Chapter 33: One Pillow, Two Beds
"I do not wish for this morning's incident to happen again." Shirley abruptly cut him off when Bryan was about to bring up the incident today, and her face had grown even more sullen than before. Bryan's brows had trembled slightly at her curt statement as he asked, "What if they have come to me on their own?"
"That's impossible!" Shirley frowned angrily at him as she glared ferociously at the man before her eyes, but when it had occurred to her that sometimes things would be beyond her control, she promptly added, "If they have come to find you again, you need to give me a call ASAP, and do not bring them to those kinds of playground especially when it's during their school session. If you have aroused their playfulness and excite them, they won't feel like going back to the kindergarten anymore."
As soon as she had finished her sentences, she turned around and pulled the chair that was beside her up to the foot of the bed. After taking a seat, she closed her eyes to get some rest while leaning against the back of the chair.
Bryan raised his head and shot his gaze towards her to perceive that she had put her arms around her waist while tilting her body against the chair. His brows were unconsciously knitted when he had taken in her uncomfortable state as he asked, "What are you doing there?'
Shirley replied without opening her eyes, "I want to have some rest as I'm exhausted. Call me if you're not feeling well."
She slightly lowered her head on purpose so that her hair could block out the dim light in the ward as she could not get used to sleeping with the lights on.
She had always slept with her children when she was at home, and since sleeping with the lights on was bad for their physical development as it would induce precocious puberty, she had been sleeping with the lights off most of the time.
Bryan promptly took out his phone and sent a message to Jordan after hearing her reply.
The door was suddenly pushed open when two minutes had not even passed by, and the stir had jolted Shirley whom was almost dozing off awake.
She turned her head and looked behind her only to perceive that two nurses had walked into the ward to move the two bedside tables out of the room, and they had returned with a bed shortly after as they placed it side by side with Bryan's bed.
She watched on from the beginning to the end of the move while being in a daze, and when the bed had finally been arranged in place, she stared at him and asked, "What're you up to now? Is one bed not enough for you to roll on even when you have been injured like this, so you need two beds now?"
"This is for you to sleep on!"
"What!" Shirley was instantly stupefied by his reply, and she quickly shot her gaze towards the bed which had been put together with his.
The size of the bed was the same as the hospital bed that he had been lying on which was around 1.2 meters, and two pillows were placed on it while a blanket had been spread across it in a clean and tidy
manner.
The area of the room was around fifty square feet, so it was actually still spacious enough even after two beds had been placed in the room. However, what had come as a surprise to Shirley was the fact that Bryan had created such a ruckus just to let her sleep on a bed instead of in a chair.
Bryan looked away and said awkwardly, "I just don't want to see you passing out on the ground the next day again. You can't stay too far from me as I will find it hard to fall asleep, so you should sleep beside me."
He did not want to go through the trouble of having to account for Shirley's relapse of her heart condition in front of the two children the next time he met them.
Shirley bit her lips secretly and uttered, "I'll just lean over the bed and get some sleep."
"No way." Bryan abruptly turned around and stared at her with his eyes that were gleaming with dominance as he ordered, "What're you afraid of? Are you that worried that I will mess around with you when I'm already in such a terrible state?"
"You..." She had almost blurted out that it was not like he had not touched her previously.
Bryan reached out his hand to press a button under his bed, and a bed rail guard rose between the two beds in an instant, "Is this good enough?"
Shirley cast a glance at the rail guard to assess the sturdiness of it, and it did seem safe and solid enough.
Furthermore, if he ever dared to mess around with her, she could just finish him off with a single kick now that he was gravely injured, so she had decided to leave it at that.
She bypassed the beds that were now joined together and walked to the empty bed after she had made up her mind. After lying down the pillow properly and spreading out the blanket, she finally got on the bed and lied down.
She turned her back on him and pulled the blanket over her body to cover herself up.
The lights in the room had suddenly went off at this moment.
Shirley turned around and took a few glances as she asked, "Why did you turn off the light?"
"I thought you don't like to sleep with the lights on?"
"How do you know?"
"You keep frowning when you were trying to sleep just now."
Shirley was startled by his reply while her brows were instantly wrinkled, and she suddenly came to a realization after a few moments of silence.
