Crises in Love (Zora and Jaylan)

"Madam, what are you doing here?"

The silent, gloomy garage was suddenly shattered by that voice, nearly giving me a heart attack. Startled, I swiftly turned around only to find Zora, clad in her thin nightgown, standing right behind me. I hadn't heard a thing.

My mind went blank for a moment.

Damn it!

Immediately, I collapsed onto the seat, panting heavily as I patted my chest, trying to calm my racing heart.

Frowning hard, I glared at her and asked, "What the hell are you doing? Creeping around like a ghost, without making a single sound. You could scare someone to death, do you know that?"

I closed my eyes, my mind racing on how to handle this tricky situation.

Zora looked taken aback by my sudden outburst, her mouth opening and closing without making a sound.

"Why are you skulking around in the middle of the night, were you following me?" I accused her before she could say anything. She was left speechless.

"I... I saw you... and followed you down," she stammered, clearly caught off guard.

I gave her a stern look, then got up and tidied up the messy car. On my way out, I quickly grabbed a box of medicine and a thermometer from the compartment in the car.

Without a word, I locked the car and headed back to the house. Although I acted nonchalantly, my heart was pounding. How did she know I was leaving the house and why did she follow me here? If she reports this to Jaylan, it will undoubtedly arouse his suspicions.

I glanced at the medicine box in my hand and breathed a sigh of relief. It was Tylenol, probably bought by Jaylan during the recent flu season. Luckily, it came in handy now.

Zora followed me back to the house. I turned to her, coldly ordering, "Get me a glass of water!"

She looked at me confusedly, but fetched a glass of water and followed me. As she came in, I opened the thermometer case, held it up to the light, then crawled next to Jaylan. I adjusted his face and put the thermometer into his mouth.

Zora watched, completely taken aback. "Is... is Mr. Dawson ill?" she stammered.

I snapped at her, "What else could it be?"

"I... I didn't mean to follow you. I just saw you going out in the middle of the night..." Zora tried to explain.

"You need to get something straight, Zora. This is my house, and I can go wherever I want, whenever I want. But you, skulking around in the middle of the night, following me - what's your game? Is there something wrong with me going out in the middle of the night?" I pressed her hard, "Can't I move around freely in my own house?"

Zora looked taken aback, without any room to argue.

"I... I will leave now," she said, clearly embarrassed. But as she turned to leave, I immediately stopped her, "Hold on!"

She turned to me, clearly puzzled.

"Check his temperature for me, and help me get him to take this medicine," I commanded coldly.

After a while, I took out the thermometer and checked it against the light. Zora asked anxiously, "What's the reading?"

Feigning concern, I replied, "102.2°F. It's way too high."

"But what should we do? Madam, shouldn't we take him to the hospital?" Zora suggested, clearly worried.

I shot her a stern look and she froze.

I motioned her to hand over the medicine. She quickly handed me the Tylenol I'd brought from the car. After reading the instructions, I took out two pills and urged her to hand over the water. Carefully, I held up Jaylan's head, forced open his shut mouth, and fed him the pills with the water.

Through his grogginess, he struggled a bit. I softly reassured him, "Don't move, your fever is too high. You need to take the medicine."

I put on a convincing act, secretly feeling glad that Jaylan had fallen ill that night. Otherwise, I would have been in a tight spot.

After he swallowed the medicine, I noticed Zora checking the thermometer.

Keeping up the act, I laid Jaylan back on the pillow, touching my forehead to his, and sighed.

Then I got up, holding the glass of water, and walked out, telling Zora casually, "You should get some rest. And don't skulk around like that again. It's terrifying."

She meekly followed me out of the room, heading to her own room as I went downstairs.

As I descended the stairs, I noticed her door was tightly shut. I quickly took out a box of fever reducers from the first aid kit and tucked it into my clothes...