Chapter 4 Who Took You Away

"Doc, when can my brother have his operation?" Nina looked at the doctor expectantly, her brother's hospital bill crumpled in her hand.

"Well, the donor's organs are collapsing quickly. We are losing him, he might pass away within an hour. So go and tell your brother to get ready." As soon as the doctor finished with his words, Nina ran out of the office. She couldn't wait to tell her brother the good news. However, she also felt a bit guilty for celebrating when the donor was about to pass away. She decided it would only be decent to visit him before she went to check on her brother.

She went to the man's bed and found his family standing around him. She stood silently by them and said "thank you" in her heart. Afterwards, she returned to her brother's ward.

Her brother was occupying bed number 17. When he saw Nina, he immediately perked up. "Sis, how come you're so late today?"

"I have a good news for you. You'll have a new kidney soon!" Nina couldn't help the excitement in her voice.

"Really?" Leon asked as excitedly as Nina did. And then he sobered up. "But we don't have enough money. We can't afford..."

"I won the second class prize in the lottery yesterday. We can now pay for your surgery and hospital fees. If everything goes well, we can even take back our house." The lie rolled smoothly off of Nina's tongue. There was no way she could tell her brother how she got the money. And besides, with the one million Bobby Teng gave her, they had so much more money than they needed.

"Number 17, get ready for your operation," the head nurse said as she peeped into the ward. Soon, a team of nurses wheeled Leon out of the ward to begin their preparations. After Nina cheered Leon up, she accompanied the team and her brother until they reached the operating room doors. She wasn't allowed inside.

Just then, she heard her name being shouted from behind her. "Nina!" She turned around and saw Daisy covered in bruises and blood.

"Daisy? What happened?" Before Nina could even finish her question, Daisy dropped to the ground.

The red lights of the operating rooms taunted Nina. She watched the unmoving door on the left, waiting for any news about her brother's operation. The other door on the right was where Daisy was being operated on by another team of doctors.

"Right here!" Not too far away from the waiting area, two policemen entered the floor and stood by the operating rooms. A moment later, the light on Daisy's operating room turned green and the door was opened. A nurse pushed a bed out while a doctor followed her out.

"How's it going?" Nina rushed over and asked. Before she could get any closer, the policemen beat her to it.

"The patient is now out of danger. Her injuries were not very serious. Her left arm and a few of her ribs were broken, though. But that's it. She would be feeling a little tender over the next few days."

The doctor's answer surprised Nina. The policemen already stood beside the bed to ask Daisy some questions. "Daisy Zhou, we're policemen. We received a call from the hospital saying you got beaten up. Can you please tell us what happened?"

"No!" Daisy's voice came a little sharper than expected. She shook her head vehemently. "No one hit me. It wasn't like that."

The policemen looked at each other in surprise. The doctor then stepped forward and asked, "If no one hit you, then how did you get hurt? Look at your arms. You've got bruises all over your body. Clearly…"

"I fell! It was an accident. I fell badly this morning. I rolled down the stairs."

"Stairs?" the doctor repeated in dumb surprise. Daisy nodded. "Yes, I fell down the stairs. There are a set of stairs in the back garden of the hospital."

The doctor was clearly speechless. Meanwhile, the policemen advised her, "Daisy Zhou, please calm down. We're here to protect you and uphold justice. Please don't be afraid of anyone retaliating. Tell us what happened."

Daisy only kept insisting that she fell down. The doctor looked confused but didn't say anything about the matter anymore. The policemen had no choice but to take her statement on record and leave. If Daisy didn't want to say what happened, then they couldn't do anything for her.

After the policemen left, Daisy was sent back to the ward. Nina went with her to make sure she was comfortable. When everyone else left, Daisy glared at Nina. "Close the door."

Plagued with guilt, Nina did as she was told. As soon as the door was closed, Daisy began to coldly scold her, "You bitch. I was trying to help you. And look at how you repaid me?! I was willing to help you only because I felt sorry for your brother! I asked you kindly and you said yes. I prepared everything for you. You only needed to show up. And what did you do? You ran away! If you were so afraid to do it, you could have told me. Why did you run away without saying anything? Why did you leave him waiting at the hotel? Do you have any idea who you stood up? He's a powerful man in C City! How dare you stand him up? He was asking for you but I couldn't find you. Where is your phone?"

Daisy berated Nina. Nina wanted to explain herself but Daisy's last sentence confused her. She took her phone out from her pocket quickly. "I had my phone the whole time."

"Was it out of power?"

"No, there's still half of the battery left."

"Then why didn't you answer my calls? I've been calling you all night and you hung up on me twice! Later on, I couldn't reach you anymore. You must have switched it off. Tell me, were you having fun playing with my life? Is this what you want, Nina? I've been looking for you the whole night. I couldn't find you. If I did, I wouldn't be here in this hospital bed with broken bones and bruises!"

Nina lowered her head and said softly, "I'm sorry, Daisy. I didn't mean to break my promise with you. But the taxi I was on last night got into an accident. Everything happened so quickly. I didn't hear my phone ring last night, too! I didn't refuse to answer your call. I didn't even turn it off."

"You didn't hear your phone ring? Not even once?" Daisy was seething in anger. She sat up on the hospital bed and looked for her phone from her bag. Once she found it, she threw it at Nina. "Check how many times I called you last night. See, there. You said your phone didn't ring but you hung up on me twice! Is it my phone that has a problem? You know what? Let's call your phone so you could see." Daisy dialed Nina's number.

One, two. They could hear the ringing of a phone from the other end of the line but Nina's phone remained silent.

They both looked at Nina's phone in confusion. Thinking quickly, Daisy said, "Call me."

Daisy dropped the call and waited for Nina to call her. As soon as Daisy's phone rang, they saw a different string of numbers on the screen.

"What?" Nina was stunned. She didn't know what was happening. Meanwhile, Daisy looked at her with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "Your phone card has been changed. Where did you go last night?"

"I… It wasn't me! I didn't do anything. I was taken away by the man who hit the taxi I was on. He... I...I slept with him in exchange for money..."

Daisy's jaw dropped. "What? You were raped?"

"No! Not really. It wasn't like that."

"So you volunteered to sleep with him?" Daisy asked acidly. Her eyes were filled with rage.

"No. Anyways, he gave me money."

After a short pause, Daisy asked, "How much did he give you?"

Nina hesitated. She wanted to tell her the real amount but her instincts told her not to say it. She hesitated before finally, she whispered, "Five hundred thousand."

"Five hundred thousand?!" Daisy was stunned. "Who would be so generous to give you five hundred thousand for a night?"