Chapter 10
It turned out that some people in this world would always have a logic different from ordinary people.
Yolanda was baffled. Would a normal man check a frail woman's breath to see if she was still alive when he saw her knocked down by the wind and the snow?
It was so absurd that it left her speechless.
Yolanda lost her interest in acting at once and opened her eyes. She was wearing a poker face as if saying, "Oh hey, you are back.
After all the hustles, she finally entered the house.
The thermostatic heating was on in the house. Yolanda felt a lot warmer as soon as she entered the living room, but she was still shivering uncontrollably because she had been frozen for too long.
Aaron sat down on the sofa and merely gazed at her. "Why were you locked out?"
Fortunately, she had thought of an explanation in advance.
Yolanda explained innocently, "The weather was nice in the morning, so I wanted to go out and get some sun. But the wind blew and slammed the door shut."
There was a moment of silence.
"Really?"
Was he getting suspicious?
"Of course, it's true." Yolanda was so cold that she got a nasal voice, which added a slight hint of grievance to her voice naturally. "Don't you believe me, Aaron?"
Aaron stared at her silently for a few seconds. Suddenly, he got up and walked towards her.
He stopped in front of her.
Bending over slightly, he put his hands on both sides of her wheelchair.
Yolanda seemed to be trapped in a trial chair instantly.
Even if Aaron didn't speak, he still came off as oppressing.
In fact, Yolanda was lying. Since she was pressured, her confidence was shaken at once.
"What's...what's wrong, Aaron?"
After a pause, Aaron raised his right hand suddenly.
Yolanda was startled, and her body retreated subconsciously. She thought he was going to question her brutally, but instead, she saw him tearing something off her shoulder.
"Did you get this from sunbathing?"
It was an advertising sticker from a hot pot restaurant for the opening discount.
Yolanda was stunned.
She recalled quickly that when she went to the second-hand luxury store to sell her bags, a new hot pot restaurant was advertising nearby with flyers, stickers, balloons, and more.
They gave her a flyer at that time, but she didn't want it.
Seriously? They'd just stick it on her instead?
"Where exactly did you go?" Aaron stood up straight, and there was a hint of warning in his tone.
Yolanda did not expect that her perfect reason would be sold by an advertisement.
At that moment, she had no other way out. Instead of covering up her lies that could not be covered, she might as well admit it directly.
Yolanda closed her eyes and made the tough decision. Instantly changing her emotion, she said, "Yes, I left on purpose."
"I can see that you don't like me, so there's no point for me to stay here. If it weren't for the fact that I can't remember who I am, I would definitely not disturb everyone like this."
Yolanda choked up as she spoke.
"I was very sad about what happened yesterday. I cared for you. I was worried if you'd catch a cold, and that no one would take care of you if you threw up, but you actually thought that I had ulterior motives."
"I was hurt. My heart hurt more than my legs. So I wanted to leave. I didn't want to bother you anymore."
"But when I went to the streets alone in a wheelchair and found that there was nowhere else to go, I was so scared."
"So I came back again."
"I'm sorry, Aaron," Yolanda said. She couldn't stop crying and turned away silently. "I lied to you. I'll leave now, and I won't disturb you again."
Yolanda prepared to run away from home again pitifully. The moment she turned the wheelchair around, she went crazy deep down-
"Ask me to stay now!"
"Come on, speak up!"
"Gahhhhh, faster!"
After a long pause, Aaron, who was cold while listening to her cry and complaint about him, covered his face and took a deep breath-
"Come back."
Yolanda smiled.
Mission completed.
She turned around and sniffed. "I want to have some warm milk."
Aaron was speechless.
It snowed all night. When Yolanda woke up the next day, the ground was covered with a light layer of white.
Mrs. Twelve came back after 9 o'clock last night. She went to the hospital yesterday for a follow-up appointment. However, the doctor had emergency surgery and came late. When she waited until the evening, it snowed and the traffic was jammed up. It was a pretty rough day for her.
Aaron didn't head to the company in the morning. After having their lunch at noon as usual, Yolanda was scratching her head on how to tell him that it was the day for her dressing change. Surprisingly, Aaron took the initiative to remind her, "Happer will come and pick you up for your dressing change later."
It was probably because of her heartfelt remarks last night that Aaron didn't mention sleeping on the couch again, so Yolanda went along naturally and replied softly, "Alright."
After a while, she couldn't help but ask, "And what about you?"
Aaron replied without even lifting his head, "I'll come with you."
