Mabel Quinn was taken aback. Could it be that he had a nightmare? Did he dream about when his mother used to beat him?
Without thinking further, Mabel Quinn got up to fetch an ice pack.
But when she returned to the bedside, she found that the person who was supposed to be lying on the bed was now crouching in a corner of it, his dark phoenix eyes staring directly at her, as if on guard against something. This suddenly reminded Mabel of the stray cats she had seen around her home before, sometimes alertly watching humans as they passed by.
Oh my, what was she thinking, actually linking Kyle Kinston to stray cats? Mabel Quinn mocked herself for overthinking. She approached the bed and was about to speak, but Kyle Kinston spoke first, "Don’t come any closer! Don’t... don’t hit me!"
The ice pack in Mabel Quinn’s hand nearly flew out. Were these words that Kyle Kinston would say? Moreover, she hadn’t intended to hit him!
"Are you... delirious from the fever?" she couldn’t help but speculate, but his eyes seemed very clear at the moment. If it weren’t for the faint redness on his cheeks and the shocking bandages on his shoulder, he appeared no different from usual.
"Will you hit me?" He stared at her, his whole body tense like a wild, untamed beast, ready to pounce and bite if things went awry.
"I... of course, I won’t hit you." Mabel thought for a moment, following Kyle Kinston’s line of thinking, "It’s just that you’re having a fever right now, so I want to apply an ice pack to make you feel a bit better."
His eyes continued to fix on her. "Big sister, you won’t hit me?"
Mabel Quinn broke into a cold sweat. Kyle Kinston was eight years older than her, and now he was calling her "big sister." Was he really muddled with fever?
"I won’t." she said, with a smile that could be described as "kind."
The wary light in his eyes gradually faded, and he slumped down onto the bed.
Mabel Quinn seized the moment to step forward, letting Kyle Kinston lie back down properly, then placed the ice pack on his forehead. "You’ll feel better soon this way."
"Big sister, you really won’t hit me?" He persisted with the earlier question.
"I said I won’t, which means I won’t. If you really don’t believe me, we can make a pinky promise." she said as she took the initiative to hook her pinky around Kyle Kinston’s. "Pinky promise, no changes for a hundred years."
Once the promise was made, she realized that she had just made a pinky promise with Kyle Kinston, and after being called "big sister," she had unconsciously treated him like a little brother. What a predicament!
When she looked up, she saw that Kyle Kinston had a hint of a smile on his face. "I trust you, big sister."
The smile was very pure. Mabel Quinn had seen many smiles on Kyle Kinston’s face, whether they were slight, faint, alluring, mocking, or cold... but she had never seen such a pure smile. For a moment, she was a bit dazed. Was this person before her really Kyle Kinston?
But if not, then who could it be?
After a while, Kyle Kinston furrowed his brows slightly, "Big sister, I’m sweating a lot and feeling uncomfortable. Can I take a shower?"
"Ah, no showering. I’ll get a towel to wipe your sweat." Mabel quickly replied, "Stay in bed and wait for me, okay?"
"Okay." he obediently responded.
Mabel Quinn got up and went into the bathroom, wet a towel with warm water, wrung it out, and then returned to the bedside.