Fever

As Matt closed the door behind him, he looked at the little girl one last time. That was when he heard the sound of retching and coughing coming from the room next door. His feet almost went that way unconsciously before he realized that he had no right to walk into a woman's bedroom without permission. Going back to the living room, he sat back on the couch and leaned his head against the back.

A vision that he had blocked against for so long came in front of his eyes. A little girl would come running into his arms, her short chubby legs making her stumble as she fell into his embrace. Happily, she shouted,"Papa!Papa!"

He wanted to hold onto her but the moment he had held her, she started to push him away, wanting him to let go of her. Worriedly, she said,"Papa!I need to be with mama! I am too small to come to you alone. And mama will be all alone if I don't go back. Let me go papa!" And then she ran away from him, faster than she had come. He tried to follow her, run after her but suddenly he was surrounded by a strange mist and by the time the mist disappeared, so had his little girl. He looked around in vain, shouted and pleaded with her to come back but there was no other sound. Just as he fell onto his knees in despair, he felt another pair of arms hug him. He looked up, hoping against hope that it was his little girl. She had come back to him.. But the eyes he stared into looked neither like him or like his Jianan. But even then he wanted to hold the little fairy in his arms. She smiled up at him and asked,"Why are you crying my prince?"

Knowing it was a dream or rather his own wishful thinking, Matt smiled through the tears and said,"Because I lost my little princess. The one who would call me papa."

But the little girl giggled and said,"Well, I am a princess too. And I too don't have a papa. Can I call you ..."

A loud crash in the kitchen brought back Matt from his imagination and he woke up with a jerk. Feeling the moisture on his cheek, he hurriedly wiped it away and went towards the kitchen to check.

Qian Qian squatted on the floor as she gathered the pieces of the glass that had fallen on the floor. Her head seemed to be spinning and she had to clutch the chair to support herself.

Just then a curt voice asked,"What are you doing?"

Scared at the sudden male voice, Qian Qian shivered and her hand slipped, a shard of glass poking her in the finger. " A grunt of pain escaped her and she stood up jerkily but the action caused her head to spin even more and she lost her balance, falling backwards. Just as she prepared herself for the pain of the fall, she was caught in a pair of arms. She stared up at the man who had caught her and blinked at him with confusion is her eyes before she promptly fainted.

Worried, he immediately picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom and placed her on the bed. Checking her nerve, he realized that she was probably dehydrated and had fainted because of exhaustion. But she was also burning up. Placing her under the blanket, Matt walked back to the kitchen, filled a glass of water and grabbing the first aid box walked back to the room. First, he cleaned the wound on her finger and then wiped her face with a napkin dipped in cold water. She came to consciousness at this moment and he fed her water with a spoon before the girl fell back to sleep.

Making sure that Qian Qian was sleeping comfortably, he returned to the kitchen and cleaned up the remnants of the glass worried that Ella would hurt herself in the morning. He then walked back to the bedroom and changed the cold napkin before grabbing a few more and wiping her small feet slowly.

A stirring of a long forgotten feeling awoke as he held the dainty foot in his hand but he ruthlessly suppressed it and then purposefully covering the person, strode out of the room... a new idea brewing in his head.