I'm Interested in You 5

Waking up to a pair of magnetic eyes set on her, it took her a few seconds to adjust her rushed emotions. She parted her dry, chapped lips a few times, but didn't know what to say. She couldn't help but feel her eyes glued to his clear, reflective ones; as if she was the only thing in his sight.

Opening her mouth once again, a stingy itch clawed her throat, making it feel like she had run through a marathon without water. Like dried tea leaves spread under the blazing sun, not even a drop of moisture, could be felt on her rough tongue.

He noticed she had woken up a few minutes ago, but waited for her to speak first. As she coughed, her body sat up from bed and hand rubbed against her chest. Immediately, a warm cup of water was brought to her lips, and a strong chest was used as her pillow to lean against as she moistened her throat.

"Drink slowly," Looking up, her eyes met his gentle ones. Just like his eyes, his voice was also filled with warmth. Sip by sip, she finished the cup of water. Removing a tissue from the tissue box, he dabbed on the corner of her lips where droplets of water had previously escaped her mouth.

"Better?" He asked.

"Yeah," her voice sounded much better than the chicken scratch from earlier. At least she managed to speak a word out with fewer issues. Her throat was not as itchy anymore.

"You had a high fever of a hundred and three degrees earlier. Didn't you feel uncomfortable yourself?" He gazed at her with such tenderness; it made her heart swell. Feeling the slight burn in her eyes, she shook her head.

She disliked being seen at her weakest point because this is when she is most vulnerable. Her emotions sparked up like fireworks and burst in vibrant colors. Even when she fell ill in the past, she never told her mother unless it's gotten much worse.

Lowering his gaze, he spotted her nibbling on her lower lip nervously. 'Sigh, since she's sick, I can't be too harsh on her.'

"I reviewed your charts and everything seemed fine. It's abnormal to have a sudden fever outbreak like that, and it's dangerous. I suggest you staying here for a few more days." Hearing his words, she held onto his hand with the tissue and shook her head. She disagreed with his decision!

Arching his left brow, he blamed himself for scaring her with body exams in the past week. Maybe she would be more willing if she hadn't slept in the same bed and faced the four white walls in this vacant room! His fault!

"You need to stay and do more checkups. I won't feel at ease if you discharge so quick after a random high fever. It could be symptoms of a serious infection. Be good and stay here for just two more days, okay?" His tone dropped all strictness as he pampered her in his arms, trying to convince her to stay.

Her sweet like lemon drops voice said in a low volume, "I can't. I have to go by Sunday. Monday is very important to me. I must go. Please."

"No. You must stay." This time, the gentleness had a small trace of strictness.

Feeling her shoulders shivering in his embrace, he pulled the blanket to cover her body as she kept quiet. "I can't stay."

"Why not?"

Once this question rung her ears, her eyes widened and silence filled the minutes that followed. Gradually, her hands retracted and her body started trembling.

"Lily? Are you feeling alright?" Receiving nothing but silence from her, he looked down to realize that pearl-like tears were rolling down her face. His heart ached, but what could he do?

'It hasn't been a long time, but old friend, I'm taking your kids again. Mrs. Tissue box, you're such a dear friend. Only your children could stop her crying.' he inwardly cursed at his softened heart after seeing these precious droplets flow from her eyes as if it's nothing. Maybe to her it's just tears, but to him, it felt like someone ripping ants sized pieces of his heart and scattering it everywhere.

"Alright. Alright. Don't cry. You just got rid of the fever and freshened up your throat. You're crying the water you just drank. It's my fault. All my fault. My dear cry baby, please don't cry anymore."

In his twenty-three years of living, he had never spoken such comforting words to anyone, including his family. Now, he is consoling the girl he likes, who he is trying hard to court slowly. Even he was quite surprised that he managed to say such cringy words without getting attacked by goosebumps.

Tossing the used tissues to the table, he brought the whole tissue box to the bed and continued dabbing on her skin. "Y..You're the cry baby. I'm not.. not crying." She stuttered as her tears stopped little by little.

"Yes. Yes. You're not crying. I'm the one who is crying." He joked relaxingly, hoping his words would make her smile.

Rendered speechless by this doctor, she finally realized she was still in his embrace. Instead of separating from his embrace, she shamelessly ignored noticing it and even grew more comfortable in the current position.

"Do I have to stay no matter what?" She asked after calming down.

"Yes."

"Then can I have an exception?" Leaving his embrace to sit on her own, she turned towards him with innocent puppy eyes that a man could never say no to.

"What kind of exception?" Almost wanting to slap his own mouth for giving in to her request, he focused on the girl's answer.

"Can I leave Sunday? No... Can I leave Monday morning and come back by night? I promise I won't whine or complain after returning on Monday. Please." She purposely extended the "e" sound at the end.

"Give me a reason." He crossed his arms as if he had to do some deep thinking before answering her.

"Can't you just give in to me this one time? Relationship are about compromising and this refers to doctor to patient relationship as well! Hmph!" She refused to tell him what she wanted to do that day.

"If it's about compromising, then the patient should tell the doctor the truth. The doctor is trying to not get fired by the hospital to doublecheck the patient's brain, and the patient is unwilling to cooperate." Staring into each other's eyes, it felt as if they were playing tennis where he's striking the ball back towards her and she had nowhere to dodge.

"Doctor Lin seems to be very interested in what your patients do. Are you always that nosy about your patients?" Since she couldn't come up with better comebacks, she could only tease him until he surrenders.

Smiling at her teasing, he said, "I'm normally uninterested in any affairs that my patients are up to."

"Then why me?"

"Because I am interested in you." Once these words slipped out of his mouth, even he was shocked to react.

"You're ... interested in me?" She pointed at herself with question marks all over her face.

Clearing his throat, he said, "Yes, but I'm more interested in how your brain functions. How could you have the energy to talk about a deal with me right after having a high fever that could fry your brain?"

Smirking at how stunned and confused she was from his previous words, he walked towards the door. 'She's absolutely adorable hahaha' He didn't feel a bit guilty for giving her heart a scare.