Craving 61

61 

Beside her, seeing that she was awake, Ellsworth spoke in a 

calm voice, “Awake?” 

Hearing Ellsworth’s voice, Harriet took her hand away and 

turned to look at him. 

Then, she propped herself up on the bed with both hands, sat 

up slowly, and asked him, “Is your meeting over? Did you finish your interview?” 

Her voice was a little hoarse. 

After speaking, she covered her mouth with the back of her 

hand and coughed a few times. 

Seeing this, Ellsworth didn’t answer her previous question. 

Instead, he got up, poured a glass of warm water, and handed it 

to her. 

Taking the warm water from Ellsworth with both hands, Harriet 

said softly, “Thank you.” 

After drinking a couple of sips, her throat felt much better. 

Harriet looked at Ellsworth again. 

Listless and dull-eyed, she said weakly, “I think my cold is pretty 

bad. Maybe you should switch rooms, or you’ll catch it from 

me.” 

Harriet said her cold was serious, but Ellsworth still didn’t 

respond. He just turned, walked to the side cabinet, opened the 

bag on top, took out some medicine, and came back to the bed 

to hand it to her. “Take your medicine first.” 

Holding the cup in both hands and looking up at Ellsworth, 

Harriet hadn’t expected him to buy her medicine. 

She didn’t reach out to take the medicine, and the atmosphere 

froze between them. 

She stared at Ellsworth for a long time. Seeing that he was still 

holding out the medicine to her, Harriet finally came to her 

senses, quickly took her right hand off the cup, accepted the 

medicine from him, and said, “Thank you.” 

After thanking him, she didn’t even look at it and just tossed it 

into her mouth. 

Seeing this, Ellsworth tugged at the hem of his pants and sat 

down again without a word. 

After Harriet finished the medicine and put the cup on the 

nightstand, Ellsworth looked at her and asked, his expression 

unreadable, “Were you avoiding me? Did you take a cold shower 

last night?” 

Harriet gave a tired smile. “No.” 

She explained, “Maybe I caught a chill on the beach. Anyway, my cold is pretty bad, so maybe you should…” 

Before Harriet could finish, Ellsworth looked at her coldly, and 

she swallowed the rest of her words. 

Harriet avoided his gaze. Ellsworth leaned forward slightly, 

brushed aside the hair on her forehead, and asked, “Are you 

hungry?” 

Harriet pushed his hand away. “I’m fine.” 

She said she was fine, so Ellsworth withdrew his hand and 

turned to the kitchenette. 

Soon, Harriet smelled the aroma of food. 

When Ellsworth set the reheated food on the desk, he looked at 

Harriet and asked, “Can you get out of bed? Can you eat by 

yourself?” 

“Yes.” 

Harriet replied, putting her feet on the floor and slipping on her 

slippers. 

As she pulled out the chair to sit down, Ellsworth had already 

arranged the food, deliberately placing the shrimp farther away 

and putting the beef and ribs in front of her. 

Noticing how Ellsworth had arranged the dishes, Harriet looked 

up at him, and Ellsworth nonchalantly stuffed a fork into her 

hand. 

He didn’t say much, but he did everything. 

Holding the fork Ellsworth had given her, Harriet finally realized 

it wasn’t evening-it was three thirty in the afternoon. 

Looking up at Ellsworth, she asked, “Don’t you have an interview 

this afternoon? Are you done with your work?” 

If she remembered correctly, he was supposed to have 

interviews between three and four o’clock. 

Harriet held the bowl in both hands, moved the fork away from 

her mouth, and two grains of white rice stuck to her lips. 

Ellsworth looked at her calmly, raised his right hand to remove the grains of rice from her lips, and said in a mild voice, “It’s 

been postponed.” 

After Ellsworth finished speaking, Harriet stared at him without 

moving. 

She hadn’t expected Ellsworth to postpone the interview for her, nor had she expected him to come back to see her, or to stay 

and take care of her. 

Although he had taken good care of her before their marriage, after they got married, the two of them had long become like 

strangers. 

Seeing Harriet staring at him, Ellsworth said with a hint of 

amusement, “Staring at me-will that fill you up? Will it cure your 

illness? Eat.” 

Reminded by Ellsworth, Harriet snapped back to herself and 

said in a calm voice, “Sorry for troubling you.” 

Ellsworth ignored her, picked up the fork beside him, and put a 

piece of pork rib into her bowl. 

“Thank you.” 

After expressing her thanks, Harriet lowered her head and 

continued eating, but memories surfaced uncontrollably. 

“Ellsworth, I’m afraid to jump. What if I break my leg?” 

“You’re already on the wall. Either way, you have to jump. Jump 

toward me, I’ll catch you.”