"Yes." James didn't intend to hide anything.
"It seems that I have a fever right now. I don't have any medicine in my apartment. So please come over and take me to the hospital. If you can't make it, I'll call Norman instead," Maria said lightly.
James knew she did it on purpose. "I'll ask Ethan to take you to the hospital."
"No way. I have something to share with you. Come on, please? Take me to the hospital yourself. I really don't feel well." She acted like a spoiled child.
He fell into silence once again. Finally, he hung up the phone.
He turned around and went straight back to the car. Then he knocked on the window of the passenger seat. Ethan lowered the window and asked, "James, what's wrong?"
"Send her back home. I have something important to deal with right now."
"Me?" Ethan pointed at himself. He really didn't want to send Alina back home. He'd rather spend time with Sunny, the stray dog.
"Yeah." James took a step back away from the car, and then told the driver, "Send them back."
"Okay, Mr. Xi."
Alina's heart sank. She rolled down the window and asked, "James, where are you going?"
"I have to take care of something." He signaled to the driver as soon as he finished. The car roared away without further ado.
Inside the car, Ethan looked back at the woman in the back seat. She a long face. "You know that James isn't interested in you at all. Are you sure it's worth it to pester a man who doesn't love you at all?"
"Why not?" Alina replied.
Ethan painted a sarcastic smile on his face. "Nothing forcibly done is going to end up well, Ms. Tang. You can just find someone who loves you. Why does it have to be James?"
"Did Maria ask you to say that?”
"No. She is a proud woman. I reckon she probably wouldn't waste time on a hypocritical woman like you anyway.
I'm just speaking my mind from a spectator's perspective, that's all."
At the Golden Mansion
Maria, who was still in her pajamas, opened the door as soon as James rang the doorbell. She threw herself into his arms. "You're finally here. I miss you so much."
"Maria Song, you said you wanted us to be strangers, yet you're here telling me that you miss me. That is kind of ironic, don't you think?”
She shook her head while still grasping his arm. "You should know by now that when I hate you, I always think of breaking up with you. But after you helped me, I admit that I was touched by your gesture, and I began to miss you again. It's not ironic at all."
No words came out of his mouth. 'She is so bold!'
He carried her in his arms. "Go get changed. I'll take you to the hospital."
Maria wrapped her arms around his neck and answered,
"We don't need to go to the hospital. Just ask someone to send me some antipyretics." "No. You have to go to the hospital." He was persistent. He entered the walk-in closet, grabbed a black overcoat, and wrapped it around her. Then he walked out with her in his arms.
They were about to pass by the bedroom when Maria told him to stop. "Wait a minute. I forgot to bring my phone."
James glanced at her bedside, and spotted a phone on the nightstand.
Maria quickly got out of his arms and threw herself on the bed. "To be honest with you, I don't really need to go to the hospital." She had only a mild fever and there was no need to go to the hospital. She knew that James would pick up Alina from the hospital today, so she tried cooking up a plan in order to prevent him from doing that.
He stared at her with an intimidating gaze, and asked, "Didn't you call and say that you needed to go to the hospital? What changed? I'm send you there now."
There was nothing wrong, of course.
She nestled in his arms as he forced her to get into the car. She turned her phone on and played a recording.
It was none other than Alina's voice. James could clearly recognize it.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: A Vengeful Ex-Wife