Levi was abruptly shaken out of his melancholic mood, and his mind couldn't help but stall. It took him several seconds to fully process the other's words. Then his nostrils flared, "For the last time, I am not talking any medicine!"
"Ah, then there is your problem." The look Maery shot Levi's way at that moment couldn't be properly expressed in words. It was a look that a kindergarten teacher might direct towards a retarded kid that just got his head stuck inside a toilet seat. It was the look that said, "I'm not even gonna ask how or why – I'm sure any explanation you can come up with will be stupid. Let's just call 101 and get this over with."
Maery smiled encouragingly and coaxed, "Now that we know the source of the problem, how about I introduce you to a friend of mine from Med school that can help you get a prescription?"
Levi's face fell, and a vein couldn't help but pop up on his forehead from how hard he was trying to restrain his temper. "I am not crazy! Not messing around! Nor having 'an episode'! I am deathly serious! I meant every word I said!"
Maery sent him an encouraging look, "So did I. Don't refuse treatment! You can still be saved!"
Blackie, the eavesdropper, could hold it in no longer – he burst into uncontrollable laughter. 😂 '"Don't refuse treatment! You can still be saved!" Hahaha, Levi, you should listen to this woman! She really knows you well!'
Levi took in a large breath, trying to keep himself from strangling the woman. He kept telling himself that he was the one in the wrong, thus, he should display extreme patience and tolerance.
But bloody hell, she really knew how to push his buttons!
Levi held his forehead, feeling an onset of a headache. What could he possibly say for this negotiation to move forward in a better direction?
Unfortunately, the other didn't give him the time to come up with anything good to say, "Wait, wait, wait! You can't wrong this one person?? Don't tell me!!" Maery's eyes abruptly widened in realization, and a gasp of shock escaped her, "Is she already pregnant?!"
Levi couldn't help but snort, "I wish."
If his baby could get pregnant, then this entire matter would have been so much easier to handle, ah! If his baby was with his child, then no matter how unwilling Maery or anyone else was, they could only shut up and let him take responsibility by marrying his darling.
"You wish?!" Maery felt so furious she started to laugh, "The nerve of you! What do you take everything we invested in the last six years as?! A joke?! And you even want to pull my innocent little brother into your dirty schemes?! Dream on!"
"Dirty schemes?" Levi frowned. What schemes? Why did he have a feeling that this entire matter turned into some kind of a dog-blood plot once it reached Maery's brain pit?
Infuriated with the other's pretentious "there is nothing dirty about my pure love, my conscience is clear" expression, Maery erupted, "What else would you call your scheme to make my brother a third party in your little affair?! Not only do you want to make him wear a green hat for two decades, but you'd even make him raise someone else's child?!"
How would her kind little brother be able to deal with such a dissolute hussy whose schemes ran so deep she somehow managed to catch herself one loner wolf Astar Levi?! Her pitiful brother would be bullied to death!!
Maery jumped to her feet and leveled her sharp glare at Levi, "Let me tell it to you loud and clear – no way in hell! No way am I letting you and your mistress walk all over my darling brother! Over my dead body!"
Seeing how protective Maery was of his baby, Levi's annoyance couldn't help but ease, and his tone turned helplessly exasperated, "You watch too many dog-blood dramas. There is no mistress, and no one will be bullying your little brother."
'Except me. In bed.' Levi added internally.
Maery scoffed, "Damn right no one will be bullying my baby brother! And no mistress? Hah! You broke up with me, so now she is not a mistress anymore?" Maery laughed humorlessly. "And of course,"–Maery rolled her eyes– "she wouldn't bully my brother, your precious darling is simply a little angel! Definitely not a shameless vixen who seduced an engaged man right before his wedding!"
Levi face darkened. She could talk shit about him, but his baby was innocent! "Watch your language! It was me who couldn't help but fall in love! Baby didn't do anything wrong!"
Maery poured herself another glass, "The hell she didn't!" and then smacked the bottle back down again, "Out with it! Who. Is! She?!"
Levi closed his eyes and rubbed his temples in exasperation. He finally understood where the issue laid. Maery's wonderous mind somehow came to the conclusion that he had a mistress and wanted to marry her brother because his mistress couldn't tolerate him marrying another woman. And then she filled up the blanks with some kind of dramatic plots of murder, fights for succession, illegitimate children, and the like.
But this "mistress" was...
"Your brother..." Levi muttered with great weariness.
Maery choked on the drink that just went down her throat.
***
Meanwhile, Noah decided to help clean up the living room while he waited. Such a helpful little darling!
Blackie, "Host, this sitcom show is so good! 😂 You have no idea what you are missing out on! You sure you don't want to watch?"
Noah, "Don't wanna. (︶^︶)ノEveryone has a right to their privacy. It's not right for me to listen in. Just tell me if I need to intervene."
Blackie, "Heh, then why is it ok if I listen in?" (¬‿¬)
Noah, "You are a system, ah! o(￣▽￣)ｄ Who cares if an intelligent toaster is listening in?"
Blackie, "..." (≖_≖) How come when he calls himself an intelligent toaster, it sounds cute, but when his host calls him that, it sounds so insulting?
***
Mary's red-rimmed eyes watered, and she started to cough violently. The alcohol burned her insides like a bitch!
She activated her healing to ease the pain, but her healing couldn't just make the alcohol disappear, or oxygen appear! She was a Healer, not a magician, ok?!
Levi saw her exaggerated reaction and hesitated to move, not knowing whether she'd appreciate him patting her back. A dark joke couldn't help but fly through his head: if the annoying woman choked on her drink here and now, would that mean he'd be marrying his baby by default?
Maery slumped onto the table, wheezing like a man on his last breath.
'This fucker!' – Maery cursed internally. He spoke in such a low tone that she misheard him! And he even waited until she was in the middle of drinking to choke her to death! Shameless!
Was this how she would go? In the prime years of her life? In the evil hands of Astar Levi?
And then, when she died, this scum could go and marry his sweetheart?! No– even worse, he'd go and marry her pitiful baby brother!!
The dying Healer miraculously revived with fire in her eyes. Hell no!!! She wouldn't go down this easily!
"What... what was it... you said... just now?" Maery squeezed out between her coughs, "My what?"
"Your brother," Levi repeated.
Sure enough, the already furious woman turned even more livid. "What about my brother? Don't try to change the subject!" She slapped her palms against the table, "We are talking about the shameless hussy! Out with it! Who is she?"
Levi finally lost his patience. If he could endure his darling being insulted over and over again, he wouldn't be Astar Levi! "Stop calling him names! This has nothing to do with him!" Levi hissed. Then he grabbed the glass Maery had been drinking from, crushed it, compressed it into a glass ball, and then flung it across the room into the garbage bin.
"And I fucking told you two times already!" He spat, "It's your brother! Your. Brother!! I'm in love with your little brother!!"