"How long have you been awake?" Pamela stayed up late last night to take care of Burke, so she still felt a little groggy when she woke up. She looked at Burke and was about to tell him her identity but was interrupted by Madeline. She opened the door abruptly and let out a scream as she saw Burke awake. "Thank God, you are up and about!"
"Mom, you are just in time." Burke pulled Madeline's hand and asked her with a sense of urgency,"Who is she? Why is she in my room? Could you please tell me what happened last night?"
"Don't you remember her?" Madeline said in an interrogatory tone and added,"She is Pamela He. Don't you remember her? You played together almost every day when you were kids."
"Pamela?" With his eyes wide open in shock, Burke turned around to look at her carefully. He couldn't find any resemblance of her appearance as a child. "You have grown up now," Burke exclaimed.
"Yes, I most certainly have." Pamela said to Burke with a smile,"You have become quite a handsome man now."
Burke grabbed Pamela's hand and looked at her carefully, then he said,"Wow, you too are a much more beautiful girl than before. I like what I am seeing."
"OK, enough." Madeline accused Burke,"Pamela looked after you the entire night. Why don't you thank her?"
"Never mind, Auntie Madeline. There is no need for such formality," Pamela said in a sweet tone.
Burke's face grew dull the second he heard what happened and in a serious tone he said to Madeline,"Mom, how could you let Pamela look after me all by herself. It's simply inappropriate for a girl to do such things."
"It doesn't matter, Burke." Then Pamela lowered her head slightly and said to Burke in response,"I did that last night only because I wanted to do and it had nothing to do with Auntie Madeline."
"Okay, let's head downstairs first. Burke, give Pamela some room to wash up and ask her to eat breakfast with us after she is done cleaning herself," Madeline said to her son.
After Madeline went downstairs, only Burke and Pamela were left in the room. They felt a little awkward to stay alone with each other. They were very close when they were children, but now they hadn't seen each other for so many years and they were not kids any more. And especially with how last night turned out, both of them felt a little weird in that moment.
"So when did you come back?" Burke asked Pamela to cut down the awkwardness.
"Just yesterday actually." Pamela smiled and said,"I came to see you right after I got off the airplane. Auntie Madeline told me that you were going to propose to your girlfriend so I came there with her. However..."
"Okay, enough I don't need to hear more." Burke felt embarrassed as he recalled his experience from last night. Then he refrained himself and said to Pamela,"I'm sorry, wait a minute."
Burke then took out a new dress from his closet. It was the latest design from the current season, limited edition. He gave it to Pamela and said,"I bought it for Leila and planned to give it to her as a gift. But now... I don't need it any more. You can wear it if you like. Thank you for what you did for me last night. I really appreciate it."
Pamela took the dress and said,"You're welcome. I'm going to clean up now."
"Sure." Burke nodded in approval and sat on the bed, waiting for her. Upon hearing the trickling water from the bathroom, he was seized by a strange feeling suddenly.
Burke found a new toothbrush and cup for Pamela. When she finished, he began cleaning up. Pamela had already put on the dress as he came out of the bathroom. Somehow, he almost mistook her for Leila.
"So how does it look?" Pamela circled before Burke to show off the dress as she asked him.
Burke came to himself finally and answered,"You look absolutely stunning."
He cleared his throat and said to Pamela,"Let's head downstairs now and have breakfast."
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