Take My Breath Away

Evelyn adjusted her clothes and said nothing.

Sheffield walked over to his desk and dug into the shopping bag sitting there. There was a pen inside. An expensive one, made of gold, encrusted with precious resin.

He then kissed the brand-new pen and winked at Evelyn. "I love it! A gift from Evelyn! I'll treasure it as long as I live. If the pen is lost, so am I."

"Shut up!" she laughed. Evelyn was not in the mood for his jokes.

Sheffield corrected himself immediately, "Seriously, it's a great gift. Thanks. And if I lose it, you can buy me a new one."

Evelyn didn't want to talk to him anymore. She grabbed her purse and made her way to the door.

Sheffield ran after her and stretched out his arms to block her way. "Baby, can you wait? I need to change."

"No!" Evelyn refused but stopped.

Sheffield giggled and said, "Come on! My belly thinks my throat's been cut. I'm starving!" He ran to his wardrobe and opened it to take out his coat.

Watching him hang up the clothes, Evelyn asked, "So how did the surgery go? You were in there for awhile."

After hanging his coat in the crook of his arm, he closed the wardrobe and walked towards her. He put his arms around her waist and kissed her on the lips. "Thanks for asking, wife of mine. It went well."

Hearing that, Evelyn was relieved. But at the same time, the gloom on her face returned. "I'm warning you..."

"What?"

"Quit calling me your wife." She rolled her eyes at him, pulled his hands off her waist, and turned around to leave.

"Yes! Miss Huo! I will never call you 'wife' again, I will call you 'honey' instead!"

She turned around suddenly and grabbed his ear tightly, leaving no time for his response. "You don't listen too well, do you?"

His ear grabbed by her, Sheffield cried in an exaggerated way. "Aah! It hurts! Uncle! Uncle! Let go, okay?"

An exaggerated reaction, to be sure. But still, he put up such a fuss that Evelyn wondered if she was really pulling that hard. "Are you going to listen, then?"

"Yes." She had tamed him, for awhile at least.

Evelyn didn't expect him to give in so quickly. Seeing him nod obediently, she wanted to laugh.

Before going out, Evelyn reminded him, "You need to stay put for a couple minutes while I go out to the car."

Puzzled, he asked, "Why?"

Evelyn coughed and said, "I'll get in the car, and then you can come out. I don't want people talking about us." She knew it was unnecessary, but she hadn't been mentally prepared to show up together with him and meet his colleagues.

Sheffield clutched his heart. "Come on, baby, you're breaking my heart."

Evelyn knew it wasn't fair to him, so she paused, stood on tiptoe, and gave him a kiss.

Her lips lightly swept over his, but it was enough to fill his heart with joy.

He immediately pulled Evelyn into his arms and pressed her against the door. "You can only convince me like this." After saying that, he kissed her on the lips, his own lips lingering and passionate.

By the time Sheffield came out of the hospital, Evelyn was already in the car. Tayson was in the driver's seat.

They were supposed to meet at the supermarket near Sheffield's apartment complex. Then they would pick out the foods they wanted, and Sheffield would cook.

Sheffield arrived first. It started raining right when he pulled in.

After stopping Evelyn's car, Tayson opened the trunk to grab an umbrella. When he came back, Sheffield had already opened the door for Evelyn, umbrella in hand.

Evelyn looked at Tayson and was about to take the umbrella, but Sheffield said, "It's not raining heavily. This umbrella is big enough for the two of us."

Evelyn didn't agree. "You kidding? Look at it coming down out there. We need a second one." She took the umbrella from Tayson and turned to the supermarket.

After looking at his umbrella and Evelyn's receding figure, Sheffield gave the umbrella to Tayson. "Here. Don't say I never got you anything!" Then he jogged to keep up with the woman in front of him.

Tayson had no choice but to hold the umbrella.

Evelyn was still walking when Sheffield came up behind her, giving her a backhug. He took her umbrella.

She glanced at the man who was holding her tightly. "I thought we agreed on two. What happened to yours?"

Afraid that she might get cold, he wrapped her in his coat. "It's broken!"

'Broken? Wasn't he holding it just now? Broken so soon?' Evelyn turned to look at Tayson. But she could see nothing as Sheffield stood in her way. All she saw was his chest in a sky blue shirt.

He also warned her playfully, "Watch out for the puddles."

Evelyn was rendered speechless. There was no way his umbrella was broken.

When they arrived at the entrance of the supermarket, half of Sheffield's body was sopping wet, while there wasn't a single drop of rain on Evelyn.

She brushed the water from his shoulders and rebuked in a soft voice, "I told you we needed two umbrellas. You're all wet."

Putting away the umbrella, Sheffield pecked on her lips. "It's no big deal. It doesn't matter as long as you're dry. It's freezing out here. Let's go inside."

Evelyn entered the supermarket with him.

After they left the supermarket, the two went directly to Sheffield's apartment.

They put away the food together. Then he held Evelyn by the table and said with a cunning smile, "Honey, I'll cook you kung pao chicken if you kiss me on the cheek, and braised pork ribs with plums for a kiss on the lips."

Evelyn pinched his face and said, "I'll just go hungry, thanks."

Then he took a plum from his pocket, looked at it and thought for a while before he said, "I have a plum right here! If you want to eat it by yourself, my price is a kiss. Otherwise, I'll feed you, and help myself to some as well."

Rolling her eyes, Evelyn said, "You want to take advantage of me, huh?"

"Guilty as charged, Miss Huo. But... " Then he popped the plum into his mouth and said, "I just changed my mind. Let me feed you."

Again, he kissed her and transferred the plum to Evelyn's mouth.

When Sheffield walked towards the kitchen, Evelyn said worriedly, "Maybe I should cook." He had been operating on a patient for a whole day. He was probably tired, and so she wanted to cook.

"Can you cook?" asked Sheffield, raising his eyebrows.

Evelyn was stumped. She couldn't.

Honestly speaking, she knew nothing about cooking and had never touched an oven or cooker or anything else. She always had someone else do it.

Feeling her embarrassment, he smiled, "All right. There're snacks on the living room table. Just grab some."

On the table in the living room there were piles of little snack items. Many of them Evelyn had never seen before.

In order to take care of her body, she used to turn down snacks. She even hadn't eaten dried fruit.