The Substitute Bride: Making Memories Of Us (Lois Stone)

Chapter 144: Landlord And Lodger  

Anna cast a cold glance at Linda as she said, "Don't worry, Miss Linda.Let's continue the meeting."

Linda was embarrassed.

Anna thought that she shared a special relationship with Brian, which probably gave her the courage to humiliate Linda in front of so many people.

But Linda wasn't going to take this lying down.She would make Anna pay the price of this humiliation.

The meeting ended in half an hour.

Anna took alli her notes and material for the morning meeting with her.She then bought the abalone porridge and some desserts, along with some of Brian's favorite dishes.

Brian had remained with Ayla, but she showed no signs of waking up from her coma.

The doctor seemed to have tried everything in his arsenal but had come up short.

He looked helpless as he shrugged, indicating that maybe all they could do was wait for her to wake up on her own.

Anna spotted Brian sitting by Ayla's bedside as she entered the ward.

"What's wrong with her?"

Anna asked him as she glanced at Ayla, concerned.

Brian shook his head.

"Nothing serious.Give me the minutes of the morning meeting and you can leave."

"You didn't get any rest last night.You should go get some sleep.I'll stay with her for a while," Anna said, handing him the food and coffee she had bought.

"No, thanks.You can go back to office.I'll stay here with her."

Brian was worried about Ayla.

He couldn't leave her side in this condition.

Anna knew that Brian was a man who, once he made up his mind to do something, would do it, no matter what.

There was nothing she could do to convince him otherwise.

And now that Ayla's condition seemed serious, she had no hope whatsoever.

"Brian, is she okay? She looks seriously ill!"

Ayla had seemed fine yesterday, but was now unconscious and unresponsive, causing concern to seep into Anna's words.

"She will be fine," he said, looking up at Ayla's unconscious form.

Nothing could happen to her.

He wouldn't allow it! So what if she had overdosed? She had once suffered from drug addiction but she was fine now, wasn't sng Ayla had been fine when Brian had first seen her in her studio.

She hadn't looked like a drug addict, despite the fact that she had used them for two years.

Anna didn't say anything.

Instead, she turned around and walked out of the ward, but didn't leave immediately.

She thought Ayla's condition was unusual, and that Brian was keeping something from her.

Later that morning, when Anna returned to the office, she came face to face with Linda.

"Miss Anna, you are fast! Did you leave as soon as the meeting was over to go see Mr.Clark? Why did you come back so soon? Didn't you keep him company? No intention of serving him well?" Linda sneered at Anna.She was itching to retaliate against the embarrassment that Anna had handed her that morning.

In Italy, Linda had been the director of a company and everyone had been obliged to listen to her.

But now, Anna made sure to walk over her at every step, leaving Linda seething.She would not let anyone bully her.

"Ms.Evans hasn't left yet.If you keep wandering around the office without working, know that the Clark Group doesn't pay people for doing nothing,"

Anna shot back.

Anna didn't like Linda's smirk.

Anyone could tell that Linda was here only for Brian and not for the fashion season.

Linda merely smiled, as if the other woman was just a child's joke.

"Don't worry about me, Miss Anna.I believe in myself and my abilities.It's just a few design drafts.Nothing difficult for me."

Saying thus, Linda turned around and left.

As Anna looked at her retreating back, she muttered furiously, "What overconfidence! Doesn't she realize this is my place?"

When Ayla woke up, it was already afternoon.She had been in a coma for more than 10 hours.She opened her eyes, feeling the weight of her drooping eyelids and the weakness plaguing her body.She squinted into the strange white wall in front of her, and last night's events gradually came back to her.

"You're finally awake," Brian said, relieved.

Ayla looked at him, confused.

"Why am I here?"

"You had a high fever last night," he said, sitting down by her side and stretching out a hand to touch her forehead.

Her fever had finally broken.

He had been afraid that she would never wake up and that her fever would drag on for ages.

"I see," Ayla said.

"I'm fine now."

She had seemed to run fevers with increasing frequency over the past few months.Her health was getting worse with each passing day.

"You are fine? Did you know you had such a high fever you were in a coma? Even the doctor was unable to do anything to bring you back,"

Brian barked, irritated with Ayla's complacency.

Ayla sat up gingerly and looked at him, "Why are you so angry? This is normal.Anyone can get a fever."

She had taken herself to the hospital because of the constant high temperatures she had been running.But the doctors hadn't found anything wrong with her I body. Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

"You! How did you survive all these years? Is it because of Lucas that you wanted to live on? And now that I'm with you, you're indifferent to your own health? Is that it?"

If it weren't for the fact that her body was riddled with weakness, Brian would have punished her now.

Ayla looked askance at him and said, "I'm sorry to trouble you again, Mr.Clark."

"Don't talk about trouble!" Brian gritted out angrily.

It felt like Ayla was made to annoy him!

"But I still need to thank you, Mr.Clark," she said, glancing at the box of food at her bedside.

"I'm a little hungry.Did you buy that for me?"

Before she could reach for it, Brian had pulled out another thermal container.

"You've just recovered.Have some porridge first!"

Ayla took the bowl and said, "The abalone porridge smells good."

She didn't want to needle Brian even further.She was just recovering from a bout of fever, which meant that anything she ate felt tasteless to her.

Brian looked knowingly at Ayla.He knew that she meant the exact opposite of what she had said.

After a quick examination, the doctor pronounced her recovery and told them that she could be discharged and could go home.

But Brian insisted that Ayla stay at the hospital.

"Mr.Clark, you are just my boss.You shouldn't care so much for me.Whether to stay here or not is my decision," Ayla said tiredly.

She didn't have the strength to quarrel with Brian, but she also didn't want to stay in the hospital.

He agreed, but on the condition that Ayla should stay with him in his apartment.

"How can I stay in your apartment?" she exclaimed.

"I'm afraid it will cause unnecessary talk and misunderstanding."

If she went to live with him, she would be in his trap, in surroundings that would be under his control.

"A misunderstanding is just a wrong perception.It's not real.But some are facts that can't be changed."

Two years had passed and a lot of people knew about the relationship that Brian and Ayla shared.

It would be stupid of her to want to hide it.

Ayla nodded hesitantly but said, "You are kind, but you must regard it as a rented arrangement for me."

Brian had made the decision, irrespective of whether or not she would accept it.Her condition made sure that Brian was the landlord, and Ayla, the lodger.

The lodger had the right to prevent the landlord from entering her room to disturb her life.

But Ayla was forgetting one small fact: Brian always did what he wanted.