The Bitter Taste

Chapter 22: Jane

He shuffled around a couple of times as the soft feel of the duvet comforted his sweaty palms and forehead. The morning rays flashed before his eyes as they fluttered open, blinding them at the same time as his vision was beginning to grasp the firm image right before him. It was Jane.

"You've awaken." She said, sounding just as casually moody as she always was towards him. However, what he heard next was unbelievable enough to question if he was still dreaming or not.

"How are you?" Her voice sounded gentle, kind, lovely, sympathetic, and everything he thought wasn't Jane at all.

"How am I?" asked the Earl. He wasn't, clearly, at his regular state of mind, and the strange behavior that Jane conveyed towards him resulted in making the man look nearly stupid.

"Must you repeat it?" She asked. "Anyways, it seems as if your brain hasn't recuperated at all as of yet, so here." The young brunette stood up from where she sat on the edge of the bed, and went towards the study desk beside them, where a tray of plates were placed. It contained the classic main breakfast course that fitted him quite well.

She held the tray with both hands as she carefully placed it on top of the side table, in which he spared a long look at. "Seems strongly that you are, as of the moment, just as hungry as you are ignorant."

He rolled his eyes and heaved a large sigh. "Good morning to you as well."

"Good morning."

As the Earl picked up the piece of bread and began to spread butter on it with his knife, he began to rethink about the recent events that happened before. With every bite he took, he consumed more strength for his brain to remember clear and coherent memories, and with every sip from his cup of tea, he received a relaxing sensation splashing down toward his entire system, which helped him become more aware of his surrounding and gain back his normal pace of mental equilibrium.

Then after finishing off the bread, he went along and began to use his fork and knife to begin feasting upon his beautiful meal. However, the second the blade met with the meat, he knew he was missing some kind of element. It was at the back of his mind, the Earl was aware, but it was desperately itching to be exposed. He suddenly halted all his movements and took some time to blink a couple, and look back at Jane who was silently watching him eat.

"Why did you bring my breakfast this morning?" Was the first question he asked, since it was actually really odd to have Jane bring him food when it was absolutely clear between the both of them that Jane despised him.

"I wanted to talk to you about something important." She said. "But I felt like... I don't know. Probably I just had a feeling that I needed to do something... Nice... for you first."

"Nice for me? What's your point?" The Earl furrowed his brows together as he sat a little dazed and confused at the young brunette's words. He had little to no idea whatsoever about what Jane might possibly mean by the entirety of her actions and the exposure of her sudden caring side. However, there was a part of him that decided that whatever it was, it wasn't going to be as sweet as her exterior appearance.

Jane gave out a small sigh, and an anxious gaze towards him. "Do you remember what happened last night?" She asked.

The Earl blinked a few times and looked down at his lap as he tried to recall the events that happened the day before. "The ball." He said, and then looked up to meet her gaze with a tad bit more of confusion plastered on his facial expression. "Was I sick?"

Jane nodded. "Yes, you fell quite ill temporarily, but it was severe last night I suppose, due to possible stress with addition to your alcohol intake." She continued, "and so, you fainted."