Love Contract

Chapter 81 Apologize For The First Time

"You're awake." Mary exclaimed, "How are you feeling? Do you want something to eat?"

William frowned. "Don't make so much noise."

"I see," said Mary. She covered her mouth with her hand to lower her voice. "Go back to sleep. I'll tuck you in."

"Okay," he whispered.

Mary carefully covered William under the quilt, and quietly watched him by the bedside.

Without Mary's flirtatious wiping, he calmed down. Soon, William fell asleep.

William had no idea how long it had been since he fell asleep. His throat had gotten dry, and his whole body was sweating. He felt very uncomfortable.

"Water..." William said in a hoarse voice.

Fortunately, someone beside him heard his cry for help, and full glass of water was quickly handed to him.

William gulped the water down, as if he had been endlessly walking through a desert and finally found an oasis. "Slow down, slow down, no one's going to take away the water from you!"

It was Mary's voice.

William opened his eyes and saw the person in front of him. It was none other than Mary. She was looking at him with worry and relief.

"Ahem..." William finished drinking the water and waved his hand.

"Are you done?" Mary took the glass from his lips and asked, "Don't you want to drink more?"

"No." William pursed his lips. "What time is it?"

"Well... It's ten o'clock." Mary smiled. "By the way, how do you feel? Are you still burning up?"

"I think I've recovered. I'm going to take a shower," said William.

"No, no, no, no!" Mary prevented him from getting out of bed at once. "What if you catch a cold again? Just bear with it for now. I'll go to get some water and give you a sponge bath, okay?"

Mary had never looked more serious. She was coaxing William as if he was a child, and it astonished him for a moment. It felt so good to be cared for, and loved.

"Okay? Why aren't you saying anything?" Mary prompted him to speak again. "Ahem..." William coughed and came to his senses. "Okay."

"Good." The smile on Mary's face widened. She took out a thermometer and handed it to William. "Let's take your temperature first. I'll get you some hot water. Wait for me."

"Okay." William's heart softened as he took the thermometer and watched Mary rush out of the room in a hurry.

"I'm coming," Mary shouted as she came back with a basin of warm water on her hands.

William looked at her with his arms crossed and the corners of his mouth were curved into a halfsmile.

"Here, where's the thermometer? Let me have a look." Mary put the basin on the floor, and reached for the thermometer.

"Here you go," William coughed.

"Well, it's a little more than 37 degrees Celsius," Mary frowned. "You have a low-grade fever. How about taking some medicine later? Would that be fine with you?"

"Okay." William complied without an argument.

"Good." Mary put down the thermometer, and soaked the towel in the warm water. She twisted it and handed it to William. "Here you go. You can wipe yourself with this." William's face turned sullen. "I'm tired."

"Well..." Mary held the towel in her hand and contemplated for a while. "Fine, I'll do it for you.

William said nothing but he looked pleased.

'It's not that I don't want to wipe you, it's just because of your body...' Mary muttered to herself.

'Let me wipe you! Let me wipe you!'

"Hand."

"Now the other one."

Mary held William's hand. She felt a little embarrassed when their skins made contact.

She rinsed the towel again, and used it to wipe his face.

The room was awfully quiet. The two of them were so close to each other, but neither of them uttered a word.

Mary gently wiped William's face, then his neck, and she avoided eye contact altogether.

"Mary, ahem..." William broke the silence and said, "Are you embarrassed?"

Mary's face suddenly turned red. When she heard him chuckling, Mary pretended to be tough. "Which eye of yours sees me blushing? Tell me! I think you're the one who's

embarrassed, and you're trying to pin the blame on me, aren't you?"

"You..."

"Stop talking," said Mary. "Stretch out your neck."

William said nothing and did as he was told. He raised an eyebrow and let her do as she pleased.

"Do you want me to help you wipe your body too? Well, do you?" Mary snickered.

"No. I can do it myself." William swallowed the lump on his throat. "I'm afraid of you."

"Ha ha!" Mary giggled triumphantly.

Knock, knock, knock...

While they were talking, a knock came from the door.

"Come in," said Mary.

"Madam." Webb came in. "Has young master's fever gone down?"

"Almost." Mary smiled at him. "What's wrong, Uncle Webb?"

"Oh," answered Webb, "I have ordered some porridge and light dishes. You two haven't had dinner yet. So, I thought I'd bring them to you now. You can have some first."

"Oh, I see." Mary looked at William and said, "Would you like to have some too? And take some medicine after eating?"

"Okay."

"Okay!" Mary smiled at Webb once more. "Thank you for bringing us food, Uncle Webb."

"My pleasure." Webb smiled back, showing the wrinkles on his face. "Then please wait for a moment."

The porridge and dishes were served soon. "Madam, this bowl of chicken soup is specially made for you. You've taken care of young master for quite some time, you must be exhausted."

"Wow, thank you, Uncle Webb. You are so kind!"

