Outrageous!
I gasped as I watched Simmy walk out of the room. I gritted my teeth in annoyance and reached up to fix my hair. My eyes bore into the closed white door, but I knew Simmy wouldn’t see how furious I was, so it felt like a wasted effort. I let go of my glare and closed my eyes tightly.
I really didn’t know what to do with that girl. I was exhausted. My body craved rest, a moment to forget everything, but my senses were on edge, especially when sleep was slowly pulling me in.
It was like I had set an alarm in my body that would wake me whenever I drifted between the real world and dreams. I scoffed. I didn’t want to feel like my body was on alert all night.
I waited for a few hours, lazily reading a novel, until a nurse came in and placed a tray on a small bedside table. My legs stretched out under the table’s empty space.
The nurse stood a few meters away from me, just three steps from the door. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was too intimidating to look at, as the nurse avoided meeting my eyes. Her legs seemed a bit shaky, and her breathing was uneven.
Casually, I reached for my glass of water and took a sip. Then I glanced at the nurse. “Did someone give you a hard time?” I asked.
She froze at my question, confirming my suspicion. I shrugged; I was used to maids being nervous in the mansion.
Speaking of which… I suddenly missed the silence of my balcony. I sighed and continued eating. When I finished, the nurse moved closer and tidied up the dishes on the table before picking it up.
“Is this your first time serving a patient?” I asked again.
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded without meeting my eyes. She lifted the tray and gave me a slight nod before turning to leave. As she walked towards the door, it opened, revealing Simmy’s face. I rolled my eyes inwardly.
Simmy scoffed at me and closed the door after the nurse had left. My lips pressed into a thin line. I knew she was guarding my room now to win back Dad’s trust.
A faint smile curved on my lips. Thinking about it, I realized how pathetic Simmy was. She tried to earn favor from others just to make herself happy. What a miserable way to live. I wasn’t born to be someone else’s puppet, to seek their approval. In that moment, I knew Simmy and I were not on the same level.
I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling for the next two hours. When I glanced at the digital clock, it was already nine in the evening. I wasn’t very sleepy at all.
So I spent the next hours with my eyes closed. Just as I was about to drift off into the dream world, I heard the white door open, snapping me back to reality. I fought the urge to scrunch my nose in annoyance.
“She’s sleeping,” a woman’s voice said, getting louder as she approached me.
“She’s so annoying,” Simmy’s voice replied.
I stopped my lips from curling into a smirk. But I couldn’t help it; I almost chuckled when Simmy exclaimed, “She smiled!”
Then I heard the woman laugh. It was elegant, almost inviting… alluring…
“She must be dreaming,” the woman said, her voice tinged with amusement. I sensed she knew I was awake.
“How will you use her?” Simmy asked.
My ears perked at her question. While my mind tried to guess what Simmy meant, I felt warmth slowly approaching my hand. It traveled up my arm, to my neck, and settled at my temple for a few seconds.
I didn’t know what this warmth was or where it came from, but with Simmy’s presence, I stayed still, keeping my eyes closed and feeling out the surroundings.
Then, warm breath tickled my ear. “Do what you think is right,” a voice whispered. I recognized it as the woman Simmy was with.
Before I could open my eyes, warmth spread throughout my body. Suddenly, thoughts of being at the beach flooded my mind, memories of Japan washed over me. It was like a wave clearing my thoughts, and moments later, my body relaxed as if floating in the clouds.
I was almost unconscious when I heard Simmy say, “This will be the last trump card you’ll regret, Azora.”
I tried to purse my lips in protest, but I couldn’t move my body. Even my eyelids refused to open. Not long after, I fell completely into the darkness.
When I woke up, the digital clock showed it was almost seven in the morning. So I really had fallen asleep while those two strange ladies, Simmy and that mysterious woman, chatted beside my bed as if they had a plan.
I slowly sat up, clutching my temple, and looked around. I was still in the hospital, and I was starting to hate waking up here.
But I felt refreshed, more energetic than before. I decided not to make a fuss and got out of bed.
A grin almost spread across my face at the thought of another day, but I held it back. My first thought was to escape this hospital.
And it sent a chill down my spine. The urge to leave was so strong that I coughed up blood onto the white sheets of my hospital bed.