Chapter 4 Every Dog Has Its Day

"Sean, what's going on?" Carla asked.

Without putting on her shoes, she quickly ran out of her bedroom.

Sean was standing next to the sofa. He pointed at Terence and turned to her,"Carla, look at him! He's burning up! He has a fever!"

Once she focused her attention on Terence, she knew that Sean wasn't lying. Terence looked very ill as he lay on the sofa. Carla approached him with caution. She placed her hand on the top of his forehead and confirmed what she already knew. His temperature was really high.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of him. Go along or you'll be late for school," she said and took out some money from her bag hanging on the wall and placed them on Sean's hand.

"Take the money and buy some healthy food for breakfast. You're too skinny. Is your sister abusing you?" Carla joked with Sean.

Sean should really head out or he would be late for school.

He took the money, nodded at his sister and then waved goodbye,"I know.

I'm going to do all of that. See you later."

Sean was a young, handsome and sensible boy. Although Carla had a habit of teasing him, he knew that his sister loved him the most.

After Sean left, Carla began pulling all the drawers open in her search for medicine. She wanted to find some Antipyretic to reduce Terence's fever. The only problem was she couldn't remember where she put them.

Sometime later, she found some ibuprofen in a drawer.

She poured a glass of water and put the medicine in it. Then, she stirred the water with a teaspoon. Afterward, she approached Terence and tried to help him get up.

"Hey, hey, wake up!" Carla said and lightly tapped Terence's handsome, feverish and red face.

His lips were parched and cracked. His worn out face clearly showed how badly his fever had gotten overnight. Carla felt a little worried.

"Hey, wake up. You should take some medicine!" she patted his face and shouted in his ear. It was only then that she realized that she forgot to ask the man about his name, so she didn't have a choice but to call him "hey".

Terence was roused by her voice, feeling a little aggravated. He seized her wrist before she could pat his face again.

"Stop punching me! It hurts so much. My cheek is swollen," Terence said in a thick voice.

Struggling a little, he got up and leaned against the sofa. "Don't call me HEY. My name is Terence, T-E-R-E-N-C-E," he then added.

He felt a little annoyed when Carla called him "hey".

Carla looked at his feverish face and released her hand from his grasp. She then placed the glass in front of him and explained,"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pat you and shout at you. I'm just afraid that you're too weak and you might lose consciousness. Take the medicine. It will ease down your fever."

Terence wanted to sit up properly and take the glass, but he was too weak to do that.

The pain from the wound and the fever made him awfully exhausted.

All of a sudden, Carla sat closer to him.

She helped him sit up and lowered the glass to his mouth. Being so close to her, he could smell her creme rinse.

Terence looked at her and frowned.

Carla ignored his glum face and continued to help him drink.

"Khoff, Khak......"

Carla heard him coughing and thought that perhaps she was pressing the cup on his face too hard. She didn't mean to do that. She just hoped that Terence could take the medicine as quickly as possible.

Terence coughed some more and his wound opened and began to bleed afresh. The wound was burning so badly. "Ouch!" he cried out.

"Uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Are you okay?" Carla asked softly.

Carla saw that blood had started to trickle down on Terence's arm. She quickly set down the glass and patted him carefully on the chest.

Terence stopped coughing and looked at Carla. His eyes grew cloudy and dim due to his worsening fever.

"I'm fine," he replied in a low voice.

"Oh, my God! Your wound is oozing pus!" Carla exclaimed.

Yesterday, she tied up his wound with a bandage. When she removed the bandage today, she found out that the wound had festered.

'Maybe I should have rubbed some ointment on his wound yesterday, ' Carla thought.

Terence shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.

He knew this was going to happen when he took a shower last night and Carla tied up his wound with the wrong method. And today, he was struck down with fever. All of these led him into his current condition.

"We shouldn't wait any longer! We must go to the hospital to prevent blood loss and wound infection," Carla voiced and stood up. She already prepared to leave the house.

She would often talk harshly but in reality, she had a soft heart.

Yesterday, she told Terence that he must leave her house today. But today, she decided to help Terence when she saw him in a bad condition.

"Hold on. Do you have any clothes that I could wear? I can't go with you if I dress like this," Terence asked. He forced a smile which looked more painful than anything else.

