As soon as Ella began to speak, all her pent-up frustration started pouring out. She turned her head away from Eric, unwilling to look at his stony expression.
"When did you ever call ?" Eric asked.
"Eric, stop pretending. You know I hate it when people act oblivious!" Ella’s eyes filled with tears, her expression pained. "That foreign woman—was she really so irresistible? If strangers don’t believe ... can’t you at least trust ?"
Eric frowned. "That’s impossible! You never called !"
But... Ella wouldn’t lie about sothing like this. Sothing didn’t add up.
Ella, feeling hurt and frustrated, turned her head away, but rembering what Alia and Lauren had told her, she took a deep breath, deciding not to keep arguing with him.
Seeing her tear-streaked face, Eric’s heart softened. They hadn’t seen each other in days. He gently wiped the tears from her cheeks.
"Alright, stop crying... It was my fault, okay?"
He pulled her close, not caring that she was soaking wet, and held her tightly.
Ella wrapped her arms around his waist, letting out muffled sobs.
"Stop crying, silly girl."
"But you let that awful woman answer your phone and insult !" Strong and confident as she usually was, Ella was surprisingly sensitive at this mont.
Eric gently pushed her back to look into her eyes seriously. "I didn’t. Now, I’m going to do a little test. Just wait here."
Leaving the bathroom, he returned a mont later with both his and her phones.
Eric’s face was set with determination. No point in arguing endlessly; he knew he hadn’t let anyone else answer her calls. But he also knew Ella wouldn’t accuse him falsely, so the best solution was to test it.
Ella watched as he used her phone to dial his number.
She felt a sudden warmth in her chest. At least he was handling this calmly, without holding a grudge for her earlier attitude.
Eric held Ella’s phone to his ear, listening to the dialing tone.
But his phone remained silent.
Ella stared, stunned, at his idle phone. It was on, but... the call was sohow reaching soone else’s phone? How was this possible? She’d saved his number, and it was correct.
"Sorry, the number you dialed is currently unavailable," the automated voice finally stated, as if the other party had realized sothing and turned off the phone.
Eric held up both phones, showing her. "See? When we call my number from your phone, it gets redirected sowhere else... Is it a virus, or...?"
Eric’s face darkened as he let out a cold laugh, his eyes flashing with anger. He quickly dialed his brother Vivian’s number. "David, give an explanation. Why are my wife’s calls to being redirected to soone else’s phone?"
All this ti, he’d thought Ella just didn’t care enough to call him.
"This is odd! Must be sothing Vivian orchestrated—cut her so slack, though, Eric. You know she’s crazy about you, can’t you let this one slide?" David’s voice was lighthearted, trying to smooth things over for his sister.
"Hmph. This better be the last ti." If it hadn’t been for David helping him out of a rough patch back in college, Eric wouldn’t have let him off so easily.
"It was just a misunderstanding," Eric explained, exhaling deeply. "Looks like the programr set our calls to be forwarded without any notice."
Ella turned her head away, avoiding his gaze.
With a sigh, Eric put his phone down, moved closer, and gently wrapped his arms around her waist. "Alright, it’s all cleared up now. Don’t stay mad at ."
Well... it seed our proud Mr. Nelson had finally set aside his pride.
Ella pouted, "Who was that woman, anyway?"
"My assistant. But don’t worry; I fired her yesterday. She’s out of the picture."
"Oh, so now I’m the jealous one, am I?"
"You’re absolutely the jealous one!" Eric teased, kissing her forehead. "I shouldn’t have... I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that last night. I’m sorry."
Ella looked up at him, a bit mollified. "Eric... I shouldn’t have insisted either, but I only asked you twice, and you snapped at ."
"Alright, alright. No more snapping at you in the future!"
"Oh, there’s a ’future’ now, is there?" she asked, frowning at him playfully.
Eric raised an eyebrow. "Fine, no more future then. By the way, I’ve arranged for Henry’s doctor to transfer him to Country W in a few days."
Ella’s expression darkened with worry. Henry’s condition wasn’t looking good; the doctors had warned that if he didn’t wake up within three weeks, he might end up in a vegetative state permanently.
"Don’t dwell on it," Eric whispered, pulling her closer as his gaze swept over her wet form, desire evident in his eyes. He leaned in, unable to resist her any longer.
Just as his lips t hers, Ella pushed him away. "Wait... isn’t it morning already?"
Eric looked exasperated. "What else did you think? Next ti you drink, I’ll pull out that little tongue of yours!"
Ella shrank back playfully as he lowered himself again, the sound of splashing water filling the room, her heartbeat quickening with each ripple...
After so intense monts in the bathroom, Ella finally lay sprawled out on the bed, completely drained. Eric carefully dried her hair with a towel, then finished with a blow dryer until it was mostly dry.
Eyes closed, Ella let her hair drape off the edge of the bed, feeling her sorrow and pain from the past few days slip away. She sighed inwardly, realizing how comforting it was to have her husband by her side.
Once he put the blow dryer away, Eric climbed into bed next to her.
"This ti, I managed to get so of Lucas’s hair in Country W."
"Hair?" Ella’s eyes widened. "What on earth do you need hair for?"
"Co on, silly. DNA testing, of course!" Eric shot her a look.
Ella pressed her lips together, her tone turning wistful. "But... it’s been so many years. Mom’s not around anymore. What’s the point of finding my birth father now?"
"From what I gathered, there’s more to the story than ets the eye. I didn’t dig too deeply yet, but when I’ve got more information, I’ll share it with you," Eric said, closing his eyes. He was finally able to relax after an intense few days and nights, with the ti difference between Country W and Country S adding to his exhaustion.
The tenderness they’d just shared had managed to wash away their tensions.
Ella reached over to massage his back. "You must be exhausted. You probably didn’t get any sleep while you were in Country W."
"Yeah. I’m pretty wiped out," Eric replied simply, not hiding his fatigue.
Ella sat up, eagerly massaging and patting his back. "You’ve worked so hard, hubby. Are you hungry? Should I ask Mrs. Harris to make you so noodles?"
"No need. I just ate my fill," Eric said with a smirk, prompting Ella to give him a light punch on the back.
Reviews
All reviews (0)