Chapter 4 High Fever

"What's wrong with your hand?" Garth repeated because there was no response from Fiona.

Fiona blinked and came back to consciousness. With her heart pounding, she looked at Garth. It was hard to believe that the man had come to her himself and cared about her. This was truly a beautiful dream. She didn't want to wake up from this sweet dream.

"It's okay, I was just injured by a wild animal attack," Fiona answered with difficulty. It was hard for her to speak. This was the first time Garth had spoken to her. The nervousness was still there.

Garth frowned. There was a wild animal attack? He couldn't think of where Fiona had gone that she would be attacked by a wild animal. Unfortunately, he didn't ask that question. Just because he pitied Fiona didn't mean he had to be so considerate as to get into personal matters. "Do you want me to treat your wounds?"

It was a very tempting offer. Unfortunately, Fiona did not accept it, self-aware of her position. "No need, thank you. My sister has treated my wounds."

Fiona's heart felt like it was going to explode with Garth's offer. If she kept talking to this man for long, she might faint on the spot. And she didn't want to leave a bad impression in his eyes. So, she decided to leave immediately. "Excuse me, I'm going to class first."

It just so happened that Fiona had arrived in front of the class. She immediately entered the class leaving Garth standing firmly in front of her class. This man himself had just found out about Fiona's class.

"So she's from the information systems class?" Garth stared for a moment then started walking back to the stairs in front of him, heading to his class. He already knew Fiona's class, although he still didn't know her name.

In Fiona's class. Just as she sat down, Lucy came over after what she saw just now. Lucy saw Garth talking to Fiona. That made her curious and annoyed at the same time.

Lucy banged Fiona's desk.

Fiona flinched at the sound and then covered Lucy in fear. "What's wrong?"

Lucy then swept her gaze across the bandage on Fiona's hand. She grabbed it roughly and lifted it up in the air. "Did you attract Garth's attention with this fake wound on your hand?"

Lucy stared at the bandage on Fiona's hand. She thought the wound was just Fiona's imagination. She was sure Fiona's hand was fine, so the bandage on it must have been just a fake to make it real.

"I'm not lying to you. This wound is real. Why would I lie to someone by pretending to be hurt to get sympathy? Especially from Garth?" Fiona denied explaining in a hoarse voice. She was afraid that Lucy would do something more reckless than this. Her friend had always bullied her.

"Really? I don't believe you." Lucy then pressed the bandage on Fiona's hand.

Fiona hissed. It hurt so much when the wound was pressed so hard. The wound was still wet, in fact the bandage was now red, there was blood seeping through.

Lucy saw the bandage turning red. She let go of Fiona's hand by jerking it roughly against the table, which made the acne-ridden woman hiss again in pain.

Christmas Day.

The sound of the bells ringing loudly echoed throughout the corners. All the inhabitants of the earth rejoiced to welcome the coming of this holy day. Many smiles were etched on the lips of every face standing in front of a Christmas tree, gathering with family, except for one person in an orphanage.

"Where is Fiona? Why isn't she here with us?" the orphanage mother asked the other residents who were now gathered in front of the Christmas tree.

At the orphanage this morning also celebrated Christmas together. There were many gifts neatly arranged around the Christmas tree for the residents of the orphanage. Today they are wearing the same color clothes, the white color shows their clean white faces look even brighter.

"Fiona said she wasn't feeling well, Mom," Cecyl chimed in.

A few moments ago, Cecyl entered Fiona's room to call her to join the event immediately. However, Fiona was still lying in bed with her body still covered by a blanket. After being examined, Fiona had a fever. The woman who she considered as a sister also told her to tell the orphanage mother if she could not attend the celebration because she was not feeling well.

"It would be a shame if Fiona didn't join this event. But forcing a sick person to join the celebration is also wrong, let's start the celebration now," said the orphanage mother with a disappointed face because the personnel celebrating the Christmas event were incomplete.

The Christmas celebrations begin without Fiona's presence.

***

In Fiona's room.

Fiona who was sleeping suddenly opened her eyelids quickly. She felt her body feverish again even though it had gone down before. In fact, this time her body temperature felt higher than before.

"Is it time for me to take my medicine?" Fiona muttered. According to the rules, she should take her medicine three times a day, but if her fever doesn't go down, she can take it every four hours.

When her eyes swept the clock on the wall, the time showed that it had not been four hours since she took the medicine. But really her whole body felt hot and burning now, especially in the hand, precisely at the wound. As if the heat came from there and then spread throughout the body.

Fiona turned to look at the wound on her hand. It so happened that the bandage had been removed because the wound had dried. The wound now felt like it was throbbing badly. For some reason, it hurt so much now. Did she have another illness? She should have just followed the orphanage mother's words to have her wound checked by a doctor, now she could only regret her decision. She had also rejected Garth's offer. Should she have just said Garth when they met on campus to check her wound?

Unable to withstand the heat in her body, Fiona took the medicine and drank it. She lay back down on the bed. An hour after taking the medicine, the fever had gone down accompanied by a lot of sweat that melted. But an hour later the fever came back. Because she felt like her body was really burning and she couldn't take it anymore, Fiona got out of bed and decided to get into the bathtub.

I don't know whether the heat will subside or get higher, what is clear is that now she feels comfortable soaking in cold water. "What exactly am I sick with?"

Tomorrow morning on campus.

Fiona went to campus after her fever was completely cured. She stayed awake all night because the fever in her body kept going up and down. She was tortured by the fever that seemed to burn her body. Luckily in the morning the fever was gone, although now she had to feeling sleepy because didn't sleep last night instead.

In the middle of her way to class, Fiona stopped suddenly. She caught a burning smell around her. Was there a fire on campus or was someone burning something? She looked around but everything seemed fine, there was no smoke or anything burning. Strangely the smell was getting stronger and stronger, piercing her nose. After she followed the smell, the smell came from a female student who was walking three meters in front of her. Fiona approached the source of the smell.

"Excuse me, are you on fire?" Fiona asked a woman. She managed to get the woman to stop.