When Amayah returned to the Rosewood Mansion[1], she was greeted by Butler Alfred, who was presumably waiting for her arrival in the living room. Amayah greeted him back politely.
He glanced at the bag of food in her hands but said nothing. He informed her, "Young miss, the doctor hired by Old Master Emerson is here. He's waiting for you."
"Ah? Oh…" Amayah nodded, then hurriedly excused herself to go upstairs.
***
When Amayah returned to Nolan's room on the second floor, she saw a man in a white coat examining his eyes with his back to her. Not wanting to disturb them, she quietly stood at the doorway.
It was only when the doctor turned around that she noticed that he was actually a handsome young man who must be around the same age as Nolan, if not exact.
Seeing Amayah at the door, he smiled a charming smile and politely greeted her, "Hello! You must be Master Nolan's newlywed wife."
With a smile, Amayah thought that was putting it too nicely. Although technically—no legally— Nolan's wife, she was more like his babysitter.
As such, she saw no reason to stand up. "Just call me Amayah. And you are?"
"Wesley Scott, but just call me West."
"Nice to meet you, Dr. West. How do you do?"
After exchanging some pleasantries, Dr. West got straight to the point, "Miss Amayah, may I ask how this injury on Master Nolan's cheek came to be?"
Amayah hesitated for a moment but didn't want to shoulder the blame for his heedlessness. "He was shaving by himself and his hand must've slipped."
Dr. West wasn't surprised to hear it; he'd somehow guessed the reason. He just wanted to confirm it. "And you just stood there and let him do it himself?"
"Of course not!" Amayah was quick to protest. She didn't even know that he had any plans for shaving and that too, all by himself when she left the room. "I arrived at the scene too late, or else I'd certainly have stopped him!"
The doctor nodded. "Very well. With that burning courage of yours, I hope you'll be able to intervene in time and help him should the same thing happen again."
His words felt more like a warning to Amayah.
"I'd like to ask you something else as well: what happened to Master Nolan's hair here?" Dr. West asked, pointing toward something.
Amayah's gaze traveled over exactly to where Nolan was. Half of his hair was laying flat on his head, while the other half was standing straight up. With him looking like that, she fought the urge to laugh out loud. It looked really funny and... cute.
Obviously, it was because he had been sleeping on his side when she was blow-drying his hair the night before. She'd only been able to dry half of it, hence the appearance of this freakish creation.
'But why hadn't he combed it back down?' Amayah thought a bit irritated.
If Nolan could have heard her thoughts at that moment, he'd have probably laughed. How was a blind man supposed to comb his own hair?
"Before you leave for the day, don't you help Master Nolan tidy himself up even a little?" Dr. West questioned Amayah.
"Um…"Amayah was at a loss for words. Challenged by Dr. West's unshakable virtue, all Amayah could do was hang her head in shame. "He always says he'll handle it himself." Amayah said somewhat innocently.
The doctor smiled gently. "Master Nolan has always been stubborn. He won't ask for help, even when he needs it."
Then how was she supposed to know? Amayah thought naively.
Of course, Dr. West knew Nolan very well. He was not just his attending physician; they were childhood friends. How could he not know how stubborn his friend was? He just wanted to create some opportunities for Nolan and Amayah to get closer. No one knew it better than him as his personal doctor and a close friend how much Nolan has been suffering since the car accident. He'd been locked up in this dark, soulless room ever since. And one look at this girl and he could tell from all his years of experience that she was pure and innocent yet very determined. In addition, he could never doubt the Old Master Emerson's choice. He would undoubtedly do what's best for Nolan and the Emerson group as their fates were entangled through and through.
"Alright, I'll pay more attention from now on." Amayah couldn't stand up to a direct representative of Nolan's grandfather. This was not someone she could afford to make an enemy of!
While Amayah was ruminating just at that moment, Dr. West noticed the plastic bag she was carrying and asked, "What's that?"
Amayah realized what he was asking about and replied triumphantly, "Oh, this! I bought dinner for Master Nolan."
'How's that, Doctor? Pretty caring of me, huh?' Amayah thought.
"Could I take a look at it?"
"Sure." Amayah opened the parcels for him to study their contents. Truth be told, it was a sumptuous meal, with meat, vegetables, and even hot soup. Considering that the man must've been hungry for the whole day, she'd bought a fulfilling meal. She herself thought it was quite splendid.
Contrary to her expectations, Dr. West didn't seem to approve. "About this…"
"What's wrong, Doctor?" Amayah asked worriedly.
"Miss Amayah, I'll be honest with you: there's too much oil in these kinds of foods. It's not good for him. It'll only get in the way of Master Nolan's recuperation."
------------*Footnote*------------
[1] Rosewood Mansion is the name for the mansion I've chosen in which Nolan and Amayah are currently residing in.