The Marriage Contract [Completed]

twelve

Ethan's fever lasted a few days, and despite my many attempts to convince him to visit the doctors, he stubbornly declined.

"Why not? At most, its just an injection," I frowned. "No," Ethan stood his stand. My eyes widened as a thought came to me. "Is it possible that..." I trailed off and a tinge of red appeared on Ethan's cheeks. "No," he said again. I smirked. I was right. This guy was afraid of needles.

"Hey. Can you help me to the living room?" Chuckling to myself, I nodded and helped Ethan to the living room. "I'll go make us some food," I told Ethan after I had helped him to the sofa.

Placing a pan on the lit stove, I placed a pat of butter on it and waited for it to melt before swirling it around. I then poured the instant pancake batter which I had added water into, onto the pan and waited for the bubbles to form before flipping the fluffy goodness to the other side. After using up the remaining batter, my stomach growled at the aroma coming from the stack of pancakes.

"I'm done!" I grinned as I carried two plates of stacked pancakes to the living room and placed Ethan's portion in front of him. His eyes adverted from the television when he saw the plate of food. "Dig in."

After we both finished our food, we made ourselves comfortable on the sofa and watched Netflix.

"H...hey," Ethan called out to me suddenly and I pried my eyes away from the television screen to see him shivering. "Hey...are you okay?" I asked worried as I leaned forward to feel his forehead. "You're burning up again," a frown made its way onto my face. "I'll go get you some blankets," I said before grabbing all the blankets I could find from the apartment.

"Thanks," Ethan mumbled out weakly as I wrapped him up in layers and layers of blankets. "Are you still cold?" I asked him once I was done and he nodded. I could still see him shivering a little.

"What should we do? There's no more blankets. Do you want a cup of hot milk?" I asked him and he shook his head, opening his arms.

I raised my brows at his actions. "Cuddle with me."

"What?" I half-screamed, taken aback by his words. Ethan shrugged and pulled me to him by my arm. "I'm cold," he told me before wrapping his arms around me. My heart skipped a beat at his proximity and I could feel my cheeks getting hot. Ethan's high temperature is not helping the situation as well.

Does he know what he's doing? Is his brain fried from his high fever?

Seeing Ethan expressionless at the entire situation, I could feel my heart slowing down. There's nothing to this. He's just ill.

As that thought invaded my mind, my body relaxed under Ethan's arms and I focused my attention on the television show again.

Halfway through the show, I was reminded of the fact that I had yet to apologize to Ethan for my prank. "Ethan?" I called out to him and he looked down at me. "I'm...sorry," I said guiltily. "For what?" He seems taken aback and clueless as to why I apologized.

"The prank. I went too far. Sorry," I apologized again and he shook his head. "Its okay. I'm sorry for the ball incident too. I didn't hit you on purpose," he explained and I widened my eyes.

Had I really misunderstood him this entire time?

I raised an open palm in front of Ethan and his brows quirked when he saw it. "I say, let's call a truce."

"Deal," he smirked and shook my hand with his warm ones.

Ethan and I spent that afternoon in peace, watching the television and laughing whenever something hilarious came on.

Dinner soon came around and I was relieved when Ethan's fever finally subsided. It was when I left Ethan's arms to go to the kitchen when I realised how comfortable I was in them.

Shaking the thought off, I checked the kitchen to see what ingredient we had left at home. "Shall we have mac and cheese for dinner?" I stepped out of the kitchen and shouted across the room to Ethan who was still laying on the couch. He turned to face me and gave me a nod. Mac and cheese it is then.

I went into the kitchen and boiled some water using the saucepan before grabbing the pack of macaroni from the shelves above me. Cutting a slit at the top of the packet, I tipped some macaroni into the boiling water and cooked it according to the instructions.

As I was about to walk over to the sink to drain the water from the saucepan, I accidentally tripped over my foot. I managed to steady myself in time, but the action sent the saucepan clattering to the ground, and the boiling water scalded my arm.

I grimaced in pain as I felt the burning sensation spread through my arm. "What happened?" I heard Ethan ask as he ran into the kitchen and I looked up to see a worried expression on his face.

"I..." I tried to speak, but the pain was getting unbearable. "Come on, let's get your arm under running water," Ethan said and helped me to the sink. He lifted my arm gently and placed it under the running tap water. The coolness of it helped soothe the pain.

"Hold your hand under the water while I get the first aid kit," he instructed and I nodded.

A few minutes later, Ethan came back with the first aid kit in hand. He carefully dabbed some ointment on the wound after drying it and wrapped it with loose gauze.

"Thanks," I murmured, wincing at the pain. "I'll cook instead, you take a seat," he instructed as he led me to the living room.

I nodded as I looked at his figure retreating back into the kitchen.