Chapter 216 A little cozy
Alana spent the whole morning at the hospital; once she had her medication, she was free to go home.
The doctor said it wasn’t anything serious, just a minor sprain. There were no broken bones or torn ligaments. If she rested properly for two days and avoided further impact, she would recover completely.
The doctor prescribed some anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving ointment for her.
A single bottle of this ointment cost thousands of dollars, but its effects were remarkable, she could barely feel any pain in her ankle while walking.
Of course, Alana had no idea how much the ointment cost, after all, she wasn’t the one footing the bill but if she’d known it was that expensive, she would have been heartbroken.
After Stephan finished the discharge procedures, he took her home.
He picked her up and strode out, confidently.
Alana was shy; she would have preferred him to simply help her walk, but he insisted
on carrying her.
With people coming and going in the hospital, being carried by a tall, handsome man inevitably drew a lot of attention.
Her face flushed with embarrassment, and she couldn’t help but bury her face in his chest, too shy to look at anyone.
Darla and Cynthia had just finished work and had planned to go out for dinner together.
The two walked into the hospital lobby, chatting and laughing. Darla caught a glimpse of a familiar male figure.
A flicker of delight crossed her eyes. “Auntie, look...that looks like...”
But the moment she noticed the man was holding a woman in his arms, the surprise vanished from her face.
Cynthia was puzzled by her reaction. “What’s wrong? What are you telling me to look at?”
Saying this, she was about to follow Darla’s gaze.
Darla didn’t know why, but she instinctively shifted her feet, blocking Cynthia’s view.
“Nothing. I must have seen wrong.”
Cynthia’s curiosity was piqued, and she wanted to keep looking, but Darla was blocking her view completely. She didn’t notice at first that her own son was carrying a girl and walking past not far from her.
“What did you see?”
Darla stepped forward and wrapped her arm around Cynthia’s, continuing to block her view.
“I... thought I saw someone I knew, but turns out I was mistaken. Oh my, Auntie, let’s discuss where we’re going to eat later!”
Out of the corner of her eye, she secretly watched Stephan’s figure as he walked past her, holding a woman in his arms.
She desperately wanted to see who the woman in his arms was, but the woman had buried her face deep into his chest, not revealing a single detail.
All she could make out was a head of beautiful, jet-black hair, swaying gently from side to side with the man’s every step.
The woman was petite, and as he carried her in a princess way, it only served to highlight his tall, imposing figure, radiating a sense of security.
Darla desperately wanted to rush over and see who the woman was.
But remembering that she was currently with Mrs. Hudson, she had to put the thought aside. She didn’t yet know how Cynthia felt about Stephan’s girlfriend, so for now, she didn’t want Cynthia to discover the woman’s existence.
Only after the two figures had completely disappeared from the hospital entrance did Darla’s tense body finally relax a little.
She hadn’t even realized that Cynthia had called out to her several times. “Darla?Darla, what’s wrong?”
Darla snapped back to reality, her face looking a bit pale. “Auntie, hmm?”
Cynthia smiled helplessly. “I was just about to ask you the same thing. Didn’t you just ask me where we should go for dinner? How about that Hunan restaurant we went to last time?”
Darla forced a smile and nodded. “Sure, that sounds good. I actually like Hunan cuisine too.”
In truth, she didn’t really like Hunan cuisine because it was too spicy.
But to cater to her future mother-in-law’s tastes, she pretended she liked it too.
She had always been confident in herself, so she was determined to win Stephan over.
But now...Seeing him show up at the hospital with another woman in his arms, she was suddenly overcome by a powerful sense of crisis.
Who on earth was that woman?
How dare she so easily outmaneuver her and snatch away the man she had been so foolishly infatuated with?
Cynthia was unaware of Darla’s thoughts.
Upon hearing this, she smiled again. “Darla, I’ve realized our tastes are really quite similar. What I like, you happen to like too. Doesn’t that mean we’re destined to be mother-in-law and daughter-in-law?”
Darla smiled faintly. “Auntie, do you really want me to be your daughter-in-law?”
Cynthia replied with a smile, “Of course. You’re not only beautiful but also exceptionally capable. If you were to join the Hudson family, I can’t imagine how many people would envy and begrudge me as your mother-in-law!”
The more time she spent with Darla, the more she felt Darla was the perfect choice for her daughter-in-law.
Gentle, sensible, and well-mannered, with a successful career and the poise of a lady from a distinguished family, she was a rare find.
She really couldn’t understand what her son was being so picky about. Faced with such an outstanding and perfect woman, how could he not be moved?!
She suspected he was blind!
No wonder he hasn’t found a girlfriend in all this time.
Not long ago, he kept insisting he already had a girlfriend, but more than a month had passed and he hasn’t brought her home yet. He must have been lying to her, just to get her off his back.
Darla paused for a moment, testing Cynthia’s reaction. “Auntie, if...Stephan ever actually brings a girlfriend home one day, would you approve, or...”
Cynthia chuckled, replying without a moment’s hesitation, “Oh, come on, that’s impossible. If he were really capable of bringing someone home, he wouldn’t need me to set him up on blind dates every day!”
Darla bit her lip. “I mean, just in case... just in case it were possible...”
“Well...” Cynthia hesitated. If her son really did bring a girlfriend home...and if she was someone he genuinely liked, as his mother, she had no reason to stand in the way of their happiness.
After all... she wasn’t some cruel mother-in-law. But if her son had just picked someone at random to placate her, that would be a different story.
