Chandler finished the big bowl of beef noodles, feeling well both physically and mentally. It tastedso good.

He looked up. Crystal was sitting in the living room, looking weak and gloomy. Although she didn'teat much because she didn't have an appetite, she took all the medicine with water by herself.

"Do you still have a fever?”

Chandler walked over to help her clean up the dishes and wondered if he should take her to thehospital when he saw how pale she was.

"No. I took my temperature. It was 98.6. But I still feel dizzy...Maybe I caught a cold.”

Crystal said in a nasal voice and stood up subconsciously as she saw that Chandler was going towash those dishes in the kitchen, saying, "I'll wash them." Maybe she had been used to being theone who did all the cleaning.

Chandler put on an apron and turned around, looking at her with a complicated expression. "Don’tworry. I won't break your bowl.”

"That's not what I meant. There's no hot water in winter and you're not used to the work in thekitchen..."

Crystal explained in a low voice. How dare she let him wash dishes for her as she had been hiscleaning lady in the past?

"Do you really think I'll be afraid of cold water?”

Chandler asked with a grim face as if he was tired of her nagging. "Go lie in your bed... I can handlethis. Are you questioning my ability by standing here and supervising me?"

“No, I'm not."

Crystal was speechless. How dare she question his ability?

Chandler looked quite professional with that apron, but Crystal noticed soon that he had used toomuch detergent. It was actually a little funny seeing him working in the kitchen.

Crystal decided not to argue with him. She turned around, heading to her bedroom.

She lived alone, so it was always quiet here. The last man who came into her kitchen was Derek, whowas really good at cooking and was familiar with all kinds of kitchenware. She had been amazed byhow handsome he was when cooking in her kitchen. To be honest, he performed much way betterthan Chandler did.

But somehow, Crystal was more impressed by Chandler's clumsiness. She lay down on the bed withher eyes closed but Chandler's figure in the kitchen was still so clear in her mind.

The reason was probably that she liked him. Yes, she had been secretly in love with him for a longtime.

Crystal thought that she would definitely recover when she woke up because she had taken all themedicine.

So she didn't tell Chandler about the dull pain in her head.

Ever since she was a child, she had been despised by her mother and bullied by her stepfather.Therefore, when other girls cried about their aggrievances, she bought herself the medicine andtreated her wounds alone. She had to be strong because no one would take care of her.

Her temples were aching as she slowly fell asleep with memories of being bullied in her childhood.Chandler, on the other hand, spent half an hour washing two bowls and three plates in the kitchen.He flushed the plates over and over again since he couldn't help but suspect that they weren't cleanenough. As a result, the kitchen was wet all over and he had to look for a mop elsewhere.

The first thought in his mind was that Crystal must have been very tired of doing all the houseworkevery day.

After he finally finished his work and went to have a sip of hot tea in the living room, he looked upat the clock next to the TV cabinet and was surprised to see that it was already 4 in the morning.

A man was alone in a woman's house at midnight...

After staring in the direction of the bedroom in silence for three minutes, he stood up.

He knew that Crystal liked him, but he was afraid that he couldn't give her happiness. Being hesitantwouldn't do anything good to her. And what if Erica gave her trouble when she knew they weretogether?

He hadn't really wanted to fire Crystal that day. He was just hoping that by doing this, Crystal couldreturn to her peaceful life.

Chandler stood up in a hurry and accidentally knocked the medicine Crystal had taken down fromthe coffee table.

He picked it up and noticed that the medicine had expired.

"The little fool."

He sighed as he threw the medicine into the trash can. "It's been six months since it expired.”Without much consideration, he went straight into her bedroom, put his big hand on her forehead,and discovered that she was having a fever again.

He leaned closer and called her a few times, but she didn't wake up and just turned overuncomfortably.

Chandler stood by the bed, hesitating. Should he let her continue to sleep or shake her to wake herup?

The thermometer showed that her body temperature was 100. If she had the fever for the wholenight, she might become even more stupid than she was now.

However, seeing how soundly she was sleeping with her eyes closed and her face turning red due tothe fever, Chandler felt reluctant to wake her up.

"Why are women so troublesome?" he complained in a low voice.

In fact, Chandler had always been a calm and decisive man. Even when Erica had been in a specialrelationship with him in the past, he could refuse or agree to her requirements immediately. It wasreally not like him to have difficulty in making a decision.

In the end, he decided to buy some new antipyretic medicine in the nearby pharmacy.

His car wasn't around because his assistant had driven him here. There was no medicine in theconvenience store for 24 hours and it was not easy to replace a taxi after 4 am, so he had to look forpharmacies in the neighborhood on foot. After walking for half an hour, he finally found a bigpharmacy.

