Hush, My Sweet Darling

Chapter 20: A Nameless Dread

As soon as he put Violet in the backseat of his car and secured her with a seat belt, Kai drove away and made a phone call.

"Brother," a mellow, male voice answered.

Kai immediately instructed, "Be in your office in ten minutes. Wait at the side entrance."

"But I—"

Kai hung up the phone and focused on the road.

Hong Kong's nights were never completely dark under the vibrancy of its lights. But to Kai, that night was different. As he cruised through the Pok Fu Lam Road, heading west, some kind of blackness stirred inside him, smudging the city's brightness.

Five minutes later, he received a call from Kimmy. His jaw tightened as he listened to her words.

Kai's voice was calm and steady as he gave his instructions to Kimmy, but his eyes were ice cold.

After ending the phone call, he turned right onto Sassoon road, arriving at a small-scale private hospital—Arai Oncology Center. He parked his car in front of the building's side entrance, where Ren, his brother, was already waiting in his doctor coat.

"What's going on? Why did you rush me here? I was in the middle of a dat—" Ren complained when Kai stepped out of the driver's seat but stopped as soon as he saw him lift an unconscious young lady out of his car.

He stepped closer toward Kai, bombarding him with questions. "Who's this? What happened?"

"Drugged. GHB. You'll have to pump it out of her," Kai answered as he bolted inside.

"How long ago?" Ren asked, leading Kai toward the nearest examination room.

"Around half an hour. Taken with alcohol."

"Okay. We need to hurry." Ren rushed to prepare for the drug elimination procedure. He directed a nurse to follow them.

Inside the room, Kai laid Violet down on the examination bed. "Brother, please take off her coat and tilt the bed up around twenty degrees. Also, she has to lie on her side. She's unconscious, so intubation is warranted," Ren instructed.

Kai quickly obeyed.

"We need to hurry. We can only do this procedure within one hour of ingestion. After that, pumping it out would be useless, and the only thing we could do is wait for the symptoms of the drug to be fully in effect and subside naturally," Ren explained.

With the nurse's assistance, Ren prepared the nasogastric tube and the activated charcoal powder that was needed to prevent the ingested drug from being absorbed further by Violet's body.

Kai gently supported Violet's back to take off her coat and sling purse, which she was wearing crossbody, and laid her back down sideways. He carefully tucked strands of her luscious hair out of her face and behind her ears, revealing her delicate face.

The strawberry hue of the cheeks that was present when he'd first met her yesterday was gone, replaced by the whiteness of an ivory carving.

Despite being drained of color, her face was still beautiful. She looked like a snow fairy... Seeing her in this condition, Kai felt a nameless dread weighing him down in a way he couldn't explain.

"We're ready." Ren gave him a sign that they were starting the intubation procedure. Kai helped hold Violet firmly while Ren and the nurse performed it on her. Once the tube was set correctly, he released Violet from his hold and stepped aside to let them do their job.

He watched closely as Ren put the activated-charcoal-powder-mixed water down the tube onto Violet's throat. Together with the nurse, he kept watch on the vital signs monitor to make sure Violet's blood pressure didn't drop.