Chapter 12

Back at the villa, John stared at the backs of Ethan and Eira as they walked off, looking like he was about to start brooding on the spot. Neither of them noticed. Eira casually told him to do whatever he liked, then headed straight to her room. Lately, she'd just been feeling... completely exhausted. No clue why. Early in the morning, still half-asleep, Eira rolled over instinctively - only to press down on her injured wrist. A sharp jolt of pain shot through her, snapping her fully awake. She gasped quietly. The swelling had gone down a bit, but the bruise was still very much there. Thinking back to what happened last night, she cursed under her breath. Alexander, that bastard-why did she go soft on him again? She mentally kicked herself. How had she not seen the walking red flag that was Alexander before? With sleep thoroughly kicked out the window and plans to visit the old family estate later, she sat up and got moving. Picked out a bright, stand-out dress and headed into the bathroom. By the time she came out, the smell of chicken soup had floated up from downstairs. Hair half-tied, she followed her nose to the kitchen. And there was Ethan-apron on, standing by the stove. She blinked, surprised. "When did you learn how to cook?" Still focused on the soup, Ethan leaned half out and said, "Living abroad made me learn the hard way. My stomach refuses to settle for anything but hometown's food." Eira nodded like that made total sense. She haphazardly tied her hair up, grabbed her coffee and leaned by the door, eyeing him up and down. The little apron was meant for the housekeeper. On Ethan, it looked kinda ridiculously cute. She smirked. "Your fans would lose their minds if they saw you like this." Ethan gave a sheepish smile and glanced down at the apron he was wearing, clearly a little self-conscious. He quickly changed the subject. "Why don't you go sit down? I'll bring the soup over - it's ready." He pulled out two bowls, carefully poured the soup, and as he turned, his gaze flicked over to Eira, just in time to catch her awkwardly holding her wrist again. Putting the bowls down, he frowned. "Where's the first aid kit?" But Eira was already distracted by the smell of the soup and just waved a hand in a vague direction before grabbing a spoonful. One sip in, her brows lifted. "Whoa. You could totally open a restaurant with skills like this." She set the bowl down with some difficulty, wincing slightly as her injured hand protested. She gave it a quick shake, then turned to look for him-only to realize Ethan was preparing something for the swelling. Eira saw him crouched there, clearly unsure of what to grab, and called out, "Just get an anti-inflammatory one. It's on the far left." Ethan grabbed a bottle, eyed the label, and tossed it into the trash with a frown. "Not this one - it has penicillin. You're allergic." "What?" Eira pointed at herself with a puzzled face. "I'm allergic to penicillin?" She knew her own medical history - there's no way she wouldn't remember that, right? Totally confused, she asked, "How do you know I'm allergic to penicillin?" The room fell into a weird silence. After a moment, Ethan stood up a little dramatically with another bottle in hand. "Did you really forget how awful you felt after you took it a couple years ago?"He waved his hands way too dramatically, and when he saw Eira's confused face, he quickly tried to smooth things over. "You were in so much pain you passed out. Doubt you caught what the doctor was saying." Eira tilted her head, trying to recall based on what Ethan said, but her mind was completely blank. She couldn't remember being in that much pain at all. "You serious?" she asked, eyeing him with suspicion. Ethan handed her a cup of warm water and dropped two pills into her palm. "Of course. Why would I lie about something like that?" Once she took the meds, he sat opposite her, sipping his soup a little anxiously while sneaking glances at her. Truth be told, he hadn't known about the penicillin issue at first. If someone hadn't tipped him off, he wouldn't have found out at all... He lowered his head, aimlessly stirring his soup until it splashed up onto his hand, snapping him out of his daze. Trying to sound casual, he said, "This project still has a few more days to go. I'll be in Oceanvein for a bit longer. It's kind of a hassle staying elsewhere... think I could crash here a few more days?" Eira chuckled. "Didn't we already settle this last night? You can stay as long as you want. I could even keep this room just for you." Ethan barely had time to be happy when she followed up with, "I've always seen you as my little brother. Staying at your sister's place doesn't count as freeloading, right?" His smile faltered-worse than crying. Any trace of excitement vanished. No matter how grown-up he was now, Eira still looked at him like he was a kid. Not a man, just a kid. Even if she'd lost her memory, she still instinctively treated him the same. And there wasn't a thing he could do about it. But at least he got the green light to stay. He pulled out the ointment he'd bought the day before and crouched down in front of her to reapply it to her wrist. While applying the cream, he asked casually, "Got any plans for today?" Eira paused, then her voice dropped a little. "Heading back to the old house to sort some stuff." A moment later, she pulled out her phone and opened an email, then handed it to Ethan. "Check out this script. Think it fits your style?" She'd skimmed it after leaving Johnson Corp and thought the male lead-warm, upbeat, healing type-actually lined up perfectly with Ethan's real personality. But it didn't really match how the public saw him, so she wanted his take on it before deciding anything. Ethan glanced through the script quickly, eyes lighting up. "Not a lot of stuff like this on the market. If it's done right, could really blow up." His gaze paused on the production info. "Though, this genre needs solid editing. Might be worth switching the post-prod team." Eira leaned her cheek against her hand. "Got someone in mind?" "My own team should work. Just tell me the timeline and I can rearrange my schedule." Since things were moving fast, she didn't hesitate. Smiling, she said, "Sounds good. And I'll make sure you don't work for free-we'll count you in as a co-producer. Once the show starts pulling numbers, you'll get your share." Ethan looked like he wanted to refuse, lips parted-but Eira cut him off. "You say no, I'll just find someone else." She knew how stubborn he could be, so all he could do was nod.