368 Worrywar
"Stop. Stop it, Xiu! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
It was 7 in the morning, the sun was rising up. But inside the huge bathroom, Xiu was standing before the mirror. She looked like she was about to die. Her face was deadly pale, her lips were dry, her eyes were watery and swollen.
She kept rubbing her eyes as she kept asking herself, "Why is the water not even stopping now?"
While Nora didn't notice, Xiu had spent the whole night going back and forth from the bathroom. She had been throwing up again even though her stomach was empty. Her stomach was hurting now. She was also hungry but didn't dare to eat.
She washed her face with cold water and ca out. But seeing how Nora was still sleeping peacefully, she didn't disturb her. She was planning on leaving first. She walked out of the room.
The house wasn't as quiet as she had expected. All the maids were already busy with their work. Xiu stopped a familiar maid and asked, "Is Weird un... I an Mr. Xin is awake?"
"Which one?"
"Xin Zin," Xiu corrected herself, and seeing the maid nod in reply, she went on, "Where is he?"
"Master's in the study," inford the maid politely and gestured towards the study door at the end of the hallway. Xiu nodded her head and smiled thankfully at her.
Originally, she was gonna ask the maid to just inform everyone that she's leaving but considering how kind Xin Zin had been with her, she decided to drop that idea. She curled her fingers slightly and knocked at the mahogany door.
While she was contemplating whether to knock again or not, the door opened but since Xin Zin was on the call he only looked at her fleetingly and beckoned her inside with his hand. Xiu followed him in.
"Let's talk about it later," Xin Zin said this on the phone and hung up the call. "So, little one, why are you up so early?" He turned around to face her but stopped talking. He stepped closer to her and leaned down to look at her face with a scowl. "What's wrong with you?" He lifted his hand to touch her forehead. "You have a fever? Why didn't you say so?"
"I... I don't..." Xiu tried checking herself but since her whole body was burning up, she couldn't really tell it.
Xin Zin pushed her towards the recliner. "You sit here. Let call the doctor for you and..." he was trying to rember what else he needed. "Oh, let ask soone what else I need to do."
"But I was here to..." she watched him sprinting off in a hurry while her voice lowered, "Tell you that I'm about to leave." Xiu sighed out heavily as she shook her head. She was feeling sick why was he panicking? It kind of amused her a bit. She wanted to lean back and sit comfortably but she felt sothing was under her. She got up slightly to take out whatever was under and frowned to see the book that had been under her.
//Behind The Red Curtains
Xiu was gonna put the book down but reading the title, she didn't. Since Xin Zin was taking long to co back, she decided to read why this novel was in his study since looking around, she only saw thick books related to business and stuff. This was the only novel and it really piqued her curiosity.
//This book is dedicated to my dear daughter who won't be able to read it now. But I hope wherever you are, you're happy. You'll be missed.
Xiu didn't think anything as she shuffled to the next page.
//"Death; A tragedy we call the end.
Life; A tragedy we call the journey."
// (January 14th)
Xiu was about to turn the page when she stopped and ca back to the sa page. She read those lines over and over again. The more she read, the more it seed like she had seen it sowhere. Familiar, it seed very familiar.
All of a sudden, she fished out her phone and opened the photo gallery. Last ti when she solved the riddle, the answer was 'tombstone'. But when she went to the tombstone of Carina Novell, she found nothing. However, she had taken a photo of the tombstone as a precaution. Because she wanted to deeply think about the link between the tombstone and the password of the mystery box that she had.
She placed the phone and the book side by side as she read out again, "Death; A tragedy we call the end. Life; A tragedy we call the journey... It's the sa thing." It was indeed the sa thing. The sa words were engraved on the tombstone and the sa were written here.
However, before she could think it over...
"Why are you so late?" She looked up to see Xin Zin reprimanding the woman beside him. "I called half an hour ago! Why you doctors are so lazy?!"
"Zin, will you shut up? What's the hurry?" The woman beside him was wearing a maroon tracksuit and looked fed up with Xin Zin's complaints. Xiu could see they were quite close since Xin Zin shut up. "Now, tell who's the patient?"
"Use your eyes," he retorted and pointed towards Xiu. "Can't you see her sitting over there?!"
When the woman turned to look at Xiu, her brows raised significantly in surprise before she passed her professional smile to Xiu and went to her side.
"I really am fine," Xiu tried to speak but Xin Zin didn't give her a chance.
"Yes, and pigs can fly as well." Xiu gaped at his dry humor while the other woman rolled her eyes at him. "I knew sothing was wrong with you. Even last night, you looked really sick but I didn't want to pry."
The doctor who was examining Xiu glared at Xin Zin and said, "Stay quiet! Let examine her condition first." Xin Zin stood silently at the side. After she was done examining Xiu, she looked at Xin Zin and spoke again, "I believe you asked soone to make porridge for her?"
"Oh, I completely forgot." He had indeed asked soone to cook sothing light for Xiu when he had gone down. "I'm gonna get it." He hurried away again leaving only the doctor and Xiu inside his study.
"What should I call you?"
"Xiu... I'm Bai Xiu."
"So Bai Xiu, tell since when are you having trouble with sleep?" Her voice was as clear as water without any ripples. Her voice was so pleasant that Xiu thought she could hear it for the whole day without getting tired of it.
Xiu bit her lips before answering, "It's been a few days." She answered honestly without hiding anything now. "Yesterday night, I went out drinking with friends and passed out for a few hours but when nausea woke up, I couldn't go to sleep again. I thought I threw up because of drinking heavily but even after having a proper al, I threw up again. I took a sleeping pill to calm my brain but it wasn't as helpful as I thought it'd be."
The woman with black hair and black eyes listened to all the details before she replied, "You know sleep is very important for health." Xiu nodded her head. She understood that more than one could even imagine. "Our body can't handle this much stress and running around without a night of proper sleep. I guess that's the reason why you've been throwing up. Also, you're taking way too much stress. Which is also not good for health."
"It's nothing serious, right?" she suddenly felt like asking that question. In her previous life, she had ignored her health for far too long.
"Not for now," replied the kind doctor. As she packed up her dical box, she looked at Xiu curiously before asking, "What is your relationship with Xiao Zi?"
"Huh? Who?"
"Xin Zin? Who is he to you?"
"Oh... No one. I an we know each other but there is no relationship."
"Then why is he worried about you so much?" Xiu raised her brow in question. "I haven't seen him like this since..." She stopped herself from saying any further before smiling at Xiu. "Take care of yourself. I'll leave your prescription with that worrywart."
"Doctor!" Xiu called out from behind.
"Hm?"
"I don't even know your na..."
"Zhao Huan," she answered.
"Thank you, Dr. Zhao." Xiu looked awkward as she added, "And sorry, you had to make this trip early in the morning because of ."
Zhao Huan shrugged her shoulders saying, "It's alright. It's rare for my brother-in-law to call . And that too asking for help! I almost got a heart attack." She laughed out before leaving a confused Xiu in the room alone.
"Did she say... Brother-in-law?" Xiu wondered out loud. "Shucks! She's Weird uncle's relative?!"
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