poisoned
1693 Words
"Louie, you..." I opened my mouth to speak, but Louie's car sped away from my sight. I looked at the contract document in my hand with a complicated expression. He just left like that, without giving me any contact information. The marriage certificate was still in his hands.
At that moment, my phone rang. It was my aunt, Marcy calling. I answered the call with a cold expression. Marcy's angry voice came from the other end of the phone, "Winnie, where are you hiding your silly self? Ethan is throwing tantrums."
"Winnie, Ethan wants to kick our entire family out of the villa today. My jewelry, my money, and my precious clothes would be gone. You have to come back and explain this to us, where are you hiding?"
"I'm busy," I replied.
Marcy retorted, "I don't care if you're busy or if you're paralyzed, you better crawl back here for Ethan to handle!"
My eyes widened with a hint of bitterness. Is this how family is supposed to be? She doted on me when my parents were alive, so what changed now? They threw me out last night, how come they want me back in a haste. They really wish I rot in jail.
"I'm coming back now," I responded.
I hung up the call and tossed my phone inside the bag.
My mind seemed to stop functioning for a moment, my breath caught up in my throat and tears streamed down my face uncontrollably, like a kite that had lost its string.
Instead of going to my aunt's place, I took a taxi to First City Hospital. I have this recurring illness I know nothing about and it's really eating me up. I could no longer hold on and collapsed at the hospital entrance, they quickly wheeled me in to check me. I don't know how long I was unconscious for, but as soon as my eyes opened slightly, I saw Louie beside me and his assistant at the door, but he didn't know I was up.
A few minutes later, the door to the room opened and the hospital director entered, followed by several doctors.
"Mr. Louie, what brings you here?" the director asked respectfully as he approached.
“How is she? When will she wake up?” A deep, magnetic voice echoed in the room.
"Miss Winnie's health is quite poor from long-term exposure to chronic toxins, there are still remnants of the poison in her system, so it might take some time for her to regain consciousness,” the doctor explained.
“Chronic toxins? Poison? why haven’t you cleared it out?” Louie’s expression darkened immediately.
“It’s not that we don’t want to help, but this poison is not something we can eliminate all at once. It has been in her system for some years, probably six years and she only recently stopped taking it. We need to gradually detoxify her and she can’t exert herself too much or it will only worsen the toxin’s effects,” the director said.
Upon hearing the director’s response, Louie turned to Luke. “Contact Kristen in the U.S. and ask him to come over.”
“Understood, Sir.” Luke turned and left the room.
“Everyone else, you can go now!” Louie commanded and the doctors hurriedly exited, closing the door behind them as if escaping for their lives.
A few minutes later, Luke returned. “Sir, Kristen said he would leave tomorrow morning. Do you want to head back first? You’re still injured and all this commotion might make it worse.”
“No need. Just have someone move my beddings to my room. I’ll continue my treatment here,” Louie replied.
The first hospital was owned by the Scouts family, but it's run by Kristen.
“You’re awake! Do you feel any discomfort? I‘ll call a doctor to check on you,” Louie said, noticing I was awake, before I could respond, he immediately instructed Luke again.
"Yes."
As Luke stepped out, I softly asked, "You came? How did you know?"
I thought to myself that I had never met someone like him before. Despite having numerous wounds, he made himself available in the morning and now he's here.
"Do you know who poisoned you? It's been a long time—about some years," Louie ignored my question but asked instead, his deep-set eyes fixed on mine.
I looked at him. "No, I don't."
Then something seemed to click in my mind, I lowered my head, and the surprise in my eyes slowly transformed into despair, I attempted to get out of bed, to get my phone. I was supposed to meet with my aunt at their residence.
Louie quickly walked over and gently pushed me back onto the bed.
"Don't move around, let's wait for the doctor to check you first."
"Louie after the check-up, I need to go to my aunt's. She called that Ethan is throwing tantrums and threatened to drive them away."
"You're not going until the poison wears off," I looked at him making no attempt to question him.
The next day, the door swung open and a bespectacled man walked in, followed by the hospital director and several others. Louie stood up and shook the man's hand.
"Kristen, thank you for coming."
"Mr. Louie, no need to be so polite, let me take a look first."
Kristen released his grip and walked over to me, after examining me, he frowned and then approached Louie.
"I'll do my best. Let's start with medication to see if we can clear the toxins, the poisoning has been prolonged and the recent exhaustion has only worsened the situation. She needs to rest and avoid any stress or emotional upheaval."
"Okay, thank you, Kristen," Louie replied.
Once everyone left, the hospital room was left with just the two of us. Louie looked at me, who was staring blankly at the bed.
"I had cleared your name and as for your family's business, it will be gradually. If you need anything, feel free to let me know."
"Thank you," I mumbled.
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The door of hospital room flung opened revealing my slender figure to whoever was coming in. I had just gotten up due to feeling unwell when I heard the knock.
Louie what are you doing here?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, hoarse and tinged with an unusual flush on my cheeks.
“What’s wrong? are you feeling unwell?” Louie replied, stepping further inside and shutting the door behind him.
He took my hand and led me to the sofa, placing a thermos on the nearby table before reaching up to check my forehead.
"You have a high fever Winnie."
My already flushed cheeks turned even redder at his touch.
Louie wasted no time in informing the doctors. They came rushing in to have me checked.
“She’s going to be fine. It’s just a cold that caused a severe fever. We’ll get her fever down and she should be okay in no time,” the doctor reassured him.
They attending physician turned to the nurse next to him and spoke, "Give her a physical cooling treatment. It will help her recover faster."
"Got it, Sir," the nurse replied.
As she prepared warm water and was about to use a towel to cool down my temperature, a pair of long, beautiful hands appeared in front of her.
"I'll take care of this. You can step out!" Louie said firmly.
"Okay," the nurse replied, stepping out of the room and closing the door behind her.
After some hours of this routine, probably two, I finally stirred awake around three in the afternoon.
"You’re awake! Is there anywhere else you feel uncomfortable?" Louie asked, reaching for the bed's call button as he spoke.
"It's nothing, just feeling weak all over," came a my trembling voice.
After a while, the doctor entered to check on me.
"You're fine now, you can be discharged and go home to recuperate. Your temperature has gone down, just take some medication for a couple of days and you’ll be good as new," the doctor said.
"Thank you, doctor," I muttered gratefully looking at him.
"No need to thank me, your boyfriend was very patient, changing your water and towels for two straight hours. Otherwise, it wouldn't have dropped so quickly," the doctor replied with a smile.
"I'm not her boyfriend, she's my wife," Louie muttered. The doctor chuckled but didn’t say anything more as he left the room.
"Thank you for your help and sorry for taking up your time. You should go if you have things to do! I can get back by myself," I said, lowering head and preparing to get out of bed.
Louie bent down and picked me up effortlessly. My body stiffened as I wished I could my head in my lap.
Once he placed me in the car, he instructed Luke to drive. I tried speaking up but didn't know what to say exactly.
My voice cracked as I managed to say, "I'm fine Louie, I can go back myself, you should take care of important things you..."
His sharp voice cut in, "How are you going to give me a child if there's still toxins in your system?"
- Writer
