4 Second encounter
Hearing the soft whispered of the girl asking for help, Phoenix became alerted. She turned around, kicked one of the guys on his precious jewel, pulled the girl behind her, and punched the other guy in the face. Those guys tried to retaliate but Phoenix moved nimbly to avoid it and kept kicking and punching while protecting the girl until they arrived on her floor. She immediately pulled the girl out from the elevator and dragged the girl carefully all the way into her hotel room.
"Are you okay, Miss?" asked Phoenix, tapping on the girl's cheeks.
The girl was clinging on Phoenix's arm tightly, and rubbed her body on Phoenix, making Phoenix uncomfortable. The girl was delirious, and she was sweating profusely.
'She was drugged!'
Phoenix didn't like physical touch. She only allowed certain people to touch her, and a stranger was definitely not one of them. Even if it was a girl!
She pried open the girl's hand from her arm and made the girl lay on the bed. The girl was touching her own body and pulling on her clothes. She tried to take off her clothes before Phoenix stopped her in time.
Picking up the in-house phone at the side table, Phoenix called the front desk for helped.
As soon as the call connected, without waiting for the other person to speak, she said, "I'm staying in room 1510, there's someone here who needs immediate medical attention. Could you please find a doctor or arrange an ambulance?"
The receiver was alerted, "May I know what happened Miss? What is the current condition of the patient?" The receptionist asked while her hands were signing her coworker for an urgent action.
Phoenix briefly talked about the girl's condition, and reported to them about the incident in the elevator.
Putting the call down, Phoenix went to the small pantry, took out a cold water bottle and proceeded to the bed. She opened the cap, made the girl sit up and pour the water into the girl's slightly opened mouth.
"Hot… hot…it's hot…help me…' the girl whimpered.
Phoenix poured more water until the bottle was empty. She could only offer her cold water to help the girl's eased the burning feeling inside her body.
'Please hurry up,' she silently prayed.
The girl's condition didn't look good and even though she had managed to shake off those men from the elevator, it didn't mean everything was safe now. Who knew they might had a backup that was sent to look for them.
*Ding Dong
Phoenix walked towards the door and took a look through the peephole.
A woman and a man were standing outside the door wearing the hotel uniform. The woman wore a manager blazer, with her name and title shown on the name tag.
She opened the door and let them both in.
"Miss, I have arranged a car to take the patient to the hospital. I have informed the hospital that you'll be coming," informed the manager.
"Thank you. Could you help me take her to the car?"
"Yes. Sure. Adam, help carry the girl onto the wheelchair," The manager ordered the man.
Before the man could get near the drugged girl, Phoenix stopped him.
"Wait! Never mind, let me do it."
As much as Phoenix hated to, she still pick up the girl and put her on the wheelchair that the staff has brought. She didn't think it was wise to let a man touched the drugged girl in her current condition.
Phoenix accompanied the girl to the hospital to made sure the girl would be well taken care of. The girl already had a rough night and Phoenix felt the least she could do was to made sure the girl would get through the night safely.
The road was jammed packed with cars even though it was already late into the night. It took a while for them to reach the hospital.
Other than the traffic, the journey to the hospital was especially challenging for Phoenix since the girl kept hugging and rubbing all over Phoenix's body. She tried to push the girl away, and made her sit still at the other side, but the girl was wriggling her body around, trying to reach Phoenix's warmth.
"Please sit still." '…or I have to punch you,' Phoenix spoke in her mind.
'Patience Phoenix. The girl is drugged, it's not her intention.' she consoled herself with this helpless situation.
They finally arrived at the hospital after a 30 minutes' torturous drive.
While the girl was being treated, Phoenix searched for a phone from the girl's purse and called the number on the speed dial.
After the third tone, someone picked up, Phoenix heard a deep voice from the other side.
"Mia. Did you have fun with your friends? Don't come home too late, it is not safe for girls to be home so late."
'It's a man's voice, probably her boyfriend,' thought Phoenix.
"I'm sorry. The owner of this phone is currently being treated. Are you someone close to her?"
The man was surprised to hear an unfamiliar voice at the end of the line, and he panicked when he heard what Phoenix said.
"Yes, I am. What happened? Where are you?"
"The owner of this phone was drugged. We are at Hippocrates Hospital," answered Phoenix. She briefly told the man what had happened at the hotel.
On the other side of the line, Ashton Qin was first alarmed when he heard Mia was being treated. But when the girl from the other side explained to him about what happened in the Camellia Hotel, he was furious.
