245. Unexpected
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Lin Nan felt that Chen Yao was acting a little bizarre.
He was definitely reacting a bit too strongly.
Who knew what the staff had told him? It apparently made him suddenly tense up like a jack-in-the-box.
She had taken a nap.
After a sleepless night, today just so happened to be that time of the month, and the slight pain had her body and spirit worn out and aching all over. She thought a little nap would fix everything, but instead, three hours later, she felt even more fatigued, and her eyes were barely cooperating.
Opening her eyelids felt like a workout. Lin Nan dazedly stared at the ceiling while listening to the rustling in the living room. She could still smell that hospital-like scent – a whiff of disinfectant lingering in the air.
“Chen Yao.”
She weakly called out, only to realize her throat was scratchy and painful.
Her voice was so faint that Chen Yao in the living room didn’t hear her.
Lin Nan frowned, struggling to prop herself up with her arms in an attempt to sit up, but even that simple action left her gasping for breath.
She could feel that overly warm air escape her lips as she gently pressed her hand to her forehead – definitely overheated.
I can’t really be coming down with something, can I?
After a moment of rest, she finally mustered enough strength to drag her weary body out of bed and shakily opened the bedroom door.
The disinfectant scent was even stronger outside. She glanced at Chen Yao, who was busy disinfecting the living room, and called out again, “Chen Yao!”
This time, he finally heard her, turning to look only to find Lin Nan leaning against the door frame, cheeks flushed, looking adorably shy.
She was quite cute indeed.
“What’s up? Speak up, I can’t hear you!” He bent down to keep spraying disinfectant into the corners of the room, chattering away, “You should stay in your room for an hour. Wait for the smell to dissipate before coming out. My parents won’t be back tonight; I told them not to bring any viruses home so we don’t get infected. Besides, they have their own place downstairs…”
It was rare for him to be so chatty. “This floor and the one downstairs are both part of my family’s. I initially wanted to connect them with a staircase, but I guess it didn’t go through for some reason, or my parents thought it was a hassle…”
He hadn’t even noticed Lin Nan wasn’t well. She didn’t respond after a long gab, so he turned back to her and found her leaning against the door with a weak, half-opened eyes.
Chen Yao was taken aback and rushed over, dropping whatever he was doing.
“Wait!” Lin Nan suddenly raised a hand to stop his approach, weakly retorting, “What if I really am contagious?”
Chen Yao whipped around and put on a mask without missing a beat, barreling forward to support her, “How do you feel? What’s bothering you?”
While asking, he stuck one of his masks on Lin Nan’s face, pinching the metal strip over her nose to make it snugger.
“I’m weak, dizzy, have a headache, and my stomach hurts… Maybe I slept too much?”
He tested Lin Nan’s forehead with the back of his hand, then checked his own, frowning even deeper. “You definitely have a fever.”
Chen Yao hadn’t expected Lin Nan to be fine in the morning but turn into a zombie after her nap in the afternoon.
He thought he should be panicking, but when faced with the situation, despite his racing heart, he managed to keep a smile and calmly led Lin Nan back to bed.
If I panic, Lin Nan will definitely freak out more.
Though just in his early twenties, Chen Yao had watched a lot of news lately and vaguely knew what to do.
He pulled out a thermometer from the drawer, lifting Lin Nan’s arm without caring about gender boundaries, sticking the thermometer in her armpit through the neck of her turtleneck sweater.
“Keep it tight, we’ll take it out in five minutes.”
“Mm.” Lin Nan leaned back against the headboard, nodding weakly.
With her glazed, feverish eyes fixed on the calm Chen Yao, she found herself surprisingly at ease.
Chen Yao would handle it just fine.
“I’ll check which nearby hospital has a fever clinic.”
Chen Yao’s expression was composed as he leaned against the desk, searching on his phone, but his fingers trembled so badly he could barely type. He swallowed hard, trying to steady his racing heartbeat.
What if I really get infected…
It should be okay, right? I heard the mortality rate isn’t very high, and it mostly affects the elderly.
But Lin Nan’s health isn’t great to begin with—what if she can’t handle it?
Even if she gets treated, what if there are lingering effects? What a loss.
“Five minutes.”
Chen Yao nodded, forcing a smile, looking calm on the outside but panicking like crazy on the inside.
He took the thermometer from Lin Nan.
39.1 degrees.
That’s already a high fever! No wonder she couldn’t even stand.
“How much?” Lin Nan asked and slightly shuffled away in bed, trying to distance herself from him, “Should I go see a doctor myself? What if I really infect you?”
“It’s fine. You look like how are you supposed to go?”
“Call 120? It doesn’t seem necessary, right? That’s for when someone’s practically dying…”
In Lin Nan’s mind, ambulances were typically called for car accidents or acute diseases that required immediate hospitalization or else.
Just two sentences in, she noticed Chen Yao shoving his phone into his pocket and heading towards her.
“I told you to stay away… hey!”
Her mind went blank, and by the time she reacted, she found herself in a princess carry in Chen Yao’s arms, completely off the ground.
Her face was already flushed from the fever, but now it turned even redder. She had no energy to struggle and weakly puffed out her cheeks at Chen Yao. “Put me down!”
“We’re going! Guess how long it’ll take me to get you to the hospital!”
“There are a lot of people outside!”
“Don’t worry. Nobody’s outside during times like this.” Chen Yao shoved the door open with his shoulder, carrying Lin Nan into the hallway.
“What if I’ve infected you?” Lin Nan was almost crying.
If she got sick, that was one thing, but if she burdened Chen Yao, she’d feel guilty for ages.
Hearing this, Chen Yao glanced down at Lin Nan. The expression behind his mask was hidden, but his eyes were squinting in a smile. “Then we shall be ‘not asking for the same birth month and year, but to d*e together in the same month and year,’ huh?”
“Are you out of your mind? Making jokes at a time like this!”
She helplessly leaned her head against his shoulder, finally giving in. They had spent a few days together already, and if she was really going to infect him, what was a little more time?
Lin Nan gazed at his profile, gently wrapped her arms around his neck, letting the overwhelming sense of security wash over her as she closed her eyes.
It seemed no matter what happened, Chen Yao was always there to shield her from the storm.
“Hey, if you really do infect me, what are you going to compensate me with?”
He kept his head down, sprinting towards the hospital with Lin Nan in his arms.
“Compensate you? A thin slice!”
“Just call me ‘daddy,’ and we’re good.”
“Get lost!”
