Me After Meeting You

Amber instinctively clutched her face. At the very least, there wasn’t any saliva or anything of the sort on her cheek, and the kiss didn’t hurt either. However, this sort of behavior was … Ian’s face was emotionless and it didn’t feel like he was trying to take advantage of her, so she didn’t want to make things too complicated. All she did was jokingly say, “It seems like you really dislike my half dimple, so much that you even want to bite it off. Should I wear a mask next time then?”

Ian was still in his half crouched posture, looking at her blankly.

‘Did he dislike it? Actually, no. Perhaps he had gotten used to it now, but her half dimple no longer seemed so displeasing to his eyes.’

“There’s no need for that.”

Amber made an ‘Oh’ sound. “Then I’m sorry to have made you feel wronged.”

Just as she was planning to return to her seat, Ian suddenly said, “I originally intended to kiss you.” He sat upright again, and crossed his hands in front of his chest as he seriously explained, “Didn’t you say that I shouldn’t need to ask to kiss my girlfriend, and that I could kiss her whenever I wanted to?”

“….”

‘So, he still hadn’t for gotten about that? That wasn’t what I meant, though, was it ….’

“Actually, you can’t just kiss when ever. You also have to consider the surroundings and general atmosphere.” Having been reminded of Ian’s as tonishing ability to misinterpret words and actions, she felt that she needed to explain things even more explicitly, and then she decisively changed the topic. “You still haven’t answered me. What did you have to give that Mr. Stanley to coerce him into telling the truth?”

Ian responded lazily, his answer simple and rough. “Money.”

“How much?”

Ian looked at her intently. “Are you planning on reimbursing me?” He pulled out a receipt from his bag heartily, put it in front of her, and then told her, rather kindly, “Old Charlie’s not too bad. He didn’t end up giving away too much money.”

Amber silently counted the zeroes in that receipt, quickly calculated the overall sum and then felt … a complicated mix of emotions.

She really shouldn’t have agreed to let him help. Really. Mr. Stanley at least had some sense of moral decency; if she had stuck to him stubbornly, she definitely would have eventually gotten him to open his mouth.

But now, she could only try to reimburse Ian for the money. Amber sighed and then asked, “Can I return it in installments?”

“Up to you.” After a while, he asked, “How many installments are you thinking of?”

“Two … twenty years?” She was quite afraid of saying one or two years, because the amount that Ian had paid was really quite significant. At her current income level, she would have to keep a tight budget and completely refrain from eating or drinking out if she wanted to pay it all off in two years.

There weren’t many rich people out there, and there was a big gap between them and regular people.

Ian laughed. He refrained from saying anything, but he didn’t take the receipt back either.

Amber’s face blushed red, but she didn’t have the courage to simply brush this bill off. She silently put the receipt away, and then automatically started calculating in her head how much she would have to pay him monthly ….

Honestly, a doctor living the way she was planning on living was probably unprecedented through out history.

Regardless of her disapproval for Ian’s problem solving strategy, Amber was still very grateful for his help.

Because of this, she decided to invite him to lunch. But just halfway through the meal, the hospital called her again, saying that Elly’s guardian had arrived and was requesting that she return.

Elly’s guardian was evidently her father, who had finally come back.

After Amber received the news, she put down her chopsticks. “I’m sorry. Something’s come up at the hospital, so I have to leave now.”

Before she could get up, however, Ian grabbed her hand. “Finish eating first.” His expression was very serious.

“But I have to go ….”Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Ian had already put her chopsticks back into her hand. After that, he continued holding her down with one hand while using the other to slowly continue eating.

After looking at his expression, Amber realized that he probably wouldn’t let her go until she finished eating.

“I hate seeing things left unfinished halfway.”

Amber disdainfully replied in her head, ‘Actually, this is just your obsessive compulsive disorder speaking, isn’t it!’

But she didn’t insist on leaving. Instead, she picked up her chopsticks, matched his rhythm, and finished the meal.

After finishing the meal, Amber returned to the hospital. Ian didn’t intend on sending her over, and Amber had no intention of letting him do so either, but when she saw him leave so bluntly, she couldn’t help but call him back.

“Mr. Stanley,” she said, “I’m in a bit of a hurry. If you don’t mind, could you send me over to the hospital?”

When Ian heard her words, he looked at his watch and nodded. Amber looked at him unflinchingly. Despite his lack of facial expressions, a wisp of annoyance flashed through his eyes.

He didn’t want to speak on the way to the hospital, so she didn’t open her mouth either. Instead, she ran through her head about what she would do upon meeting Elly’s father.

If she could, she very much wanted to help Elly get justice for what was done to her, and the best person to help her do this was undoubtedly her father.

Ian sent Amber to the hospital personally and even went upstairs with her. Amber didn’t refuse.

Of course, he wouldn’t have let her refuse.

Upon seeing Elly’s father, Amber felt a sense of dissociation. In her mind, Elly’s father had been someone poor and dejected, and because he liked to gamble, perhaps even somewhat sloppy or wretched.

While the man standing in front of Amber might have been a bit poor, he didn’t look sloppy at all, and certainly not wretched. He was dressed in a light blue wind breaker and dark blue jeans. Despite his age showing through his clothes, they were clean and not the least bit unkempt.

If she hadn’t known better, she would have said that he looked more like a scholar than a fisherman who sailed far out into the ocean.

Amber was so shocked that she was momentarily at a loss for words. Elly’s father spoke up first, asking, “Are you Dr. Camille?”

Even his voice was quite warm, which helped Amber recover quickly. “Are you Elly’s father?”

“Yes.” He nodded, looking somewhat nervous. “I heard the police say that you wanted to see me.”

The way he spoke made it seem like he hadn’t been planning on meeting her if the police hadn’t mentioned it. Amber frowned. “Have you seen your daughter yet?”