Chapter 503 - Don't Touch Him...

Just like the previous morning, Zoey's eyes beneath her eyelids flickered before they slowly opened. Just like the past few mornings, the corner of her lips stretched into a subtle smile along with her eyes cracking.

After all, just like the past morning, the view she was expecting was Matthew's majestic sleeping face. The sight of him early in the morning was the treat she would be looking forward to every morning. Zoey often woke up before he did, and she would spend her morning staring at him in silence before pretending she was asleep when he woke up.

However, unlike the perfect morning she woke up to, what welcomed her eyes early in the morning was not his peaceful sleeping expression. "Darling?" She muttered, blinking her eyes many times before she suddenly sat up straight.

"Hey…" Her brows knitted together, shaking his shoulder out of worry. "Are you…" Her words trailed off as she placed her palm on his forehead. Matthew was drenched in his own sweat, his face was flushed and his breathing was heavy.

Upon the touch on his forehead, Zoey immediately retracted it as if she was scalded. "Gosh! What happened? Why do you have a fever?!" Worried, Zoey panicked as her mind hadn't started to function well, not knowing what to do.

"Calm down, Z. Calm down." Zoey took a deep breath, calming herself down as she forced herself to think carefully. "Right… I'll be back." After a second, Zoey finally came to her senses as she turned to him and nodded her head.

Without further ado, Zoey rushed towards the bathroom. Taking a small towel, she soaked it with water. Not long after, she rushed to the walk-in closet and grabbed him a shirt to change to as he was sweating a lot.

After doing everything accordingly, Zoey went back to the bed with the clothes, wet and dry towels. Zoey tossed the clothes to the corner of the bed before she perched beside him. "Jeez… did you overwork yourself? What did you even do to get a fever?" She muttered while wiping his face and neck.

"Cold…" As she wiped him, Zoey heard him mumble which stopped her from wiping him. 

"What?" She asked, leaning closer to him to hear what he was whispering along with his deep breaths. "C -- cold…" When she inched closer to him, Zoey finally got the gist of what he was mumbling.

As soon as she heard him, the realization of the room's temperature struck across her mind. "Oh!" Without a second delay, Zoey looked around to see the air conditioner's remote control and turned it off.

"It's okay now." She said, tossing the remote control back to the bedside table. Zoey then resumed wiping him to cool down his temperature before she could call Paul and ask for a doctor to check on Matthew.

Since Matthew was weak, she didn't have a problem wiping his arms and parts of his body that were already exposed. After that, Zoey cleared her throat as she held onto the hem of his shirt. 'This is an emergency situation! Get a hold of yourself, self!' Yet, before Zoey could proceed to remove his shirt, a sudden interruption in her train of thoughts occurred.

Zoey shook her head profusely, shrugging the immoral thoughts of her subconscious mind away. She gulped a mouthful of saliva, mustering her self-control to behave and not take advantage of the situation. Thus, as she stood victorious against her instinct, Zoey carefully removed his shirt and slowly revealed the heating packs beneath it.

'He's sick. This is not the time to admire his abs!' Zoey scolded herself internally, carefully moving the shirt up. "Hey, I — I will change your clothes, okay? Stay — stay still." She stuttered, doing what she must do.

However, before she could proceed further, Matthew suddenly grabbed her wrist, which stopped her. "Uh?" Slowly, she raised her sparkling eyes from his abs to his face. 

Matthew, still breathing heavily with sweat breaking out from his forehead, clasped her. "Darling?" Her soft voice caressed his ears, but he was feeling very unwell, such that all he could do was catch to his breath and use brute force to hold on to her.

"I -- I'm just… trying to…" Zoey kept pausing in between her sentence, her brows knitting together out of worry as it seemed he was in pain. "I'll call Paul." After a beat, Zoey finally decided to call for help and slowly removed his hand from her wrist.

Alas, before she could do so, Matthew suddenly pulled her to him, which caught her off guard. Although her fall on his chest wasn't that strong, it rendered Zoey speechless as her eyes widened as Matthew's skin was burning.

"Matty!" As she discerned that Matthew's temperature was higher than minutes ago and seemed it was beyond normal human limits, Zoey patted his arms in panic. "You're burning! Let's get you to the hospital!" She hollered, pushing herself up as this wasn't the time for romance.

However, as she tried to push herself up — away from him, Matthew's arms snaked around her. He stilled her by tightening his embrace. His chest moved in an up and down motion, his heated, deep breaths kissing her ears.

"I…" Zoey heard him whisper, yet she ignored it as she struggled but to no avail. How could a sick person be this strong? Zoey could break free if she truly wanted to. However, using force to break free might hurt him. Thus, Zoey was immediately in a conflicted situation where she couldn't decide what to do.

"Inigo… he is…" Suddenly, Zoey's world slowed down as she heard Inigo's name once again. Her body instantly froze as her complexion paled. What did that man do to him? What happened? Her mind immediately functioned faster as she wondered what Inigo got to do with this?

"Don't… touch… him…." In between his heavy breaths, Matthew's whispers grew meek before his arms around her loosened as he lost consciousness. 

"Darling?" As soon as she felt that his arms loosened, Zoey slowly pushed herself up and stared at him.. "Matthew!" Upon laying her eyes on him, Matthew was still breathing heavily, but he was pale as a sheet.