"Ah — yeah, yeah…"
Ethan scratched his cheek lightly, aiming for casual.
"I didn't say I didn't enjoy it." He paused. "Besides… I know a thing or two?"
As the words left his mouth, his gaze drifted — almost without his permission — toward Diana.
He looked at her properly, maybe for the first time today.
Her face was a perfect oval, soft and full, carrying the kind of gentle, unhurried charm that only came with a certain kind of woman and a certain kind of age. Her long hair was pulled back with a headband, leaving the delicate curve of her neck exposed. The corners of her eyes lifted slightly — a detail that made her look lively and composed at the same time.
Her cheeks held a natural warmth. Like peaches just past ripe.
Everything about her — her posture, the way she held herself even now, injured and slightly flustered — radiated something quietly, undeniably feminine.
Ethan noticed something odd in his own chest.
The exchange just now…
It hadn't felt like an awkward conversation between two people navigating an impossible situation. It had felt — almost without either of them deciding it — like bickering. The comfortable, irritable, slightly charged kind.
And strangely, disturbingly—
He didn't dislike it. Not even a little.
Diana felt it too.
Especially when Ethan had casually remarked on her "good condition" from last night — as though it were a perfectly normal observation to make — it had sent a particular kind of warmth spreading through her that she hadn't entirely managed to suppress. Like standing in front of someone with no walls left. Like being known.
Her heartbeat ticked up, just slightly.
They sat side by side on the hard plastic chairs of the hospital corridor. Neither spoke. Around them, the ordinary sounds of the hospital continued.
Neither of them heard any of it.
The silence between them wasn't empty. It was full — overfull — of things being deliberately not said. Like two people with their hands behind their backs, trading invisible blows that no one else in the room could see.
After a long moment—
Diana reached over and pinched him.
"Hmph."
Her voice was low, carrying the faintest edge of warning beneath the softness.
"Whatever happened — whatever this is — you absolutely cannot let Ashley know. About any of it."
Ethan clicked his tongue.
"Relax." He leaned back. "I don't make a habit of talking nonsense."
He said it easily, almost lazily.
And then — before he'd really thought about it — his hand moved on its own, and he pinched her back.
The moment he did, they both went still.
That had been—
Careless. Familiar. The kind of thing you did without thinking.
Too comfortable.
Diana's face flushed. She raised her hand to her cheek, not quite covering it, and looked away. But underneath the embarrassment, something quieter was spreading, something slightly dangerous that she didn't immediately try to push away.
"…Sigh…"
If only she were a few years younger.
She glanced at him again. Then, as if arriving at a decision, she straightened slightly and said—
"Answer me properly."
Ethan blinked.
"Were you happy last night?"
A direct question. No deflection built into it.
He hadn't expected her to ask again. But this time, something in her tone made him not want to dodge it.
"Happy?" He considered the word honestly. "Of course."
He let a beat pass, then added, quieter—
"But something was missing."
Diana's chest tightened.
The faintest flicker of something not quite hurt, but adjacent to it — crossed her expression.
"What was missing?"
Ethan leaned slightly toward her. His voice dropped.
"You held back the whole time."
"…?"
"In the car. You didn't make a sound."
The silence that followed lasted about half a second.
Then Diana's face went completely, thoroughly red.
"So that's what you meant…"
She bit the inside of her lip. Then, dropping her voice to something barely above a murmur—
"…Then next time… we'll find somewhere more appropriate."
The meaning was plain.
Ethan understood it exactly.
For a moment, their eyes met and something passed between them.
Then both of them smiled, almost simultaneously.
"You really are a bad aunt."
He reached out and touched her hair lightly — just once.
Diana didn't pull away.
Instead she tilted slightly toward him, her voice dropping into something soft and teasing—
"Auntie is bad… so what?" A small, unhurried smile. "Are you going to do something about it?"
Then, almost as an afterthought, her voice softening further—
"Last night… I was satisfied." She paused. "After my breakup in college, I hadn't… for a long time."
