The cramped two-bedroom, the other bed was vacant.
At this time, there was only one commendation in the ward, and the room was too quiet, empty, and lonely.
He lay flat on the bed, with his Adam's apple slipping.
His lips were straight and there was no expression on his face.
Ashley couldn't see what he was thinking.
Without hearing his consent, Ashley dared not go in and asked again, "Is that all right?"
Jacob just opened his mouth and asked softly, "Have you eaten yet?"
"I just went to the neighborhood to buy a loaf of bread," Ashley blinked, hesitantly walked up to him, and showed him the bag. "and I also bought a box of oolong tea."
"That’s not enough."
Jacob glanced at her and said, "Let's order a takeout."
Ashley shook her head. "I'm not very hungry."
Jacob, "You haven't eaten anything yet. Why aren't you hungry?"
"Just not hungry."
Ashley put the bag on the table next to her, turned, and moved the chair at the end of the bed to the side of the bed, slowly. "If I’m hungry, I will eat. I won't starve myself when I'm so big."
Jacob stared at her, suddenly smiled, and said nothing more.
Ashley sat down on the chair, took out the bread, and whispered, "I just asked the nurse. You have to lie flat for six hours, and then you can get out of bed in twelve hours."
"Cool."
Ashley took a bite of the bread and murmured, "Then you can't eat anything now. You have to eat liquid food all week."
Jacob listened carelessly and answered again, "Okay."
Then the room quieted down.
All that was left was the little noise made by Ashley when she was eating.
There was heating in the ward, and Ashley felt a little hot after not long sitting.
She stood up, took off her coat, folded it, and hung it on the chair.
Noticing her movement, Jacob glanced, fixed for a few seconds, and then said faintly, "Why are you wearing a skirt in winter?"
The silence was suddenly broken.
Ashley looked up vaguely and happened to meet his slightly picked eyes.
The tone was the same as when her mother caught her not wearing long johns in autumn.
To some extent, this person was like a combination of her father, her mother, and her brother.
"This is a long skirt."
Ashley bowed her head and continued to nibble on the bread. "You can wear it if you want."
"…"
Jacob looked at her.
She ate exactly the same way as before, and her cheeks were bulging like a little pufferfish.
He wanted to laugh a little, but he was afraid of getting to the wound. "It's colder here than South Star," he said softly. You just have to pay attention to yourself. It doesn’t feel good to be sick. "
Hearing this, Ashley inexplicably remembered the last time she came to Silver River.
The things in her mouth suddenly became hard to swallow. Without looking at him, she took a sip of oolong tea and nodded.
After eating the bread, Ashley checked the time: "Brother Jacob, do you want to sleep?"
"What time is it?"
"It's almost 11:00."
Jacob, "How do you sleep?"
Ashley thought for a moment, "I'm going to rent an escort chair. It doesn't cost much."
"Escort chair? Isn't it hard for you to sleep? "
Jacob frowned and obviously disagreed. "The bed next is empty, so go and rent it."
"No."
Ashley muttered, "I didn't come here to enjoy life."
"…"
Without waiting for him to say anything more, Ashley got up and went out, "Brother Jacob, you should sleep. I'll go out and ask. "
It was only more than 5 bucks a day to rent an escort chair.
After paying the money, Ashley went to buy double toiletries.
When she returned to the ward, Jacob was looking at his cell phone, as if he were sending a message to someone.
Ashley glanced at him and said nothing.
"What took you so long?"
Jacob put the phone down and asked, "What did you buy?"
"Toothpaste, toothbrush, and towels."
Ashley turned the things out. "I want to wash up."
Jacob, "Well, go ahead."
After taking two steps away, Ashley suddenly remembered something and looked back hesitantly, "Brother Jacob, do you want to wipe your face? You can’t brush your teeth, I think. "
There were a lot of things, so Ashley simply took the whole bag.
There was no one in the toilet. She put her things on the table, took a deep breath, began to wash gently, and began to think about what to do for a while.
She asked on the spur of the moment.
Because she felt that if she didn't ask, he wouldn't ask for it.
‘But it's okay.
He took care of my wounds.
He wiped her face, too.
And now that he's a patient, he can't do anything by himself.
Anyway, I stayed here to take care of him.
I can't propose it myself, and then regret it for a long time. Isn't that too stingy?’
Instead of dawdling, Ashley took the towel out of the bag and washed it in hot water.
Then she returned to the ward.
Ashley found a place to put things away, went to Jacob, and informed him in advance, "Brother Jacob, let me wipe your face."
"No."
It seemed that Jacob did not intend to let her do it. "Bring it here. I'll just wipe it myself."
"How can you?"
Ashley was already embarrassed, but when she was refused by him, she was inexplicably annoyed.
She frowned and sat down on the edge of the bed.
Jacob paused and smiled, "Why do you always lose your temper with me today?"
"..."
Ashley did not look into his eyes, folded the towel smaller, and wiped it down from his forehead. "I don't lose my temper. I was always like this."
She no longer hesitated and went straight to it.
The towel crossed his forehead and reached his eyes.
Jacob closed his eyes subconsciously.
She did not get too close to him, moved carefully and lightly, and did not touch him with her hand.
Jacob has hardly been taken care of in this way.
He never thought he would be taken care of like this.
He didn't like to bother others. Moreover, although she has reached adulthood, he still felt that she has not grown up and still needed to be protected and taken care of by many people.
