Chapter 169: Out of Control
The intoxicating scent he craved lingered around him, but he didn't dare go further, afraid of waking the sleeping Mia.
A gentle kiss, nothing more.
Suddenly, a knock came at the hospital room door, disturbing Mia. James saw her eyelids flutter and, feeling guilty like a thief caught in the act, he quickly stood up.
He moved too fast, pulling at his wound. His vision went dark, dizziness overwhelmed him, and he fell straight toward Mia.
The moment Mia opened her eyes, she saw this scene. Her brain not fully awake yet, she couldn't dodge in time and watched helplessly as James's head came crashing toward her face.
But just before impact, James shifted direction, his head hitting the edge of the bed instead.
Before losing consciousness, he heard Mia cry out his name in panic, "James!"
She must still care about him, right?
Otherwise, she wouldn't be so worried about him.
The instant this thought entered his mind, James felt this collision was worth it.
This collision made James's condition even worse.
Mia called Kaia to ask for a few days off so she could take care of James at the hospital.
The leave was approved easily. After hanging up, Mia came out from the emergency stairwell and went downstairs to buy him breakfast.
Just as she stepped out of the hospital entrance, someone bumped into her.
She was fine, but the person who bumped into her lost their balance and fell to the ground.
Mia looked at the girl sitting on the ground and bent down to help her up. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, thank you. I'm sorry, I just bumped into you."
Lily Martin's legs were still trembling. The fall made it worse, more painful.
She had been tormented all last night.
Starting from the private room.
She could barely catch her breath when the man wrapped her in his suit jacket and took her straight to a room upstairs.
It wasn't until dawn broke that she finally fell into an exhausted sleep.
Her biological clock woke her up. She was alone in the room, the man was gone, leaving only a check for a hundred thousand dollars on the nightstand.
A name was signed at the signature line.
Benjamin.
Her fingertip gently traced over that signature.
A slight sting in her heart.
Clearly, he saw her as that kind of woman.
She carefully folded the check but had no intention of using it.
"Lily?"
Mia helped her up, looking at the familiar features before her, calling out tentatively.
Lily looked up at Mia, her eyes brightening. "Mia!"
Before they could catch up, Lily's phone rang.
"I'm downstairs, I'll be right up."
Hearing her mother needed her, Lily had no time to talk more with Mia. Enduring her physical discomfort, she hurried inside.
...
Mia left Lily and returned to James's hospital room.
She handled work she could during spare moments, planning to make up for what she couldn't handle with overtime after returning to work.
Four days in the hospital, and Lily's mother's condition had stabilized.
Knowing Lily's family's financial situation, Mia asked if she needed help. Lily said no, she had money, so Mia didn't press further.
On the fourth evening, Louis came by.
Two days ago, James's condition had already stabilized, but to buy James more time, Louis had made it sound more serious and dragged it out two more days.
When Mia asked about James's condition, he told her the truth. "James is recovering well. I'll arrange a detailed brain scan for him tomorrow morning. If everything checks out, he can be discharged after another day or two of observation."
Before leaving, Louis gave James a look that said to seize this last chance.
He'd done everything he could as a friend, yet his brother had made zero progress!
"You're fine now, so I'll go back to work tomorrow morning."
Hearing Louis say he was recovering well, she felt relieved.
James's mood visibly dropped. "Okay."
He had no more reasons to keep her by his side.
"I wish I could just stay injured."
That way, she could stay by his side taking care of him.
He could see her every day.
Mia heard this and said disapprovingly, "Don't talk nonsense."
Who curses themselves like that?
Wishing to stay injured!
James fell silent.
Mia said nothing more. As on previous nights, she took care of James, turned off his bedside lamp, then went to rest in the small rest room inside.
These past few days she'd been worried about James's injury, never sleeping deeply at night.
Several nights of poor sleep, but now that he was okay, she could finally relax.
That night, lying on the bed in the rest room, she fell into a deep sleep soon after her head hit the pillow.
Outside, James lay in the hospital bed, tossing and turning.
In the darkness, his gaze fell toward the rest room.
Once dawn came, she would be far from him again.
He suddenly sat up in bed, threw off the covers, got up, and walked into the rest room.
He sat down quietly by the bed, looking at the sleeping Mia with eyes full of longing.
His gaze rested reluctantly on her face.
Just watching her like this, the night grew deeper and quieter.
In the small rest room with just the two of them, every breath carried Mia's scent.
The darkness amplified the desire in his body, his lower abdomen tightening.
The stolen kiss from a few days ago surfaced in his mind. James felt his mouth go dry, his Adam's apple rolling uncontrollably.
He couldn't!
He knew very well the effect Mia had on him.
On a night like this, once he touched her, it would be hard to stop!
James closed his eyes, breathing deeply, trying to suppress the burning flame in his lower abdomen.
The entire night, James spent in this cycle of self-torture.
Until the sky began to lighten.
Having suppressed himself all night, James ultimately couldn't suppress his desire to be close to her. He leaned down closer.
Mia, who had been curled up on her side, shifted in her sleep, her slightly parted lips accidentally brushing against James's lips.
This was like pouring a bucket of oil on James's already burning body. The string of reason in his heart snapped.
He kissed her directly.
Having suppressed himself all night, the moment he kissed her, he still had a shred of remaining reason.
But when the sleeping Mia instinctively responded the instant he kissed her, James lost all reason.
He knew he should be rational, but having suppressed himself too long, when that string in his heart snapped.
His loss of control was also related to Mia taking care of him these past few days without rest.
It made James's dead heart start to stir again.
Starting from one kiss, it became unstoppable.
...
The sky gradually brightened, and the light in the rest room became clearer.
When the intoxicated James noticed that Mia, who had melted into a puddle in his arms, suddenly went rigid.
His heart panicked.
Mia was awake.
Realizing this, James stopped kissing.
At an extremely slow pace, he gradually lifted his head and, in the now-bright daylight, met Mia's open eyes.
Her eyes were covered with a layer of mist, caused by the passion stirred in her sleep just moments ago.
But deep in her eyes was a cold darkness.
"Mia..."
James knew what he should do most right now was leave immediately.
But having come this far, he really couldn't bear to leave.