Seeing Cynthia’s hesitation, Darla’s expression darkened slightly.
If Stephan really did bring that woman home, Cynthia might just agree.
If that woman were of a vastly different social standing, it wouldn’t be so bad. But if their statuses were similar, wouldn’t she have absolutely no chance of competing?
Her only advantage right now was the favorable impression she’d made on Cynthia. What if, one day, that woman outshone her? Wouldn’t she then have no advantage at all?
She hadn’t made much progress with Stephan yet, and now another woman had
suddenly appeared by his side. In that case... she would have no chance of winning.
No, she had to find a way to expose the woman by Stephan’s side!
Cynthia didn’t want the conversation to go cold either, so she smiled and changed
the subject. “Darla, we’ve talked about this enough. Let’s go eat first.”
Darla nodded, her mind heavy with worry. “Okay.”
**************
Stephan took Alana back to his house.
He carried her over and set her down on the sofa, then went to pour a glass of warm water and handed it to her.
His thoughtful gesture warmed Alana’s heart.
He had carried her all the way; he was the one who should have needed a drink right away. But he thought of her first.
She obediently took a few small sips, then let Stephan drink the rest.
Alana seemed to remember something. She bit her lip and asked, “The bed in the
bedroom has collapsed. Where are we going to sleep tonight?”
Stephan curved his lips. “I’ve already had someone order a new bed. Just give me a
moment to make a call, and someone will deliver it right to our door.”
Alana asked, her face flushing, “Then what about the broken bed? Are we going to throw it away?”
Stephan raised an eyebrow. “We won’t throw it away. We’ll keep it as a memento. That is my trophy...I can’t part with it.”
Alana gasped.
She was at a loss for words.
Less than half an hour after the man made the call, the new bed was delivered to the
door.
But it wasn’t just one bed.
To give Alana plenty of options, he had several delivered.
Several carefully selected large beds were arranged in the living room by a team of deliverymen, leaving the choice entirely up to the guest.
Stephan glanced at her, ruffling her hair with his large hand. “Take a look. Pick whichever one you like.”
Alana hadn’t expected him to be so proactive, and she certainly hadn’t imagined he’d actually managed to arrange for several beds to be delivered right to their doorstep, leaving the choice entirely up to her.
Moreover, these beds were even larger than their old one; even four or five people could lie on them comfortably.
Was it really necessary to get such a huge bed just for the two of them?
Alana really wanted to ask, but with so many people around, she felt too embarrassed to do so.
She blinked and looked at the group of deliverymen. “Can I go lie down on one?”
Whether she liked it or not was secondary; the most important thing was that it was comfortable to lie on.
The delivery man replied, “Of course you can.”
Alana immediately sat down on one of the beds, which bounced slightly.
It was springy and comfortable.
She tried lying down.
It was soft, like sinking into a marshmallow.
Stephan stood by the bed, smiling as he looked at the woman lying there. “Is it
comfortable?”
Alana playfully rolled over, “Not bad, it’s pretty good. Want to try something else?”
“Sure.”
Alana tried several more, and the experience was great with each one.
Stephan pressed down on the one Alana was lying on and asked the deliverymen, “Are these beds sturdy?”
The delivery man nodded with a smile. “Mr. Hudson, they’re very sturdy.”
“If two people lie on the bed together, will it hold up no matter how we move?”
The delivery men instantly exchanged bewildered glances.
Um... exactly how would two people have to move together to break the bed? That was really hard to guess.
Alana’s eyes dilated.
What do you mean, “No matter how two people move on a bed together, it won’t break”? Dude, could you please not be so suggestive?
Alana caught the deliverymen’s shocked and absurd stares and couldn’t help but
cover her flushed face.
Help!
He was the one speaking, so why did she feel like she was the one being embarrassed? The delivery man snapped out of it and cleared his throat apologetically. “Um, Mr. Hudson,
rest assured, these beds have all been carefully selected and are of excellent quality. No matter how much two people move around, they won’t break.”
Stephan’s expression didn’t change. “Mm.”
He then turned to Alana. “Sweetheart, which one feels most comfortable to lie on? Pick one.”
Alana still covered her face with one hand, but she pointed at the bed she was lying on.
Well, as long as no one could see her, they wouldn’t see the embarrassment on her face.
After the bed was chosen, the deliverymen set it up in the bedroom. Of course, they also noticed the bed in the room that was half-collapsed.
Looking at that sagging bed, there were still some rather suggestive marks on it.
They understood exactly why Stephan had asked earlier if the bed was sturdy.
The delivery crew carried the broken bed downstairs to the storage room and left one by one.
However, as they left, the looks they cast at Stephan and Alana were slightly ambiguous.
Alana swallowed.
What an embarrassing shopping experience.
Once everyone had left, she couldn’t help but clench her fists and give the man a hard punch. “It’s your fault! How embarrassing!”
Stephan looked at her flushed cheeks with amusement. “How was that embarrassing?”
Alana scolded him in a mix of shame and anger, “And you had the nerve to say that You had the nerve to say those things!”
Stephan raised an eyebrow and asked deliberately, “What did I say? Why would I be too embarrassed to say it?”
She puffed out her cheeks, refusing to even acknowledge him.
He was so shameless.
Stephan couldn’t resist cupping the girl’s pouting face and asked with a smirk, “The new bed is ready. Want to go lie down together and get a little cozy?”