It was past nine in the morning when Amelia Linton woke up from her sleep. Upon waking, she did not say a word and just stared at the ceiling blankly without uttering a sound.
"Do you want some water?"
Fabian Holmes tried to communicate with the dazed Amelia Linton, but she did not even move her head. It was as if she hadn’t heard him and continued to stare blankly at the ceiling.
Seeing this, he could no longer remain calm. Leaning forward, he raised his voice and asked again, "Do you want some water?"
But the result was the same; she still stared motionlessly at the ceiling, indifferent to his words.
After getting no response to two consecutive questions, Fabian Holmes could no longer sit still. He abruptly stood up, preparing to go out and find a doctor.
"Where are you going?"
"I’m going to..."
Upon hearing someone ask, Fabian instinctively responded, but just as he spoke, he sensed something unusual, stopped in his tracks, and turned to look at the person on the bed.
The person who had just been staring at the ceiling was now looking at him, with a barely detectable smile at the corner of her mouth.
"You..."
"I was just playing a small joke on you. Did you think I had gone stupid?"
Just as Fabian managed to say "you," Amelia Linton picked up the conversation. As she spoke, she sat up in bed, looked up at him standing by the bedside, and asked, "If I really went crazy, would you take care of me?"
She looked at him without blinking, quietly waiting for his answer.
Realizing that Amelia Linton was just joking, Fabian was quite angry, but remembering her hysterical state from the previous night, he had to swallow his anger.
"Don’t make such jokes anymore. You’re an adult, not an immature child." He only focused on her earlier words, deliberately ignoring the latter part of what she said.
"Are you mad?"
As soon as Fabian finished speaking, a flicker of disappointment flashed in Amelia’s eyes, so fast that no one could catch it.
Standing by the bedside, after hearing her question, Fabian turned his head toward the door. "If you’re okay, then let’s go home."
Since she could joke around like this, he thought she must be fine now.
"Okay! Let’s go home!"
Without hesitation, Amelia threw off the blanket covering her, got out of bed, and put on her shoes.
After putting on her shoes, she took two steps forward and looped her arm around Fabian’s. As she suddenly clung to him, he instinctively tried to shake her hand off.
But as soon as he moved, he felt her grip tighten.
Seeing that she had just returned to normal, he made no further attempts to shake her off, allowing her to hold his arm as they walked out of the hospital room together.
All the way, Amelia held onto Fabian’s arm tightly, only letting go when they got into the car.
Upon gaining his freedom, Fabian let out a long breath. Amelia’s gaze was fixed on him, not missing this small gesture.
"You go back to work at the company. I’ll take a cab home myself." Amelia said this, then closed the car door she had just opened, giving Fabian no chance to react as she turned and walked toward the hospital entrance.
Watching the woman’s departing figure, Fabian let out an exasperated sigh. After a pause, he called out to her irritably, "Can you stop messing around?"