I lowered my eyes, too guilty to look at him.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this."

He said, "It's okay. I volunteered."

His tone was calm, showing no signs of blame or unhappiness.

The calmer he was, the worse I felt. I almost wished he would scold me a little.

How could someone be so kind?

I called the front desk to ask if there were any available rooms, but there were none.

Every day, new arrivals were brought in for quarantine.

I feel powerless.

The only thing I could do now was to keep my distance from Brandon as much as possible.

I thought about sleeping in the living room while Brandon took the bedroom, trying to avoid opening doors as much as I could.

He disagreed, saying, "You're running a fever, and your immunity is low. Sleeping in the living room will just make it worse."

The hotel sent over some fever-reducing medicine, but it was just "the flu," and I had to rely on the medication to recover.

I patted my chest and assured him, "I've always had strong immunity. I don't need medicine for a fever; a good sleep will do. Don't worry!"

His eyes were filled with doubt, as if asking, “Then why are you sick now?”

I felt resentful. I had squeezed onto subways and eaten street food while studying abroad for over two years without a hitch, and I even had a nucleic acid test before entering the country. Who could have predicted this?

"Anyway, I'm sleeping on the couch. We need to keep our distance."

After saying that, I held my breath and quickly ran into the bedroom to pull out my suitcase.

I put on my down jacket, wrapped it tightly around me, and flopped down on the couch.

"Don't even think about it; the couch is mine!"

Brandon silently watched my series of actions and sighed.

He stood up, walked out of the bedroom, and approached me.

He drew closer, and I shouted at him, "Don't come over! I'm a giant virus factory right now!"

He ignored me and stood beside the couch, looking down at me.

I blinked.

"You sleep in the bedroom."

Before I could react, he bent down, reached out.

Before I could react, he effortlessly scooped me up, carrying me toward the bedroom.

……

I was like, what the hell?

If it weren't for the heavy down jacket I was wearing and the fact that we both had on N95 masks, this could have been a pretty romantic scene.

I wasn't sure if it was the fever or something else, but my heart was racing.

He placed me on the bed, and just as I was about to sit up, he said, "Do you want me to carry you again?"

I felt my face flush and shook my head vigorously.

"You can close the door."

"Okay."

His face gradually disappeared behind the door. I whispered, "Thank you."

His hand paused for a moment on the door, "You're welcome."

……

In the middle of the night, I started burning up with a fever, my whole body ached, making it impossible to sleep.

I took a dose of painkiller, which only helped a little, and the fever continued.

It was nothing like the easy recovery people talked about online; I felt miserable, as if I were on the brink of death.

I also started coughing. Thinking about Brandon sleeping outside, I covered my mouth, trying my best to stifle the sounds.

I ran out of water on the bedside table, but I didn't dare to go out to refill it.

Not long after, Brandon knocked on the door.

"Do you need water?"

As soon as I opened my mouth, I started coughing, my throat hoarse: "...Yes."

He opened the door and came in, taking my water bottle.

The hotel provided bottled water, but without a water dispenser, I had to use a manual pump, making it a hassle every time I needed water.

I turned over to check my phone; it was 3 AM.

Brandon was boiling water for me.

"I ordered throat lozenges; the hotel should be able to deliver them tomorrow. Hang in there for now."

His calm voice sounded so gentle to me.

That it made my eyes suddenly well up with tears.

He returned to the bedroom and said, "Have some warm water."

I wanted to say many "thank you", but I felt they would be too feeble.

I was burning up and in a daze, but I took the water and began to urge him to leave.

"Sorry, I've really caused you trouble. You should leave quickly, don't let me infect you."

I rambled on, saying many things, many of which I can't remember. "If I survive this, I'll offer myself to you after you leave..."

Brandon chuckled, "The probability of you offering yourself is way too high."

He comforted me, "Don't think too much about it. Have a good rest."

After that, I had a dream. I dreamt that Brandon was still the prince of Candyland, but because I had bitten him last time, leaving a wound, he fell ill and couldn't get out of bed.

I was scared awake.

When I woke up, I realized it was the landline that had woken me up.

I was still pondering whether the dream was some sort of prediction, whether Brandon would be infected by me, as I answered the phone.

The receptionist emotionlessly informed me, "The latest entry quarantine regulations have been released, and centralized quarantine is no longer required."

"You can go home now."

I was at a loss for a while.

My still-burning brain couldn't catch up. Brandon asked from behind the door, "What's wrong?"

I was still burning up.

But the hotel said that I could go home?

Originally, I had planned to stay at the hotel until I tested negative.

I had been afraid to let my family know I was sick.

I wanted to transfer the remaining room fee to Brandon and ask him to go home quickly.

But not only did he refuse to take the money, he also said, "I'll stay."

