Me After Meeting You

Ian slowly walked over. After their strenuous exercise, Billy and Ansell’s clothes were a mess, and sweat covered their bodies. However, Ian didn’t seem to be sweating at all, his body was clean and his clothes still tidy.

He didn’t stop walking when he reached the two of them, dispassionately continuing onwards.

Billy knew that Ian was mad. Whenever Ian was mad, he became even more reticent, if you let him go at you until he was satisfied, it would be fine. However, otherwise … he would simply ignore you.

“Boss Axton!” Billy called out as he chased after him.

Ian put the racket back, picked up his jacket, and prepared to leave, as if he hadn’t heard Billy’s pleas at all.

“Ian, Ian Axton!” Billy didn’t give up, but Ian was still ignored.

Billy chased after him, enduring the pain resounding throughout his whole body. “Boss Axton, listen to me. We really invited Dr. Camille, but she didn’t show up ….”

Before he could finish, Ian had grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the wall. “My temper’s a bit better now,” Ian coldly said as he stared right at Billy.

“But don’t provoke me.” He turned to look at Ansell and ordered, “The car keys.”

Ansell didn’t want to give them to him and cautiously said, “I’ll give you a ride.”

Ian’s lips curled up derisively. “As you want.” He let go of Billy, coldly walking out.

Ian sat in the back, took out a recording device and put on some earphones, listening to something that Ansell couldn’t make out. He seemed calm, his eyes drooping, but Ansell felt even more fearful than before.

In truth, Ian also felt like he was about to lose control. His heart felt like a blazing furnace that was about to overheat and burn his body to a crisp. In the recording device, Amber’s voice was unusually soothing. The stories she was telling were silly and dumb, but he still listened to her recite them over and over again, just as he did during those long sleepless nights, playing them on repeat until he fell asleep.

But today, it was abnormally hard to calm himself down.

He knew what he wanted, as he had been suppressing this particular desire for a few days now. Today, after Billy had brought it up, it became even more difficult to control.

***

Ian didn’t go back to the hotel. He gave Ansell his address and returned to his home. He hadn’t been back here in quite a while, his own house, which he’d bought after returning to the country and moving out.

The reason he had bought this place was because it had its own swimming pool. Right then, in the winter, the pool water was bone freezingly cold. But despite the frigid temperature, Ian entered almost without hesitating, even neglecting to remove any of his clothes.

It was that same feeling, that craziness … like he wanted to destroy the whole world, only seeking destruction, wanting everything to … die!

***

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Amber was abruptly woken up by someone knocking on her door, causing her to quickly spring up from her bed. She rubbed her hair to rouse herself and confusedly walked towards the door.

“Your phone’s about to die from ringing too much.” Her mother handed her phone over, her own face also still hazy with sleep.

“Oh.” Amber yawned, but quickly covered her mouth and frowned when she saw who was calling.

Since Amber had woken up earlier than usual this morning and ended up working for the entire day, she was exhausted by the time the restaurant closed. She obligingly ate a few bites of dinner before going to sleep. In that interval, she had somehow left her phone in the living room.

Her mother looked at her unhappily. “Who’s this Ian Axton? He’s calling you so late and incessantly, you’d think his house is on fire or something.”

“A patient,” Amber dryly remarked with a laugh. Then she hugged her mother, and went back inside her room with her phone.

Before she picked up the call, she quickly glanced at the time; it was 11:25 PM. For people like her mother who had to wake up early in the morning, it was essentially the middle of the night.

Who knew what Ian was calling her about.

Amber didn’t want to answer the phone all that much, but after thinking about it some more, she finally picked up.

“Where are you?” Even through the phone, Ian’s voice was conspicuously devoid of warmth. “I want to see you.” His attitude was as direct as ever, simple and rough.

Amber, with her sensitive perception, immediately noticed that something was amiss with him. Ian was naturally aloof, but his normal coldness still carried with it at least a little refinement and courteousness. This wasn’t at all like his current tone, which was unapologetically frigid.

She recalled the earlier phone call from Billy and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Where are you?” He kept pressing for an answer.

Amber could only tell him the truth. “I’m with my mom. It’s a bit far from the city.”

‘Doodoo!’ The call suddenly dropped. Amber clutched the phone in her hand, only remembering to call Billy after a while.

She didn’t save his number, so she could only scroll through her caller history. It took her two tries before she found the right number, and Billy exploded once he realized it was her. “And to think you’re a doctor! You didn’t even come help me when I was almost dead. F*ck, I almost died after the beating Boss Ian gave me. My hand’s half crippled! You better compensate me!”

After he finished ranting, Amber asked, “What’s wrong with Ian?”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

“Hm? What do you mean what’s wrong?”

“He called me just now, but he sounded off, so I’d like to know if something happened to him.”

“If something happened to him … does wanting to see you but not being able to do so count?”

Amber frowned. “I’m not joking.”

“I’m not either. He really does just want to see you.” Billy was serious, but it also felt like a joke to him. “Really, that guy … I think he really is crazy about you. He wants to see you beyond a shadow of a doubt, but because you cuckolded him, he refuses to do so. Dr. Camille, our Boss Ian’s such a great guy, but why would you be so blind as to fall for that pretty guy instead?”