The two talked for a couple more minutes before the waiter arrived just in time to deliver the food, and Allyce hung up the phone.
Before hanging up, he asked Severo again about his health.
Severo simply said: “Everything is fine, nothing serious, just mind your own business.
Severo’s words were like a Valium shot in his heart, and his mind was much calmer.
As Severo had repeatedly told him to focus on his own affairs, he could not let him down.
Allyce spent the next few days running the affairs of the Alvidrez Group, working late into the night most days because she was so determined to return soon.
Finally, on the fourth day, she finished her important business and was ready to return to Cloud Cit.
But before returning, he did not tell Severo that he intended to surprise him.
She had only called yesterday to tell Severo in the morning, and he knew she was busy and hadn’t called her since.
But instead of surprising Severo, he gets a scare from Severo.
She took the time to go out and buy a few things to take with her. When the plane landed in Cloud Cit, she couldn’t wait to catch the bus back to Bay on Cloud.
…
As soon as the car stopped in front of the villa, he had no time to grab his suitcase and walked quickly towards the villa with the gifts he had bought in his hand.
There were only a few maids in the villa, Alonzo and Severo were not at home.
Allyce casually asked one of the servants: “Neither the master nor the master are at home?
“No.” The servant shook his head repeatedly.
Allyce nodded, indicating that she knew.
It was not known whether Severo had taken Alonzo out or whether he had gone to the office for something and simply taken Alonzo with him.
First I would call and ask where Severo was, then I would go and look for them after the shower.
He went back to the bedroom to put away his purchases and dialled Severo’s number.
“Why do you have time to call me?” Severo’s voice sounded unusually soft.
Allyce unconsciously softened her voice: “You always have to have dinner and rest, and you don’t even take the initiative to call me if you don’t …”.
It was almost midday and almost lunchtime.
“Go ahead, eat then, I’m going out for a while, I’ll call you later in the evening”.
“You’re out, what about Alonzo?”
“With me”.
“Do you take it to work?”
Severo just said “yes” and began to urge Allyce to go to dinner again.
Allyce didn’t ask any more questions; Severo was either at work or at Kimdis anyway, so if he wasn’t there she could call back and ask.
He put the phone aside and went into the bathroom with his clothes in his arms.
He was in a bit of a hurry, so he didn’t bother to bathe and just took a shower.
But after the shower, he discovered that the water hole in the bathroom seemed to be blocked and the water on the floor was not flowing.
Strange, how can the water outlet in the bathroom be blocked?
She got dressed and went out, asked the maid to find someone to unblock the water outlet and went into the other room to dry her hair.
As she came out from drying her hair, she saw a worker coming out of the room, presumably the one the maid had found to comb the water spout.
He asked nonchalantly, “Is it done? How come it’s blocked?”
The worker said with a naïve look: “The water outlet was blocked by hair”.
Allyce’s voice changed tone: “Hair?”
He hadn’t been home for days, so how could there be hair covering the holes?
“That’s all. As if to confirm her words, the worker held out the plastic bag in her hand.
Allyce looked down and sure enough, she saw the hair contained in the plastic bag.
Only the hair was clearly a man’s!
Allyce frowned and, seeing that the worker was still in place, nodded towards him and said, “Please”.
Then, looking at one of the servants, he said, “Pay him to go away”.
At that moment, there was another maid who hesitated and shouted: “Madam …”.
“Yes?” Allyce turned his head to look at her, and seeing her look as if she wanted to say something, he said, “If there’s something, say it.”
“Sir’s hair is falling out badly, isn’t it time he had a health check?” The maid saw that Allyce’s face hadn’t changed, so she finished her sentence.
When Allyce heard the maid’s words, something crossed her mind.
It was impossible to lose so much hair for no reason, and there was nothing wrong with Severo other than having the K1LU73 virus in his body. The fact that he had these symptoms could only mean that the K1LU73 virus was starting to react in his body and his health was starting to deteriorate.
Suddenly he understood why Severo had repeatedly ordered him to take care of the Alvidrez group.
He himself must have known that his condition had become unmanageable and that is why he had asked him to leave.
Almost immediately Allyce’s eyes turned red and she called Victorino immediately.
Only Victorino did not answer, so he called back Xabat, who did.
Allyce immediately asked: “Where is Severo?
“The boss who …”
Allyce immediately cut him off: “Honestly, I know your condition has deteriorated”.
Hearing the choke in Allyce’s voice, Xabat had to tell the truth: “In a sanatorium in the countryside”.
Xabat gave the address and Allyce hung up the phone immediately.
…
When Allyce arrived at the entrance of the sanatorium, Xabat was already waiting for her at the front door.
Xabat had a tired look on his face: “Madam”.
At the sight of Xabat’s face, Allyce’s emotions, which had been so easy to calm on the road, boiled over again, and her heart clenched with anguish.
Xabat pulled at the corners of his lips and said: “I’ll show you”.
Then he turned his head silently and entered the sanatorium.
Probably because it was in the countryside, the deeper Allyce went, the colder the gloom became.
His heart hung in the air, and he secretly hoped that Severo’s condition was not as serious as he thought.
“Here we are, you come in.
Xabat’s voice rang out again and Allyce turned her attention back to him.
He looked at the hospital room door in front of him, loosened his sweaty palms and bit his lip as he pushed it open.
Squeak…
The sound of the door opening was unusually harsh because the space was so quiet.
Allyce caught a glimpse of Severo sitting in front of the window, his back to her, answering a call on his mobile phone.
He was dressed in a hospital gown and had a hat on his head.
I’ve never seen him in a hat before.
Hearing movement behind him, Severo hung up the phone and turned around, saying, “What took you so long? You’re not at …”
His next words stopped there when he saw that it was Allyce standing in the doorway.
Allyce’s eyesight was good, and she could clearly see the creases in Severo’s normally flat forehead, a face so pale it looked as if it had aged ten years all at once.
Ageing …
He had only heard that the K1LU73 virus made people age extremely quickly, but Severo’s body had never shown any obvious symptoms due to the medication, so he had been fooled into thinking it wasn’t that serious.
But now that the symptoms were starting to appear, was Victorino’s medication no longer working?
Severo looked at Allyce, rigidly holding the pose of turning his head to look at her, and did not say a word.
Allyce swallowed, then tugged at the corners of her lips and closed the door behind her, smiling as she approached: “I’m home.
He reached up and grabbed Severo’s face, leaning in to kiss him, only for Severo to turn his head to avoid him.