16 Drinking Tea While Thinking

"Thank you, I will change right away and I will drink that tea and eat some strawberries." Amelia gets up and changes out of her clothes once her mother leaves the room. 'There is a chance that he might test out the vitamins but there is nothing to worry about. I am sure that he will be okay with what he finds out.' She lets out a sigh and puts on a sleeping yukata. She sits down and eats a few more strawberries.

Irene knocked on the door and entered. She placed the tea down and looked at Amelia. "Do you feel well enough to eat supper? If you are then I will make you some soup. Nothing else as I am not sure how well your body will accept it and you are not going to school tomorrow."

"Some soup would be lovely, Mother. I wish I wasn't so weak all the time. Then I could be the one helping you out." Amelia poured herself some tea and added some honey. She took the cup to the bed and sat there slowly sipping the tea and noticed the bag that had a white powder inside. She read the note that was left with it.

Amelia,

I know that I am overstepping the boundaries here by leaving you this but do think of it as another gift. When you are struggling to sleep just add it to any warm drink and you will have a decent sleep. I will bring you more tea on Wednesday. I may not be able to come to see you tomorrow but when you come to school I will see you again.

Gabriel.

She read the note a second time and held it close to her heart. "Mother, he is too good for me but at the same time I can't help but like him."

"I like him as well. I wish there was a marriage interview set up with him instead of that useless Yukimura boy. It is not right to try and force love to happen. It just doesn't work that way." Irene sighed and picked up the uniform. "I will wash this for you. Please get some more rest until your father is home. I know that he went job hunting and he has not come back so there might be hope that he found a job." Irene left her daughter to think about everything that was going on.

"Okay, Mother. I will be resting." Amelia curled up on the bed, drank the tea, and thought about Gabriel. She made a second cup and ran her finger around the rim of the cup. 'Should I make him something in return? But a better question is will Mother let me do such a thing?' She sipped on the tea, pulled out a piece of paper, and wrote a letter to Gabriel.

Gabriel did not have to wait long. His father came through the door. "Gabriel, you scared me. Why are you sitting there so quietly?"

"I was thinking. I bought the Yukata for you. I chatted with her when I brought her home. She has a high fever so I was glad that I gave her some tea leaves already. I asked her favorite colors. So that is why I got the yukata already. I will go and check up on Suzuki-san and get on working on making the tea." Gabriel was staring at the box on the desk.

"Son, you seem to have something else on your mind." Clarence looked at his son waiting.

"Father, I am just concerned because she seems so weak and fragile. I worry about her. This is the first time that I have ever wanted someone." Gabriel let out a sigh and got up. "Sorry, I am just brooding on something that might not happen."

"I will not allow her to get taken away from you. If you attend the meeting properly then there will be no more meetings for you from now on. You are my golden child. I do not know what happened to your brother but one day he may come back but at that point in time the hospital will be yours." Clarence looked at his son and sighed. "If you need anything let me know. I will do everything in my power to help you."

"I am sure that Renji is having a blast. I know that you were worried that I would run away like my brother did but I will not. I love this place and it is in my calling. Big brother was not ready to take on the responsibility but I am not him so do not worry about it father." Gabriel left the room and went to the change room. He got into a black uniform instead of the typical white one and went to the gift shop.

"Gabriel, I need all the medicine packages so that we can restock. I am sorry it has been slammed and Suzuki-san has been restocking as fast as he could." Aki sighed in relief.

"Coming right up. I will carry out all that is needed." Gabriel saw Suzuki-san stocking and the people were buying more than usual. 'That is strange. Is there something going on that we do not know about?'

Suzuki-san stood up, "May I give you a hand. It would be hard to carry it all out at once."

"Yes, please do. I will pass you some of the packages." Gabriel unlocked the door and then went to the cabinet and unlocked that. "Here is the pain med, sleeping aid, and cough suppressant."

"I do like that you have color-coordinated them." Edward took the powders and turned to leave.

"Suzuki-san, I wanted to let you know that your daughter made it home safely. Her fever spiked and I made sure that she made it home safely. I hope that is acceptable?" Gabriel grabbed some more powders.

"Thank you. I am glad someone like you brought her home. If it was the one from her arranged marriage meeting then he might have done something despicable to her. I trust you as you are working your hardest." Edward left the room and went straight to restocking.