Love is the Sunshine novel Chapter 4

"Sean, what's going on?" Carla asked.

Without putting on her shoes, she quickly ran out of her bedroom.

Sean was standing next to the sofa. He pointed at Terence and turned to her,"Carla, look at him! He's burning up! He has a fever!"

Once she focused her attention on Terence, she knew that Sean wasn't lying. Terence looked very ill as he lay on the sofa. Carla approached him with caution. She placed her hand on the top of his forehead and confirmed what she already knew. His temperature was really high.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of him. Go along or you'll be late for school," she said and took out some money from her bag hanging on the wall and placed them on Sean's hand.

"Take the money and buy some healthy food for breakfast. You're too skinny. Is your sister abusing you?" Carla joked with Sean.

Sean should really head out or he would be late for school.

He took the money, nodded at his sister and then waved goodbye,"I know.

I'm going to do all of that. See you later."

Sean was a young, handsome and sensible boy. Although Carla had a habit of teasing him, he knew that his sister loved him the most.

After Sean left, Carla began pulling all the drawers open in her search for medicine. She wanted to find some Antipyretic to reduce Terence's fever. The only problem was she couldn't remember where she put them.

Sometime later, she found some ibuprofen in a drawer.

She poured a glass of water and put the medicine in it. Then, she stirred the water with a teaspoon. Afterward, she approached Terence and tried to help him get up.

"Hey, hey, wake up!" Carla said and lightly tapped Terence's handsome, feverish and red face.

His lips were parched and cracked. His worn out face clearly showed how badly his fever had gotten overnight. Carla felt a little worried.

"Hey, wake up. You should take some medicine!" she patted his face and shouted in his ear. It was only then that she realized that she forgot to ask the man about his name, so she didn't have a choice but to call him "hey".

Terence was roused by her voice, feeling a little aggravated. He seized her wrist before she could pat his face again.

"Stop punching me! It hurts so much. My cheek is swollen," Terence said in a thick voice.

Struggling a little, he got up and leaned against the sofa. "Don't call me HEY. My name is Terence, T-E-R-E-N-C-E," he then added.

He felt a little annoyed when Carla called him "hey".

Carla looked at his feverish face and released her hand from his grasp. She then placed the glass in front of him and explained,"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pat you and shout at you. I'm just afraid that you're too weak and you might lose consciousness. Take the medicine. It will ease down your fever."

Terence wanted to sit up properly and take the glass, but he was too weak to do that.

The pain from the wound and the fever made him awfully exhausted.

All of a sudden, Carla sat closer to him.

She helped him sit up and lowered the glass to his mouth. Being so close to her, he could smell her creme rinse.

Terence looked at her and frowned.

Carla ignored his glum face and continued to help him drink.

"Khoff, Khak……"

Carla heard him coughing and thought that perhaps she was pressing the cup on his face too hard. She didn't mean to do that. She just hoped that Terence could take the medicine as quickly as possible.

Terence coughed some more and his wound opened and began to bleed afresh. The wound was burning so badly. "Ouch!" he cried out.

"Uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Are you okay?" Carla asked softly.

Carla saw that blood had started to trickle down on Terence's arm. She quickly set down the glass and patted him carefully on the chest.

Terence stopped coughing and looked at Carla. His eyes grew cloudy and dim due to his worsening fever.

"I'm fine," he replied in a low voice.

"Oh, my God! Your wound is oozing pus!" Carla exclaimed.

Yesterday, she tied up his wound with a bandage. When she removed the bandage today, she found out that the wound had festered.

'Maybe I should have rubbed some ointment on his wound yesterday, ' Carla thought.

Terence shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.

He knew this was going to happen when he took a shower last night and Carla tied up his wound with the wrong method. And today, he was struck down with fever. All of these led him into his current condition.

"We shouldn't wait any longer! We must go to the hospital to prevent blood loss and wound infection," Carla voiced and stood up. She already prepared to leave the house.

She would often talk harshly but in reality, she had a soft heart.