My First Love Died, Now My Step Uncle Wants Me-Chapter 46: Eating Habits
Three days later, Nina Wynn was transferred to a regular hospital ward.
The spacious room contained only one bed, much larger than a standard hospital bed. An air purifier ran intermittently around the clock, and fresh white roses were placed on the windowsill and by the headboard.
Everything seemed quiet and peaceful.
Caleb Rhodes brought over some freshly made millet congee and fed it to Nina Wynn, one spoonful at a time.
Nina Wynn was propped up in bed, an IV needle in her hand and a large bag of fluid hanging above her head.
After so many days of only receiving intravenous fluids, her stomach had shrunk, and she felt full after just a few mouthfuls of the congee.
She truly couldn’t eat anymore. "Uncle," she said softly, "I can’t eat another bite."
Her energy levels had been low the past few days, and she spent far more time asleep than awake. Now, after a few bites of congee, she felt exhausted again.
By the time Caleb Rhodes had put the things away, she was already asleep, leaning against the pillow.
She had lost a lot of weight these past few days, making her look even more petite than before. Her already small face was now so tiny he could cover it completely with his palm.
Perhaps she wasn’t sleeping soundly. Her long, thick, curled eyelashes trembled nonstop, just like the fluttering wings of a butterfly.
Caleb Rhodes narrowed his eyes and reached out to touch them.
Just as he’d expected, they were impossibly soft.
Then, the slightly rough pad of his finger slid along her delicate cheek, leaving a faint red mark in its wake.
He was quite satisfied. He liked seeing this kind of mark left on her.
He was a frighteningly territorial man. Anything he considered his had to be branded with his mark.
This applied to objects, and it applied to people.
Moreover, he had another trait: anything he’d touched, he would rather destroy than let anyone else have.
This applied to objects, and it applied to people.
When he stepped out of the ward, Willson Lawson was already there, having waited for a long time.
He lowered his voice. "Third Lord Master, the Joyce Family has started another media offensive. They’ve posted some fake videos online to slander Miss Wynn."
Caleb Rhodes’s expression turned terrifyingly cold. "How is the data collection on the Joyce Family coming along?"
Willson Lawson replied, "We’ve gathered almost everything on Chloe Joyce, and we’re still collecting information on the others. Also, we’ve made contact with Dustin Joyce’s illegitimate son. The Joyce Family will crumble very soon."
The chill in Caleb Rhodes’s eyes was bone-deep. "The Joyce Family... every single one of them will pay with their lives!"
「Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, the cool of autumn had arrived.」
Nina Wynn had been in the hospital for nearly two months and felt like she was going stir-crazy. She always wanted to go down for a walk, but she wasn’t allowed, so she could only lean against the window and stare blankly outside.
The autumn scenery in Elysian City was beautiful—vibrant with color and breathtaking to behold.
After watching for a while, Nina Wynn had the butler move her easel out onto the balcony and began to paint the large banyan tree outside.
These days, Caleb Rhodes had taken away her phone and wouldn’t let her use a computer. The only way she could pass the time was by painting.
Once she had recovered enough to walk around a bit, Caleb Rhodes had moved her to a different room.
It was a huge ward connected to a spacious balcony filled with flowers and plants, and it even had a small fountain.
Directly across from the balcony stood a large, leafy banyan tree. It had not only blocked the scorching heat during the hottest days but also added a touch of life to the autumn season.
She painted for a while but was ultimately dissatisfied, so she tore the paper off the easel. She started again, was still not happy with it, and tore that one off too. Finally, she gave up and began sketching Caleb Rhodes from memory.
He had sharp, sword-like eyebrows, slightly narrow eyes, a perfectly straight nose, thin lips, and an enviably sharp jawline.
This wasn’t actually the first time she had secretly drawn him, but no matter how she tried, she felt she couldn’t capture even a tenth of the real Caleb Rhodes’s presence.
Especially his eyes. They were cold, deep, and so dark they seemed to have a powerful magnetic pull. Just thinking about them felt like being sucked in, destined to fall into a bottomless abyss.
She was only halfway through when a cold voice, as if it had been soaked in ice water, sounded from behind her. "Is that me you’re drawing?"
Nina Wynn jumped, frantically tearing the drawing off and hiding it behind her back.
But as soon as she hid it, she realized Caleb Rhodes was standing right behind her. She quickly turned back around, her head bowed, not daring to look up at him like a schoolgirl who had done something wrong.
Her voice was soft and small, laced with a hint of panic. "Uncle, you... why aren’t you at work...?"
Caleb Rhodes glanced at her soft lips before bending down to pick up the crumpled ball of paper from the floor. As he unfolded it, his gaze softened considerably.
"It’s well-drawn. Better looking than me in person."
Nina Wynn kept her little head down, not daring to look at him.
But after two months of being personally cared for by Caleb Rhodes, she wasn’t as afraid of him as she used to be. After a moment’s thought, she couldn’t help but whisper, "You’re better looking in person."
She was being sincere. Putting all else aside, Caleb Rhodes’s good looks were undeniable.
And he wasn’t just ordinarily handsome; he possessed a kind of beauty that could charm countless men and women alike—so handsome that even knowing the immense danger, people would still be drawn to him like a moth to a flame.
Although he didn’t care much about his appearance, her words still brought Caleb Rhodes a sense of pleasure.
With a swift motion, he scooped her into his arms. The pad of his finger pressed against her tender lips, stroking them slowly. "The butler said you barely ate anything for lunch today. Are you tired of fish congee?"
Over the past two months, Nina Wynn’s eating habits had gradually been revealed.
She was actually quite a picky eater, and the extent of her pickiness was determined by the food’s appearance.
For example, she preferred vegetables with tender leaves over those with only stems and fruits with beautiful skins over those with rough ones.
She hardly ate meat, especially red meat. If the meat was even a little dark in color one day, she wouldn’t touch it at all.
Everything was decided by the food’s appearance, color, and looks.
But after a major illness, one needed to eat a lot of nutritious food to replenish the body’s lost energy. Her recovery would be slow if she didn’t eat meat.
Even with a top-tier nutritionist on call 24/7, the first few days were truly worrying.
The food that was brought to her was sent back almost untouched. The nutritionist was replaced several days in a row, and the entire hospital staff, along with Caleb Rhodes’s entourage, were trembling with fear, terrified that they would be the next to be fired.
Then one day, the butler cooked some fish into a mince, simmered it with rice to make a congee, and just before serving, added some beautifully long, thin-cut, vibrant green vegetables. He served it in a fine white porcelain bowl, and when Nina saw it, she actually ate more than half.
This solved a huge problem!
From then on, the fish congee became her lifeline; it was her main course for at least two meals a day.
It was as if Nina Wynn were an extremely picky cub who would only eat fish congee. And so, Caleb Rhodes indulged her, having it made in all sorts of varieties for her every day.
Fortunately, there were many kinds of fish, and sometimes the meat from other seafood could be used as a substitute.
And so, for these past few days, any high-end seafood in Elysian City with a name, no matter how expensive, could be found at Caleb Rhodes’s courtyard home.
Besides fish, the congee naturally contained other nourishing ingredients. Ginseng and poria were the basics; even items one might see only once in a century appeared quite often.
