Jealousy

Hearing a knock on the door, Qiao Ruo scrambled out of bed as fast as she could.

She knew the nurses on duty would make their rounds early in the morning, and hurriedly pulled on her dress. Surprisingly, Cree was already awake and was already at the door. He was not like a patient and all, energetically humming as he walked towards the door. Qiao Ruo ignored him and instead walked into the bathroom and cleaned herself up. As usual, the moment the nurses entered, he transformed into his cold and uncaring self.

"Excellent today, Mr Ye," the older nurse said, after measuring his vitals. "The doctor will see you in about an hour from now. If everything goes well, you may get discharged." Cree remained silent and just nodded. The younger nurse remained, while the older nurse left to attend to other patients.

Zhuo Li, though dressed in a white nurse's uniform, was not an actual nurse. She behaved rather suspiciously and was eyeing Cree from head to toe. She was staring at Cree flirtatiously! It didn't seem new to Cree at all, and Qiao Ruo had been watching them from her hiding place since the older nurse had departed. She noted how Zhuo Li had an exceptionally annoying and childish voice, that sounded irritating to her ears.

"Mr Ye, we have an hour. So what do you want to do?"

He ignored her.

"Who is the girl with you? I don't see her now, is she your caretaker?"

Again, silence greeted Zhuo Li. She was undaunted, and ventured closer to Cree, piquing Qiao Ruo's jealousy. However, Qiao Ruo wanted to eavesdrop on them for a while longer and see what tricks the nurse had up her sleeve.

"We can have fun when she isn't around." Qiao Ruo gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in anger at the audacity of the nurse standing by Cree's bed.

Cree turned away from the source of the noise and continued reading his newspaper coolly as if nothing had happened. The girl didn't give up.

"Mister, there's nobody else in the room but us. Could you consider me at all? I don't mind serving you, even right now." She tried to take his newspaper from him.

"Get your filthy claws away from me this instant." She felt assured hearing it from him, and then she tiptoed closer to realize that the girl had unbuttoned her top and was attempting to goad Cree into being seduced by her. Qiao Ruo was infuriated further, but before she could say anything, Cree coldly ordered, "Get out."

The girl refused to budge, and cajoled, "Am I not sexy enough? I'll pleasure you well, I promise." Qiao Ruo heard the sound of someone pulling a zip followed by the girl moaning in a high-pitched voice minutes later, and she immediately burst out in anger. It was too much for Qiao Ruo to handle, and she feared that the worst was about to happen. The green-eyed monster in her was starting to consume her, and she charged as fast as she could to Cree's bed.

"Ah!" Terrified, the girl shrieked and threw on her nurse disguise, before hurrying out of the room as fast as her little legs could run. Qiao Ruo was relieved to see that nothing had apparently happened between them, and Cree was still fully clothed, but after the nurse had been so close to doing it with Cree, she was still unsettled. It would take some time to extinguish the fire in her.

Why hadn't he just thrown the girl out? The question bothered Qiao Ruo in her mind.

Qiao Ruo glared at Cree. "Did I just disrupt your special moment?"

"What took you?" he gazed at her hauntingly, and reached out to grab her hand, but she pulled it away from him.

"You're disgusting," she retorted. "What if I didn't come on time? Would you have done the deed then?"

"I would have called security," he said.

She wasn't convinced. "She was naked, Cree. You would have done it with her." He sensed the displeasure in the tone of her voice, and he got up slowly from the bed and cornered her against the wall.

"Xiaoruo, did you think I am that shallow? After what happened last night, did you think I would want someone else?"

She forcefully pushed him away and turned her head the other way to avert his gaze. He inched closer to her, leaving almost no space between them, squashing her against the cement.

"I want you, Xiaoruo. Only you, because you are the one who has this attracting effect on me."

He stepped away slightly to introduce some space between them and caressed her slowly. She gasped at the sensitivity of his touch but was pinned tightly by him against the wall. He slid her down from the wall to lay her on the sofa, where he again coaxed her into submission, nimbly undoing the buttons on her dress while smothering her with kisses, so dexterously that she hadn't realized what he was doing while her eyes were closed.

"You were jealous earlier," he commented, breaking the kiss gently.

"I was not," she argued. "I was just disgusted by how shallow you were!"

"Oh, is that so?" he mocked her. "Who's the one who's almost nude now?"

She peered down at her dress and raged, pointing at him. "You!" He chuckled, and disappeared into the other room, lounging on another bed. She hastily buttoned her dress and followed him into the room, where she tumbled onto the bed, swiping him with a pillow.

"Cree, you are so dead!" she shouted.

He imitated her pouting look and said, "Well, you're bullying a patient now."

"You're not even unwell! You don't even need a caretaker!" she stated defensively.

"I do need a caretaker, only if she is you," he said craftily and pulled her close to him. She struggled to break herself loose, but he held her tighter and kissed her again and again. Her efforts at freeing herself were futile, and finally, after rounds of endless struggling, she succumbed and kissed him back.

"Xiaoruo, you know you can't win against me," he said to her in a dominant tone as they lay in bed together. "As long as you agree to be my girlfriend, I promise that I can make you happy, like no other."

"I already told you last night. We need to go slow." She was calm now, and her eyes were soft and loving.

"I know you do have feelings for me," Cree said. "Is it so hard for you to accept me?"

"I just need more time," she said. "We haven't known each other very long, and somehow, it has already come to this stage."

He laughed cheekily. "I can advance it if you want."

She was startled by his words and stammered nervously, "Cree, I'm... I'm just not sure if I am suited for a relationship. There's so much I haven't achieved, and I... I have my reasons."

He said patiently, "I promise, nothing will change. You can still have your dreams and achieve what you want. I'll always support you."

"Thank you, Cree, but please give me a bit more time."

They were interrupted by the abrupt knock on the door, and Qiao Ruo knew that the doctor was here to examine Cree. She watched as he slowly got up from the bed reluctantly, and returned to his patient bed. She felt that sense of emptiness as he walked away from her, and she followed him. In just a matter of months, Cree appeared to have made such a deep impression on her, and she had not wanted to admit that she had been jealous and concerned that he would sleep with someone else. Perhaps she was starting to understand that she was just as possessive as how Cree had been when Lu Hanyang's article absorbed her. She had encountered difficulties in putting him down, and yet, she denied herself the opportunity to take charge as his true girlfriend.

"You'll be discharged tonight," the doctor announced with a broad smile.

Cree turned to watch Qiao Ruo, as she stretched on the sofa, seemingly pondering on something profound. If only she were his real girlfriend, he would have been the happiest man on earth, and he would change himself to make her as comfortable as he could. Love happens in extraordinary ways, he thought. He was starting to fall for her, and he couldn't wait till she was ready to become his. And then, he would not let her go ever again.

The first time he had let her go and sent someone with her wallet to her, someone had assaulted her, and fortunately, she had come back to him. He was too fearful, that if this time, he let her go, he would not see her again. Luckily, she had said that she would be moving in, and maybe, he didn't need to worry for some time. Perhaps there had to be a way that he could keep her by his side, and make her fall for him sincerely. She was essential to him, and he wished that she felt the same way about him.

The fact that she had not denied that she had feelings for him was a good start for them.