I was at a loss for words and blurted out, "You wouldn't... really wait for me to offer myself, would you?"

...

He was obviously speechless.

Then why didn't he leave?

I confirmed it many times and tried to persuade him kindly, but he still didn't intend to leave.

In order to reassure me, he emphasized, "It's not because of you."

But no matter how I thought about it, I felt that he was afraid of leaving me alone here.

The more I thought about it, the more guilty I felt. I decided to have my parents come and take me home.

After contacting my parents, I learned that a large number of people had fallen ill outside, and people like me had become the majority.

Before leaving, I wanted to ask Brandon for a way to contact him, but I felt embarrassed.

Our meeting had been so sudden, and our parting was just as abrupt.

But I should have been an unfortunate and unpleasant episode in his life.

When saying goodbye, I sincerely thanked him.

"Thank you, and I'm sorry! I hope you won't encounter unreliable people like me in the future."

He was stunned for a moment. Without waiting for his response, I armed myself with my suitcase and left the room.

……

Young people have good resistance, and within a week, I was back on my feet.

Perhaps due to good protection, my family members were also fine.

Seeing me idling around, my mother asked me to go to the supermarket to buy some groceries.

Seeing the throat lozenges on the shelf, I thought of Brandon.

I thought of the medicine he bought for me but didn't deliver, wondering if he was doing well and if he had fallen ill.

So when he suddenly appeared in front of me, I thought it was my own hallucination and slapped myself twice.

Brandon was taken aback when he saw me and was about to come towards me, but then he stopped when he saw me like that.

I didn't know what to say.

He didn't know what to say, either.

After a moment of awkward silence, he spoke first, "Hello."

Embarrassed, I waved at him and said, "Hi!"

He was out shopping for groceries too, and we pushed our carts while chatting.

I asked, "So, did you end up with a fever?"

"No, I guess my immune system is pretty strong, or maybe I was asymptomatic."

I sighed in relief. "That's good. Otherwise, I would feel terrible…"

He shook his head. "It's already happened. Not to mention where you might have caught it from, even if you did pass it to me, I wouldn't feel anything."

I let out a sigh, thinking he was quite the saint. "I really appreciate you. You even stayed to take care of me instead of leaving."

His expression suddenly turned strange.

I was confused.

"Actually I was worried about carrying the virus and affecting my parents."

I was speechless, feeling a deep sense of shame. I wished I could just disappear into a hole right then and there.

He continued, "I was afraid that you would feel too guilty at that time, so I didn't dare to say it."

Gratitude welled up inside me, but before I could express it, I heard someone call his name.

"Brandon?"

It was a well-maintained middle-aged woman, her eyes and nose resembling Brandon's quite a bit.

I guessed it was his mother.

I noticed his mom sneaking glances at me, so I smiled at her politely.

"And who is she?"

"Sarah Johnson…" Brandon hesitated, seemingly trying to figure out how to introduce me.

Just as I was about to explain, someone interrupted the awkward moment.

That person seemed to be a friend of Brandon's mom Abby, and they exchanged pleasantries for a bit.

Then she suddenly said, "You're so lucky! Your son and daughter-in-law are both so good-looking."

Abby was stunned. "Daughter-in-law?"

"Yeah! I saw them together at the hotel before. They were in the same room, aren't they a couple?!"

Abby looked over with a smile, "Oh, I didn't know that!"

I stood there stiffly, hesitating over whether to tell the truth.

But no matter how I explained, I'd probably be seen as a weirdo.

It would be a total embarrassment, and I might even get reported for violating health regulations or something.

I silently repeated "honesty and law-abiding," ready to bite the bullet and reveal the truth.

But to my surprise, Brandon took my hand. "I didn't say anything because I was afraid to feel pressured to get married."

"We've only been dating for two months," he added.

WHAT!!! Can someone please tell me what's happening right now? I thought.

I maintained an awkward yet polite smile, scratching Brandon's palm lightly.

He lowered his head to look at me.

I tried to convey my confusion through my eyes: "What's going on, dude?"

I couldn't tell if he understood, but his gaze was very firm.

"You came back together?"

"Yes, she has just graduated," Brandon responded calmly.

We had chatted a bit and exchanged some basic information during our quarantine.

Abby didn't suspect a thing. "I see."

"Mom, I'll take her shopping for a while and come back later."

Abby smiled, her eyes squinting with delight. "Alright, go on, go on."

As Brandon pulled me away, he let go of my hand once we were out of sight of them.

I glanced at my empty hand, feeling a strange sense of loss.

"I'm sorry." He said.

He frowned, looking a bit troubled.

I felt troubled too.

"So, how should I understand the current situation?"

Brandon pressed his attractive lips into a thin line, pausing for a moment.

Then he asked, with uncertainty in his voice, "Can you be my girlfriend?"