Commission

"You mean her illness was all psychosomatic symptoms caused by psychological factors?"

"I mean she hasn't been taking her medicine properly at all," Xina replied. "All she thinks about is seeing Kovishik one more time. If you don't believe me, ask my mom about it later. Has she been taking the medicine Doctor Yavi prescribed these past few days whenever she felt like it, then going to the bathroom to throw it up or simply refusing to take it when she was upset? How can she expect to recover like this? She's so melodramatic."

With that, Xina tilted up her chin. As though she had no intention of answering any more of Hesta's questions, she hurried off and vanished at the end of the corridor.

Hesta glanced through the half-open door. From where she stood, she still could not see Chloe's bed, but she could barely make out some muffled conversation.

She considered it for a moment, then pushed the door open and walked in.

At the end of the corridor, Xina craned her neck in the shadows—had that big woman really gone in?

"Mom, I'm not going to make it... but I still want to see Cody one more time..." the girl in bed said weakly. "I want to hear him talk to me again. That's my only wish..."

The doctor was holding a stethoscope to Chloe's back, listening again and again.

Chloe let out a sighing breath, only for it to turn into a string of terrifying wheezes.

"It's already developed into a lower respiratory tract infection," the doctor said softly. "I'll write up a test order. You should find a lab and get some tests done first—"

"I'm not getting any tests done! I want to see Kovishik!"

"...Perhaps the bacteria causing this infection are unusual,"