Subsequently, Anthony brought me straight to the base while the others followed behind.
Due to my headache, I fell asleep again after getting into the car. My body felt light, as though I was floating in the air.
My body temperature fluctuated as I drifted in and out of consciousness, and I was plagued by an unending stream of nightmares, unable to break out of them.
In my semi-conscious state, I vaguely saw someone standing beside me. When Anthony’s face came into view, I reached out to grab him, but my fingers just couldn’t seem to touch him.
I was on the verge of breaking down after several failed attempts. As my emotions spiraled out of control, I began to cry.
Suddenly, I felt him hugging me. Then, the muffled sound of his voice reached my ears, but I couldn’t figure out what he was saying.
The feeling of not being able to communicate with the outside world was horrible. After a few tries, I realized that I couldn’t open my mouth, let alone speak. Hence, I chose to give up altogether.
Thereafter, I plunged deeper into my dreams. Some were horrifying, while others were beautiful, but most were indistinct. One thing they had in a common was that they felt like things I had personally experienced.
In fact, many of those scenarios and emotions felt so tangible that I couldn’t differentiate between dream and reality anymore.
This torment lasted a long time. When I finally opened my eyes, it was to see everything white. I’m in a hospital ward.
My mind gradually registered the pain and dryness in my throat. I shifted slightly, trying to get up to drink some water.
But my whole body was extremely sore.
“She’s awake. Sienna’s awake!” Nora’s familiar voice rang from nearby.
She ran over to the bed and grabbed my hand emotionally. “Oh God, you’re finally awake. You almost scared me to death these few days!”
I opened my mouth to speak, but try as I might, I couldn’t make a single sound. Left without a choice, I pointed at the cup.
She immediately got the hint and queried, “You want some water?”
When I nodded, she reached out for the cup, but someone beat her to it. Both of us glanced over in unison to see that it was Anthony.
Nora gave me a knowing smile before getting up to step aside.
Anthony sat next to me and supported me up from the bed to lean against his shoulder before bringing the cup to my lips.
My thirst was unbearable, so although I could feel the buried emotions within me threatening to surface, I ignored it and drank a few sips of water from the cup.
Even after my throat felt better, Anthony still kept his arms around me as he asked, “Do you want more?”
I shook my head and replied with much difficulty, “Thank… you.”
His mouth tightened visibly, but he didn’t comment. Then, he placed the cup on the bedside table and glanced at Nora. “We need to call the doctor over to check on her.”
Nora nodded and subsequently broke into a small jog out of the ward.
I tried wriggling out of Anthony’s embrace, but he held me in place and commanded in a rich voice, “Don’t move.”
My brows drew together and I pushed through the soreness of my throat. “Anthony, this position is uncomfortable for me.”
His forehead creased, but fortunately, he didn’t refute. Instead, he raised the bed and guided me to lean back against it.
Nora called over the doctor to examine me. After taking my temperature, the middle-aged doctor who was clad in a white coat reported, “Your fever has gone down, but you might feel lethargic for now. Drink more water and take your medicine on time. If nothing goes wrong, you can be discharged in a few days.”
“That’s great. Thank you, doctor!” Nora expressed her gratitude. After sending the doctor away, she arched her brow at me. “Sienna, you really survived a disaster. You were burning at forty degrees. I’m surprised you didn’t fry a circuit up there. It truly is a miracle!”
I smiled feebly in response, too weak to speak to her.
Anthony, being the perceptive person that he was, noticed this and bossily announced, “I’ll take care of her. You can go about your day now.”
I couldn’t tell if Nora was doing it on purpose, but she met Anthony’s gaze with a serious expression and countered, “I’m not busy at all. In fact, I have nothing to do at all!”
Then, a mischievous smile played on her lips before she continued, “I can’t say the same for you though, Mr. Featherstone. If I’m not mistaken, you should be quite busy recently, right?”
Anthony’s face darkened. He had always been a man of few words, but right then, he looked like he was completely disinclined to speak.
Perhaps it was due to the medicine I just consumed, I started to feel tired again. Hence, I shut my eyes and gradually drifted back to sleep.
For the next two days, Anthony stayed at the hospital and took care of all my meals. He even accompanied me to the washroom each time.
Slightly exasperated, I peeked at him and argued, “Anthony, I’m all recovered now, so just go ahead with your work.”
As though he couldn’t hear me, he handed me a cup of water and ordered, “Drink some water.”
I was rendered speechless and hesitated for a moment before speaking, “I’m getting discharged today. Thank you for taking care of me the past few days!”
He grunted in response, but disregarded the hint in my words and changed the subject. “Summer didn’t go out at all during the summer break. She wants to come over and visit you.”
I was taken aback because I never expected him to mention Summer. It was already August, which meant summer break was over. I previously promised to bring her to R Province, but then forgot about it because I was too busy.
“How has she been lately?” I asked in a small voice as guilt rose in me.
He pursed his lips and answered in a soft yet gripping voice, “She keeps insisting on visiting you. She’s a child, after all. It’s completely normal that she misses her mother after being apart for so long.”
I bowed my head in remorse and absent-mindedly twisted my fingers together. After a short pause, I asked, “When is she coming over?”
After doing some mental calculation, I realized that it was almost September, so school was about to reopen. Even if she visited, she could only stay for a few days before having to return to school.
With a sharp glint in his eyes, Anthony shot me a sidelong glance. “Aren’t you planning to return to K City to see her?”
My stomach lurched slightly before I timidly explained, “The Murphy Corporation project might take about a month to complete. I already caused a delay by being sick for a few days. I’m afraid it’d be quite some time before I can go back to K City.”
His gaze dimmed and he didn’t say anything.
Hence, this topic came to an abrupt halt and the atmosphere became slightly awkward.
Fortunately, my fever didn’t cause any abnormal symptoms. After it went down completely, I rested at the hospital for a few more days before getting discharged.
I had initially planned to travel to Lavelian Village to resume work, but Armond told me to stay at the villa for a few days, explaining that he would get Linda to temporarily fill in for me.
But of course, that didn’t mean I could slack off on my work.
Armond moved almost all of the documents to the villa for me to sort out.
The day Nora visited, I was huddled in the study with my head still buried in a pile of documents.
“Sienna, open the door! Can you hear me?” she shouted from the yard.
Her voice resembled a loudspeaker. Those who didn’t know might think that she was here to pick a fight with me instead.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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