The next day, the two nurses, who had been attending to Delyth stood outside her room. Exchanging worried glances, they were discussing something when they paused seeing Ryan finally arrive.

    "What''s wrong?" Ryan asked with a frown. He had been in the middle of an important meeting when he received the call from the hospital, asking him to come urgently.

    One of the nurse sighed in relief and said, "Mr. Foster, finally, you are here. We are sorry to call you like that, but it was important, and we didn''t know who else to call for Ms. Ember. It''s time for her to take her meds, but she is refusing all our requests."

    Pinching the space between his brows, Ryan flexed his jaws tensing in frustration. The nurse sensed his irritation. She added in a low voice, a little scared, "Mr. Foster, Ms. Ember needs to take the medicines on time. She has just undergone critical surgery, and her condition could deteriorate if she''s not proper cared for."

    "Isn''t that your job?" Ryan snapped, feeling a headache building. The nurse was about to explain how difficult Delyth was being, but Ryan cut her off, not in the mood to listen. He already knew how difficult Delyth could be. "Step aside," he ordered, pushing past the nurse to enter Delyth''s room.@@@@

    "Del, what''s wrong? Why aren''t you taking your meds?" His voice was gentle, but the underlying edge was unmistakable.

    Delyth lay with her back to him, so Ryan couldn''t see her face. When she finally turned to look at him, her eyes were swollen from crying. "Ryan!" she whimpered, her voice laced with pain.

    "What happened, Del? Are you in pain? Why are you crying?" he asked, already moving to check her legs, assuming the worst.

    Delyth felt the warmth from his concern, but she quickly remembered her plan and got back into her performance. "Ryan, I am in pain, but that pain is not physical. Rather it''s more like a trauma, the ones that I am failing to fight with. Every single second, I am collapsing —mentally. What should I do?"

    I don''t care anymore."

    She began pulling the sheet off her body, struggling to get up. All alarmed, Ryan caught her before she could fall off the bed.

    "Del, you need to rest. What are you doing?" He chastised, his voice was sharp with worry. "Do you think your injuries are a joke? You just went through a major surgery, your legs are barely healing, and you are still acting careless. What do you think you are doing, Del?"

    Delyth flinched at his scolding, but that quickly dissolved into tears. She leapt to hug him tightly. "What else can I do, Ryan? I don''t know what to do. People are cursing me online. And Arwen is not ready to give me any escape.

    She has forced me into this. My fans were only supporting me, but now they are all blaming me because of her. Am I not suffering enough? Why isn''t she still satisfied?" she sobbed. "Sometimes I wonder if things would have been different if Zeke were here. Would it have been this easy for her to bully me?"

    Ryan''s expression hardened. He held Delyth tightly as he gestured the nurse to come in and give her the medication. "Del, even if Zeke is not here, I am. I won''t let anyone bully you. Don''t worry, I will take care of it."

    At his cue the nurse approached, handing Delyth her medicine. This time, she didn''t resist, obediently swallowing the pills. Afterwards, she looked up at Ryan with tearful eyes and whispered, "Ryan, I don''t want to burden you anymore. Especially when you don''t think Arwen is responsible for any of this. But I can''t help feeling that if Zeke had been here, things would have been different."

    "I regret it, Del. It''s my wrong, I shouldn''t have been so certain about Arwen. I was mistaken," Ryan whispered. His voice was tinged with regret and disappointment.

    As they were lost in their own plans and remorse, a knock at the door interrupted. Ryan frowned, looking at the door. "Who is it?" he asked.

    The door was pushed open, and next appeared a man dressed in a formal black suit. He stepped forward and introduced himself, "Hello, Sir. I am here for Ms. Delyth Ember."