When Daisy opened her eyes, the vast expanse of white walls greeted her vision. She lifted her hand but her shoulder limped, her body felt weirdly fatigued.
In the past four weeks, she had barely paid attention to work in the office. Even though she got all her work done, but she was just pulling through day after day forcefully. Her body's soreness had dispersed but her mind was still trying to join the dots of what happened that night.
She had started a conversation successfully with the underling of the drug dealer that they were looking for. And halfway throughout the conversation, he started touching her inappropriately, which shocked Daisy beyond everything.
When the position of Ryle's secretary was vacant, the job requirement asked for a male secretary. And she was impressed with the money she would be getting which ended up with her using her skills of disguising and alibi of Dexter, one of top hackers in the world hackers list to become Ryle's secretary. With her impressive profile, the man chose her without any second thought.
But even though she got the job, she realized the complication that came along with it. Ryle was not as much of a simple man he seemed to be and the more she got to know him, the more she was certain that he was dangerous. Hence, the decision of fooling him by cross-dressing as a man seemed like a burden every other day, which in turn made her very cautious around him.
When they went to nightclub, she was at her best disguise as Dexter and there was no slip up hence when that underling started making a move on her, her first instinct was to reach up to check if her wig was intact because why else would he make a move on her?
However, it was only a few minutes later into his indecent touches did she realize that the man was homosexual.
Daisy dodged his advances and tried to escape from the situation. Just when she thought she was succeeding, she felt her vision going blur. Biting her tongue, she kept herself awake and struggled to get away from the man who was chasing her.
What happened after that was all filled with pain. All she remembered was blurry shadows and pain that had consumed her the day after. No matter how she recalled, she had no recollection of the events of the night before.
The next day, Daisy did a thorough investigation of that nightclub and almost all the traces of the previous night were destroyed, except for samples of drugs that were recovered from a few places.
That made her realize the reason why she lost control over her consciousness. Although she had avoided drinks and everything, but the drugs exchanged in the party must be in high amount if just the remnants were found in packets. The possibility of the air being tainted with drugs was not uncommon in places like those.
''You are awake,'' a polite voice snapped Daisy out of her reverie.
She turned to look towards the source of the voice, ''I…''
When she failed to speak properly, the doctor approached her and checked the reports in her hand before she spoke, ''You have been here for almost 16 hours now. A gentleman dropped you here when you lost consciousness. He wanted to stay and wait for you to regain consciousness but I believe, he had something on so he left after asking me to take care of you.''
Daisy frowned. A blurry image appeared in her mind. Before she lost consciousness, she had indeed sensed someone's presence near her.
The doctor mistook Daisy's expression for shock, ''Don't be worried about what happened. It is normal in early stages of pregnancy. What I can say is you just have to take more rest so that it does not take a toll on your health.
Daisy stiffened. For a moment, she sat there, feeling numb. Under the doctor's concerned gaze, she slowly looked up at the woman, ''I am… pregnant?"
The doctor paused, realizing that the woman was clueless about it, ''Precisely,'' she said.
Daisy slumped back on the headboard of the bed. It was only then did she notice her reflection in the glass window on the opposite wall. She was donning a loose hospital gown that hung loose near her shoulder blades. Her long dark hair cascaded to her waist. Her wig was gone. The corset she bound around herself to hide her curves was gone. Her disguise as Dexter was gone as well.
She was Daisy Chen at that moment. And sinking in her was bitter realization of what was transpiring around her.
''Daisy… Daisy…'' A concerned voice sounded from the doorway.
Daisy tilted her head to the side and a hint of relief bloomed in her heart when she saw the woman standing there, ''Yena…''
Si Yena rushed towards her friend.
The doctor left the room, giving both the friends privacy.
''What happened to you?"
Before Daisy could answer the question, the woman bombarded her with another batch of statements and questions.
''I came here to LA to meet someone… Someone special,'' a small pink tint blossomed on the woman's cheeks which was soon replaced with worry, ''After that, I went to your condominium, but I could not find you. I called you so many times before a man answered the phone call and informed me that he had taken you to hospital. I came rushing here.''
''I am pregnant,'' Daisy said.
To Daisy's words, Si Yena laughed, ''No wonder. Why was I even so worried? I should have known….'' she paused, her hand that had reached out to hold Daisy's hand halted mid-air, ''You.. Are pregnant?"
''Yes.''
Si Yena who was standing beside Daisy, slumped back on a chair, ''What are you thinking?"
Daisy turned around to glance at her reflection in the window's glass panes, ''Abort it,'' her decisive tone mirrored her cold and emotionless face.
''It's a life you are talking about,'' Si Yena frowned, the thought of aborting an unborn child made her heart feel uncomfortable, ''How can you snatch its right to live even before it is born in this world?"
''The father is unknown,'' Daisy said, ''I have no recollection of that night. And I have been looking into it for the past one month. Either it's some escort of that nightclub or…'' the underling of that drug lord whom she was talking to.
''Or?"
Daisy did not answer Si Yena's question but she continued looking at her reflection, ''I have seen people giving birth to a child and then abandoning the child later. The child, alone, will have to suffer the ordeals of life.''
She paused, her face slightly pale as she continued, ''I have seen couple giving birth to children, not out of love but responsibility. And then, they are never responsible towards the responsibilities that they gave birth to.''
Daisy's words hit a chord with Si Yena because she understood that the couple Daisy was referring to were none other than her own parents.
Before Si Yena could console her, Daisy continued, ''I would rather not do that. I would not give birth to a child on a momentary impulse and then neglect the child and not be responsible for them for the rest of my life.''
Si Yena went quiet as she pondered over her friend's words.
The room regained it's silence.
After some time, Si Yena spoke up, ''Abortion will take a further toll in your health. You should wait for a few days to recover properly before you go for it.''
Daisy paused but she nodded once.
Si Yena held her hand, ''And I will accompany you. Nobody should know about this.''
Daisy glanced at Si Yena and the woman continued speaking, ''You are Daisy Chen, the legitimate heiress of the Chen Family. Your sister is a year younger than you so you are eventually going to inherit the position of the head of the family after your father. If word of this gets out then the socialite circle would put a mark on your character and it will always be there no matter how much time has passed.
Si Yena continued stroking Daisy's hand while the woman sunk in her thoughts.