She left it there, unfinished. Then she gave him a sideways look with something knowing in it.
"But don't you dare pretend to be innocent. You weren't exactly inexperienced either."
Ethan laughed — genuinely, quietly.
"Alright. No pretending."
"We both know what we know."
He flicked her forehead lightly.
"I know your limits. You know mine."
Diana smiled. A real one this time — unhurried, unguarded, lit from somewhere inside.
"Yes." Her voice was easy. "We understand each other."
It was a simple thing to say. But it landed somewhere unexpectedly solid.
The atmosphere between them shifted — or perhaps had been shifting for a while, so gradually that neither of them had noticed until now. The air felt different. Closer. The ordinary hospital noise seemed to recede another degree.
Ethan raised a hand.
"Stop."
"We should stop."
Diana tilted her head, amused.
"If we keep going," he said, "something is going to happen."
Ashley appeared at the end of the corridor, slightly breathless.
"Mom! Our number's almost up — they'll call us soon. Come on."
"Okay." Diana made to stand—
And immediately her face tightened. Her foot had other ideas.
"I'll do it."
Ethan was already crouching in front of her before she could object.
She wrapped her arms around his neck without protest this time. The resistance from earlier — the stiffness, the careful deliberate distance — was mostly gone.
What replaced it was something quieter. More settled.
Ethan stood and carried her forward.
He was acutely, inconveniently aware of everything — the warmth of her, the soft sound of her breathing, the faint rhythm he could feel pressed against his back. He focused on the corridor ahead and told himself, firmly, to calm down.
He did not entirely succeed.
The doctor's examination was brief and mercifully routine.
"Minor sprain. We'll do a scan to be thorough."
The scan results came back clean.
"No bone damage. Some bruising, that's all. Apply the ointment consistently and you'll recover quickly. You can try putting weight on it now — gentle movement actually helps."
All three of them exhaled.
On the way out, Ethan supported Diana rather than carrying her — one arm steady at her side, her hand resting on his. Ashley went ahead to the pharmacy.
By the time they got back to the apartment, the sky had gone soft and orange with early evening.
Ethan helped Diana settle back onto the sofa.
She glanced at Ashley, who was still unwrapping the medicine packaging.
"Take Ethan out for dinner," Diana said. "He helped so much today. It's the least we can do."
Her eyes moved briefly to Ethan as she said it. The corner of her mouth curved — just slightly.
"No need, Auntie. Really." He waved a hand. "I'll just head home."
"Mom," Ashley said, not looking up, "you haven't eaten either." She stood, tucking the medicine under her arm. "I'll go pick something up from nearby. Something easy. You two wait here — I won't be long."
She grabbed her bag and money from the counter and was out the door before either of them could respond.
The door clicked shut.
Silence moved in.
It was a different kind of silence from before — not the careful, public kind of the hospital corridor, but something softer. More private. The apartment was dim and warm and quiet, and there was no one else in it.
Diana spoke first.
"Little man." Her voice was unhurried. "Help Auntie put the medicine on."
Ethan smirked.
"Oh? The bad aunt needs my help now?"
"Mm." She smiled, completely unruffled. "Of course she does." She tilted her head slightly. "Come here."
He pulled the chair over and sat in front of her. Opened the ointment. Took her ankle carefully in both hands.
His fingers moved slowly — pressing gently along the swollen skin, working the ointment in with small, careful circles.
Diana's breath caught. Her brows knit together, just slightly, and she bit her lip against the sting.
Ethan kept his movements steady, unhurried, deliberate.
The room was very quiet.
The ambiguous aura is getting stronger and stronger.
Ethan felt hot all over his body, and his body began to react, and it happened that Diana happened to look down at this time and saw Ethan's small tent erected at a glance.
She smiled and said, "You're really a little villain, giggling~.
Ethan didn't hide it, and got up directly to wash his hands. After washing back, Diana jump into his arms, her eyes were drawn, and she kissed Ethan directly on the mouth.
There are some advance chapters ahead in my Patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
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