The soft laughter interrupted Tang En, and he looked back to see Jude staring at him with bright eyes. Suddenly he felt a bit shy. "Eh, it is still hot… You're awake?"
It was an obvious question.
Jude wanted to nod her head, but she didn't have the energy, so she just smiled softly.
"Here, finish this." Tang En gave the cup and spoon to Jude, and she looked at the black pasty substance and frowned.
"What… is this?" the girl asked.
"Sesame paste." In order to get it, Tang En had spent a long time looking for it, and had to go some distance to a larger Chinese supermarket. He did all this while Jude was still unconscious. The "black sesame paste" was a common remedy in China.
A strong fragrance came from the cup and went up Jude's nose. She took a deep breath and tried to take in the smell. It was definitely the smell of sesame.
She really wanted to try the sesame paste, but her hands had no strength to hold the cup and carry the spoon to her mouth.
Seeing that Jude hesitated, Tang En then realized the reason. Patients often need someone to feed them when they're sick. How could he forget that? So, he took the spoon from Jude's hand and held it in front of his own mouth.
Jude stared a him and realized that Tang En was actually blowing on it because he did not want the paste to burn her.
She lowered her head and softly said, "Thank you."
"Thanks for what?" Tang En put the spoon in front of her face.
"We've only known each other…" Tang En gently pushed the spoon into her mouth to stop her from speaking.
Hearing Jude talk like this, Tang En shrugged his shoulders and said, "I just didn't need the hassle of the police asking me why a pretty girl died in my house?"
Jude had not expected his teasing reply. He had a way with talking to girls. In response, she pretended to pout angrily and bit the spoon hard inside of her mouth. Tang En was surprised at the girl's reaction. He tried to take the spoon out of her mouth and failed. He stared at her.
Jude, who was still biting the spoon, gave him a triumphant look.
Tang En laughed, took out his phone, opened the camera function, and pointed it at Jude.
"What are you… ah?!" Jude, alarmed, forgot the spoon, opened her mouth to protest, and the spoon dropped onto the bed.
At that exact moment, Kacha! Tang En pressed the camera button.
"That was too perfect…"
Two days later, Jude was able to leave the hospital. She was diagnosed with a common cough and fever that had been intensified by the strain of travel and not enough rest. Tang En thought it had to be more complicated.
Constantine agreed and said that if the treatment did not continue to work and if the high fever returned, it could trigger a more dangerous illness, such as meningitis.
After she left the hospital, Jude was back to her energetic self again. She had no symptoms, and Tang En was relieved. He had just gone through Gavin's death. Tang En did not want to see anyone around him suffer, even if he had only been with the person for three short days.
Although he knew it was unusual that he already thought of Jude like he did others in his life, he did not think that there was anything wrong with it. The problem was, people got the impression that they were father and daughter. The nurse, Kate, that took care of Jude in the hospital for two days, was always calling them father and daughter. Tang En could not bring himself to explain the situation or Jude's background. Oddly, the name that Tang En did not like, "Uncle Tony", seemed to save him the trouble of explaining. Therefore, he had to let Jude refer to him as such, and it became his permanent name.
Furthermore, his voice had turned deeper and rougher from shouting during matches, and he even sounded older when he spoke. A 13-year-old girl calling him uncle was nothing, as long as he was not a creepy uncle.
Jude was very happy, and she always called him "Uncle Tony" even when she didn't want anything. It was a pet name. At first, Tang En thought that she only called him that when she wanted something from him. But soon he realized that wasn't the case at all, and he left it alone.
Once they were home, Tang En realized that his precious holiday time was almost over. This was his first holiday after becoming a manager, yet in the end he had done nothing.
The first third of his vacation had been spent in the pain and self-pity regarding his failure as a manager. His head had been very muddled during those days. The middle third of it he had been busy applying for a visa to China, which had ultimately been denied. And the remainder of his holiday was already partially used up because of Jude's arrival.
Tang En felt that he could not spend his time like this anymore, and he looked at Jude who had just recovered from her illness, and thought that he should take her somewhere fun. The poor girl had come from a bad family life. In the last three days, whenever Tang En asked about her parents, the outgoing girl would become silent immediately. It would be nice to give her some relief from all that.
About Jude's future, Tang En didn't allow himself to think. He could not think of any solutions, and he was not used to planning for things that had not yet happened. If the real Tony Twain were there, he might know what to do and how to handle it. Tang En only wanted to enjoy the rest of his vacation.
At the next morning's breakfast, Tang En looked at Jude who was eating a breakfast prepared by him and chatting away, and asked her what kind of place she would like to visit.
The little girl thought for a while and then shook her head. "I don't know."
Tang En sighed and had to decide on his own. He knew he didn't want to stay in the U.K.
He scanned the entire map of Europe in his mind and at last targeted the Iberian Peninsula that was located in Southern Europe.
"Let's go to Spain!" Tang En made the suggestion, and Jude raised up both of her hands to show that she agreed.
"Okay! Spain!"
Actually Tang En's decision to go to Spain was because there were some football clubs there that he had been interested in for a long time. Nottingham Forest was unable to compete in European matches, so he could use his holiday to observe and learn from these really powerful teams. If time had permitted, he would have taken a football trip around Europe to Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, and even the Eastern European countries.
Since he was already in Europe, not taking the chance to get in touch with these famous football clubs that were always on TV, would have been a waste.
Sometimes Tang En's mind as a fan was hard to resist. But at least he hadn't embarrassed himself by doing something silly like asking Michael Dawson for his autograph at the training ground.
For Jude, Tang En's suggestion of Spain was perfect. She was exited about the sun and the beaches in Spain.
Girls always had unrealistic fantasies at all ages. However, Tang En did not know this, and he was just glad that Jude agreed to his plan.
After that, everything was easily settled. He bought the plane tickets, and Tang En's football trip around Spain would start with the two clubs in the capital city of Madrid!