He had been watching her all the time when she was resting while leaning against the chair just now!
She turned her head around to look behind her, but all she could make out was a silhouette of him that was rising and falling slightly as the surroundings were too dark.
She turned around again and pulled the blanket on her body to wrap herself further while uttering with her back towards him, "Call me if you're not feeling well."
"Mm!" His mellow voice that sounded like a cello gently rang in the room.
Shirley shut her eyes after hearing his reply, and even though she was not accustomed to getting on with him like this, she had drifted off to sleep later on as she really could not withstand the sleepiness that had crept up onto her anymore.
The scent that had permeated the room had a calming effect on the nerves and was effective on normal people without any sleeping disorder as well. Furthermore, this perfume was also her favorite scent. However, the man whom was behind her had been lying wide awake in bed all along without being hit by drowsiness.
Bryan vaguely raised his head to steal a look at the figure sleeping beside him.
His night vision had always been superb, plus his eyes had been accustomed to the darkness in the room, hence he was able to perceive clearly that she was sleeping on her side.
He called out to her gently, "Paisley."
There was no answer from Shirley.
Bryan pushed back the cover on his body and moved his body to lean closer to her, and when his face was finally nestled against her hair, the familiar fragrance exuding from her body had immediately struck his senses.
His eyes faintly contracted upon detecting the familiar scent, and he softly placed his fingers on her shoulder to press his face close to her ear in order to verify that the scent had indeed emanated from her body.
The faint and light aroma instantly greeted his nostrils at that moment.
He could not refrain himself from getting closer and closer to her as he whispered in her ear, "Dr. Thomas."
"Paisley."
Seeing that she was in a deep sleep, Bryan narrowed his eyes and swiftly passed both his hands through the back of her shoulder and knees to bring her over to his bed.
Shirley had rubbed her face against his arms during this period while muttering a few inaudible words in a discontented manner.
Bryan looked up at her after noticing her movement, and the faint moonlight that had shone through the window and illuminated her countenance at that moment had allowed him to discern her features clearly. Her red lips were slightly opened while her long and thick lashes were resting under her eyes, and her dense and glossy hair was spread out on the spot that he was lying on.
When he had fixed his eyes on this side of her, her beauty had violently tugged at his heartstrings.
This woman... She looked rather stunning when she was not talking at all.
Damn it, what was he thinking about?
Shirley suddenly turned her body around at that moment which had caused Bryan to snap out of his senses as he hurriedly lied down on his back.
She put her arms around his neck after turning around while resting one of her legs on his thigh, and the spot that she had placed her leg on just so happened to be his...
Bryan drew in a deep breath and stared straight at the woman before him, and he reached out his arms to pull her into his embrace afterwards as he buried his face into her shoulder socket.
The familiar scent and feeling had slowly relaxed his vigilance as he let his guard down, and he soon dozed off as well after a short while.
The next morning, Shirley was confounded to find out that she had pressed half of her body against the severely injured patient when she had woken up, and her legs were tucked between his in a bear hug
manner.
He seemed to have been 'squeezed' into the corner by her as his back was stuck to the bed guard railing with no space for him to turn around at all.
She immediately withdrew her hands and sat straight up while scratching her head in a perplexed manner.
Oh gosh, how on earth did she cross the boundary between them last night?
She could not bear to stay in bed any longer, hence she quickly crawled towards the foot of the bed and jumped out of it right away.
However, a man's voice abruptly sounded from behind her as soon as the tip of her toes had just touched the ground, "Why are you in my bed, Dr. Thomas?"
Shirley's body instantly froze on the spot as she quickly turned around to cast a glance at him, and after the fact that he had been running a high fever last night had come to her mind, she proceeded to explain while feigning her composure, "I'm just checking on you to see whether your fever has gone down or not."
"Oh!" Bryan was still lying down quietly as he raised his eyebrow knowingly and uttered, "I thought... Dr. Thomas has rolled over to my side of the bed last night..."
"Nothing like that has happened!" Shirley retorted in denial at once and lowered her head as she touched her nose uneasily, "I'll call the doctor over to check on you!" She quickly fled from the room after finishing her sentence as mortification had eaten away at her.
Bryan stared at her disappearing figure while his lips started to curl up into a smile slowly...