"Ha ha, as long as you like it. Then I'll head downstairs first."

"Okay, take care, Uncle Webb."

"Humph!" William snorted with dissatisfaction as soon as Webb left.

"What's wrong with you now?" Mary looked him in the eye. "Do you envy me? What a pity..."

"Well, you talk too much." William threw the towel into the basin, and he buttoned up his shirt. "Wow, it smells fantastic!" Mary ignored him and smelled the dishes on the table. She rubbed her hands in excitement. "Your family chef is an excellent cook!"

Even if it was not a gourmet meal, it looked quite colorful, and it was aromatic. Moreover, Mary was constantly praising the dishes, and it made William feel hungry.

"Here you go." Then Mary filled a bowl of porridge for William and handed it to him.

"I'm tired." William shrugged.

Mary gritted her teeth, she was holding back her anger. "Okay, okay. You're sick, I'll give in. Boss, say ah!"

Mary picked up the spoon and stirred the porridge. Then she brought the spoonful of porridge to William's mouth.

William couldn't hide the smile on his lips before he opened his mouth.

"What are you smiling for?" Mary stared at him and asked, "Are you happy to enslave me?"

"Yes." William nodded and pointed at the dishes like a spoiled brat.

Mary grabbed the dishes for him. "Hurry up. I haven't eaten anything yet. I'm famished."

William slowed his chewing down. He looked at Mary and said, "Why didn't you eat?" "I had no appetite." Mary raised her palm in front of him to silence him. "Come on, have some more porridge."

"What's wrong with your hand?" William grabbed Mary's hand and saw the band aid on her palm.

"Ah, I got a bruise this morning." Mary smiled at him. "Just eat your porridge."

"I'm sorry."

In the momentary silence they had, William uttered these words. Mary's hands froze as she was holding the spoon, and she did not respond for an entire minute.

"I was too impulsive this morning." William continued in a hoarse voice, "Ahem... But it's too dangerous for you to cross the road like that."

William clasped his hands together. "It was wrong of me to scold you. Are you okay?"

Mary put down the bowl and stared at William for two seconds. "Have you taken the wrong medicine?"

William could not say anything more because of what she had said. The pleasant atmosphere inside the room had been completely destroyed.

He shouldn't have apologized to her...

Mary glanced at the speechless William. She smiled and placed the bowl of porridge into his hands. "If you feel sorry, eat by yourself."

William stared at the bowl of porridge in silence.

Mary thought, 'People often scold someone because their love for that person is immense. Even though you don't love me, I know you care about me. Moreover, this is the first time you've ever apologized to me.' Mary covered her face with the bowl of chicken soup. She would glance at William from time to time, and laugh heartily.

After dinner, the servant came to take away the bowls and chopsticks, and prepared water and medicine for William.

"Whoa, that's a lot of pills!" Mary giggled, "Let me count. One, two, three, four... Ah!"

Before she finished counting, William took a handful of pills, stuffed them all into his mouth and swallowed them in one gulp.

"Humph..." Mary snorted at him.

"Ahem." William glared at her and said, "What have you been proud of just now?"

"It's nothing!" Mary took his glass and thought, 'I'm not going to tell you that it was because of your apology, so I was very happy.'

"It's time for you to rest again. You still haven't gotten back all of your strength," Mary declared.

He was too weak to deal with Mary, so William laid his head on the pillow. "Then, I'll go downstairs first," Mary said as she cleaned up the table.

William frowned. "What if my fever comes back? How can you be so irresponsible?"

Mary was puzzled. "Why am I irresponsible? Didn't you just say that I was noisy?" Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

William turned his face away and said nothing. After staring at him for a while, Mary sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. Mary didn't notice that a faint smile appeared on the corners of William's mouth.

When William's breath gradually stabilized, Mary turned off the light for him, and quietly closed the door behind her.

"Madam, why are you downstairs?" Webb was still busy in the living room.

"Oh," said Mary as she kept walking down the stairs. "William is already asleep. I just came down to take a look."

"It's already eleven o'clock. Madam, just go to bed now." Webb looked concerned. "How about I ask them to prepare one of the guest rooms? Young master is sick. It's better if you sleep separately, isn't it?"

"Oh, no thanks, Uncle Webb." Mary waved her hand. "I need to watch over William later. He hasn't completely recovered. I'm still worried about him." "Well, thank you for your hard work, madam."

"You're welcome, Uncle Webb, good night." Mary bade him farewell.

"Good bye, madam." The group of servants waved Mary goodbye.

"Goodnight everyone!" Mary was so astounded by the scene that she almost fell down the stairs.

When she went back to the room upstairs, she saw that William was sleeping peacefully. Then, Mary sat beside him and touched his head from time to time.

"Maybe I owed you quite a debt in my previous life," muttered Mary. Then she lay on the edge of the bed and fell asleep.

Candy GSmgB