30 Days of Passion and Revenge-Chapter 298: Lily’s Unwavering Care

"Ethan, wake up! Don’t scare me!" Lily called out, her voice trembling as she lightly slapped his face. Her palms could feel the searing heat radiating from his skin.

This time, Ethan didn’t wake up. His head rested heavily against her shoulder, his eyes tightly shut, and even his breath felt scorching hot.

She needed to find a doctor immediately.

Summoning all her strength, Lily managed to lift Ethan off the ground. Though he was lean, his height—well over six feet—made it almost impossible for her to move him without nearly collapsing herself.

Gritting her teeth, Lily dragged Ethan to the sofa, struggling under his weight. The couch was too small to accommodate him fully, leaving his long legs bent awkwardly.

Lily hurried to the bathroom, finding a seemingly unused towel in the cabinet. Wetting it with cold water, she folded it and placed it on Ethan’s burning forehead.

There wasn’t any medicine in the house.

Determined, Lily rushed out of the apartment. She navigated the streets of Skid Row until she found a private clinic and paid an exorbitant fee for a house call.

When the doctor followed her into the building, his expression was disbelief. "Miss, are you sure the patient you want me to see lives here?!"

She swiftly swiped her card for the payment, yet the patient stayed in this run-down, dilapidated building.

"Yes, please hurry," Lily urged, growing increasingly anxious as the doctor cautiously climbed the stairs as if fearing the entire building might collapse beneath his feet.

"His fever is extremely high," the doctor muttered, frowning as he prepared the IV equipment.

Lily stepped into the only bedroom and began clearing the bed. She threw the old bedding into a corner, not wanting to imagine what that young couple might have done to it.

She opened the wardrobe and found a clean set of bedding, which she spread over the bed. Though the blankets smelled slightly musty from lack of sunlight, they were better than the old ones and at least appeared clean.

"Please help me move him to the bed so we can start the IV," Lily said to the doctor after tidying up. With the doctor’s assistance, they transferred Ethan to the bed.

Lily removed his shoes and noticed how small the bed was; it wasn’t long enough to accommodate his height, leaving his feet sticking out.

How had he slept here before?

With his broad frame lying on the bed, hardly any space was left.

Lily covered him with the blanket and watched as the doctor inserted the IV needle into his hand. Ethan’s brows furrowed, and his lips parted slightly as he murmured, "Lily..."

His voice, though faint, sent a ripple through her heart.

Lily’s chest tightened with emotion.

"Here are the medications. Some are for before meals, and others are for after. Make sure to follow the instructions. If his fever hasn’t subsided by tomorrow morning, bring him to the hospital for further treatment," the doctor instructed, handing her the prescriptions.

"Thank you, doctor."

Lily expressed her gratitude, but the doctor hurriedly packed up and left, his earlier cautious demeanor replaced by a frantic urgency as though the building might collapse.

As Lily closed the door behind him, she caught sight of the neighbor across the hall. A middle-aged woman, likely in her forties or fifties, tossed a trash bag into the stairwell. She glanced at Lily and asked, "Are you new here?"

"..." Lily didn’t respond verbally but nodded politely.

"Don’t let anyone fool you. Don’t stay in that unit—it’s haunted. Someone died there." With that, the woman slammed her door shut before Lily could reply.

Lily quietly shut the door.

This was the environment Ethan had grown up in... nothing like what she had imagined.

She turned and took a closer look around the apartment. The living room was tiny, and the entire apartment was smaller than one of the bathrooms in the Blackwood family’s current mansion.

Lily noticed a makeshift bookshelf nailed with wooden planks in the cramped living room above the sofa. It held a collection of books, primarily middle and high school textbooks.

She pulled out one of the books and flipped through it. It was clear Ethan hadn’t been much of a reader—one of the key textbooks looked as pristine as the day it was printed, despite the years that had passed.

The only mark inside was his name, "Ethan Blackwood," written neatly on the first page. There wasn’t a single note or annotation anywhere else.

Had he spent his school days sleeping in class?

This was Ethan’s childhood home, and it was also in this city.

Lily recalled the first time she had met Ethan. He had called her name with such disdain and mockery in his eyes. Even now, she could remember it vividly.

