After Ninety-Nine Challenges

Everyone inside the hospital room stared at me with wide, nervous eyes when I came back in.

Seth, who usually kept his cool, looked a bit flustered.

He quickly put out his cigarette.

"Nevaeh, you didn't leave?"

Pretending to be breathless, I said urgently, "Seth, I came back for the snow water.

"It's really important. I need to prepare it for you right away so your legs will get better faster!

"Huh, wasn't it just on the table?"

Seth looked relieved and quickly played along. "Who last saw the miracle drink? Hurry up and find it!"

While I was not looking, someone snatched the drink from the trash can. "Seth, here it is."

I took it with a big smile, looking over at Seth sitting on the bed. "Seth, I'll make you some boiled snow water tonight."

I ignored the way he looked at the dark water, like he wanted to say something but was holding back.

I rolled my eyes when he was not looking and walked out of the room.

Once I was outside the hospital room, my smile faded.

'Seth, you're just too much!' I thought.

My mind drifted back to last year when Seth hurt his legs saving me. I felt so grateful and guilty that I did not think twice about staying with him.

On our first day together, he complained about leg pain and sent me to find a traditional remedy. He told me that a scorpion tail soaked in alcohol would heal his legs and asked me to catch one for him.

I did not want to, but I agreed after seeing his face twisted up in pain, even though I was scared.

Before I left, he made me promise him something. "Nevaeh, you have to catch it yourself."

I looked into his eyes, full of love for him, and said, "Seth, I'd do anything to help your legs get better."

However, I was too scared to catch a scorpion myself. In the end, I went to a breeding facility.

It cost me fifteen dollars to buy one that was jumping all over the place.

I'll never forget how surprised and touched Seth looked. "Nevaeh, you're so kind to me."

I felt so guilty. I just wanted to repay him for saving me.

Then, Seth heard about another remedy consisting of a centipede boiled in water. He wanted me to catch a huge one, over one foot long.

Later on, he told me to boil wasp tails in water.

Over the course of a year, he had me looking for all sorts of dangerous bugs to help his legs.

I thought Seth was acting strangely because of his injury, leading him to ask for so many traditional remedies.

I could not believe he was deliberately making me take all these risks just to get back at me for his old crush.

Thank goodness I had paid someone else to handle all that stuff. If I had tried to do it myself, I would have become a casualty of his crazy adventure game a long time ago.

'So, Seth wants to embarrass me, huh? All right, I'll keep playing his game. I've already been doing it for a year, anyway,' I thought.

Feeling annoyed, I called up Draven Gibson, the heir to the Gibson family. Even though he was technically Seth's uncle, he was pretty young.

"Mr. Gibson, can we talk about setting a wedding date?"

His voice was deep and pleasant. "When do you want to hold it?"

I grinned and said, "The sooner, the better. How about next week?"

His charming voice came back, "Are you free tonight to discuss this?"

I was thrilled. I tossed the bottle I was holding right into the trash can with a whoosh.

"I'm free all night!"