Then the warm touch of the towel moved to the bridge of the nose, then to the cheeks and chin.
Jacob opened his eyes.
His eyes met Ashley's eyes.
Her eyes were big and bright, the wrinkles of her eyelids were obvious, and her eyelashes were curly and warped, like two small brushes.
The corners of the eyes were naturally drooping, and the eyes were a bit like puppy eyes, which looked clean and pure.
They just stared at each other for a few seconds.
Jacob's eyes slipped slightly and he said lazily, "Are you done?"
"Yes."
Ashley withdrew her eyes, and so did her hand.
Soon, she stood up. "I'm going to wash the towel."
Then Ashley left the ward.
Her appearance of pretending to be calm immediately broke down, and the spine relaxed in an instant.
She slowly calmed her breath and suppressed her accelerating heartbeat.
‘What the hell?
His eyes are closed well, how can he suddenly open them?
Can't he tell me in advance?
-- "I'm going to open my eyes."
"get ready."
Can't he?
Can't he?
It's scary.
Frightened!’
Ashley recalled her reaction just now.
It should be normal.
There seemed to be no overreaction, only to regard this as an unusual thing.
The attitude was neither humble nor arrogant.
Ashley gradually relaxed.
In the end, there was only one thought left in her mind.
It was the first and last time in her life that she wiped his face.
Back in the ward, Ashley opened the escort chair and sat on it.
She thought about it and decided to use her coat as a quilt to make do with a night's sleep.
Jacob was still awake.
Seeing this, he shouted, "Ashley."
Ashley looked up and said, "What?"
Jacob, "Take my coat."
Ashley paused, "Oh."
He was wearing a long overcoat today, which was spread out bigger than her whole person.
Ashely then got up to turn off the lights.
Jacob did not speak anymore.
Ashley took out her cell phone from her coat, turned the brightness to a minimum, and found that Sophie had called her several times.
She was stunned for a moment and suddenly remembered that she had not told her roommates that she would not go back today.
She immediately opened Whatsapp and said in the dormitory group, "I'm not going back today. A brother I know."
Ashley thought for a moment, changed the word "brother" to "sister", and then continued to type : [was sick. I need to take care of him in the hospital.]
Ashley: [I didn't check my phone just now. ]
Sophie: [It’s fine you are okay. Seeing that you didn't come back so late and didn't answer the phone for a long time startled me. ]
Sophie: [Right, Alex seems to be looking for you. He said you didn't reply, so I told him you went out with your friends and didn't come back yet. ]
Ashley: [Okay. ]
Ashley exited the chat window and slid down.
Ashley has seldom seen this person since Sophie's last birthday.
He didn't ask her out but occasionally talked to her, not many times.
She clicked on the chat window with Alex.
Seeing that he only sent her a few funny jokes, there were only a few voice messages left for a few seconds.
She wanted to convert it into words, but she accidentally clicked it.
The boy's clear voice sounded instantly, echoing in this narrow room.
"Ashley, do you have a minute?"
Ashley was startled and immediately pressed the power button.
This sentence was also forcibly interrupted.
Ashley couldn't help looking at Jacob and held her breath.
But because the lights were too dim, she couldn't tell if he was asleep.
After waiting for a long time, Ashley did not see him speak.
She breathed a sigh of relief and turned over lightly.
She clicked on your cell phone again and take a look.
Ashley dared not click on those messages again and planned to listen to them tomorrow and then reply.
She looked at tomorrow's class schedule and didn't know if she could make it back in time for the first class, so she had to send a message to Sophie: [I may not have the first class tomorrow. Can you check in for me then? ]
Sophie: [OK ]
Ashley locked her phone, put her phone aside, and curled up in her coat.
She sniffed and underneath was Jacob's coat.
Her whole body seemed to be occupied by all his scent.
A hint of tobacco, combined with the smell of lime.
Like a mature big boy.
Inexplicably gave her a sense of security.
Perhaps in a strange environment, Ashley could not sleep and kept her eyes closed for a long time.
She couldn't help turning over and wanted to play with her cell phone for a while.
Ashley reached out her hand carefully and fumbled on the table.
At this time, Jacob suddenly made a sound, "Can't sleep?"
Ashley made a meal and nodded, "No."
"Because you didn't finish listening to the messages?"
"…"
When Ashley looked at him, she immediately felt that her mood of ups and downs was like a joke.
She was a little suffocated, "You heard it and pretended to sleep."
"I wasn’t pretending." He smiled. "I just didn't say anything."
"It was."
Ashley said gloomily, "Why do you like eavesdropping so much?"
"Hmm?"
The end of Jacob’s voice went up, "Didn't you put that on yourself?"
Ashley said, but she put her coat over her head, "I'm going to sleep."
Jacob, "But you said you can't sleep."
Ashley, "I have to sleep."
Jacob, "Come and have a chat with brother?"
Ashley showed her eyes and looked at him, "What?"
"Would you like to continue listening to the messages?"
There was a hint of playfulness in his voice, "Let brother hear who wants to ask our Little Ashley out."
Ashley was not happy, "You do not know him."
Jacob, "You can describe him Let brother check if he is a nice fit. "
Ashley, "Don’t worry. He just wanted to ask me out for dinner."
Jacob, "I’m just afraid that you will be cheated."
Ashley said perfunctorily, "Oh, all right."
Without waiting for Ja to speak, she rubbed her eyes and added, "It's a little too much. I can't finish it all night."
"…"
"Take a note."