He quickly dropped the documents in his hand on the table and rushed towards the door. Ashton dashed to the elevator and goes down to the parking lot to get to his car. Without delay, he drove quickly towards the said hospital.
On his way, he made a phone call,
"I want every detail of what happened tonight at Camellia Hotel! Investigate thoroughly! And you better find the people!!"
After he said his piece, without waiting for an answer, he hung up the call.
15 minutes later, Ashton arrived at the hospital entrance. He came out from his car, tossed his car keys to the valet and rushed towards the hospital emergency department. Luckily, this private hospital had a valet service for visitors' convenience.
Ashton tried so hard to calm his racing heart. He clenched his jaw and walked in a big stride towards the nurse station.
"Excuse me. Where is the girl that was taken in from Camellia Hotel?"
The nurse that was currently busy typing on the computer looked up hearing Ashton's voice.
"Oh! The girl that was drugged? She's in Treatment Room 2," replied the nurse.
Ashton immediately dash towards the room while thanking the nurse at the counter.
When Ashton arrived outside the treatment room, he saw the girl that he had hoped to not meet again sitting in one of the seats outside. He scoffed. 'Not interested, huh?'
Ashton saw Mia's phone in the girl's hands and he recognised it as Mia's from its casing.
He remembered how Mia coaxed him to make a bulk purchase of the case to give out to her employees to support her friend's newly opened business.
Ashton approached the girl, "Are you the one who called?"
"Yes. I am," Phoenix replied.
"And you said you're not interested. Pretentious!"
Phoenix's eyes became sharp. She already had a long day and was desperate to have a rest. Being accused of something that she didn't do, or even understand, was making her head explode. Her mind was already in turmoil thinking about her missed routine call tonight, and this man in front of her was making her want to scratch that gorgeous face of his.
"Look, mister, I don't know who you are, and I don't understand whatever nonsense you are spouting. If you are here for the girl. She is inside getting treatment. I already had a long day and my work here is done." Phoenix shoved Mia's belongings that she was holding into Ashton's hands and stomped her feet away from there.
"The man is infuriating! That must be her boyfriend. Since he has already come. I can go back now," Phoenix grumbled. She stood up and sauntered towards the exit. She got into a taxi and headed back to the Camellia Hotel.
Ashton watched Phoenix walking away in a fit of anger. 'Did I wrongly accuse her again?' He couldn't help but be wary of others. People had used many tricks to get closer to him, and some had the audacity to use his sister. He put this encounter at the back of his mind for now, and entered the treatment room to check on his sister.
When Ashton entered the treatment room, he saw Mia's pale face was sweating and her teeth were clenched as she was in pain. There was an IV line attached to the back of Mia's hand. The nurse was wiping the sweat from Mia's forehead with a cold towel and the doctor was holding the IV line tube to adjust the dosage of medicine administered into Mia's body.
Both of them paused and gave Ashton a puzzled look.
"I'm her guardian. How is she?" Ashton asked.
"I've given her anaphrodisiac to quell her urges. Hopefully, she will be fine after a few hours," the doctor answered. He then gestured to the nurse to follow him out.
On their way out, he said to the nurse, "arranged a room for the patient tonight and checked her condition every hour." The nurse nodded and went on her way to comply with the doctor's order.
In the room, Ashton just stood there, looking at Mia. It broke his heart looking at Mia's condition. His hands were clenching hard, digging his nails into his palm.
He took out his phone from her coat pockets and dialed the last called number in his phone. The call was quickly picked up,
"Have you checked what happened? I want to know who is the perpetrator! How dare they try to hurt my sister!" Ashton spoke with a clear anger in his voice.
"Don't worry. I won't stop until I find out who dares to hurt our sister! And I'll punish any of my employees if I find out any of them were involved in this scheme!" the person on the other side answered with the same anger that Ashton was showing.
Tonight, before Ashton first called him, Ethan received the report about the incident at the Camellia Hotel from his assistant. He was so mad that such an incident happened in his hotel and was on his way to the hotel to handle the aftermath. He was dumbstruck when suddenly Ashton called him and mentioned the incident at the Camellia Hotel.
After checking with his hotel manager, his anger rose when he found out that the victim was his little sister!
Ethan was determined to find the person who dared to scheme on his sister and make them pay! They better watch their back. The Qins' and the Hans' were out to hunt them.