Was it because their hometowns were in the same city that he had known her name?

But why didn’t she have any memory of him?

She had never even set foot on Skid Row before. How could Ethan have known her?

Had their paths crossed in some way she had forgotten?

With a face as striking as his, there was no way she would have forgotten meeting him...

Especially since nine years ago, she had already moved to the city, and he had been brought back to the Blackwood family. She had changed so much in those nine years—how could he have remembered her?

What was the connection?

She noticed a soccer ball in the corner of the room. Did Ethan used to enjoy playing soccer?

This small apartment was filled with traces of Ethan’s past life.

Lily suddenly began to understand why Ethan had returned to the Blackwood family all those years ago. The harsh environment here must have made it nearly impossible for him to thrive. The bookshelf didn’t even hold any extracurricular books.

The living room was sparsely furnished. Besides the sofa, there was a small dining table, and a cluttered cabinet across from it held a tiny television.

Comparing this to Ethan’s current life of luxury, Lily found it hard to imagine how he had lived before.

The bathroom doubled as a small kitchen. The gas stove was a single burner, and the containers for oil, salt, and condiments were empty, sitting there as though untouched.

Ethan must have instructed whoever cleaned the apartment not to alter its original layout.

Lily boiled some water and poured it into a thermos before returning to the bedroom. Ethan was still asleep, occasionally murmuring her name, "Lily..."

Lily picked up the now-warm towel from his forehead and replaced it with a freshly cooled one.

How had his fever gotten this bad?

Hadn’t he been living so carefree the past few days? How could he have fallen so ill?

Lily sat on a chair by the bed, watching over him.

"Lily..." he murmured her name again.

The same man who had repeatedly told her he no longer loved her, who had declared their breakup, was now calling her name in his sleep.

"I’m here," Lily whispered softly in response. But Ethan didn’t say anything more, sinking back into deep sleep. Occasionally, he would call her name again...

Each time he mumbled her name, his brow would furrow if she didn’t respond. And each time she replied, his brow would relax.

Lily watched as the IV slowly finished. She put on gloves and carefully removed the needle, pressing a piece of gauze over the injection site and securing it with medical tape to prevent bleeding.

Time ticked by. Lily kept changing the towel on Ethan’s forehead and monitoring his fever.

By midnight, Ethan began to sweat. He frowned as he tried to kick off the blanket. Lily would pull it back over him, only for him to push it off again. She repeated the process, exhausted but refusing to let herself fall asleep.

Ethan was sweating so much that his shirt was soaked through.

By dawn, his fever finally broke. Lily let out a sigh of relief.

"Lily," he murmured again.

"I’m here," Lily replied, jolted awake from almost dozing off.

How had she never known he liked saying her name so much? Was it just because of the fever? Lily leaned closer to his face. "Lily, do you love me?"

Silence was the only answer.

Even in his sleep and fevered dreams, she couldn’t get a clear answer from him. The ambiguity was endless.

Ethan slept for a long time until daylight. Lily took the bedding to the small balcony to air it out, trying to rid it of its musty smell.

When she returned, she took a damp towel and wiped him down, cleaning the sweat from his face.

She unbuttoned his shirt to wipe his chest when her hand was grabbed.

Lily looked down to see Ethan staring straight at her, his dark eyes sharp and penetrating. "Lily, are you taking advantage of me?"

Taking advantage? 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Who would want to take advantage of a man drenched in sweat?!

Was he overthinking this?

"You’ve sweat too much," Lily said, pausing as she tried to pull her hand away.

Ethan quickly lifted his other hand to grab her waist, pulling her onto him. He tilted his head as if about to kiss her, his eyes burning with intensity. The towel on his forehead fell off as his movements froze, and a sudden clarity washed over his face.

He stopped.

Seeing this, Lily leaned down to kiss him, but Ethan turned his head abruptly, and her lips landed on his cheek instead.

A sharp pain sliced through her heart.

His sudden changes always caught her off guard.

"I’m taking a shower," Ethan said coldly, avoiding her gaze. He pushed her off him, leaped out of bed, and headed for the door.