"Sienna, can we just grab a cab?"
"We have no money."
"Don't you have a job?"
Sienna's head felt like a block of lead. Brutal chills wracked her body, immediately followed by feverish heat. Her legs felt completely numb, and every agonizing step felt like she was sinking into quicksand.
She forced herself to turn and look at him.
"Do you want to know the truth? I only had a few hundred dollars in my bank account. That was supposed to cover my rent for next month when my lease is up. Because of the mess you caused, I had to beg Lily for another two thousand so I could hand three thousand to Mr. Lowman. You beat up his kid, so we had to bleed ourselves dry to pay for it."
Having laid bare her ruin, Sienna spun around and kept walking.
Staring at her retreating silhouette, Noah suddenly realized how dangerously thin she had become since the last time they saw each other.
Her shoulders were frail, yet she kept her back ramrod straight, marching forward as if physically carrying the weight of the world.
He jogged to catch up, walking shoulder-to-shoulder with her.
"Sienna, I'm sorry. I screwed up. I swear I won't do it again."
"Sienna... you look really sick."
Sienna stared blankly ahead.
"Noah, just shut your damn mouth."
Noah threw his hands up in surrender.
"Okay, okay. I'm shutting up."
Sienna took three more steps. Her body violently swayed, and the entire world plunged into absolute darkness...
-
When consciousness slowly bled back into Sienna's brain, the sharp stench of clinical antiseptic filled her lungs.
Then came the muffled sound of footsteps echoing in a hallway, the squeak of a medical cart rolling over linoleum—sounding miles away, yet deafeningly close.
A painfully familiar environment.
She twitched her fingers, brushing against the coarse texture of hospital sheets.
Muffled voices drifted into her ears.
"You must be Mr. Hayes!"

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