281 Delivery Man

Looking at his serious countenance, she touched his arm lightly, "it's ok. Don't worry so much. I promise you I will be careful. You didn't need to trouble yourself with finding me an apartment. It became top priority on my to-do list since the time I saw that video in your car. Now that you have helped me again, I can only offer a feeble thank you."

With a smile and a wave, she got off the car and went in to the building.

Covent Garden, London

Jia Li was miserable. It had been ten days now since her fever had been raging. It was simply refusing to abate. Despite the blood tests coming negative for any of the dreaded illnesses, the fever didn't leave her body. Miserable and weak, she woke up this morning and much to her relief, the thermometer read normal after days.

She walked towards the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. Her sunken eyes and haggard face made her look more like a scarecrow than a human.

"Maybe my grief became too much for my heart and has spilled over to the rest of my body. Tang, where are you? I am so worried and my heart aches constantly. I hope all is well with you," she leaned her head against the cold mirror and closed her eyes in exhaustion.

The doorbell rang, making her look up in resignation. She knew who it was.

"Oh God! Look at you. No wonder Ying Hui had been reluctant to get me along with him to see you during all these days. You look terrible," Eric walked in with Hui trailing behind.

Hui came in and put his hand to Jia Li's forehead.

"It doesn't seem as hot. How are you feeling today?" he asked her gently.

"No fever since the time I have woken up," she replied with a weak smile.

"Thanks for ignoring me… both of you," Eric pouted.

Jia Li crossed the distance and patted his arm.

"Hui was being a good friend and didn't want to expose you to my infectious germs. He told me every day how concerned you were about me, though," she consoled him.

Hui ignored the banter and opened the foodbox which he had carried with him. He had been asking his parents to deliver home cooked nutritious food every morning to him and had been getting it here ever since she fell sick. He dropped into her house every morning before going to work. In fact he was the one who had carried her to the hospital the first day that she had contracted the fever. Looking for plates in the now familiar kitchenette, he brought out soup bowls and other cutlery for all of them.

"My God, I never thought I would live to see the domesticated sight of Ying Hui, the genius mathematician and physician. Must say the role suits you," Eric teased him.

"If you are done with your daily quota of speaking nonsense, would you like to join us for an authentic Chinese breakfast fare?" Hui asked him.

There was a delicious spread of the congee, steamed buns, both sweet and salty, noodles and Jia Li's favourite tofu pudding.

"I have been telling you for days now. Please stop getting so much food. I can't finish it even by dinner," Jia Li told Hui.

She had been feeling guilty about accepting Hui's overwhelming generosity during these days of illness. He had been kind, thoughtful and warm and that made her guilt increase by gigantic proportion!

"You need to eat. My parents are good cooks, I am simply the delivery man, so don't need to thank me. If your sense of obligation is killing you, maybe you could give me the fuel money, ok?" he replied with a smile.

"Gosh! You multimillionaires are so stingy. I can't believe that you asked an employee to reimburse YOUR fuel expense. Jia Li, don't listen to him. He can well afford to feed you for years, should you choose it. In fact, he would be more than happy to do so, won't you, Hui?" Eric addressed the big elephant in the room.

Jia Li's pale face coloured at the implication while Hui gave a stormy look to his loud mouthed friend. Despite Eric being aware of Jia Li's rejection of Hui's proposal, he left no opportunity to bring up a reference to it.

"I am forever indebted to the big boss," she finally replied softly.

"You are back to calling me boss??? I thought that we had decided that after I have cleaned up your drool and put cold compression on your head, you are to address me by my name. You can only address me as your boss when we are at work," Hui scolded her.

Eric looked on as Jia Li ducked her head in apology.