FreeNovel"What? Hertha dumped you?" Ethan exclaimed, feeling Alaric's forehead again. "Whoa, you're burning up. That's one nasty fever." Alaric swatted Ethan's hand away with force, visibly annoyed. "I'm lying here dying, and you're still in the mood to make fun of me?" "I'm not making fun of you, man. I'm worried about you," Ethan said, struggling to keep a straight face.
Alaric gave him a sidelong glance. "Since when are you so kind-hearted?" "You're doingdirty, man," Ethan protested. Then, leaning closer to Alaric, he whispered, "Bet you never saw this coming. You, the heartbreaker, getting your heart shattered. Well, what goes around comes around, huh?" Ethan couldn't help but laugh, his chest heaving with each chuckle. Only a true friend could joke about something like this.
"You wouldn't understand love if it hit you in the face," Alaric muttered, turning his head away.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"True, I don't get love. But I do know that if you keep this up, you're gonna end up dead. Not from this fever, but from starvation," Ethan said with a laugh.
"Just leave if you can't help me," Alaric grumbled, pulling the blanket over himself.
"Fine, I'll go talk to Hertha. She lives next door to you, right?" Ethan got up, ready to leave.
At that, Alaric suddenly grabbed Ethan's hand, his earlier humor gone, replaced by a look of sincere distress. "Don't go to her," he said, his voice tinged with a sadness that wasn't there before. "She made it clear yesterday that she won't stopfrom seeing the kids. If I bother her now, she might not even letdo that." Ethan was about to crack another joke but stopped short at the sight of Alaric's genuine sorrow.
"So, I really shouldn't go?" Ethan asked, his tone now serious.
Alaric shook his head. "Don't." He couldn't shake off the memory of their last meeting, Hertha's irritated and disdainful voice echoing in his head.
She had made it clear, comparing him to something dirty and unwelcome: Alaric knew that his connection to Georgia was a deal-breaker for Herthafurther would only make things worse.
For the first time, Alaric felt truly low.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmany Seeing Alaric in this state, Ethan decided to drop the subject. "Alright then, get up. Let's head to the hospital." Alaric stubbornly replied like a sulking child, "I don't wanna. I don't want to get out of bed." "Dude, you've got a fever, and you haven't eaten all day. If we don't get you to a hospital, you're seriously gonna do yourself in," Ethan said, almost at a loss for words.
"I don't wanna move," Alaric insisted.
Ethan was speechless. He couldn't believe that a simple girl like Mertha could bring Alaric to this point. Love, it seemed, was indeed a dangerous game.
Understanding Alaric's stubbornness, Ethan conceded, "Alright, if you won't get up, guess I'll have to bring the doctor here." With that, Ethan left the room.
Before closing the door, he took one
last look at Alaric, who was staring blankly at the ceiling a pictureof ve despair
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