When Lina heard that Reuben was sick, her grip over the thermos slipped causing it to fall to the ground thus creating a loud noise.
*Clang*
She flinched after hearing the metallic noise and hurried to pick the steel flask up.
The man standing opposite her rolled his eyes after witnessing her over-dramatic reaction.
"I was right to not hand the bento box first." Benji taunted while looking at her.
Lina was least bothered about his taunts as she was checking to see if the thermos was alright and if its contents had leaked out.
Thankfully, it was a sturdy container and had no dents even after falling to the ground from that height.
Raising her head from the thermos, Lina glared at him as she chose to ignore his words because she had bigger and better things to be concerned about.
"What do you mean Ruby is sick? How do you know? Why hasn't he told me anything about it?" She started rambling on and on without giving Benji a chance to explain himself.
Benji waited for a few seconds in hopes that she would soon tire herself out but got annoyed when she kept at it.
"Will you let me speak!" He yelled at her when he saw her getting breathless.
Lina was now gasping due to the multitude of questions that she had thrown at him in the matter of a few seconds without taking proper breaks to breathe.
'I'm dying with curiosity here!' She exclaimed as she placed the thermos on the kitchen island.
Lina nodded impatiently and glared at him so that he might speak sooner.
Thus, Benji began to narrate the encounter he had with the two security guards and every piece of information that he had acquired from them.
"The guy said that Reuben was finding it hard to stand, his eyes were drooping, he was coughing and occasionally massaging his forehead." He spelled out everything he knew regarding this matter.
"Those are the symptoms of a sick person." He concluded about his discovery.
Lina nodded since she knew that those were the common symptoms of someone who was sick.
"And those are filled with food for sick people." He explained while pointing at the thermos and the bento box.
Lina gave him a grateful nod before rising from her seat.
She picked up the thermos along with the bento and had turned around to leave when Benji called out to her.
"Did you eat?" He questioned when she turned to face him once again.
Lina shook her head as before she could go to find Mrs. Ping and inquire about her dinner, she had received his call and had rushed over here.
Benji shot her a disapproving glance and then sighed because he knew that he too had a part in the reason for her to miss her dinner.
"Go and take care of your boyfriend. I'll prepare something for you and bring it up." He offered and received another grateful smile from her.
Before Lina could leave for Reuben's penthouse, she glared at Benji and then gritted her teeth.
"Don't think that this gesture is going to melt my heart and save you from my wrath later on." She glowered and then strutted out of his house.
Benji stood frozen in place, confused at what he had done to incur her wrath.
However, when he thought of his broken phone he too huffed in anger and scoffed while looking at the door which had shut with a loud bang.
'See if I forgive you and that annoying boyfriend of yours!' He snarled and then strode towards his room.
When he was halfway across the hall, he remembered that Lina had not yet eaten anything and decided to keep his frustrations aside and cook her something to eat.
Entering the kitchen, he opened the fridge and when his gaze fell on the trays of eggs, his anger rose once again.
He swiftly grabbed a few ingredients and planned to make her simple noodles with broth.
"I'll add extra chilies so that she knows who she messed with!" He scowled while turning on the stove.
While Benji was cooking extra spicy noodles for Lina, the said woman was typing the passcode to enter Reuben's penthouse.
'I'm glad it's the same as last time.' She sighed when she gained entry into his apartment without any problems.
The last time she was here was when she had the sleepover at Benji's place and had come upstairs only to find Reuben in his post-workout state.
The memory of him in those tight clothes that stuck to his body due to his sweat and the devilish smirk he gave her when he caught her in his bedroom made her blush.
'Concentrate, Nana! He is a patient and you are not supposed to have lewd thoughts about a sick person!' She chided herself for having such thoughts about him.
Glancing around the large yet dim apartment, she found a large package placed on the table by the couch.
'That must be the package the security guard had brought over.' She reckoned and her guess was right about this matter.
She smiled when she felt the warmth of the thermos and bento permeating through the material and onto her hands.
'Benji knows that I can't cook to save my life so he prepared this soup for Ruby. Does anyone else have such a good assistant as mine?' She boasted, forgetting about the threat that she had just given the very same assistant.
"Let's check on him and get him to eat something." She muttered while walking towards his bedroom with padded feet.
She had come here once before and hence she had no problem in finding his room since what had happened inside it was still so fresh in her memories.
As she stood before his door, she contemplated whether to knock in order to make her presence known or to sneak inside.
While she was waiting outside thinking of what she should do next, a wretched thought popped up in her mind.
'The MC once snuck into her boyfriend's room to give him a surprise visit but sadly she had received the shock of her life!' She grimaced when that thought came to her.
The sweet and innocent MC had arrived at her boyfriend's home after a long vacation with her family only to find him in bed with another woman.
Lina winced while thinking of the tears that she had cried while reading about the heartbreak that the female lead had undergone when she witnessed this tragic sight.
Nevertheless, this did not mean that she would accept such a thing lying down if it ever happened to her.
"If I find even a single piece of lingerie on the floor when I enter… Ruby will have hell to pay!" She gritted her teeth and glared at the door.
She had forgotten that she was here to visit a sick patient and her brain was consumed with the thought of who she might find inside.
Strategically balancing the thermos between her chest and her chin, she held the bento in one hand and the doorknob in the other.
Lina held her breath to curb her nervousness as she twisted the doorknob and then entered the room.
Her eyes first scanned around the room to make sure that there were no women's clothing found anywhere.
The lights in the room were dimmed to help the owner sleep better while the door to the balcony was locked shut.
She glanced around and noticed that the decor was the same as the last time that she was here.
'No traces of women anywhere…' She declared after her eyes scoured every inch of the place.
Only after making sure that she had not walked in on her boyfriend cheating on her like what she was used to reading in the novels did she let go of the breath that she had been holding.
'He is safe… For now!' She sneered and then glanced at the bed.
The massive bed was covered with metallic grey linen and she could notice a lump at the center of the bed covered by the blanket.
Stepping closer towards the bed, she first placed the thermos and bento on the bedside table to free her hands then turned to the bed.
The blanket rose and fell in accordance with the breathing of the person laying underneath it.
'Why is he all cooped up under the blankets in that way!? What if he suffocates under it?' Lina shook her head at the big manchild whose head was also covered by the blankets.
She silently slipped out of her shoes and climbed onto the bed.
'This feels like I am climbing into his bed in secret to seduce him.' She chuckled in a soft voice while rolling her eyes at her ridiculous thoughts.
One leg followed by the other, now kneeling onto the bed beside the man covered under the sheets, Lina gazed down at him.
Her hands reached for the edge of the blanket and after finding them, she gently tugged at it to get a peek at his face.
Just as Lina was about to get a look of her boyfriend's handsome face, her smile froze and her eyes widened.
The reason for this change was the abrupt movement made by the person under the covers which caused her to be pinned to the bed.
Before she could react, there was a large hand wrapped around her throat and the unexpected yet strong pressure being applied was making it hard for her to breathe.
Her eyes teared up as the force around her neck tightened further and she tapped the hands that were choking her in an attempt to free herself.
"Who sent you here?" The dark and menacing coldness in his voice made her stop the feeble attempts as her body froze in fear.
"Ruby…" She muttered before her eyes went dark.