Twice Over

Chapter 123 - Convalescent

convalescent
adjective
1. (of a person) recovering from an illness or medical treatment
noun
2. a person who is recovering after an illness or medical treatment

After a restless sleep or warped nightmares and unsettled dreams, I woke up to my mum's voice calling me and a small cherub bouncing on my large king sized bed the next morning.

"Morning, Big Sis!" JacJac called out.

"Oh honey, why didn't you tell me you were so unwell?" I turned to find Mum next to my bed. When I tried to get up, my whole head felt like it was going to pop off my neck and bounce across the floor. It hurt so much. I cringed in pain, then decided that it didn't exist, I wasn't sick as I had too much to do this week.

"I'm fine... cough, cough, cough." I ended my obvious lie with a raspy cough, hacking uncontrollably.

"Let's get some warm fluid into you and have Doctor Styles come make a house call." My mum laid a hand on my forehead to check my temperature.

"You're burning up!" She turned to JacJac and gave him directions to get Patricia to come up to talk with her. I fuzzed out at this stage and wondered what time it was. The light was streaming through the left side of my windows so I could tell it was still morning.

"Mum, don't you have work to go to?" I pushed her hand away from my head and tried to sit up again.

"Lay down." She admonished as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and sent someone a text.

"I'm fine." I growled back.

"You're clearly not. If Patricia hadn't called me here, how would I know you were so unwell? Oh, Honey. I think you need to move back home." Mum looked pained, upset that I was sick.

"Its just a liddle cold. I'b fine." I coughed again. You know, those coughs that you're trying to suppress because you don't want to cough out loud. It ended up giving me more headache pain.

Doctor Styles arrived with all manner of equipment to check my temp, blood saturation, O2 levels, heart rate. He poked sticks down my throat and placed very cold instruments on my back to hear my heart beat. Then he had Patricia help him set up a stand for an IV fluid and stuck a needle in my wrist to get me hydrated again.

I was a lot more clear headed half an hour later and realised that Patricia was a life saver. I could tell now just how unwell I actually am.

"How long do I have to stay in bed?" I asked my doctor before he left.

"One day on bed rest, then another day at home without leaving the house. If you want to be well enough for your event on Saturday, you need to heed my advice, Young Lady." His kindly face was smiling gently to take the sting out of his words even as he bossed me around. He left after writing a script for a whole bunch of immune boosting medicines and paracetamol.

"Now, do you believe me?" Mum asked after she saw Doctor Styles out of the apartment door. "You're sick, and you are officially in quarantine for two days."

I sighed, frustrated at the whole situation.

I ended up organising my fashion show and tea house refurbishment from my bed for the next two days. By Thursday I was back to classes, albeit with extra layers of clothing on, beanie hat and scarf and a Thermos full or lemon honey tea in my backpack. I still felt stuffy, but with a bit of makeup on and a lot of play acting, I could get away with looking just like an over dressed well person. Not someone who had been at home sick for the last two days.

After my Accounting class with Grant, we decided to forego a trip to the library and go home instead. Actually Grant was taking me home to Wallace and Mum's place for the night. There were too many last minute things to take care of tomorrow, so I was skipping classes for the day. We also had rehearsals tomorrow afternoon and I needed to set a few more things up for it.

We almost managed to leave the campus before my name was called out again. This time it was a young feminine voice, bright and cheerful.

"Lily... Lily Twice. Can I please have a moment of your time?" We both turned around to find Molly Anginelli running to catch up with us. I subconsciously looked around her to see if her handsome brother was with her. Nope, she was unfortunately alone. Grant sniggered as he watched me look for the non-existent man. Molly caught up to us, bracing her arms on her knees to get her breathing under control.

"Sorry, I ran all the way from my Marketing Management class. Huff huff." She finally swallowed enough air to speak to us clearly. "Sorry, and thank you for waiting. My name is Molly Anginelli. You met my brother last week."

"Mr Anginelli's relative?" I asked.

"Sister, he's my older brother." She smiled her beautiful smile and I couldn't see one ounce of pain and heartache of the girl I knew from my previous 'timeline'. She was gorgeous.

"What I can help you with today, Ms Anginelli?" I politely asked, but I had a guess by the way she scrunched her eyebrows together.

"I'm here to apologise to you, Ms Twice. My brother, he's a total... He didn't treat you very kindly when you accidentally crashed into that server. I saw you get hurt, but neither my brother nor I managed to offer you any aid. I'm really sorry for how you were hurt and how we parted." She wrung her hands together before her in worry.

"Thank you, Ms Anginelli. It's fine. No big deal." As I faced Molly Anginelli, I could see Grant frown out of the corner of my eyes. He probably hated that I'd down played how hurt I was when I was pushed onto the broken glass.

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you, Ms Twice?" I looked at her face wondering if she had any ulterior motive for her offer.

"As I said, I'm fine now. Thank you for your apology, but shouldn't it be coming from your brother instead?" I was really curious about this. I knew this brother and sister pair were close, but it looked like the younger sister had developed coping mechanisms to help manage her older brother's shortcomings. It made me wonder if this is what caused her to get into so much heartbreaking trouble before my rebirth.

"Ah, my brother. Well you see... He had these different ladies chase after him... Ah, I think he thought you... Um..." She blushed as she tried to give excuses for her brother that we both knew were quite useless. She cleared her throat and smiled at me again, although her smile was a little subdued now.

"I'd like to make it up to you. Can I offer you another cafe meal together, or a dessert meal? My treat." She offered.

I paused to look at her clear eyes, no sighed of malice or hidden agenda. She looked genuinely embarrassed by her brother's horrible actions last week and wanted to make it up to me. I found myself nodding and taking out a business card with my number on it and handed it over to her.

"Yes, I'd like that. But only you, not your brother." I stipulated the conditions for taking her up on her offer. "I think he may just misinterpret the situation again and I don't want that."

"Oh, OK. Sure." She smiled brightly again.

"Thanks. I look forward to your call." I nodded to my business card in her hands, waved goodbye and walked away.

"Oh my goodness, she's so lovely." I heard murmurs behind me. Both Grant and I had to pretend that we hadn't just heard her say that out loud behind our backs.

"I wonder if she's on Tinder? Do you think Joe will go out with her." Her self talk faded away as we headed towards the car park, trying not to giggle. OK. So she might have ulterior motives after all. I wonder if this is how all of those difficult ladies ended up chasing after the ruggedly handsome man in the first place. What a headache.