"Pa?" She called. John hummed in response.

"You are happy, aren't you?" She asked him.

John looked at her immediately. She looked hopeful with her big eyes, waiting for an answer.

"Of course!" John replied with such sudden energy, he felt he overdid it a bit. Nonetheless, Ruby merely chuckled.

"Good bye Ruby," said John as they hugged one last time.

With a sudden jerk, John woke up from his sleep. He looked around, feeling confused until the day, date and events of the day came back to him slowly. It was dark and still outside. No cars could be heard, no voices talking loudly, no TVs were being played in a high volume. Not even teleshopping.

Must be really late into the night, he thought.

Getting up, he made his way to his bedroom to freshen up and go to sleep.

As he plopped onto the bed, he saw his phone screen light up. His eyes darted to the top right corner to check the time. It was 2:10am.

Who would call at this hour? He wondered.

Checking his messages, something he rarely did, he saw that he had just received a voicemail from an unknown number. He knew it would be wrong to ignore this. If someone made the effort to leave a voicemail, they would have been desperate. It had to be important. It would be important.

But his body felt too tired and his mind too worried about Ruby. He couldn't muster the energy to call back. Ignoring the thought about what is right and should be done, he decided to give in to his natural instincts as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

**

Day 2

Ruby was still unconscious.

Taking days off from work, John had made it his duty to be seated outside her room, visiting her whenever possible. If not, he'd just wait until he could.

He had called up her college and let them know of her accident. He didn't want her to lose her grades over this. Her absence from college would soon be noticed. And once they get to know of her accident, she'd be getting many more visitors.

It won't help in her recovery if people walk in and out of her room. His thoughts wandered off on their own to the most unrelated topics.

Visitors weren't allowed until after thirty minutes. John was glad that so far, no one had visited Ruby. One, because he didn't want Ruby to be disturbed. Two, because he did not have the mental energy to deal with these people. He knew that they will bombard him with questions, he will eventually get irritated and he might end up shouting at them. He did not want that.

He watched a nurse go in, a huge needle in her tray. John shuddered. He had always hated needles.

Hence he decided to sit outside and wait. He took out his phone and started scrolling through his social media feed. On a whim, he opened Ruby's profile. He wanted to see her smile and this seemed to be the only choice at the moment.

Her face, a smile that shines even in her eyes was the first thing that came into view. With two friends she stood, dressed in a checked shirt and blue jeans. She was only eighteen when that picture was taken. She loved the picture so much that it had been her display picture for the past three years.

John remembered how she had invited two friends to her home for a sleepover one night.

She was still at school and they had assignments to do. She had insisted that it wasn't a slumber party because of 'all the homework' they had. He had no idea if they ever did their homework.

Unfamiliar with what to do at a house with a bunch of teenage girls, John had steered clear of the girls' way and let Ruby handle the situation. He remembers hearing the sound of her playing her guitar.

Though Ruby was not very good at it, she always insisted on showing off. He remembered that as a child, she used to write poems too. That went on until she began her college preparations. From the age of fifteen, she was immersed in her studies and other activities that would aid her in securing a place at May Flower University.

Ruby was rather ambitious. John knew that it was he who had inculcated this attitude in her. He had been nothing but proud of her and her achievements over the last twenty years of her life.

John watched as a nurse walked into Ruby's room for one of her regular rounds. Taking eyes off the door, he returned to his phone. He was startled when the door swung open with a bit of a force. The nurse who had gone in, rushed out and hurried off to somewhere. John felt that something was wrong.

Soon, two nurses ran into the room followed by the doctor. This was definitely not normal. Heart beating fast, John got to his feet and walked to her door. The medical professionals who had already gone in, were huddled around Ruby. He wanted to go in, but he knew they would kick him out anyway. And it wasn't like he could do anything that the doctor couldn't.

Both hands on the door, he waited outside testing his patience, peering inside through the gap between the blinds on the door.

Soon he saw the doctor approach the door, so he moved out of the way. As soon as the door opened and the doctor walked out John asked breathlessly, "What happened, doctor? Is she alright?"

Dr. Wong nodded and said, "She is stable now. Her blood pressure had fallen alarmingly all of a sudden."

"What? Why?" asked John, his voice panicking.

"It's okay. She is fine now. I just..." the doctor trailed off, lost in thoughts. John watched him, his brows furrowed with worry.

Dr. Wong suddenly looked at John, as he returned from his trance and repeated, "She is stable now."

He patted John's shoulder with a fixed smile before he walked away. Following him, a nurse walked out of the room and gave him another awkward smile. The second nurse that followed her avoided any eye contact with him.

**

The way the doctor had walked away from him, left him feeling unnerved.

He was definitely hiding something. Thought John.

He was at work when his phone rang. Putting off work seemed like an option that was a luxury to him. With Ruby's piling hospital bills, he had to return to work. The sound of his ringtone had filled his cabin and it caught his attention. His colleague from the next cabin glared at him for the disturbance. Before his ringtone offended anyone else, John attended the call. It was from the hospital.

"Mr. John, I called you because I wanted to know something," said the doctor, "Did Ruby have any allergy? Any illness for which she was taking medication?"

"Allergy? Medication? And Ruby? Of course not. She is perfectly healthy, has always been," said John as if he was ready to fight with whomever who says otherwise.

The doctor seemed to have been taken aback by John's abrupt response. John felt there was a hint of disappointment in his tone as he let out a breath and said, "Well initially I thought it was a mistake in the reports so I had them double checked. Her condition is worsening Mr. John. Irregular heartbeats, falling blood pressure, vomiting-"

"Vomiting?!" John let out an incredulous gasp, "When?"

The doctor fumbled for a second before he said, "The first night she had arrived, she had vomited. We thought it was just vertigo or nausea. But her condition has been worsening since last night. We were treating her for her accident wounds but her body seemed to be acting in a different way than we had anticipated. Her body has been reacting quite oddly to our medications."

"Why didn't you call me when this happened?" Asked John.

"I did try calling you actually but we could not get you on the phone. Don't worry, we had handled it later."

John sighed in frustration.

Dr. Wong tried to calm him, "Mr. John, unexpected things happen occasionally with patients. Sometimes their bodies react in unexpected ways that we fail to anticipate. However, if she wasn't taking any medication, then I have to say that there is a chance that it's the presence of a drug."

John sat idle in his office chair, a clear expression of shock and disbelief etched all over his face. People walked up and about worrying about doing their work behind him, unaware of how inconceivable John had found the doctor's words.

"What do you mean?" Asked John.

The doctor said, "I'm afraid Ruby had either taken drugs that night or she was drugged."