Chapter 354
A week slipped by in the blink of an eye, and school finally began.
“Zinnia, when are you coming back?” Lydia asked over the phone.
Zinnia hadn’t shown up at the start of the new semester, making Lydia worried sick about her.
“Lydia, I took leave and won’t be coming back for now.” Zinnia lowered her gaze out the window, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“Can’t you come back anytime soon?” Lydia’s voice was laced with disappointment.
Zinnia had already been gone for two months. Lydia had expected to see her when the new semester started, only to find out she’d be away for two whole months.
“Yeah, I probably won’t be able to go back anytime soon,” Zinnia replied in a soft voice.
Nathan’s condition was deteriorating rapidly. There was no way Zinnia would leave his side.
Lydia said gently, “Zinnia, I made some homemade jerky for you. Can you send me your address? I’ve also put together some study materials. I’ll send them together.”
Zinnia had never revealed her whereabouts. Although Lydia could technically track her location, she would never use a GPS tracker without Zinnia’s consent.
Zinnia was about to refuse, but the mention of study materials made her press her lips together. “Alright.”
The moment Lydia received the address, her eyes lit up with joy.
“Looks like your friends really miss you,” Yannis remarked as he walked in from outside, bowl in hand, just as Zinnia hung up the phone.
She’d already received several calls that morning–all of them asking when she’d return to school.
Seeing him enter, Zinnia walked over from the window and said, “Yannis, I don’t want to eat.”
When she saw him carrying a bowl, she instinctively took a step back in resistance.
“Just some apple cinnamon soup.” Yannis watched her recoil, letting out a sigh in his heart.
“No more soups, please,” Zinnia said, wrinkling her nose at the familiar sight.
These days, because she needed frequent blood draws, Yannis went out of his way to prepare all kinds of nutritious meals for Zinnia.
But after several days of the same thing, she just couldn’t stomach it anymore. She’d completely lost her appetite.
“Let’s eat a little now. I’ll make your favorite bacon for lunch,” Yannis coaxed, noticing her weary expression. He gently took her wrist and guided her to sit at the desk.
Perhaps the daily blood draws were taking their toll. Over time, Zinnia’s appetite had dwindled.
But skipping meals wasn’t an option; she had to give about 40 milliliters of blood every day.
With blood being taken so often, her body was bound to feel the effects–loss of appetite, dizziness, irritability, and constant discomfort. They were all brought on by frequent blood draws.
Of course, what frustrated Zinnia the most was that over the past seven days, the seed hadn’t changed at all–other than sucking her blood. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of it sprouting.
For some unknown reason, Nathan’s condition suddenly deteriorated. He was now too weak to even get out of bed, spending most of the day in a deep, unresponsive sleep.
Zinnia completely lost her appetite at the thought of that.
“Zinnia,” Yannis called softly. He scooped up some soup with a spoon, blew gently to cool it, and then held it to her lips.
“Yannis, I don’t want to eat.” Zinnia turned her head away, her hand unconsciously gripping the petri dish on the table.
The seed in the petri dish had grown to the size of a walnut and then stopped changing.
Inside, it had become completely mushy and yielding. This made Zinnia wonder if it had gone bad.
Yet if she tried to peel off its skin, she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried–even with a knife–it was impossible to cut it open.
As usual, Zinnia peered into the microscope, going through her routine check of the seed’s interior.
With meticulous care, she adjusted the focus, scrutinizing every minute detail inside the seed. But there was still no change at all.
“Not a single damn change!” she fumed inwardly.
Zinnia felt a surge of rage in her chest. “Useless piece of junk. I swear I’ll smash you into a million pieces,” she snapped.
Her knuckles turned white as she clenched her fists, barely able to stop herself from smashing it right then and there.
Every single day it sucked her blood, but after some initial changes in those first two days, there had been absolutely no progress for a whole week.
“Let’s not get worked up over it now. Once Nathan is better, we’ll settle the score with that thing,” Yannis said soothingly.
Seeing Zinnia’s barely contained rage, he gently took her clenched hand. Her nails had dug so deep into her palm that crescent-shaped blood marks were forming.
Zinnia had always been gentle and mild-mannered, but now, with no solution in sight, she was growing increasingly restless–her emotions all over the place.
Yannis watched her, deep worry clouding his eyes.
Yannis recalled Nathan’s warning: “Given her condition, Zinnia must avoid extreme emotional fluctuations. They could easily trigger heart palpitations.”
“This stupid seed is driving me crazy. If it doesn’t sprout soon, I’m just going to toss it out!” Zinnia fumed.
Yannis grabbed her hand, but Zinnia was still fuming–her voice tight with frustration, her delicate features twisted in anger.
“Go on, just toss it.” Yannis handed the petri dish to Zinnia. The seed was indestructible anyway. If throwing it helped her vent, that was fine by him.
“Damn it!” Zinnia shoved the petri dish away in frustration and then roughly yanked at her hair, pulling out several strands at once.
Normally, just losing a single hair would have her sulking for hours.
Zinnia couldn’t bring herself to throw the seed away. If something terrible happened because of it, she’d regret it for the rest of her life. “Zinnia, here, pull on this instead.” Noticing her distress, Yannis swiftly grabbed a long-haired stuffed animal and pressed it into her hands.
As soon as the plush toy was in her hands, Zinnia tore at it, pulling out clumps of fur.
That was apparently not enough–she yanked at it again and again. Her emotions were all over the place; she needed to vent to feel even slightly better.
Yannis seized the moment to spoon some soup into Zinnia’s mouth.
When Zinnia saw the soup at her lips, her delicate brows knitted in protest, but in the end, she lowered her head and took a reluctant bite.
Zinnia yanked at the stuffed animal again, tearing out more fur.
“No more.” After barely finishing half the bowl, Zinnia turned her head away.
“How about having a little more, Zinnia?” Yannis urged gently, his gaze lingering on the barely eaten soup in the bowl.
She was barely eating enough. He worried that her body wouldn’t take this much longer.
“No more. I don’t want to eat. I feel sick,” Zinnia said, shaking her head. Her chest felt tight, and a wave of nausea rose in her throat.
“Yannis, I’ll check on Nathan,” Zinnia said as she rose and headed upstairs.
Nathan’s room was eerily quiet.
With Nathan’s health taking a sharp turn for the worse, Jackson had been hounding the specialists every day for solutions, giving them hell each time.
He chewed them out so badly they barely knew which way was up.
Seeing Nathan in such poor shape left Jackson seething, but he didn’t dare stay in the cottage for long, afraid his grim mood would frighten Zinnia.
So instead, he kept after the specialists, demanding answers.
He’d spent a fortune, only to end up with a bunch of useless quacks.
Yannis watched her leave and began to tidy up the cluttered desk. The petri dish was askew, tufts of plush fur scattered everywhere.
Ever since Nathan started spending less time conscious, Zinnia would check on him constantly, terrified that something might happen to him again.
Yannis looked again at the stuffed animal, most of its fur pulled out, and gathered the loose clumps in his hand.
The plush toy had been custom-made so Zinnia could easily pull the fur out whenever she needed to let off steam.
Yannis closed his eyes briefly, reigning in the turmoil within.
Yannis had the doctors conduct a psychological evaluation on Zinnia. Now she’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.