CHAPTER 376: CHAPTER 376: IT TURNS OUT TO BE HIM

The man jumped in fright and quickly withdrew his outstretched hand. "Are you... okay?"

Snow was still falling from the sky, and there were no streetlights around. Ruby Sullivan slowly lifted her head; the faint daylight wasn’t enough to let her clearly see the man’s face, only that he was wearing glasses. She took a deep, calming breath and saw that he had a laptop bag slung over his shoulder, which made her feel somewhat at ease—it probably meant he wasn’t a bad person.

Seeing her stare at him without speaking, the man adjusted his laptop bag. "Can you stand up?"

"I can."

After Ruby Sullivan said that, she tried to stand up again but failed. Seeing the man reach out his hand to her once more, she hesitated for a moment but still held on, managing to stand up almost entirely thanks to his strength.

"Thank you." She stood with effort on one foot, while the sprained foot grew increasingly painful. If she were wearing flats, she might have managed to hobble home, but her heels were eight centimeters high... though they were stable and didn’t tire her feet thanks to their exquisite design, trying to walk on icy ground was practically an impossible task.

In this weather, it wasn’t feasible to take off her boots and walk home barefoot.

She attempted to take a step, exerting a little effort, but the pain made her grimace, nearly causing her to fall again.

The man instinctively wanted to help her again, but seeing her motion to stop him, he withdrew his hand once more. "You have two choices: I can take you home, or you can call your family to pick you up."

"I won’t trouble you. Thanks for earlier; I’ll just call my family." Ruby Sullivan said as she took out her phone, noting the man hadn’t left, which made her feel suspicious once again.

"I’ll wait until your family arrives before I leave. You can’t walk now, and the weather’s terrible. It’s the middle of the night; it’s not safe." The man explained, raising his down jacket’s collar and zipping it to the top, shifting his weight from one foot to the other against the cold.

Ruby Sullivan thought he made some sense, so she directly called Mama Bennett.

Originally, she could have been home around eleven o’clock, but due to the weather, the train was delayed for over three hours. After seeing the delay information, she messaged Mama Bennett, telling her not to wait up.

After finally reaching the station, she waited a long time for a taxi, and even then, they drove much slower than usual.

Ruby Sullivan wasn’t someone who made acquaintances easily. The man was kind-hearted but not very talkative, so they stood in silence, neither of them speaking.

Shortly after, a silhouette appeared under a distant streetlight, walking toward them.

Ruby Sullivan noticed the shape wasn’t Mama Bennett, so she looked away disappointedly, but then she heard the man ask, "Is that your boyfriend?"

She was taken aback and looked again, finding the walking posture somewhat familiar, which made her momentarily incredulous.

Before her thoughts could catch up, the person had already reached her—who else could it be but Ethan Sterling?

"Why are you here?" Ruby Sullivan was surprised—and what was he wearing?

Below, Ethan Sterling wore only a thin pair of dress pants, and above, he had his suit jacket over a cashmere sweater. Mama Bennett had insisted he wear her down jacket, fearing he’d freeze to death; fortunately, Mama Bennett was somewhat stocky, and though the down jacket wasn’t tight on him, it still looked odd.

Ethan Sterling ignored her shocked gaze, unwilling to explain his presence. He turned around and lowered his back, saying, "Hop on."

Though the man hadn’t received an answer, he figured the other must indeed be her boyfriend. "I’m leaving, bye."

"Oh, thank you." Ruby Sullivan suddenly realized there was another person beside her and felt a bit embarrassed.

The man chuckled, "You’re welcome." He said and then jogged away, seemingly because he had had enough of the cold.

In truth, Ruby Sullivan was already numb from the cold, gingerly leaning onto Ethan Sterling’s back, unsure how to lift herself up. Frustrated, she gave him a light slap and frowned, "Just help me walk home."

Ethan Sterling felt his blood had frozen solid. Her nagging annoyed him a bit; he turned to look at her. "How am I supposed to help you with those shoes? We might not get home before daylight, and there’s a chance we’ll both end up on the ground."

Ruby Sullivan looked up at him, feeling both aggrieved and angry. They stared at each other briefly before she bent over and started taking off her boots.

"What are you doing?" Ethan Sterling was taken aback by her actions.

Ruby Sullivan had thought her feet were frozen stiff. Unexpectedly, hot air emerged when she took them out of the boots. She took a deep breath and decisively planted them on the ground. The biting cold surged from her soles right to her heart—she felt herself going mad.

"Are you crazy!"

She heard Ethan Sterling exclaim in shock, hating such frustratingly perfect harmony.

As if she hadn’t heard, she mechanically unzipped the other boot.

This time Ethan Sterling was truly flustered. In a moment of urgency, he grasped her thighs and lifted her from the ground.

Ruby Sullivan was startled and quickly held onto his shoulders, seeing him striding forward. She anxiously said, "My boots!"

"Buy new ones."

Ruby Sullivan frantically pounded his shoulder, "They’re limited edition!" Seeing him ignored her, she clawed at him, tweaking his ear, "Go back and get them!"

Ethan Sterling found himself exasperated, his ear throbbing painfully, dizzy from her antics, forcing him to turn back.

After much fumbling, Ruby Sullivan donned her boots again, directly lying on Ethan Sterling’s back, muttering, "I don’t dare to jump."

Ethan Sterling was amused by her anger. What was the big deal? She could’ve just said this earlier.

"Wrap your arms around my neck and hold on tight."

Ruby Sullivan clenched both hands tightly, and then he embraced her thighs and lifted her onto his back.

Ever since she injured her abdomen, Ethan Sterling had been careful, refraining from carrying her in a princess-style embrace. Today’s situation proved somewhat inconvenient.

Ruby Sullivan lay on his back, feeling his warm body heat through the down jacket, her trembling body gradually settling down.

She wanted to know why he’d appeared, but felt it was wiser to wait until they got home to ask, given the slippery road and her unwillingness to risk falling again.

Ethan Sterling carried her all the way into the elevator, then into the house before setting her down.

Mama Bennett asked worriedly, "Is it bad? Do you need to go to the ER?"

Ruby Sullivan sat on the bench in the entryway, taking off her boots. "It’s just a sprained ankle. If it’s okay tomorrow, we won’t go to the hospital."

"Prepare a basin of ginger water for her to soak her feet," Ethan Sterling instructed.

"Alright," Owen Fulton quickly went to prepare it.

Ruby Sullivan took off her dirty socks and directly tossed them at the entryway, cautiously moving her foot, noticing it was just some strained tendons, not particularly painful—seemingly much relieved. The intense pain outside probably related to the freezing weather, all her tendons had stiffened.

She put on slippers and was about to get up when Ethan Sterling helped her with her arm.

"I can do it myself." Ruby Sullivan gently withdrew her arm from his hand, testing out her movements as she walked toward the living room. Though limping slightly, it wasn’t impossible to walk.

Ruby Sullivan sat on the sofa, first drinking a cup of ginger tea that Mama Bennett had made. As she warmed up, she coldly questioned Ethan Sterling sitting not far away, "Why are you here?"

"Our daughter said she had a nightmare and couldn’t sleep, missing me. Plus, you weren’t home." He hadn’t initially planned to stay, but unexpectedly while telling stories to their daughter, he inadvertently lulled himself.

Once he heard the sound of Mama Bennett getting up to open the door, she was already waiting for the elevator. He called out to her and ended up going instead.

"You can go now." Ruby Sullivan looked down at her foot soaking in the water basin, speaking without mercy.