Chapter 14: Pass out

Janice is standing in the darkroom again. A girl is sitting on the floor with her legs folded. Janice can't see her face since her back is turned. She is wearing an elegant white dress stained red due to blood. Her hairs are long blonde and tied in a braid. Beside her lay a boy of her age. She can't recognise him either. His back is bleeding heavily, and he has passed out. The cut is fresh since the blood is still oozing from the wound. A man tied with a rope on a chair is dead. A woman's head is placed in the girl's lap. The girl is sobbing.

Janice looks at her horribly. She tries to step forward; instead, her legs fail to interpret her brain's command. They are paralyzed. Wake up! Wake up! The girl is shaking her, but there is no response in return. "Wake up!" she cries again.

Janice gasps.

Beep Beep Beep

"Wake up!" Kingsley is shaking her. She coughs. He releases her, lets out a sigh of relief and flops on the chair. He looks extremely worried and exhausted. "You were shaking. Uh um, daydreaming?"

Janice looks around and finds herself lying on a white bed. She is wearing a blue gown, and her hairs are open. She looks extremely beautiful in a hospital gown. There is an oxygen mask on her mouth and a cannula in one hand so as to provide her rapid medication. She is still shaking. The dreams she has looks so real. She can only guess the scenario, yet she cannot get to the exact conclusion. The dreams and feelings are more than usual now. "You fainted," Kingsley tells her.

She remembers after they all left her, she went into her room. The room was cleaned, and everything was in order. She took a tour of her room and found everything she needed. From her elegant clothes to slippers, everything was placed nicely. She slid her barefoot in the rabbit-like fur slippers, and they warmed her toes. She slumped on the bed and rolled over when something caught her eye. She extended her hand out and grabbed the photo. Four kids were smiling happily in the picture; three boys and one girl. They were sitting on a staircase, making weird faces. They all look familiar to her. "Is it the same photo I saw at Dylan's?" she asked herself. She looked deep into the photo. The picture reminded her of the dreams she usually has.

The picture is torn and also not framed. She flipped the image and found something written on the back in bold letters: GWEN YU. Janice read aloud, and a memory flashed of the girl giggling. She closed her eyes, clenching her head tightly since it banged with pain. Beneath the name, some numbers were also mentioned, but the intensity of the pain was increasing, blacking out her view.

One moment before, she was fine, and the next moment she was clenching her head, dying from the pain spreading across her body. The picture slipped from her grip, and she ran downstairs for her medicine. She missed a step and fell from the staircase, and collapsed.

Janice takes a deep breath and exhales. The mask turns foggy.

She tries to remove the mask with her shaky hand, but Kingsley stops her. "Hey! Keep it on," he insists. He fears that she will pass out again.

"Luckily we got on time," he proceeds. Janice looks around and finds no one. "Oh well everyone is waiting outside. I was insisting so the doctors let me in." He shrugs.

The door of the room swings open, and Christian comes into the room, followed by Lixin. He is tapping on his phone hurriedly and leans against the wall while Lixin is holding papers. "It was Ze who brought you here and informed us too." Kingsley pats the back of Lixin and murmurs something. Kingsley nods.

Janice suspiciously looks at Lixin. Does he know about her illness? She doesn't want to tell anyone about her condition. She herself hasn't figured it out yet. How will she explain if they question her about her mental illness? Will they accept her as she is, or will they terminate her from their team? Lixin looks at her and gives her a warm smile, sliding the papers into his pocket. "How are you feeling?" asks Christian. His question distracts her attention. He slides the phone into his pocket, letting a sigh.

"I'm fine," says Janice.

"You need babysitting," suggests Christian. "We only left for an hour, and look what you have done to yourself."

Janice scoffs. Only an hour? She is suffering from this since she got into her senses, and he is talking about an hour.

"We had to leave our interview in the middle without giving a word to the reporters. They are all curious what is more important to us than our interview. Ah! This is going to make a history."

"We don't tell them your name. You're famous as a mysterious girl on weibo," says Kingsley. "Here check everyone is talking about you."

Kingsley rotates his phone towards her. She glances and smiles wryly. "Yeah, otherwise they would have known your situation before us and they would have swarm inside to interview you as well," says Christian. His phone is constantly buzzing. He irritatingly takes it out and taps further. She guesses it is probably because of her because she ruins their interview. "You must thank Dylan. It was his idea to remain you undercover. I kinda like it."

"Where is he now?" She suddenly remembers that he is missing. The last time she saw him was today's morning. He didn't even know that her gift had viciously been broken by one of his top fans. She can't remember her name, nor does she want to. Kingsley and Christian both exchange looks.

"He's dealing with his business. He won't be available till next week," Christian tells her.

Kingsley twists his fingers. "Big guy he is!" he adds.

She knows they both are lying to her and keeping something from her. During all these times, he took care, and now he is gone, just like Kris. He doesn't even visit her? And he won't be available till next week? Probably wooing that arrogant girl or maybe hanging out having fun. They could do much she doesn't even want to think.

No happiness stays for her. It fades as quickly as it comes. Janice looks away.