Carla changed her clothes and shoes but she completely overlooked Terence's clothing needs. She washed his clothes yesterday but they hadn't dried yet.

He didn't have anything to wear. Around his waist was a middle-sized towel, which was barely enough to cover his intimate part.

Sometime later, Carla turned her head and noticed that Terence was only wearing a towel. She went into Sean's room and finally found a sportswear, which seemed large enough to fit him.

Her aunt brought the sportswear for Sean last year, but she chose the wrong size. On Sean, it looked like a potato sack. It was too big for him.

"I found this in my brother's closet. You can wear it if you don't mind," Carla said.

She passed the clothes to Terence.

Terence knew that he couldn't be picky about the clothes. So he took it and nodded without hesitation.

Carla stared at Terence without blinking. She didn't even realize that she should have left the room. Because she had been taking care of her brother since he was very little, it was a common thing for her to watch her brother get dressed.

But she quickly blushed crimson with embarrassment.

Terence raised his hand to put on the shirt. He was tall, with wide shoulders and a strong chest. She couldn't take off her eyes on his abs. He was strong, hot and charming. Everything that he did spell seduction.

He put on the shirt and glanced at Carla, who stood still watching him. Terence sighed.

He was about to take off the towel and put on the trousers when he realized that he didn't know whether the trousers were his size. But he had no choice. After all, a pair of wrong sized trousers was better than a middle-sized towel.

He put his hand on the towel and Carla immediately knew what he was going to do. She quickly turned around and covered her face.

She patted her red face and thought, 'I'm so stupid! I watched a strange man get dressed! I even stared hard at him. Oh, Jesus, wh..what have I done?

Ah, it's kind of embarrassing. I'm such a shameless woman.'

Carla regretted her behavior. She really did but she couldn't help but peek at Terence in the mirror beside the door.

'I'm a female, radiant with beauty and full of life. I have all the favors granted by God.

It's perfectly normal if I'm attracted to a handsome man.

Yes, exactly. I didn't do anything wrong, so I have nothing to fear, ' Carla comforted herself.

"Okay, I'm ready to go now. Let's go," Terence called out. He changed his clothes and washed his face in the bathroom. Although he still felt a little feverish, he was getting better now.

Carla and Terence reached downstairs when Terence suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"What are you waiting for? Get on! I'll give you a lift to the hospital," Carla urged.

Terence looked at the old and red electric scooter in front of him with a sickened expression on his face.

Yesterday he got on this "car" because he must run for his life. But today, he didn't want to get on it again.

Carla rolled her eyes and tried to convince him further,"Hey, what are you doing? It won't be easy for us to hail a taxi in this area. The bus is very slow because of the traffic jam. You don't want to hit rush hour, do you? My scooter is old, but it's convenient and fast! Do you remember? It saved your life!"

She knew that Terence hated her scooter.

But he might die without this old scooter. Yesterday, she gave him a ride to help him hide from his enemies.

Terence paused for a moment and then said in earnest,"Look, I don't hate your scooter.

But those men who tried to kill me would definitely recognize it. I just want us to be careful."

"Last night I saw a bus station nearby. We can take a bus there and no one will notice us in public.

It's not rush hour so we won't be stuck in traffic," he added before Carla could interrupt him.

But it was quite obvious that Terence was lying. In his opinion, any other vehicle would be safer than this old scooter. If they couldn't hail a taxi, he would rather take a bus.

Carla thought for a moment and finally agreed with him. Then, she locked her scooter.

They were about to leave when a voice from a distance stopped them.

"Oh, Carla, good morning. Why did you get up so early today?

Is that your boyfriend from last night? Oh, my God, he's so handsome and tall! Every dog has its day; you are the dog today! Oh, I'm sorry. I mean, you're a wonderful couple!" Jena said in a cheerful tone.

She immediately took the stairwell when she saw Carla and Terence. She didn't get a good look at Terence's face yesterday. So she felt surprised upon seeing him clearly for the first time.

She had been living here for many years but she had never seen such a handsome and charming man.

"Oh, Jena, I think you misunderstood. We are not..."

Carla wanted to explain but Terence suddenly put his arm around her.