Sweet Subterfuge

Kevan was momentarily dazed. Even if he had thought of staying behind, he did not expect Larissa to agree to this notior so
easily. After recollecting himself, he did his best to fight against the smile forming on his face before surveying the ward brielly,
musing in an
awkwardly low voice. “There’s only one bedside chair. Mrs. Grillin...”
“Just get the nurses to add another,” Larissa said as she reached out for the call bution at the head of the bed.
“Adding another chair” was not the result that Kevan wanted. I there was someone around-even if they were only staying in the
same room he could not sleep. But at least he could accompany her.
It was easy for another chair to be added to the ward, especially VIP wards. The nurse brought in another chair along with a
couple of other nurses, and Mrs. Grillin saw them blocking the door when she came back from her stroll,
Hurrying over. Mrs. Griffin asked at a one and a hall feet distance from them, “What are you doing?”
A nurse glanced back at her. “Adding a chair.”
“What for?” Mrs. Griffin asked before peering into the ward to see Kevan, and she figured it out at once.
“No need to bring it in! She sto
stopped the nurse. “Just leave it at the door!”
The nurse was a hit confused. “Why?”
“Til just stay outside! Mrs. Griffin cheerfully took the initiative to bring the chair back out. “This ward is small. To have one bed
and two chairs inside is too crowded!”
The nurses did not really mind-it did not matter to them where the chair was placed. Larissa anxiously stretched her neck to look
shouting to Mrs. Griffin, Mrs. Griffin, please bring the chair in! It’s cold out there!”
During this season, the temperature at night would drop to single digits. Although the hospital had a centralized heating system
running through the whole place. the corridors were rather sp acious and empty, so it was not as warm as the patient wards.
Mrs. Griffin waved her hand and laughed. “It’s not a problem! I just wrap the blanket tighter around myself!” She swifty traded the
things on the chair from one to the other. “These are new.” She deliberately emphasized to Kewan. “You can use them with

assurance,”
Kevan smiled faintly and thanked her sincerely. “Sorry to trouble you.”
Mrs. Griffin brought Kevan’s dirty clothes with her and went to the laundry room, Larissa and Kevan were the only
by ones left in the ward again.
Larissa handed the television remote over. “You can switch to whatever channel you like.”
Kevan rejected her kind offer. “I’ll be dealing with some work.” He sat on the chair and went through his inbox on his phone.
Larissa awkwardly pulled her hand back before turning the volume down so as to not disturb him from working.
But how could Kevan actually focus on work? He had only been searching for an excuse to prevent her from having to force
herself to have a stilted conversation with him. They never had any common topics of interest anyway, and he could sense her
reservedness whenever she was facing him. This made him feel very discouraged, but he could not change anything.
rk emails
His inbox was full of work emails. Kevan randomy chose one to tap into to read, albell rather distractedly. He kept Larissa in the
corner of his eye, and could only see her vague side profile. Hence, he did not notice that she was also sneaking looks at him
Larissa could not understand Kevan; he was already so busy, why on earth did he sill go through that ridiculous storm to come
see her? However, the way he looked while working, with pressed lips and a furrowed brow, was surprisingly somewhat s exy.