His answer brought Yolanda to surprise. He accompanied her for a dressing change last time as he had to handle Sally's matter, but this time, nobody was hospitalized.
Was he accompanying her specially?
It was only when Aaron arrived at the hospital personally that Yolanda finally believed it-he was kindly accompanying her to change her dressing.
This time, the dressing change went much smoother than last time. Yolanda remembered her lesson last time that it would be better to just get it over with instead of struggling, so she cooperated with the doctor very much.
While she was getting her dressing changed, Aaron came to the doctor's office.
"How long does it take for her to remember who she is?"
"Mr. Jensen," The doctor said patiently, "Dissociative amnesia is a very complex condition, and according to our clinical data, 80% of the patients had suffered major trauma in their lives before the accident, so..."
"I'm not interested in knowing that," Aaron cut the doctor off. "Just tell me directly how long it will take."
The doctor paused and replied, "Some take three or five years, while some take one or two months."
"Three to five years?" Aaron obviously didn't think of the possibility that it would take such a long time.
The doctor nodded and told him frankly,
"Since she thinks that you are her brother right now, you may as well play along with it and calm her down. The more relaxed she is, the faster she will recover. But on the contrary, if you keep resisting her coldly, it would place her in a state of insecurity, doing more harm than good. In other words..."
"The more you play along with her, the faster you can expect to end this relationship."
Aaron thought for a moment and left the office without saying anything.
In the ward, Yolanda's dressing had been changed. When she saw Aaron come in, she pouted and told him, "Aaron, I'm done! You don't have to give me the five-minute limit today."
Happer was also praising Yolanda for being so brave.
Aaron pursed his lips and said, "Let's go then."
Leaving the hospital, Aaron seemed to be in thoughts. While driving the car, Happer hesitated for a while before he spoke shyly, "Mr. Jensen, it's the winter solstice today. I wish to invite you and Yura to my house to have some dumplings."
Aaron came back to his senses and frowned, "Who is Yura?"
"Me." Yolanda smiled back at Aaron from the front row. "Happer kept saying that he didn't know how to address me, yet I couldn't remember what my name was. So, I simply took a random name, Yura."
After a pause, she continued, "Yura Jensen, is that okay?"
Yolanda was testing Aaron's reaction spontaneously on purpose with her last sentence. She expected Aaron to refuse, but after a few seconds of silence, he nodded.
"Sure."
Yolanda was surprised.
Did he just agree to such a big deal of having some random person on his family tree?
She was just saying it casually. Wasn't he being a little hasty?
Aaron was so blunt that Yolanda didn't know how to respond.
When Happer saw that Aaron didn't answer his question, he could roughly understand how somebody with a superior status like him would not come to his house for the festival. Therefore, he took the initiative to say, "It's okay if you're not free, Mr. Jensen. I'll take Yura to my place for a meal and then send her back, okay?"
Aaron looked out of the window for a long time. He then replied faintly, "Never mind. I'll come along."
Yolanda was speechless.
Happer's house was a simple two-bedroom house. The place was small, but the decoration was homey. As soon as Yolanda stepped in, she felt the warmth of home that she had been longing for since she was a child.
Happer's daughter was Elsa, who had just turned 20. She was slightly chubby, and she was adorable and welcoming. As soon as Yolanda entered the door, Elsa took the initiative to push her wheelchair.
"You are Yura, right? Hello, Yura!"
When she looked up and saw Aaron following behind her, she blurted, "Hello, bro!"
Mrs. Happer, who was wearing an apron, came out and spat, smiling at Aaron apologetically. "Sorry, Mr. Jensen. Elsa is a little cheeky. Please don't be offended. Come on in."
Surprisingly, Aaron smiled, "It's fine."
Because of Aaron's presence, the Happer couple was both excited and terrified. They kept serving water, tea, and peeled fruits, fearing that they might have not been attentive enough to Mr. Jensen.
Soon, the dumplings were served on the table.
"I don't know what your favorite filling is, so I took some of each. These are shrimp dumplings, vegetable dumplings, pork dumplings with shiitake mushrooms... Mr. Jensen, which filling would you like?" asked Happer.
Aaron replied, "Anything is fine."
Happer then placed all the flavors onto separate plates on the table.
Yolanda hadn't had this kind of homemade dumplings in a long time. The last time she had them was on New Year's Eve at Phoebe's house. At that time, their house was full of a homey cooking smell, just like the Happer's.
