Waking Up

The bed was really soft. Xue Ning doesn't recall her thin mattress back at her rented apartment being this comfortable. That must be why she didn't want to wake… it was nice to drift in and out of consciousness, head on a soft pillow and tucked under a warm blanket, a warm hand holding her own and the constant beeping of her alarm clock…

Wait. That wasn't normal.

Xue Ning tries to open her eyes, only to find them incredibly heavy. Her limbs were also not responding. She whimpered; was this sleep paralysis?

The warm hand squeezes her own. She tries to squeeze back, but merely manages to move a few fingers.

"Ah! Doctor! She moved! Hey, can you hear me?"

Xue Ning frowns at the loud voice, her eyes still glued shut.

"Sorry, I must have startled you," the voice gets softer, warmer. It makes her heart flutter somehow. She has a feeling the speaker is leaning down to whisper in her ear, because she can smell the hint of cologne at her side.

"This is all my fault. Please be okay?" The voice pleads, now tenderly massaging her hand. "Squeeze back if you can hear me."

Xue Ning doesn't want that voice to sound so sad. She squeezes with as much strength as she can muster, which is… not much.

"Please move aside Mr Sun, I need to examine the patient." Another voice says, coolly professional. The warm hand is gone, and she finds herself missing it already.

A bright light flashed into her eyes. Ouch. She blinks repeatedly and is greeted by an unfamiliar face wearing a lab coat and a stethoscope staring down at her.

"She is conscious, rest assured. It's best to let the poison flush out of her body system naturally, but that'll take a while longer. So for now, we'll keep her for observation first." The man says.

"Thanks Doctor." She turns her head to the source of the voice and winces at how sore her neck feels. Mr Sun… Where had she heard that name before?

Xue Ning coughs. God her mouth feels dry.

"Wa-water…" she croaks out.

"Here!" A cup of water was hurriedly brought to her lips. "Ah wait, you probably should sit up -"

She takes a few hesitant sips, but once she takes a closer look at the person who was kind enough to help her, the water immediately goes down the wrong pipe, causing her to choke and spit out water all over herself.

"You! What are you doing here?!" She croaks out, disbelivingly.

Sun Jingwei was feeding her water. Sun Jingwei was helping her sit up and frantically using napkins to wipe away the water she coughed up, his hands nearly pawing at the wet fabric on her chest. She grabs his offending hands with her own to pull them away.

"Oi. Where do you think you're touching?" She growls out.

"Oops?" Sun Jingwei lets out a sheepish smile. "Hey - don't hit me - the doctor said you're supposed to take it easy!"

"What happened to me?" She asks. Her memory was blurry after chugging that spiked drink. Now that she's lying in a hospital bed, she realises she made a highly moronic mistake. She should have just thrown the drink back in that woman's face.

However, during that night, she was exhausted and cranky and feeling incredibly wronged, all factors impairing her judgement.

"You got drugged because you drank the spiked drink meant for me. You saved me big time. You have no idea how much this means to me." Sun Jingwei says apologetically.

She waves him off.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I didn't do it for you. I would have done it for anyone else." She says. "Nevermind that - did you catch the women that did this?"

"They've escaped," Jingwei replies, even more apologetically.

"What? How?" She exclaims in shock, nearly coughing at the indignity of it all. "They were right there! Next to you!"

"I was more worried about you than I was about catching them." Jingwei says seriously. "My people are already investigating this matter as we speak."

"How long have I been here?" Xue Ning asks, before looking around the hospital room. It was bigger than her entire apartment, and it even included a television mounted on the wall, a sofa bed next to her, and a tiny kitchenette tucked in the corner. She can even spot a private toilet and shower at the end of the room.

"… Where am I?" She asks warily.

"Zhongshan Private Hospital - this is one of their S class wards, so you don't have to worry about anyone harassing you while you're resting. And the doctor is a family friend - he'll make sure you're back to full health as soon as possible." Jingwei replies, staring at her intensely.

"...Thanks." Xue Ning says, feeling a bit awkward at his continued attention. She decides to drink more water. "But you still haven't answered my first question - how long have I been here?"

"You've been here for around… 8 hours?" Jingwei guesses. "I admitted you at around 4.30am, and it's noon time now. Do you feel hungry enough to eat something? I can order food in."

"It's fine, there's no need to go through the extra trouble." Xue Ning says, patting her stomach. "I don't think I have much appetite."

"How about some fruit?" He claps his hands twice, and immediately a bevy of maids walk into her hospital room, each carrying a platter covered in a cloche. Xue Ning's mouth hangs open in surprise.

Were the maids just waiting outside her room door? What on earth?

Mistaking her look for awe, Jingwei continues smugly.

