medical Center, Dahlia
finally woke up. The first thing she noticed was that she was in a very
plain room that contained a table, two chairs, and a hospital bed. She
thought everything looked vaguely familiar, as if she had been here
before. "You're up?" Dustin quipped as he appeared at the entrance of the
room. He was carrying a bowl of chicken soup in one hand. Even though it
wasn't the most flavorful dish, the soup looked tantalizing to her as she
hadn't eaten anything for the past two days. So much so that her stomach
began to growl non–stop at the sight of it. "Were you the one who saved
me?" she asked first to break the awkward tension between them. "You were
injured and unconscious on the roadside, so I patched you up," he
answered plainly. 1 "You patched me up?" she repeated with furrowed
brows. A split second later, she hastily asked, "Oh, right! How long have
I been unconscious? What's the situation with the Spanners now? Are my
parents in danger?" The sudden barrage of questions made his head spin.
"You were unconscious for two days and two nights. Your family is safe
and sound. As for the Spanner residence, it has been engulfed in flames,"
he answered each of her questions calmly. Upon receiving news that her
family was safe, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. However,
it didn't take her long to ask another question in surprise. "Engulfed in
flames'? What happened?" "I don't know the specifics, but I heard that
there was a gas leak, so all 20 to 30 people inside the Spanner residence
got burned alive inside," he said. "A gas leak? Do you suppose it was a
coincidence?" she asked in a confused manner. "The wicked reap what they
sow. The Spanners have done many evil deeds and always sought to harm
others. Seeing them fall from grace like this, I suppose this was just
karma coming for their ass in a way." Dustin said. She nodded in
response, feeling a sense of relief on the inside. With the Spanner
household destroyed, she surmised she did not have to worry about being
their target anymore in the future. "Alright, stop letting your mind
wander. Have some soup first," he said as he handed her the chicken soup.
"Thanks," she replied. Since she was hungry, she didn't refuse his kind
gesture and happily started digging. into the soup. She managed to finish
the entire bowl shortly after. However, she still felt hungry after
finishing her food and considered licking the bowl. "I'll get you another
bowl," he said after noticing her expression and served her another bowl
of chicken soup. Without a word, she devoured the second bowl of soup as
well. Now that she was having the chicken soup, she
soon felt a pleasant warmth in her stomach, which made her feel so
content it was hard to describe in words. Although the two bowls of soup
may not look like much, he was the one who cooked them precisely because
he was aware that they were very good at speeding up the recovery
process. "Still hungry?" he asked. At that moment, she couldn't stop
herself from letting out a small burp. She realized that she might come
across as improper to him, so she tried to swallow the air back into her
stomach. "I guess you've already had your fill then. Be sure to get lots
of rest, and I'll come back later." Before he could leave, she called out
to him and said, "Wait! I have something to say to you!" "What is it?" he
said, as he stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. "It's about
Chris. I'm sorry for accusing you," she muttered. After hesitating for a
second, she clenched her teeth and continued, "That guy wasn't a good
person to begin with. I can't believe he managed to trick us out of such
a large sum with his silver tongue. If only we had listened to your
advice in the beginning." "What's wrong with you today? Did the great Ms.
Nicholson just apologize to someone?" he teased. "What do you mean? Do I
seem like such an unreasonable person to you?" she shot back, clearly
offended by his remark. "I'm kidding! So what if I got accused again?
It's not like this is the first time anyway, so forget about it," he said
and shrugged his shoulders. "Why does it sound so wrong coming from you?"
she retorted while wrinkling her brows. "Alright, let's just forget about
the past, shall we? Now, take off your clothes…" he said casually. "Huh?"
Her expression instantly changed and she subconsciously shielded her
chest with her arms. "What are you planning to do to me?" she exclaimed.
"No need to get so worked up, you have injuries, so I'm just helping you
change your bandages," he answered as he lifted up a bottle of ointment
in one hand. "You want to change my bandages for me?" she repeated. As if
she had just realized something, she hurriedly quipped, "Were you the one
who changed my bandages for the past two days?" "Who else?" "Then, I…
You've seen everything by now?!" she cried, her eyes wide as saucers. "So
what if I've seen everything? It's not like I haven't seen them before,
so what's the big deal?" he said easily. "You get your ass out of here
right now!" she screamed in response, her face flushed from the shame and
anger. She couldn't believe the nerve of this man. How
dare he undress and touch her body without her consent. How despicable!
"I can still scram if you want, but I'd advise you to give it some
thought. Although the injuries on your body have healed, the scars are
still there. So, if not treated in due time, I'm afraid you won't be able
to get rid of them in the future," he patiently explained. She bit her
lip and began to feel somewhat conflicted on the inside. "Fine, since you
obviously don't care about that, I won't help you anymore. You'd better
not regret it when you see yourself covered in scars in the future," he
retorted with his hands across his chest before turning around and
beginning to leave. "Wait!" she hollered, finally heeding his advice. It
was simply a woman's nature to take care of her appearance. Even she
wasn't an exception. The thought of her body being covered in scars was
worse than the idea of getting killed! "What, changed your mind?" he
asked as he turned back to face her with an amused look. "Help me change
my bandages, but with your eyes blindfolded!" she ordered, then threw a
random piece of clothing that was lying next to her at him, as if to vent
her frustrations. However, her whole body froze when she realized what
she had thrown at him. It turned out the item of clothing she just threw
at him was her underwear! "You sure have weird tastes. I refuse to use
this as a blindfold, if you don't mind," he remarked as he threw the
panties back to her. "S–shut up!" she stuttered in embarrassment, her
face turning pinker by the second. Her pretty face was similar to a ripe
peach covered in morning dew now. He was tempted to touch her. "Fine,
I'll only apply the ointment on your back while you apply the rest on the
front yourself," he finally relented, for fear that she would storm out
of the room. "Hmph!" She pouted. It was only after multiple bouts of
hesitation that she finally agreed to his plan. Her injuries needed to be
healed, but it wasn't like she could take care of the scars on her back
properly without external assistance. "I've already finished applying the
ointment on your back evenly…" he trailed off before continuing in a cold
voice."… Now, on to your butt—"