After Robert’s visit, he didn’t show up for several days. Simmy took his place instead. That sly woman started visiting me frequently over the past few days. I wasn’t grateful for her presence because I felt like she was observing my recovery. Then there was this juice that a nurse would bring to me whenever Simmy was around.
I didn’t want to drink it, but both Simmy and the nurse insisted, so I couldn’t help but take a sip. Then they would both look pleased. Simmy claimed it was just regular juice, which she prepared to help rebuild my trust in her.
That made me smirk and laugh at her. “Silly,” I said, laughing even harder.
I expected Simmy to scowl, but instead she smiled-a smile I couldn’t tell was genuine or not. She would then hand the glass of juice to the nurse and instruct them to leave. Simmy would then turn to me and ask how I had been feeling the past few days.
It was strange for her to act that way. But days passed, and this was the routine during lunch. However, when Dad was around, Simmy wouldn’t dare to bother me or offer me juice, which made me suspicious of her.
But after drinking that juice for days, I didn’t feel any discomfort in my body. Surely, it wasn’t poisoned, and I even thought it might have some healing effect.
After the first time I drank the juice, I got a headache, but minutes later, I felt completely fine again. There was no pain-just a pure euphoria that left me breathless for hours. I lay in bed, smiling as I stared at the plain white ceiling.
So the next day, I didn’t bother to play hard to get with Simmy. I don’t know if I wasn’t in my right mind, but I wanted to feel that euphoria again. I wanted to go to sleep feeling content and happy because for the past few weeks in that hospital, the same nightmare haunted me over and over. But after drinking that juice, the nightmares had stopped.
“Azora,” Dad called.
I smiled at him, but he furrowed his brow. I smirked and bit my lip to keep from laughing. “What is it, Dad?”
Even my voice sounded flirtatious, which made Dad’s face turn red with anger. “What’s gotten into you? You’re acting strange, young lady.”
“What? Isn’t this what you wanted? You want me to enjoy life, so I’m doing it now,” I said, then chuckled.
I frowned at my own choice of words. Wait, what was happening to me? This wasn’t like me-I would never speak like this in front of him.
Dad exhaled sharply and shot a sharp glance at Simmy. I frowned at his reaction. “Don’t look at Simmy like that. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”
My words only seemed to make Dad more upset. “I thought you didn’t like her? What’s going on now?”
“Uh, she’s nice.” I flipped my hair and grinned widely at Dad. “She took care of me when you couldn’t.”
That shut Dad up. From the corner of my eye, I saw Simmy lower her head. Dad snorted. “If this is some game you’re playing, don’t quit!” he said and stormed out of the room.
My brow furrowed at what had just happened. Then I looked at Simmy, who stood beside the bedpost with a frown on her face. I blinked. What was going on?
But she didn’t say anything, and it was typical for her not to speak after Dad raised his voice.
With that, I got out of bed, straightened myself up, and walked out of the room. Simmy didn’t dare to stop me, as I had Dad’s permission earlier.
He hadn’t hesitated, knowing how guarded the hospital was, and had made sure two security guards followed me. I noticed them trailing behind as I walked past the door.
I didn’t make a fuss and just looked around the white, silent hallway. I could hear only my footsteps and those of the two men-it was a long hallway, so I frowned.
During Robert’s last visit, the man who entered the room had reasoned that if Robert made noise, he would disturb other patients. But seeing this long hallway, I couldn’t help but think the man had lied to me. I snorted. I really hated liars.
Minutes passed, and I reached the nurse’s station. They were surprised to see me walking down the hallway, so one of them approached me and smiled politely.
“Do you need something, Miss Azora?”
I was surprised she knew my name, but since it was a private hospital, there were only a few patients being treated, so it wasn’t that surprising.
I shook my head. “I don’t need anything. I just wanted to take a walk,” I said.
The nurse smiled and offered to accompany me. I immediately agreed, with the two men following closely behind.
The nurse guided me around, pointing out each department-cardiology, oncology, neurology, neurosurgery, urology, gynecology, psychiatry, otorhinolaryngology, and other hospital departments that I failed to remember. But I noticed there was no emergency medicine department.
“Excuse me,” I called to the nurse. We were sitting on a bench, taking a break, with the two men standing not far away.
The nurse turned to me. “Yes?”
“I thought… this hospital didn’t have an… emergency medicine department?”
She blinked and smiled faintly. “This is a private hospital, Miss Azora, not a public one.” She sighed and looked away. “The hospital only admits patients who can pay. Most patients are in the oncology department. This hospital treats medicine like a business, so there’s no emergency department.”
I fell silent after hearing that. Then a thought occurred to me, so I cleared my throat. “But how did I get in? I mean, my case was an emergency, right?”
She smiled coyly. “Your case was broadcast nationwide, Miss. It’s high-profile, so the hospital accepted you, hoping to attract more patients if you recovered from the poisoning.”
“Really?” I chuckled. “How did the media find out about me?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know how they found out, but I do know the hospital accepted you for the publicity boost.”
“So free advertising?” I laughed, and she grinned, which made me laugh harder. “You’re well informed.”
“Uh…” She glanced away. “I know because I used to work in PR.”
“What?”
She shook her head, then stood and gazed down the long hallway. “Come on, Miss. There’s something in the hospital that only a few people are allowed to see. I’ll show you.”
“A few?” I stood up. “Then, we’re not allowed to go there.”
“You’ll be fine. I’ll take you.”
So I followed her to wherever she wanted to show me. A few minutes later, we arrived at a hallway lined with large frames. The nurse gestured down the hallway.
“These are the generations of De Lapaz,” she said, smiling as she looked around the room. “From the first aristocratic family to the recent generations.”
I glanced around the room too. There were indeed several old photos, along with some I assumed were more recent.
But one frame caught my eye-it was a photo in the corner. I turned to the nurse. “Who’s that?” I asked, pointing to the large frame.
The nurse blinked and then looked away. “That’s Franco, the only heir of Sebastian De Lapaz. He went missing a few years ago, and the De Lapaz family still hasn’t found him.”
My brow furrowed even more. I must have been imagining things. There’s no way Robert’s face would appear in that hall of frames.
Before I could ask, a loud bang behind us startled us both. I spun around and saw several men in black running towards us.
Confusion spread across my face. Who were these men?