Chapter 5: "Hospitalised"
Lai Jiayi's body slid down the alley wall.
'Ehhh, what's wrong with her??'
The small spectator watching this could only gasp in surprise. It slowly descended, approaching the girl while still using its invisible mode.
'Is she sick? Wait, the data said she's afraid of men. So...that's true! This...won't this be hard for her if she plays the game..?'
The yellow thing looked at Lai Jiayi, who was panting hard.
"F-fuh...fuh…" The girl took a deep breath. All her energy instantly left her body once she knew she's safe.
Still, it's hard to breathe for her.
"Uhh...hh…" Lai Jiayi gripped her chest tight, trying to breathe normally.
Somehow her vision began to blur. The bad memories of the past came flooding her mind again.
Alarmed, Lai Jiayi ghastly lowered her head and hugged her knees tightly. Her shoulder trembled. Her back was cold.
She suddenly felt nausea, but she suppressed it.
'If I can't face a man like this, what will happen in the future? Will I fall victim again to that– '
SLAP!
Lai Jiayi abruptly slapped her cheeks with both of her hands.
Shaking her head, the girl hurriedly stood up and let out a big sigh before shouting to herself.
"Jiayi, be strong! You can do this!!"
The girl encouraged herself to forget the scary experience she just encountered.
'That's okay. No one will hurt me anymore!'
Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling it a few times, only then Lai Jiayi managed to control her emotion. Her fear slowly subsided, leaving only a rational thought behind.
'This isn't the time to linger over my fear of men. I...have to think of a way to pay the million dollars debt!'
The girl immediately decided to go home. Wobbling, she strolled out of the alley heading to her house, not noticing the yellow thing also followed her home.
'She looks better now. Should I send the invitation to her phone? But if she's not at the lowest point, she might not accept.'
The small, round thing mulled over it and decided to hold back.
'Let's just see the situation for now.'
The duck-like thing followed the girl, even entering her house.
15 minutes later…
"Fuh…" Lai Jiayi sighed in relief, feeling safe that she made it home safely, not knowing another being was there in her house.
The girl quickly changed her clothes to a long sleeve t-shirt with a bit of rainbow pattern on it.
A minute passed by, and she sat down on the hard floor, treating her wound she could reach.
'What to do now…'
The girl looked around trying to find an idea to get the money but seriously...she was broke.
Just look, the apartment she and her father lived in was seriously not that big.
It's only as big as a small room; it couldn't even be called a house. There's no living room, a bedroom, or even a bathroom.
The house only had one single room! The ceiling of the room was also so low that Lai Jiayi's head almost touched it.
"Hm…" Lai Jiayi ruffled her messy wavy hair as she threw her gaze to her surroundings, trying to see if there's anything valuable she could sell.
On her right side, there were two thin, cold, and small beds. There's no bed sheet on it at all, making the bed fade color could be seen.
Not far from the bed was a small wooden table with a few crooked legs. It looked like it's about to collapse anytime.
Anything else? Anything to sell, maybe?
Lai Jiayi's gaze scanned all over the room, but she could only find several clothes scattered on the floor, a single black sling bag, and a few old shoes.
If one packed the things in her house, they would only need two boxes.
...hahaha.
Lai Jiayi chuckled in irony.
'To think that my family fell to this degree just because of a single woman, THAT woman...my mother…'
When she thought of that, Lai Jiayi's breath stilled.
'I shouldn't dwindle in the past. Forget it. Now...let's see should I call dad first or not.'
Even though today was Saturday, Lai Jiayi's father still worked hard as a construction laborer.
'Dad must be busy. I don't want to bother him…what to do?'
Lai Jiayi pondered in her mind before giving a glance at her android phone that she left on her bed. The phone was the oldest model someone could ever have.
'Let's get my phone.'
The girl slowly approached the bed and picked it up. Seeing her phone's touch screen was full of crack, she couldn't help but smile bitterly.
She had to buy a new one, but since she didn't have money...
"Whatever..." Lai Jiayi let out another big sigh. The girl then focused on the phone's screen.
'Now...should I call or not…'
She was contemplating whether to call her dad or not when her phone suddenly buzzed.
The girl subconsciously looked down at her phone screen and immediately saw an unknown number called her!
??
"What's this…" Lai Jiayi didn't want to take the call, thinking that it would be another debt collector, but she suddenly had a bad feeling about this.
'What's going on? Why do I feel restless...'
'But this might not be the debt collector, right?'
Lai Jiayi finally took the call.
The girl placed the phone next to her ear and slowly opened her mouth, but before she could speak, someone on the other side immediately asked in a hurried tone,
"Are you Mr. Lai's family??"
The voice asking belonged to an unknown woman, and the way she spoke truly made one feel uneasy.
Lai Jiayi quickly answered, "Y-yes I am, I'm his daughter. W-who are you? What's wrong with my dad? What happened??"
Lai Jiayi bit her lips as she gripped her phone tight, waiting for the woman on the other side to reply.
The woman answered in a low tone of voice, "I am a receptionist from X hospital..." the woman paused a bit. She took a deep breath before continuing,
"Your father...is hospitalized just now."
'….what?'
A chill went down Lai Jiayi's spine almost instantly. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped to the floor.
'Dad is…?'
Lai Jiayi's head spun around all of a sudden, and her vision blackened for a moment.
PRAK!
The sound of a hard object hitting the floor rang throughout the small place, followed by a loud THUMP sound.
Startled, the woman who was calling Lai Jiayi couldn't help but ask again,
"Hello?? Miss Lai?? Miss!"
No one answered for a few seconds. The woman didn't give up.
"Miss, miss!" The woman over the phone kept talking, but all Lai Jiayi heard was the word 'hospitalized.'
The girl stared at the floor with blank eyes, kneeling. Tears slowly wet her cheek, dripping in a slow-motion to the cold floor.
Lai Jiayi almost fainted if not for the woman's voice calling her even louder, "Miss, please hurry to X Hospital. It's urgent!"
The woman didn't have time to continue the call and thus ended it half away. Her last sentence sounded so rushed.
'No! Dad...nothing can happen to you!'
Lai Jiayi looked down at the black phone screen and clenched her teeth hard.
'This isn't the time to cry.'
Lai Jiayi speedily wiped her tears using the back of her palm.
'It's okay. Maybe it's nothing serious. Let's see him first…'
The girl stood up abruptly, and after taking the sling bag with her, she stormed out of the house.
The yellow round thing also followed her out, but then a notification sounded in its mind.
[Warning: battery low. Please get sun heat and charge yourself.]
'Oh, damn! I can't use my invisible mode anymore!'
The duck-like thing looked at Lai Jiayi in worry.
Under the scorching sun of the hot afternoon, the girl picked up an old black bicycle before hurrying to the X hospital. But the duck couldn't follow the girl at all.
'If I follow her without invisible mode, she will see me. Ugh...let's just wait here until she comes back. I'll turn off my system first.'
The thing decided to charge itself using the sun heat while sitting in front of the girl's house.
At this moment, Lai Jiayi was riding her bike fast.
She squeezed her eyes tight for a second while gripping the silver necklace she was wearing, a gift from her father.
'Dad...please hold on!'
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