Outside, the heavy rain poured down; inside, it was like a gentle drizzle.
Annette stood by the bed holding a flashlight, watching Stuart carry all the pots and pans from around the house and arrange them on the bed, on the floor—there was hardly any place left in the room to sleep.
Stuart looked apologetic: "I didn't fix the roof last autumn, so when it rains heavily, it leaks. Why don't you make do in the outer room for now? When the weather clears up, I'll fix the roof."
Annette glanced at the pots on the bed and said without much thought, "Your bed is so small, it can't fit two people anyway."
Her face instantly flushed bright red. What nonsense was she blabbering?Luckily, it was dark inside, and Stuart couldn't see her embarrassment.
Stuart seemed not to catch her awkwardness, pausing for a moment: "You sleep outside, I'll stay in the dorm."
Annette hugged her quilt and followed Stuart to the outer room. Seeing the heavy rain outside and knowing Stuart still had to get to work, and that it was the middle of the night with no streetlights along the way, she felt reluctant to let him go out in the rain alone.
After a moment's hesitation, she said decisively, "Don't bother going to the dorm. I'll just sleep on the floor."
She put the quilt on the small bed and went to the inner room to get the mattress from under the bed.
When she cleaned the house yesterday, she found a straw mat under the bed, which the original owner had tossed there for being dirty. Now, laying it on the floor was perfectly fine.
Stuart lit a candle and placed it on the cabinet, then watched as Annette dragged out the mattress and went over to help.
"I'll do it," Stuart said. "You sleep on the bed, I'll sleep on the floor."
Annette felt embarrassed. "No, that won't do. You have work tomorrow."
Stuart had already laid the mattress on the floor and rolled out his own quilt to place on the straw mat. "The floor is cold, but I'm used to it. You take the bed."
Unable to argue, Annette went to make the bed and lay down. Only then did she realize she was sharing a room with a man, with less than a meter between them.
This was a completely new experience for her!
The candlelight on the cabinet was faint. The kettle on the stove hissed softly. Outside, the heavy rain hammered down.
The sounds were amplified in the darkness; even the weak candlelight felt harsh to Annette's eyes.
Though it was her own quilt, she could smell a crisp, pleasant scent mixed in the air.
She didn't dare turn over for fear of disturbing Stuart.
Annette felt like she was losing her mind. She'd seen all kinds of situations before, but now she was this nervous?
Maybe because in this unfamiliar world, Stuart was the only person she knew well, so she was shy around him.
Her bones ached from lying still, and she finally had to turn over gently. Turning on her side, she could clearly see Stuart lying flat, his outline blurry in the shadows.
Suddenly her mouth went dry. She carefully swallowed and whispered, "Stuart, are you asleep?"
No answer.
She knew he wasn't asleep. "Stuart, you said we'd go to the city in a few days. How many days is that?"
"Next Monday," Stuart answered briefly.
Annette did the math. Today was Wednesday, so four days until Monday.
There wasn't much she could do in those four days, so she might as well spend the time learning to knit from Martha.
She also wanted to find out if a divorce would really affect Stuart's job, and how to face the original owner's parents when she returned to the city.
After all, the original owner had lived with her parents for twenty years, and such a big change would be easy to spot.
Annette felt a headache just thinking about calling these strangers "mom" and "dad."
The heavy rain showed no signs of stopping.
Spring rains like this were rare.
Just as Annette was drifting off, she sensed movement on the floor. Opening her eyes, she saw Stuart putting on his coat and heading out.
She sat up nervously. "What's going on?"
"There was a strange noise. I'm going to check it out. With the snow melting on the mountains and this heavy rain, landslides are likely," Stuart said quickly, then opened the door and stepped outside.
Annette hurried up, opened the door, and saw Stuart disappear into the rain, wearing a heavy coat.
The wind wrapped the rain around him, making her shiver. She quickly shut the door and went back inside.
Stuart didn't return until dawn.
The rain outside had lessened to a drizzle but was still falling.
Annette wasn't sure if Stuart went straight to work or if the landslide he mentioned really happened.
She searched for an umbrella but found none, so she ran in the rain to use the public restroom.
There was only one public toilet in the compound, in the southeast corner. Inside was a long row of squat toilets with no partitions.
Yesterday, Annette was too shy to use it, but today she had completely adapted.
Early as it was, a queue had formed outside the restroom. Several women chatted gossip under the light rain, not avoiding Annette at all.
"There was a landslide at Clark's Village last night. The whole village got buried."
"That's right, it's awful. A few of us housewives decided we'd go help after breakfast."
"I'm going too. Dr. Shaw was there early this morning as well."
Annette was shocked. She hadn't expected the situation to be so severe!
She immediately thought about whether rescue forces could keep up, whether the medical teams were professional enough. After all, the city was several hours away.
Nearby township hospitals had very limited facilities, probably unable to perform even basic surgeries.
After leaving the restroom, Annette ran home. Her professional instincts kept her from overthinking; she just wanted to help however she could.
After quickly washing her face and putting on a thick coat, she was about to leave when a young man she didn't recognize came running, out of breath.
"Sister-in-law, the captain got injured. He's been sent to the city hospital. The leader told me to come get you."
Annette was startled. "Injured? Is it serious?"
"I don't know. The car's at the gate. Sister-in-law, we should leave now."
Without hesitation, Annette grabbed all her valuables from the cabinet and ran with Song Kyle to the main gate.
A green jeep was already parked there, with a serious-looking middle-aged man sitting in the front passenger seat, worry etched on his face.
On the way, Annette learned the man was Stuart's superior, George Clark. Stuart had been injured by falling rocks during a second landslide while rescuing trapped villagers and was unconscious when rescued.
George gave a brief explanation, then glanced at Annette's pale face and the mist in her beautiful eyes, faintly reddened.
He thought to himself that Annette wasn't completely indifferent to Stuart. Hearing about the injury had upset her so much.
But he was mistaken. Annette was indeed worried, but right now, she felt nauseous from the bumpy ride.
This old jeep was like a bouncing cart, shaking her insides to the core…