Lily surely has a fever and it seems severe because her body temperature reaches above 40℃.
Abby shakes Lily’s shoulders, trying to wake her up, “Lily, Lily?”
Vaguely aware that someone is shaking her, Lily regains consciousness and opens her eyes faintly.
Somehow, she finds the sunlight entering from windows is so blinding that makes her uncomfortable.
But it’s the fever that makes her feel ill, not the light.
Although Lily’s awake now, she feels strongly dizzy and faint. Abby puts a fever cooling pad on her
forehead, gets her take some medicine and finally calls an ambulance.
The waiting period is so painful and it makes Abby extremely agitated though the ambulance only takes
minutes to come.
Lily’s body temperature is so high that the medicine she took is not working at all.
Fever is not some severe illness while it could lead to many complications with such a high
temperature, like pneumonia, pulmonary edema, and meningitis. It’s hard to say.
There’s nothing Abby could do to help while waiting for the medical team besides changing cooling
pads and being anxious.
Fortunately, the ambulance soon arrives. Nurses come upstairs with a wheelchair and they pull Lily up
from the ground and place her on it, then goes straight into the lift and transfer her to the ambulance.
Everything happens so fast that Abby doesn’t have time to get changed. Then she puts a random coat
on hastily and accompanies Lily to the hospital.
On the way to the nearest hospital, the First Hospital Affiliated of J University, a nurse puts her on a
drip attempting to reduce her unusually high temperature.
Once arriving the hospital, the medical stuff run a series of tests on her. Abby is literally dazed when
she saw Lily’s thermometer which shows her body temperature has risen to —
42℃.
In Abby’s limited medical knowledge system, a fever with a body temperature above 39℃ is rather
severe; if exceeding 40℃, it will probably cause a confused state of mind and hallucination. 42℃ is
something she never sees before.
The doctor that measures Lily’s body temperature is apparently surprised too, as when she prepares
the drug of the infusion, she keeps saying to Abby, “Why didn’t you call ambulance earlier? No one
could help her if her temperature goes up to 43℃!”
The doctor’s words swirling in her head, she answers, “It’s not this serious last night until this morning.”
“She can barely speak in this condition. Someone has to look after your friend while she’s here. You
can’t be too careful. Fever is big deal that comes with tricky complications,” the female doctor sighs,
“Stay with her. Let us know if anything.”
Abby nods and then sits by Lily’s bedside. Lily’s pale complexion is a clear sign of her severe illness;
Abby feels so bad for her.
Ryan has called twice when she stays with Lily. She didn’t answer the calls, but when he calls a third
time, she walks out of the ward and answers it politely in the hallway, “Hello, Ryan?”
Ryan pauses a moment hearing an unfamiliar voice from the phone. He tries to figure out the owner of
this voice in his mind, “Who’s that?”
“Lily’s friend, Abby.”
“Where is she?”
“Oh, Lily’s not with me.” Abby uses the excuse she prepared before picking up the call, acting naturally,
“She left her phone in my apartment yesterday. She’ll pick it up after work.”
He is quiet for a moment.
There is a knot of tension in her stomach. Abby’s afraid he wouldn’t buy it, “Ryan, are you listening?”
“Yes.” There’s not any emotion showing in his voice, so it’s hard to tell whether he believes her or not.
“Please tell Lily I called when you see her.”
Abby heaves a sigh of relief, “Sure, no problem. Bye.”
After Abby hangs up the phone, a nurse in white uniform walks over, “You can go and get your friend’s
blood test results now.”
Abby hurries to the self-service machines to get the results. There are a lot of medical jargons and
figures that Abby couldn’t understand on the report. So, she hands it to the female doctor directly.
To her surprise, the blood test results somehow astonish the doctor. The doctor tells her, “It turns out
that’s not a common fever that your friend has developed. She has mild alcohol intoxication and there’s
a fair number of anticholinergic agents and a few atropines, which are ingredients of knockout drops, in
her blood. So, it’s certain that she’s got drugged and drank too much alcohol.”
The doctor’s words give Abby a fright. She recalls that Lily was being so weak that she could barely
speak and move last night. It turns out that it’s someone that drugged her makes her like this!
Abby is tense and angry. “Is she going to be fine? What treatment does she need? Is her condition
dangerous?” asks Abby anxiously.
“It’s not life-threatening. But she is too ill when she came. We’ll see after the fever is gone.” The doctor
objectively evaluates Lily’s condition. From the diagnose, the doctor has an inkling of what has
happened to the two girls, and she consoles Abby, “Don’t worry. We’ll try our best to treat her.”
Abby goes back to Lily’s ward, with loads of uncomfortable thoughts crowding in on her. She feels
utterly angry at the thought of Lily being drugged.
Right at the moment, the phone in her pocket rings again.
Only this time it’s not from Ryan, instead, it’s from another person, someone she’s so familiar with.
Rex.
Abby takes a glance at Lily who is still unconscious, deciding to keep silent about Lily’s condition. After
all, the decision to tell him or not should be made by Lily herself.
But Abby surely didn’t expect that as soon as she answers the phone, he asks, “Did you stay in Abby’s
apartment last night?”
Last night.
Abby notices some unusual information in his words.
How does he know Lily’s with her?
It was around midnight when Lily came to her apartment last night. So, the only person that knows Lily
came to her place is definitely the same person she’s been with last night.
Abby’s forehead knots in a frown. Why would Lily get drugged if that’s the case?
Did he…
An appalling idea slipping through her mind, she feels anger rising inside her. “Rex, were you with Lily
last night?” said Abby hotly.
Rex is about to rise from bed and put his slippers on when he notices the voice from the phone belongs
to Abby.
How come she is answering Lily’s call?
It’s not normal even though she and Lily are close friends.
Or is it Lily doesn’t even want to answer his call after what happened yesterday?
His face turns hard and bitter at the thought of that, “Put Lily on the phone.”
His response seems a tacit admission that he indeed was with Lily last night, to her regard. Abby jumps
from her seat at his words, growling at him on the phone, “You want to speak to her? She is in hospital
with high fever, unconscious now. You’d better tell me what happened last night! What did you do to
her?!”
Abby’s accusation somehow shuts him up in a sudden silence.
The silence makes her anger almost tangible, but Rex’s still not making any reply, as if he is muted.
Just when Abby thinks he would hang up because of his guilty conscience, Rex says with a low, urgent
voice, “Which hospital are you in?”
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