Chapter 179: Chapter 180: Let’s Sleep Together
Ian Preston’s words "pre-study first" left Thea Lynch utterly confused.
After dinner, Ian’s assistant returned and it seemed there was something going on, so the two went outside to talk.
Thea lay on the bed, unsure of what to do, and finally took out her phone to check the work group chat, handling some work-related trivialities online.
That’s when Silas Cheney’s call came through.
Thea glanced at the screen, pressed the answer button, and put the phone to her ear, freeing her hands.
"Hey, Thea darling, how’s your health? Feeling better?"
"I’m fine, I can be discharged tomorrow morning."
Silas breathed a sigh of relief, "Next time, don’t let this happen again, work isn’t more important than your health."
"I know."
"Is Ian still over there with you?"
"He is."
"Tch."
"So when did Ian arrive?" Thea couldn’t help but ask him.
"Counting by your local time, I think it was this morning?" Silas explained, "You know there’s a time difference, I hadn’t received any news from you. Who knows how Ian found out."
"Last night, Ian made an impromptu trip to Eldoria for a business trip, he probably just landed and found out you were in trouble, so he flew directly over to you."
"If you aren’t well tomorrow, you should rest one more day at the hotel. I’m arriving the day after tomorrow."
"I could actually be discharged today, but Ian told me to stay one more day just to observe. Tomorrow I’ll be fine, back to work as usual, so you can stop worrying, boss."
"Why am I supposed to stop worrying?" If it were a video call, Thea would surely see him rolling his eyes.
Catching sight of the figure at the door from the corner of her eye, Thea said to Silas, "Alright then, see you the day after tomorrow."
"Okay." Silas calculated the time difference, quickly hung up the phone, and didn’t disrupt her rest.
——
"Who were you talking to?" Ian asked as he pushed open the door.
"Fourth Bro, asking how I was doing."
After putting down the phone, Thea looked him up and down.
"What is it? Just say it." Ian noticed her intention and placed a water cup beside her, "Take your medicine and then sleep."
"Oh." Thea obediently took the medicine, coughed once, and then said, "You suddenly came here, is everything alright with your work in Eldoria?"
"It’s fine."
He answered casually, and Thea couldn’t tell if he was telling the truth.
"There’s nothing really wrong here, I’ll be back to work tomorrow, you should head back too, Ian."
She guessed his assistant came to discuss exactly that matter with him.
"Let’s see how you’re doing tomorrow," Ian didn’t give a definitive answer, "If you’re okay, I’m taking the afternoon flight. If not, I’ll stay a couple more days."
Thea knew she couldn’t argue with him, "Alright."
"Sleep." Ian pulled the curtains in the room closed one by one, turned off the lights, leaving not a sliver of light.
There’s only one bed in the hospital room.
In the darkness, Thea tried to locate his figure by following the sound of footsteps, "Where’s Ian sleeping?"
Her eyes adjusted for a while before she could make out the outline at one side, a bit far from her, blending into the deep night if not careful.
"The sofa."
There’s still an empty sofa in the hospital room, but Thea saw in the morning that the sofa wasn’t large, the kind that fits two people.
Ian, with his tall height, would be quite cramped there.
After much deliberation, Thea’s hand beside her repeatedly tightened and loosened, and finally, she raised her voice to call him.
"Ian."
"Hmm." The man was taking off his jacket. He placed it on the armrest nearby and asked her, "Do you need anything?"
"Don’t sleep over there. This bed is quite big, let’s each take one side."
She was lying on a double bed, taking up not much space herself, adding Ian wouldn’t be a problem at all.
The other side was silent for a while, his tone flat, "You can sleep with me in the same bed and still sleep well?"
Before Thea could respond, he continued his soliloquy, "Even if you can sleep well, I can’t."
Thea: "..."
"How about I sleep on the sofa? That sofa is just right for me."
Actually, she’d have to curl up to fit.
So, if it was difficult for her, the image of Ian sleeping there was even harder to imagine.
Ian didn’t say anything, clearly disagreeing.
Seeing this, Thea let out a breath, "We all have things to do tomorrow, let’s sleep comfortably tonight."
"I’ll move to the side, keep a distance from you, will that be okay?"
Ian: "..."
If it were before, he certainly wouldn’t have heard such words from Thea.
She was always avoiding suspicion, or rather, "avoiding danger."
Forget getting a little closer, she wished there were tens of thousands of miles between them.
Now, she seemed to have truly let go of her qualms.
Although the two hadn’t returned to the state they were in the year they were in Westmere, this was better than before.
In the end, Ian compromised and moved to her side to lie down.
There was a large distance between them. She lay far away, and he didn’t approach.
They tacitly lay on opposite sides.
This distance was also good. Thea was initially quite tense, but hearing his even breathing, sleepiness took over, and she soon fell asleep.
Only she didn’t know Ian didn’t sleep at all.
He lay with his arm as a pillow, noticing she was asleep, and then turned his neck to look at her.
Thea was generally well-behaved when asleep, almost never moved and stayed in one position the whole night.
She liked to sleep on her side, holding a blanket. Only in this position could she fall asleep.
Just like now.
Perhaps because she trusted him, she lay on her side facing him, breathing steadily.
Just with this simple action, Ian felt inexplicably at peace.
——
The next morning, Thea felt fine and was discharged from the hospital directly.
Ian drove her to the exhibition site, and Thea pushed open the car door, put out one foot, but then drew it back, turning to look at him.
"Ian, your flight this afternoon? Should I see you off?"
"My flight’s at four in the afternoon, still early. You take care of your things, I’m heading to the branch office now, then will head directly from there."
Actually, the branch office wasn’t far from the exhibition near her alma mater, it was on the way.
But since he insists, Thea didn’t push it, "Alright then."
She got out of the car and waved to him through the window, "See you back home."
The car window rolled down a bit, revealing his face to her. He gave a light smile and said softly, "See you back home."
During the lunch break, Thea sat down in a chair and dozed off for a while.
Just as she drifted into sleep, she heard several voices. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw Diana Dawson and the others coming in from outside.
Diana’s hair was slightly disheveled, and Thea asked, "Is it getting windy?"
"Yeah, yeah, the weather suddenly changed."
The exhibition wasn’t outdoors, so Thea couldn’t see the outdoor situation.
She hadn’t joined them for lunch since she still couldn’t eat solid food yet.
"It might rain soon."
Upon hearing this, Thea checked the weather forecast on her phone to confirm there was no rain expected at four o’clock. She put away her phone, not giving the matter another thought.
