MY UNKNOWN HUSBAND - Season 3 Episode 6

Nina turned around and went to the dressing table. She popped the drawer open and took out a bottle. It was still half full with laxatives.

It was a kind of medicine that she usually prepared. It was designed to promote bowel movement in people with constipation. She had used it to pull a prank on John before. She had not imagined that she would have to use it on herself one day.

It was necessary. She could not escape if she did not do this.

Nina poured herself a glass of warm water and put three laxatives in it. Feeling that three pills were not strong enough, she added three more.

The six pills slowly sank to the bottom of the glass. One swirl dissolved them all completely.

Nina grasped the glass tightly. She took a deep breath, poured the solution into her mouth, and swallowed it.

A few minutes later, the pills started kicking in.

Nina’s stomach grumbled. Then, discomfort bloomed in her stomach and radiated to her sides.

Soon, all hell broke loose in her bowels. Nina did not eat anything all day. She just drank water, so the laxatives took almost no time to take effect. Not for long, Nina was rushing to the bathroom.

After squatting in the bathroom for half an hour, Nina felt her knees turn to jelly. Her face was as white as bone like no blood flowed in the veins underneath it. Her eyelids had started drooping, making her look terrifyingly sickly.

Nina looked at herself in the mirror and almost did not recognize herself. She looked miserable.

It was perfect. She smiled with satisfaction.

Before she went to ask for help, Nina picked up her last lollipop and shoved it into her pocket.

It was her only food left. She had to have it on her in case she needed it.

Then, she headed to the door and started banging.

“Help. Please.

Open the door…” Nina felt the last ounce of her physical strength slowly slip away. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed. She continued knocking on the door and shouted in a broken voice, “Open the door, please! I need help! Please, I need help!”

The bodyguards standing outside the bedroom ignored Nina’s pleas at first, but when they heard a loud thud and Nina sobbing, they realized that something was indeed wrong.

“Did you hear that? I think Mrs. Shi has fallen. Let’s open the door and have a look,” one of the guards said.

“Wait a minute. We’d better be careful. Go and report to Mr. Shi. I’ll crack the door to have a look. Mrs. Shi may be playing a trick on us. We need to be sure. If she slips through us, we’re both going to be dead.”

“You’re right. Go check on Mrs. Shi. I’ll find Mr. Shi.”

With one ear pressed against the door, Nina heard the conversation between the two guards clearly. Her lips curled into a triumphant smile.

The two men were still quite vigilant.

But she was not trying to escape. Not directly at least. She truly was not feeling well.

Nina heard footsteps leaving as the bedroom door cracked open. Since she was slumped on the floor, the guard did not see her.

“I’m here,” she whispered. Her mouth started to dry together with every muscle in her body. She was deathly dehydrated.

She had never felt so exhausted and weak in her life.

Her belly started protesting again, but Nina ignored the fresh surge of pain. The guard immediately stooped down beside her.

“Mrs. Shi, are you okay? What happened?” When the guard saw Nina curled in ball on the floor, he felt his heart leap to his throat.

“Please… I think I’m dying,” Nina replied weakly. Her hair covered half of her face, leaving only her pale mouth in view.

The way Nina looked now could scare anyone.

The guard thought that Nina was not pretending or playing a trick, so he started getting nervous, so nervous that he froze. “Mrs. Shi, what happened?” Nina said again, “I’m dying.”

At the back of her mind, she regretted dumping that many pills into her glass. She was slowly losing control of her body. Her brain was beginning to be a little fuzzy.

The guard finally said, “Hang on, Mrs. Shi. I’ll call Mr. Shi over right away.”

“What’s going on here?” John walked in with the other guard behind him. The guard beside Nina made way for him and said, “Mrs. Shi said she was dying.”

But John did not believe it at all. Yesterday, she was still plotting to escape North Yard. How could she possibly be dying the next day?

What was his little girl playing at? John’s tall figure stood at the door. He stared down at Nina as if he could see right through her lie.

John answered calmly, “Dying, is she? In other words, she’s not dead yet.”

“Help me,” she said in a weak voice. Nina raised her hand to remove the hair that covered her face so that John could see her. His eyes widened at her bone-white face. She was indeed sick.

She was not pretending at all.

Nina’s pale and bloodless face etched itself behind John’s eyelids, and her stifled whimpering boomed in his ears. It was as if he was listening to her draw her last breath.

John’s eyes became soft. His face betrayed the deadly undercurrent of anxiety that had just started in his chest. He bent down and scooped Nina in his arms. “Hey, look at me. It’s all right. I’m here.”

Nina felt John’s warm chest against her cheek, the warmth that comforted her so many times that she had lost count.

Her face turned paler with every passing second. It was horrifying to watch. She used all that was left of her strength to grip John’s shirt. She begged, “Take me to the hospital, please.”

“Okay, okay. Just hang in there,” John replied. Before carrying Nina to the car, he took a close look at her.

Despite his building anxiety, he still could not shake the feeling that this might be his little girl’s trick.

If he took her to the hospital, she could run away again.

He stared at Nina’s pale face. Could it be makeup?

After all, his little girl had studied makeup techniques. Adrian even told him about the immense power of makeup when wielded properly. Anyone could turn themselves into a formidable master of disguise if they knew the art of makeup by heart.

“What did you do? Tell me right now,” John ordered.

Nina closed her eyes and opened them again. She willed her mouth to water and grease her tongue so that she could speak.

Her mind was already in shambles. She could not think clearly and therefore tell a convincing lie. Even if she could, John would see right through it.

“I haven’t eaten anything for the whole day. I was so hungry that I felt dizzy, so I went to find some medicine to relieve the dizziness. I took laxatives by accident.”

Nina pouted and looked at John pitifully.
Sixty percent of her words was truth, and she let her acting skills fill in the remaining forty percent.

“Laxatives?” John frowned.

He did not seem to believe it.

Nina had no choice but to say, “I pulled a prank on you with laxatives, remember? I only used four pills on you, but I took six this time.”

John was slightly stunned. A nameless flame rose in his heart as he muttered, “You…”

He knew how powerful those laxatives were. He would never forget that night. His massive body almost was not able to handle them. He could only imagine the state that Nina was in right now with her tiny body.

“Let’s go to the hospital.” John carried Nina out of the bedroom, barking orders as he went for the front door. Outside, the car was already up and running for them. He carefully put her into the back seat, got in, and shut the door.

Richard drove them straight to Kanner Hospital.

On the way, Nina closed her eyes as little beads of cold sweat started popping out of her forehead. Nestled in John’s arms, she carefully reached into his pocket to find her watch.

But her watch was not there.

Feeling a bit pissed, Nina took away John’s invaluable pen instead.

Upon arriving at Kanner Hospital, Nina was given an anti-diarrheal and put on IV fluids. Soon, she started feeling better although she was still very weak.

Thinking that Nina had not eaten anything for a day, John asked someone to buy her a bowl of porridge. He sat by her bed, watching her as she slept.

After a while, a nurse came in to check on Nina. At the same time, Nina’s attending physician walked in and asked to speak to John privately. Before John left, he told his bodyguard he posted outside Nina’s door to keep watch and never let Nina out of his sight. The guard dipped his chin in acknowledgement. Nina’s ears moved. As soon as John’s footfalls were out of earshot, her eyelids flew open.

It was her chance.