Chapter 120: Chapter 120: As If Granted Amnesty
Ariana Grant clearly felt the temperature in the hospital room drop a few degrees along with Warren Prescott’s sinking face.
She gulped audibly, braving herself to walk to Warren’s bedside.
"Classmate Prescott, I’m here to deliver your food. I’ll just leave it here, okay?"
As Ariana spoke, she sharply noticed that Warren’s IV drip was still more than half full.
That auntie from before lied to her!
So annoying.
She was still too naive; she should have just handed the stuff to that auntie.
Warren didn’t say a word, just stared at the thermos in her hand, pondering something unknown, which made her skin crawl.
Seeing Warren’s reaction, Ariana felt even more awkward.
She must have been crazy to think that Warren was interested in her before.
No wonder Ashley told her to rest assured.
Of course, she should be reassured. Warren wasn’t interested in her at all.
"By the way..."
Ariana patted her pocket and took out a red envelope with "Wishing You Great Success" printed on it, placing it on top of the thermos.
"This is from the school, it’s the scholarship. I’ll leave it here too, okay?"
After saying that, Ariana was about to slip away when Warren called her back.
"Wait a moment."
Ariana stiffly turned around.
"Classmate Prescott, is there anything else?"
Warren lifted his chin towards the other end of his hospital bed.
"Getting out of bed is inconvenient for me. Could you help me set up the table?"
"Oh, oh, oh, sure."
Ariana dared not refuse, hurriedly moving to the other end of the bed to help Warren set up the small table attached to the hospital bed.
After finishing this, she promptly said, "Then I’ll be leaving first."
"Just a moment, please help me bring the bowls over. I’m worried they’ll spill."
"...Okay."
Ariana had no choice but to agree, taking the thermos to the small table and laying out the food one layer at a time.
"Can I now..."
"Hold on, let me taste it first. If the flavor isn’t right, please pass the message to Ashley Shaw."
"...Okay." Ariana barely squeezed out the word "okay" from her throat.
She watched as Warren slowly took a spoon and first tasted the soup.
The soup was corn rib soup, the ribs had been blanched very cleanly, and it seemed like the layer of oil had been deliberately removed, making the soup look clean and clear.
He tasted it, and his taste buds were instantly enveloped by a delicious sweetness.
After sampling the soup, he then tried the ribs and corn.
The ribs were cooked to be very tender, almost melting in the mouth, yet retaining the fullness of the fresh meat.
As for the corn, it was sweet corn, and biting down unleashed a burst of juice.
A flicker of brightness passed through Warren’s dark eyes.
He had never thought such simple food could have such a rich taste.
Seeing him finish a bowl of soup, Ariana quickly asked, "Can I now..."
"Don’t rush, there are still three more dishes. Please take a seat."
Warren gestured to a nearby chair, indicating for her to sit.
Ariana’s smile was stiff: "Maybe I shouldn’t sit?"
"With someone standing beside me, I find it uncomfortable to eat."
Ariana had no choice but to pull over a chair and sit a bit farther away.
Aside from the rib soup, there were three more dishes.
A dish of braised eggplant, a stir-fry of king oyster mushrooms and shredded meat, and a plate of blanched greens.
Warren held his chopsticks like a professional food critic; each bite took quite a while to eat.
Ariana felt restless, thinking time had never moved so slowly before.
Just then, Ariana’s phone started ringing.
She hurriedly took out her phone and saw it was a call from Ashley Shaw. Guiltily, she declined the call.
The room was so quiet that if she answered, who knows what Ashley might say over the phone.
Although her best friend was inconsiderate enough to send her here to deliver food to the "dead girl," she couldn’t be disloyal.
After hanging up, Ariana decided to turn her phone off right away in case Ashley called again.
Having done that, she looked up only to find Warren watching her at some point, his long, dark eyes holding a hint of intrigue.
In that instant, Ariana felt like everything about her was laid bare before him.
"Hehe." She chuckled awkwardly, hastily explaining – no, justifying herself: "It’s a scam call, no need to answer it, hehe, you go on eating."
Warren didn’t say anything, turning his attention back to savor the braised eggplant.
The eggplant was first fried, but it was clear someone had used kitchen paper to absorb the oil afterward, as it didn’t taste greasy.
Moreover, the sauce was his favorite sweet flavor.
One bite of it was so good it could make your eyebrows drop.
Ariana was just hoping he’d quickly move on to the next dish, but Warren leisurely put down his chopsticks and began to critique.
"This eggplant is okay, but there’s room for improvement. The sauce uses jarred minced garlic, right? From now on, it’s best to use fresh garlic, chopped by hand into minced garlic, to bring out the aroma at its best..."
Ariana nodded stiffly.
"Okay, okay, I’ll let Ashley know."
"You’ll want to note that down."
"Hmm?"
"I have pen and paper here, so take a note of it so you don’t forget it when you leave."
"...Huh?"
"Come over and get the pen and paper, write it down," Warren said word by word.
"...Oh."
Ariana floated like a lost soul to Warren’s bedside, taking the pen and paper, leaning over the small round table in the hospital room.
The paper from Warren was the Prescott Group’s internal notepaper, with a large Prescott Group logo printed in the lower-right corner.
Ariana silently thought: This notepaper could never have imagined in its life that it would be used for noting down something like this.
"Start with what I said about the eggplant earlier."
"Oh..."
In a daze, Ariana wrote down everything Warren said.
Just on the braised eggplant alone, she filled up half a page of notepaper.
The key was that Warren occasionally asked her to read it aloud to check for any transcription errors, putting immense pressure on Ariana.
She hadn’t been this meticulous when she took her English listening exams in the college entrance exams!
This note-taking lasted for half an hour.
Finally, Warren’s chopsticks clamped onto the last dish.
Simmered greens.
Ariana felt as if she had been granted amnesty.
Surely, there wouldn’t be much to note for a dish of green vegetables, would there? Huh?
Warren delicately finished eating one piece of green before putting down his chopsticks.
By now, Ariana knew him well enough to realize –
When Warren put down his chopsticks, he was about to start talking... again.
And sure enough, the next second, she heard Warren’s voice.
"Take a note..."
Ariana’s vision started darkening, almost fainting from rage.
She trembled and picked up the pen, just about to write the three words "green vegetables," when there was a knock on the hospital room door.
Was that knocking?
To her, it was the sound of angels!
"Come in."
With Warren’s voice, Ariana felt relieved and glanced at the door to see Ashley Shaw standing there, panting heavily.
Four eyes met, and Ariana could clearly see Ashley visibly sighing with relief.
But in the blink of an eye, she suddenly, finally, at last realized something.