One Night Surprise - Season 3 Episode 9

“Confess?” Alexander was driving. “About your medical history? Do you have depression too?”

Those words stopped Courtney from saying what she was about to say. Thus, she simply half-jokingly and half-seriously asked, “What if I do too? Maybe I met Cameron because we were in the same patient group, right?”

“What if you have it too?” He glanced at her, seeming to confirm something. “Do you want to hear the truth?”

“Aside from the truth, everything else is nonsense.”

Pondering for a moment, he drove slower. “If you have depression too… I don’t have as many commitments as Gale. I don’t have parents and Grandpa is almost 80 years old—”

“Touch wood; touch wood…” She couldn’t continue listening any longer. “Hurry up and say ‘touch wood’ too! If Grandpa heard you saying such things about him, he would surely be so angry that he would kick you!”

“Getting old and dying is all part of life.” His expression was light.

“Forget it; asking you was a waste of time.” She seemed slightly annoyed. Did I forget who Alexander is? He is somebody whose expression won’t change even if the world collapsed in front of him! He will never be as passionate as Gale. Why did I even ask him that question?

“What were you going to tell me?” He increased the speed he was driving at. There was still quite some distance to Courtney’s apartment.

Looking at the speedometer of the car, she frowned. “It’s nothing. It’s not that important. We can talk about it at home.”

A complicated look flashed across his eyes and vanished. To be honest, when he heard her saying that she had something to confess, he immediately thought of that man named ‘Elijah Grant’. If she could confess about everything, then the issues between them would no longer be an issue anymore.

Half an hour later, the car parked at the entrance of the apartment. Alexander sighed softly. Courtney was leaning against the passenger seat, sleeping deeply. She didn’t look like she was about to wake up any time soon.

As promised, Alexander canceled his work for the entire week and stayed by Courtney’s side 24 hours a day to take care of her. He barely took a single step away from her. By the third day, Courtney began to regret making this request on a whim. Alexander was a boring person. Aside from staying at home and reading all day, he only left the house to bring her to the Duncan Residence to visit the two children. He refused to even go downstairs for a stroll.

“What’s wrong with you going for a stroll downstairs? Aren’t you bored staying at home with me all day long?” She looked at the figure sitting on the sofa across from her. The tone she took with him was quite exasperated.

“Alone?” He looked up from the book and glanced at her.

“What else could it be?” She pointed at her leg. “You can’t mean for me to be walking about with you with this useless leg, can you? Have mercy on me.”

“That’s not impossible.” The other party closed the book he was reading with a ‘thump’. It was a book written in French that looked very difficult to understand. More than 10 minutes later, his assistant, Josh, dropped by to confirm that he was not going to attend the board of director’s meeting. At the same time, he left behind a brand-new wheelchair.

“It was originally prepared for Grandpa. But, we might as well use it now.” While trying out the wheelchair, Courtney nearly spat out a mouthful of water upon hearing what Alexander said. Just like that, she looked very reluctant as he pushed her out of the house in the wheelchair.

It was September. Moreover, it had just rained not long ago. It felt quite cold when the wind blew. Thus, he considerately covered her legs with a blanket. Inside the elevator, she couldn’t help glancing at herself. I look like a disabled person with amputated limbs.

That thought of hers was instantly confirmed by the nosy ladies in the community as they took turns to come and talk to her. “Hey, aren’t you Miss Hunter from the 22nd floor? What happened to your legs? Are you okay?”

Throughout their stroll, Courtney had to explain about her injury until her lips were practically worn out from the friction. She fawningly glanced at Alexander. “Let’s go somewhere else.” I must never speak on a whim again; I only wanted him to come out for a stroll. In the end, I am the one who suffers. Why?!

“Sure. Where to?” Alexander was not very happy about constantly being disturbed during their stroll. Therefore, he wanted to change a place to continue their ‘romantic stroll’.

“Anywhere. Anywhere is fine. There’s a supermarket there, and a park on that side.”

“The park won’t be any different from the community.”

“Let’s go to the supermarket then.” She covered her face nervously. “Hopefully, nobody will recognize me at the supermarket.”

“Okay. It just so happens that we are out of eggs. Let’s go and buy some,” he said with a straight face.

She glanced at him. “Can we not buy eggs? What else can you make aside from hard-boiled eggs?”

The last time he mentioned that he could cook, he cooked ten eggs. Moreover, all of them were fully cooked hard-boiled eggs. She nearly choked to death trying to finish them.

When he heard her contempt for his cooking, he pushed the wheelchair while mulling over it for a while. “I can try cooking something else. I studied some recipes last night. It’s not that difficult.”

She gave him a withering look. “Is that so? Then, please allow me to experience what you mean by ‘not that difficult’.” You are cooking for the first time; do you even have any idea about how much salt you should add?

At the vegetable section, Alexander picked up a packet of potatoes and green peppers that were pre-cut into strips and packed in a plastic box. Then, he turned to Courtney for confirmation. “I can use this to make stir-fried shredded potatoes and green peppers, right?”

“Yeah,” Courtney replied listlessly. The corners of her mouth tugged upward as she added, “Is buying pre-cut and ready-to-cook dishes your idea of cooking?”

“It saves time. The supermarket’s marketing strategy is quite good.” He tossed the packet into the shopping cart without minding her. He was pushing the shopping cart with one hand and pushing her wheelchair with the other.

“Just push the shopping cart. I can take care of myself.” Before she could grab hold of the wheels on both sides of the wheelchair, she heard the young voice of a little girl coming from behind her. “I can help you, miss.”

Courtney looked back to see a little girl around five or six years old with two high ponytails on both sides of her head. The little girl was energetically standing behind Courtney’s wheelchair. She was innocently holding the handles of the wheelchair with both hands, and the two people following behind her were probably her parents. The young mother looked like a very gentle person. She immediately apologized. “I’m sorry.” Then, she frowned and pretended to be angry at her daughter. “Nana, let go immediately. You cannot do that.”

“But, she can’t walk! I want to help her.”

Courtney lowered her head, feeling embarrassed.

“Nana, you can’t say that!” The young mother turned pale. “Don’t you know you can’t talk about other people’s… Come here quickly.”

“Um,” Courtney couldn’t help interrupting when she saw the little girl looking glum after being scolded. “To be honest, this is only temporary. I will recover.” After that, she glanced at the little girl warmly. “Do you want to help me?”

“Yes.” The little girl nodded.

“Then, can you please push me to the place where they sell candy?”

The little girl looked at her mother hesitantly. The young mother was concerned about being polite to Courtney, so she nodded her head when she heard those words. “Be careful, Nana. Don’t push too fast.”

“Okay.” Then, the little girl pushed Courtney away.

“This chocolate is very tasty.” Courtney took a box of imported chocolates from the shelf. “Both my son and my daughter like to eat this too.”