Me After Meeting You

The two of them cried out pitifully for food, and Amber didn’t disappoint them, preparing a sumptuous dinner, a big plate of dumplings, a dish full of beef jerky, a bowl of meatballs, and a pan of fried eggs.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

Billy was salivating just from looking at it, but he still disdainfully said, “There aren’t any vegetables here.”

Amber turned around and unceremoniously took out two big leeks from the kitchen. “This is green. Do you want it?”

Billy had no response to Amber’s quip.

A hint of a smile flashed across Ian’s eyes. He put down his phone, picked up the tableware that Amber had set out for him, and began to eat slowly.

Billy tried his best not to stare at those leeks. He was very suspicious that Ian had said something to Amber, how else could she have known that that very thing she had taken out was what he’d most hated and despised?

“Take it, take it away.” He really couldn’t stand it anymore.

“You won’t eat it?” Amber put on an innocent look, and then continued selling it enthusiastically. “It helps prevent cancer.”

Billy turned his face around, vowing not to give in.

Amber couldn’t help but laugh upon seeing his antics. After she’d teased him sufficiently, she finally put the leeks away, took out another dish of steamed dumplings with one hand and a bowl of soup with the other, a very simple dish made with ham and tofu, random leftovers from the fridge.

The smell was quite mixed, but as soon as Amber put in a bit of the red chili oil that her mother had made, it instantly smelled appetizing.

When Billy confirmed that she hadn’t put any leeks inside, he finally approved of the meal. “It’s good now.”

Amber laughed. Seeing that the two of them were having a good time, she went to the living room to check up on Calvin. He was sleeping soundly, his breathing calm and his posture relaxed.

She didn’t wake him up. Instead, she returned to the dining room, poured herself a bowl of soup, and started eating together with them.

Billy ate until he was perspiring all over his body a thin sheen of sweat adorned his shiny head. Amber found his appearance surprisingly funny. She asked casually, “Is it tasty?”

Perfectly satisfied with the meal, Billy forgot all about his annoyance towards her and praised her generously. “It’s great! Especially this beef jerky, ah, it’s super tasty! The meatballs aren’t too bad either. It’s only the dumplings that don’t have a great consistency, you probably left it in the fridge for too long.”

Amber smiled mysteriously. “No, I just added a little something to them.”

While the two were talking earlier, Billy hadn’t spoken softly, so she’d overheard the sentence where Billy was talking about how he was afraid that she would add something to their food.

Billy didn’t feel a single hint of embarrassment at getting caught saying something behind her back. Instead, his only response was to laugh slyly, pick up a dumpling, and stuff it into his mouth. Then he turned around to look at Ian and blamed him shamelessly, “Who said that? Was it you, Ian? How could you doubt Dr. Camille like that?

She helps the dying and heals the injured. She’s a veritable angel in white, a miraculous healer! How could she do something as despicable as messing with our food? Even suspecting her is profane, alright?”

Ian finished the last drop of soup in his bowl and wiped his mouth, completely ignoring Billy.

Amber, on the other hand, was quite impressed. “You’re very difficult to deal with.”

Billy clasped his hands together modestly.

“I’m just a normal person.”

Amber was amused enough by his expression to start laughing. She dropped the topic, turned to Ian, and asked, “Did you really come find me for no reason?”

Ian was already starting to stack up his dirty plates. He couldn’t bear even a bit of messiness on the table. When he heard her question, he coolly replied, “He wanted to call you over and play mah jjong with us.” His slender fingers pointed at Billy.

Amber made an “Oh” sound, and then said, “Sorry, I can’t go. I have a meeting at the hospital at 7:30.”

Ian grunted, not saying anything else.

Billy speared a steamed dumpling with his fork, and then looked askance at Ian. “No? Just like that?”

‘Tonight, Ansell and the others had raised the stakes. If they managed to bring Amber over, then just based on her luck alone, they’d probably win a full casket’s worth of money, right?’

But Ian was going to leave her here just because of some meeting?

Ian thought for a moment before saying, “Let’s have some tea.”

“….” Billy couldn’t even think of a response.

Ian had already moved on. “Do you have any?”

His tone didn’t seem to have changed, but Amber could hear a bit of impatience in its undertones. He was really saying, “Don’t you know how to do anything? I even had to speak up and ask.”

She found it somewhat funny, so she really did get up to brew tea for the two of them. Fortunately, she had a couple satchels of high quality tea leaves that some friends and patients had gifted her, as well as a very nice tea set. It was another patient’s gift, the glaze the color of the sky after a heavy rain. Because she rarely drank tea, she had always treated it as a piece of art to be displayed on her cabinet.

She hadn’t planned on using it for this occasion, but Billy spotted it instantly, knocking his fork together and pointing at that tea set as he said, “Use that tea set, it’s good!”

He had surprisingly good eyes, but Amber didn’t mind. She put the set in her hands down and went for the one Billy pointed out.

Ian glanced at it, but when his eyes landed on it, his body immediately stilled. Touching the exquisite tea set, Amber’s slender and white fingers looked staggeringly beautiful, like a ray of light shining through the grey fog and haze against the blue backdrop of a saturated sky after a spring rain.

Ian immediately recalled the visceral feel of that hand; it was warm, exquisite, and just like a piece of top quality jade, it even left a calming scent afterwards.

Without any warning, he … got an erection.