John and Vicente stood at the door. The soft moonlight cast their shadows on the corridor. The night was deep and quiet, and the wind was cool.
Leaning against the wall, Vicente took a deep breath and asked John, "What happened?"
"Maybe it's a side effect of M.C." John reached for his pockets to take out a cigarette and a lighter, but then he remembered he had left them on the first floor.
He had quit smoking because Nina choked every time she smelled the smoke. But in the half a year that he had been separated from her, he had picked up the nasty habit again.
He had been restraining himself since he came to C Island. He did not smoke around Nina, but now he could not control himself.
If she were not in his arms, he would smoke. Otherwise, he would feel uneasy and a little panicked.
"Are you looking for a cigarette?" Vicente saw what John was doing.
John turned to look at her and asked, "Yes. Do you have one?"
Vicente shrugged. "No."
"No? Then why did you even ask?" The itch behind John's throat had gotten unbearable, making him irritable. He was clenching his fists to keep his hands from shaking.
Vicente did not reply.
But she understood that John was not really angry. He was just agitated.
John also realized that he was taking out his frustrations on Vicente, but it was extremely difficult for him to apologize to anyone other than Nina.
"My little girl gets out of breath after running one kilometer, and she pales over after running five thousand meters. She can only jog because she may pass out if she speeds up. In the past, she ran after a thief and almost exhausted that thief to death."
At the moment, John sounded like a bass chord.
"What's more, she can no longer lift Demi, who is less than one hundred pounds. In the past, she could lift a fully grown adult with one hand and throw them far away. Also, she feels the cold more than me..."
As Vicente listened to John, she recalled some details of the past few days and gradually lowered her eyes.
"If her immunity is declining, then we can just improve it. I believe it's not that complicated. Nina is my best friend, the best..." Vicente murmured.
The two retired to their own rooms with their own thoughts. Vicente tossed and turned for half the night before she finally fell asleep.
The sun was already high up in the sky when Vicente woke up the next morning.
She tossed the quilt aside and slid out of bed. She walked over, stood on the balcony, and looked into the distance. She saw two figures on the track by the artificial lake. They were taking a walk with towels around their necks.
The two of them looked a little serious as if they were discussing something important.
During breakfast, Vicente asked Nina, "What were you talking about this morning?"
"I want to investigate Demi." Nina thought she should start with Demi.
Vicente was not surprised. "I have her information."
"Your information is useless. If it weren't, then you should've known from the beginning that she was a spy. What you have on her is what she wants you to know." Nina scooped up a spoonful of purple potato paste and stuffed it into her mouth. Then, she drank a mouthful of milk.
"I'm full. Keep an eye on the situation in Jett's hospital. I'll go to Demi's house with John later to see if I can find any clues," Nina said and then stood up.
Vicente nodded, but remembering that Nina was not in good health now, she immediately stopped her. "Just let John go alone while you get some rest here at home. Or better yet, go to Scher Mountain. You can trust John to do all the work after all."
Nina looked back at her and said, "I don't need to rest."
"But don't you miss Van and Don? You haven't held them for three or four days. All you did was video chat with them. They need their mother, Nina." Vicente did not want Nina to exhaust herself too much.
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