That New Year's Eve, Elbert Walter was on a business trip in Canada. He made a video call to Yolanda to say 'Happy New Year, darling'.
It wasn't that he didn't love her. It was just that some kind of love was warm, and it felt very assuring to hold onto this kind of love.
Yet, some love was hollow. It could shatter at the touch of a hand.
The dumplings on the table were hot, and a lively program was playing on the TV. Elsa was asking Aaron about the gossip in the showbiz, while Happer was grabbing dumplings for Mrs. Happer with chopsticks.
On the warm winter solstice night, Yolanda suddenly began to believe what the old fortune-teller at the night market said.
After that night, she seemed to have lost everything, but she went on another wonderful journey and met these lovely and warm people.
Of course, Yolanda secretly excluded the cold fella, who was by her side.
While they were eating, Elsa pointed to the TV and said, "My favorite variety show has started!"
Yolanda followed her gesture and took a look casually. She shouldn't have seen it. Now, she froze at the screen.
James Hilton was among the guests...
That scumbag wore a decent suit and sang on the stage in a courteous manner.
If Yolanda hadn't known what kind of person he was in private, she might have been misled by the camera, thinking that he was a gentle and handsome celebrity.
Too bad, he wasn't.
"Yura, is the man in the white suit handsome?" Elsa pointed at the TV and exclaimed, "I've just become one of his fans recently. You have no idea how amazing he is!"
Yolanda was speechless.
Well, Elsa had no idea how cruel he was either.
In her heart, Yolanda was yelling at Elsa not to fangirl him. Elsa needed to see it clearly-James was totally a scumbag!
But she could only smile politely and reply, "Really? I don't really follow the showbiz."
What else could she do otherwise? Should she tell Elsa that she was cheated on by this scumbag and expose her identity in front of Aaron?
She was playing the amnesia script. If she had a slip of the tongue, all her efforts would be in vain.
Besides, it didn't seem very nice to point fingers at other people's idols when they met for the first time.
Forget it. With that in mind, Yolanda decided to talk less and eat more.
She wanted to get more shrimp dumplings from the plate, but when she picked up her chopsticks, she realized that there were only dumplings with other fillings left.
She had no choice but to put the chopsticks down again as if nothing happened.
At that moment, Aaron asked Elsa, "Do you like James Hilton very much?"
Elsa smiled embarrassedly and said, "It's mainly because all my close friends adore him. We're tired of watching the images of our idols ruined nowadays. So everyone is now looking for a wholesome idol."
During this casual conversation, no one noticed that Aaron gave Yolanda a shrimp dumpling from his bowl.
Yolanda was stunned by this sudden heartwarming gesture.
What did this mean?
Not bothered by who they were talking about, Yolanda stared at the dumpling in her bowl confusedly, until a voice fell in her ears,
"Are you thinking if I've poisoned it?"
"Of course not." Yolanda smiled awkwardly and picked up her chopsticks. She couldn't help but have a strange feeling.
After finishing dinner at 9 o'clock in the evening, Happer put on a big leather jacket and declared that he was going to send Yolanda downstairs. However, Aaron put his hands on Yolanda's wheelchair naturally and said, "No need for that. I'll do it."
"What?" Yolanda opened her eyes wide, kicked her feet, and wanted to stand up, "You-"
Before she could finish her words, Aaron pressed her back onto her wheelchair. "Sit down."
She was speechless.
The two of them didn't communicate at all in the elevator. Yolanda didn't know what was wrong with Aaron, so she was trembling all the way until they got to the car downstairs. When she was about to get into the back seat voluntarily, Aaron took out a cigarette suddenly and lit it.
He leaned back against the rear door.
Yolanda had no choice but to withdraw her hand that was intending to open the door. She waited obediently.
After all, she knew the rules of riding in the same car with Aaron. If Aaron was driving, she should sit at the back. If he sat at the back, she should then sit in the front passenger seat voluntarily.
The sound of wind rustling came to her ears continuously. The street lamps were shabby but bright, plating a fine layer of light on Aaron's face.
She had no idea how much time had passed. Suddenly, Aaron stubbed out the cigarette and said, "Call me that again."
Yolanda was lost for a moment. After a moment, she said tentatively, "Brother?"
Aaron lowered his eyes and smiled. It was a very faint smile, but there seemed to be a lot of emotions that Yolanda couldn't understand.
The next second, he raised his hand and opened the front passenger's door.
"Sit next to your brother from now on."