"My family imported some premium dragonfruit, apples from Mt Fuji, strawberries from Australia…" With each listed fruit item, a maid lifts open the respective cloche to reveal the said fruit sitting underneath it.

"How…" She points at all the maids, but they merely look at her as though she's the strange one for not predicting their appearance.

"If fruit isn't to your taste, I can get my chef to cook you something you like. No matter your craving, I'll fulfil it!" Jingwei promises.

"It's fine, I'll have what you're having," she hastily assures him. Jingwei looks too serious; if she had jokingly mentioned that she wanted croissants from France he might have just flown them over.

Not that she has ever been to France. She's not going to waste money to eat fancy bread.

"Alright, so I'll get you a tomahawk steak too then, with a salad side and some fruit for dessert. I would give you wine too, but the doctor said no alcohol until you've completely recovered."

Tomahawk steak? Didn't steak come from cows? When did they start hunting hawks for meat?

Rich people really were from another planet.

"Ah, that might be a bit… much." Both the amount of food and the cost. "I would honestly be fine with noodles from the hospital cafeteria."

He stared at her, aghast.

"What? I've heard Zhongshan hospital provides good hospital food too!" Xue Ning says defensively.

"Okay. If that's what you want." Jingwei says, automatically deflating like a balloon. She feels oddly apologetic at his disappointment - it felt like she just kicked a puppy.

"You can still buy your tomahawk steak, don't let me stop you." She says. "And I'm a grownup who saved you last night, so actually, you don't need to worry about me."

"Sadly Miss Li Xue Ning, that's not a possible course of action at the moment." He argues firmly. "The culprits responsible are still at large, and with you being both my saviour and the best lead for the case, I cannot in good conscience leave you alone."

She sighs and leans back on the pillows.

"Really? Don't you have anything better to do than to watch over me?" Xue Ning asks suspiciously.

"Truly, there's nothing more important." Jingwei replies with a warm smile. "So… would you like steak and noodles for lunch?"

=

"Why is my son not back yet? He's not even the one hospitalised!?"

An angry voice bellows, disturbing the tranquil Sunday afternoon. Outside, birds perching on their landscaped trees fled in fear, leaving a flurry of frantic chirps.

Unfortunately, Liu Shengli was not as lucky as the birds. He was trapped inside with the mansion staff, office staff, as well as Sun Jingwei's older brother, Sun Tianwei while the patriarch of the almighty Sun family, Sun Haowei, raged over his youngest son.

"Aish! This idiotic son of mine!" Sun Haowei continues to yell, not expecting a reply.

The offending news article was still on his phone's browser.

The title?

'Sun Jingwei involved in a Party Drugging Case!'

The old man had lived through so many hardships to establish his company to become Asia's biggest trading company, dealing in everything under the sun from telecommunications, to jewellery, even to managing famous celebrities, only for his company's name to be continuously dragged down the mud by his youngest son and trashy tabloid news.

In this case, the trashy tabloids were wrong, but with his son's reputation as damaged as it was, even this nonsensical 'news' article resulted in the company's stocks falling. Unacceptable!

Furious, he throws his phone on the floor, shattering the screen immediately. Everyone winces. The head butler immediately picks it up and replaces it with another new phone, but Sun Haowei waves him away, face still red with anger.

"Father, calm down. This stress is bad for your blood pressure." Sun Tianwei coaxes calmly, to no avail.

"Your younger brother is bad for my blood pressure!" Sun Haowei thumps his chest. "Look at what the news is saying!"

"Father, this time the tabloids are wrong. Our PR team has already issued a statement with clarifications. Our legal department has also begun suing them."

"That's right," Liu Shengli takes this opportunity to chime in. "We have already sued them for slander in this case."

"So? The main issue is this dumbass son of mine. If he didn't get into trouble, would the tabloids have so much ammunition to write about him?" He roars.

"And what's more, this unfilial son doesn't even bother to pay me a visit after causing this much trouble! Does he still have this father in mind?"

"Of course he does," Sun Tianwei says, "he's just worried about the bartender."

"Speaking of which, have you done what I've asked?" Sun Haowei takes a deep breath to calm himself down. One of the maids serves him a fresh heated cup of Pu Erh tea.

"Yes Father, it's already in progress. Shengli also visited her in the hospital while she was unconscious. Don't worry."

"Good." Sun Haowei nods, closing his eyes briefly. If only Jingwei was half as diligent, half as obedient, and half as intelligent as his oldest son.

If only his wife was still here with him to help take him in hand…

But there is no point crying over spilt milk. What is important is for that youngest son to hurry back home, instead of dilly dallying in the hospital playing nursemaid to his saviour.

He turns to Tianwei.

"Drag your brother back home now. We have given him enough time to run riot, this time, I'm going to make sure he truly understands what it means to be a man!"