He Gave Me Hearing, Then Taught Me What Silence Really Means novel Chapter 197

Nelson had been standing outside all night, not daring to knock. He just stood there quietly, watching her.

Juniper lowered her head and headed straight into the mountains without saying a word.

Nelson followed closely behind her, matching her step for step.

The mountain was blanketed in a dense fog, and the heavy rain from the night before had turned the paths into treacherous mud pits.

Carrying her small bucket, Juniper nearly pitched forward into the dirt.

Nelson instinctively reached out to catch her, but she aggressively dodged his hand, grabbing onto a frail branch to steady herself instead.

He silently pulled his hand back.

*Cough, cough.*

He hacked quietly, desperately trying to suppress the burning itch in his chest.

*Cough, cough, cough.*

Juniper kept her head down, intensely focused on foraging. She didn't recognize many varieties, so after several hours, her bucket was only a third full.

Because of the excessive rainfall this year, the mushrooms were unusually scarce.

When she got hungry, she pulled out a piece of bread, took a few bites, and immediately resumed her search.

Whenever she stopped, Nelson sat quietly nearby.

Juniper ignored him completely. It wasn't until five in the afternoon, with her legs caked in mud, that she finally decided to call it a day.

If she left right now, it would take six hours to reach Metropolis. Then, she could have someone deliver the fresh harvest directly to Eleanor.

She returned to the cabin and grabbed a brush to aggressively scrub the thick mud off her boots.

She had previously arranged for a local driver to pick her up at six o'clock sharp.

But as the deadline approached, the driver called and cancelled. He claimed it was too far out of the way, and the location made him uneasy.

"Miss, don't blame me for being cautious. You're deep in the middle of nowhere, and I was worried it was some kind of setup."

Juniper let out a humorless laugh, but she understood his reservations and couldn't force the issue.

She hung up the phone, her brows knitting together as she tried to figure out a way back.

Nelson finally spoke up. "Quinn is nearby. I'll have him come over."

It was the exact type of mushroom she had once lied about being non-poisonous just to win a petty argument. Nelson had eaten it and ended up vomiting uncontrollably before being rushed to the clinic to get his stomach pumped.

The memory was permanently etched into Nelson's mind, so when he saw one on the mountain, he couldn't resist picking it.

But Juniper refused to look at it and refused to answer him.

He quietly tucked the mushroom away in the side compartment. *Cough, cough.*

The car rattled violently over the uneven terrain, swaying sharply from side to side.

Juniper held tightly onto the bucket, terrified the delicate mushrooms would get crushed.

Quinn kept shooting worried glances in the rearview mirror until he finally couldn't take it anymore. "Boss, you really need to change out of those wet clothes. Your fever is too high—you're not going to make it at this rate."

*Cough, cough.*

Nelson didn't want to cough, but he couldn't suppress it.

His cheeks were flushed red, his lips were deathly pale, and his wet hair clung to his forehead.

Knowing Nelson would never listen to him, Quinn practically begged Juniper with his eyes. "Ms. Lane, please talk some sense into him. We still have over six hours until we reach Metropolis. If something happens to him halfway, it'll cause a massive delay, and those mushrooms won't be fresh anymore."