CHAPTER 2

Nora took a moment to calm herself down despite the surge of adrenaline rushing through her. She was disgusted at the mere sight of looking at them alone but a small smirk formed at the corner of her lips.

“Okay but do you mean the one beside my bed, Josephine?” 

“Hmm, the one by the right stand.” 

Nora paused, that meant she needed to make a turn to the right. A thought appeared to her and she dropped to her knees, crawling her way through the bed stand.

From a reflection, she saw that the two had gone back to their irritable affection. She reached the bed stand and held the wood for support before turning, holding it still.

She opened the large cabinet and seeing that they were still engaged, intentionally she let the contents fall to the ground causing them to panic.

“What are you doing Nora?” The nurse screamed out.

“I'm so sorry, I didn’t mean to.” She fell to her knees, picking up the bottles on the floor.

“Just bring the medicine,” Landon spoke out, not wanting the plan to fail. “The one in a silver covering.”

‘Nice try, Landon.’ She had seen the ‘medicine’ and noticed that it was condoms and not the cold medicine he wanted.

Tears streamed in her eyes but she picked up the box containing various medicines and stretched out the box to them. “Here, I don’t know which is the right one.” 

Landon took the box from her and tried to search her expression but it was blank. Her face was gentle, her lips pressed together into a thin line.

“Thanks.” He murmured but dropped the box back on the floor with a loud bang before walking out of the room, his nurse following behind him closely.

Nora released the breath she didn’t know she was holding when they left. She had been so close to getting caught. Her eyes dropped to the label of a bottle of medication on the floor. 

A gasp escaped through her, her hand moving to her mouth. She could recognize the label vividly, it was an illegal product, and the last time she checked, the government placed a ban on it.

But what was it doing here? She picked it up and saw Landon's father's hospital logo on it. Did they produce drugs? And an illegal one at that… she knew she was doomed so far she was here.

***

Landon walked down the hospital hallway with Josephine beside him. They had barely walked some distance when Landon stopped abruptly, he turned in the direction where the room was and back to Josephine. “You don't think she has recovered her sight, do you?” 

Josephine shrugged, “I also suspect her but it's not possible. She didn’t show any signs of improving these past months so there was no reason to.”

“When was the last time you conducted a test on her?”

“Ehm…” 

Landon raised his brows at her, “Don’t tell me you haven't done it in a while.” He raised his voice in anger.

“It’s not like that,” she moved closer to him and placed her hand on his chest, “I've just been preoccupied, you get...” She winked at him.

Landon sighed, understanding what she meant. He looked at the woman in front and realized why he loved her. From her pretty face to how she understood and gave him what he wanted, unlike Nora. He couldn’t even see what his father saw in her.

If not for that accident, things would never have resulted in him being forced to marry her.

“Alright, alright,” he knew he couldn’t win against her. “But go and conduct a test as soon as possible.”

She nodded.

***

Nora was not having it easy where she lay, her feet shook in fear and her heart thumped faster when she put the pieces of her accident together. Her entire knowledge about Landon's family was shattered by one label on the bottle.

But she was more frightened for her mum than herself. Her fingers moved to her teeth and she chewed on it continuously. 

Landon's family was powerful, no doubt about it, they owned the hospital. And not only her, but also her mother was admitted here. Following the accident, her mother had a breakdown and Landon's father had willingly offered to help.

But if what she imagined was real, then they had to leave…. Immediately! But how? A single move could put them in danger. 

The voices at the door entrance made her recoil back on the bed in fear. She shut her eyes quickly though it was useless, the room was already dark and she could only rely on her hearing sense.

“What do you think about her?” She heard Josephine speak up first.

“If she can see now? I can't say, she looks asleep so we can't conduct the test but there seems to be an improvement.” 

Nora felt a hand open her eyes wide, conducting some examination on it.

“Oh, should we come back at night then?” 

“Yes, we should.”

Their footsteps retreated from the room and only until she heard the door shut did she open her eyes.

‘They were going to conduct a test on her? Were they that suspicious of her? The test had not been conducted in a few weeks now and since they wanted to, she needed to speed up with her plans.’

_

The sound of alarm jolted Nora from her sleep. The room was dim black and it seemed it was the whole hospital. She sat upright wondering what was happening.

Landon and his mistress weren't in the room either. Was something going on?

All patients should stay in their rooms, electricity will be sorted out soon. Please stay in your room! The announcement blared.

This was her chance, she knew it! She gently rose from her bed and with all the support and training she had walked out slowly from the room. The hallway was better than her room, a little light radiating from it.

Room 24, she recalled her mother’s room number. She had six rooms to go. Gently staggering her way down and squinting to cross-check the numbers, she finally found it.

“Mum! Mum!!” She called out in a hushed voice, stirring the woman awake, “We need to leave.”

“Who are you?” The old woman stared at her in confusion.

“Your daughter, Nora.” She dragged her mum out of the bed and put her sweater on. They walked out of the room slowly but as Nora got out, her hands brushed against a man's body by the door.

“Who are you?” His deep voice echoed in the hallway.