It was already five twenty when Chandler returned to the apartment.

He took half of a cup of warm water and was going to wake Crystal up to take the medicine. Thelight pink phone on the bedside table rang just as he reached her bed.

At first, he thought it was the alarm clock and was ready to turn it off.

But the word "Mother" on the screen caught his attention. Crystal's mother?

The phone kept ringing, whose sound was abrupt and annoying in the quiet space.

Chandler put the medicine and glass on the bedside table, picked up the phone, walked out of theroom, and answered it calmly.

"Crystal has a bad cold and needs to rest. What's the matter? I'll tell her when she wakes up..."

Mrs. Zhu interrupted him when she realized that her daughter's phone was picked up by a man.Ignoring what Chandler had said, she asked in a loud voice, "Who are you?"

"Where's Crystal? Why is her phone with you in the middle of the night?"

Her voice was shrill and harsh. Chandler frowned as he listened to her cursing.

"She caught a cold today. I'm in her apartment..." He tried to explain to her patiently.

But Mrs. Zhu shouted excitedly when she heard that a man was at her daughter's house at midnight."Why are you together in the middle of the night? You must be trying to take advantage of mydaughter. I'm telling you, you'd better get out of there immediately, or I'll call the police.”

"Also, my daughter has a boyfriend. You are not good enough for her. I want you to break up withher now, or I will not let you go!"

With a creak, the door behind him was opened.

Crystal wasn't completely awake, but she still got up when she heard her mother's familiar, high-pitched voice vaguely in her sleep. Chandler turned to her with her phone in his right hand.

The woman on the other end of the phone was still cursing angrily. Chandler hung up the phoneimpatiently with his slender finger. At the same time, he said to Crystal, who was standing in front ofhim, "I'm leaving."

Crystal was burning all over in a daze due to the fever, whose vision was a little blurry at thismoment. His cold words frightened her, so she instinctively ran over and wrapped her arms aroundhis waist.

"Let go." Chandler's tone became complicated.

Crystal didn't let go of him. Instead, she hugged him even more tightly as if she was afraid that oncehe left, he would never come back to her again

Her hot, delicate body was pressed against his back. Chandler could clearly feel her persistence inholding him.

"Don't leave..."

"I know I'm not good for you. I'm timid. I don't have a pretty face or a strong personality. I hatemyself too," she mumbled in a hoarse voice, whose tone sounded like she was begging.

"My colleagues and friends all treat me as a useless coward. Very few people are really nice to meand whoever treats me well, I will try my best to please them. I don't want to be so humble, but Ican't control myself. I'm afraid that if I do something wrong, they will despise me and leave meforever..."

"I could even bear it when my mom and my brother hit me and scolded me. So tell me what I didwrong, I promise me I will change! Just don't go... If only I were Christina...” She knew a woman likeher wasn't good enough for him, but she really didn't want to lose him.

At this moment, her heart was filled with panic as if she was a pet that was about to be abandonedby its owner. She thought that he would never talk to her again.

Pressing her face against his back, Crystal cried as she spoke.

"You're good," Chandler finally said slowly with a stiffened body.

She was really simple.

It was hard to describe Chandler's feeling right now. He was surprised, delighted, but moredisgusted with himself.

He was smarter than her and knew from the beginning that she had affection for him. As a calm andrational man, he really shouldn't have provoked her.

Chandler didn't like Crystal's mother just by hearing her voice, but he had to admit she had saidsomething right. He wasn't good enough for Crystal.

It was his fault that his brother died that year. Erica was his brother's fiancee and Geoffrey was hisbrother's child... So he had to be responsible for both Erica and Geoffrey's life.

A person like him didn't deserve to be happy.

"The medicine you took before has expired. I put some new medicine and water at the bedside.You..."

His fingers prised her as he spoke to her in a deliberately cold voice. Crystal, who was hugging himtightly, panicked. "Don't leave, okay?"

"Chandler, don't ignore me. Stay with me..."

Chandler couldn't help but turn to look at her. She was still sick but she kept grabbing him andbegging him humbly. The more he looked at her pitiful appearance, the harder it turned for him toleave her.

He turned around and stroked her tear-stained face, looking straight into her eyes. "Crystal Zhu, doyou know what it means to ask a man to stay?" He couldn't say these words clearly as his tone was alittle trembling.

"Crystal, listen. I don't love you..."

He tried to say a few more cruel words to warn himself, but Crystal interrupted him, "But I love you.Let me love you. I'll be satisfied just by doing that secretly on my own.”

Chandler was surprised.

"You, you really want me to stay?" He asked hesitantly in a very soft voice.

Yes:

Crystal was indeed a little fool.

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