Chapter 44: Charles Gets Hospitalized

"Sorry, I need to excuse myself for a moment!" Charles held his stomach, bent over, and slowly made his way to the restroom.

After Charles left, Alice sat down, laughing so hard that tears were about to come out. "Look at him, trying to tease me and ending up like this. How naive."

Back in the private room, Alice pretended to be very concerned. "Charles, are you okay? What happened to you?"

Charles rested one arm on the table, the other hand on his stomach, and his head buried in his arm. "I'm fine, I'm fine..." he weakly replied to Alice.

Alice watched Charles in his weakened state, pretending to be concerned. "Have a bowl of hot soup. It might help."

"Thank you!" Charles accepted it.

But after a few sips, Charles felt worse again. "Sorry, I must have embarrassed myself in front of Miss Alice."

He rushed back to the restroom, feeling like he had never been more ashamed in his life. Just when he finally managed to arrange a dinner with the woman he liked, his stomach acted up.

The more he thought about it, the more embarrassed and angry he became.

Alice watched Charles making repeated trips to the restroom and started feeling guilty. Seeing Charles pale and weak, leaning on the chair without his usual lively playboy demeanor, Alice felt a twinge of pity in her heart. She shook her head, quickly suppressing such terrifying thoughts. She wouldn't be interested in him even if all the men in the world were gone.

After a dinner that nearly killed Charles, when they settled the bill and Alice saw the bill exceeding four digits, her conscience finally kicked in.

"Charles, let me take you to the hospital!"

"No need, I'll make a call and have the driver come to take you back first!"

"No, no, I think you should go first..."

Before Alice could finish her sentence, Charles felt dizzy and fainted onto Alice's lap.

"Charles, wake up!" Alice realized she had taken the joke too far.

Alice asked for help from the restaurant staff, and after a struggle, they managed to get Charles into a car. Alice drove him to the hospital.

When the hospital staff saw that it was Charles, they were all flustered, clamoring to give him an IV.

As Alice escorted Charles to the hospital, a tabloid journalist happened to capture the scene.

As Charles gradually regained consciousness, he saw the nurses surrounding him with flowers, some feeding him water, some peeling fruits for him, and even some massaging his legs and back. Charles had a look of enjoyment, completely different from his fainting episode earlier.

Alice pushed open the door and saw this scene, feeling that her worry was unnecessary. He really was an incorrigible man. She silently worried for his future wife.

"Now that you're okay, I'll leave."

"Hey, don't go! I have something to ask you." Charles had heard the nurses mention that he had taken laxatives before coming to the hospital. He also remembered how enthusiastic she was about dinner tonight, and his intuition told him it was related to this woman.

Charles hadn't survived in the world for so many years for nothing.

"Did you give me those pills?" Charles asked directly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Alice said, looking at the nurses who were all staring at her.