‘No, I’m fine,’ Nina said, even though they both knew she wasn’t fine. She repeated it as if trying to convince herself. ‘I’m absolutely fine.’
‘But you’re not, are you? You sounddreadful.’
Nina attempted to laugh but, instead, broke into a massive onset of coughing. ‘No, I’m not fine, but I should be by the time you get here. I’ll just stay here, and I’ll be okay.’
‘Shall I just get on a flight tonight?’
‘No, no. I obviously picked this up somewhere. It might have been on the plane. I think I’ll be on the mend soon.’
‘Okay then. So I’ll text you before I go to bed, okay? We’ll reevaluate this then.’
‘Yes.’ Nina managed a weak nod, even though Robby couldn't see her. ‘Yeah, text me later. I'll probably be better by then.’
Robby's voice was still laced with worry. ‘Just promise me you'll call me if it gets worse, okay?’
Nina sipped her water, trying to ease her throat. ‘I will, I promise. But honestly, I think it's just a bad case of the flu. I’ll be alright here, don’t worry about me. I’ll just get room service and ride it out and dose up.’
Robby sighed. ‘Drink plenty of fluids and rest. I’ll fly now if you like. There are a billion flights from here to there.’
‘No, there’s no point. If I handle this on my own for now, then when you arrive, I’ll be over it. I’ve got water, I’ve managed some tea and a bit of food. I’ll be fine.’
‘I trust you know what you’re doing. Keep me updated.’
‘I will, don’t worry.’
‘Hope you feel better soon.’
Nina ended the call, frustrated at her helplessness. She would ride it out, rest, and hope for the best. The thought of Robby changing his flights and rushing over seemed unnecessary and way over the top for what were aches and pains, chills, and a cough. She just needed sleep, medicine, and time, and she’d be on the mend.
She dropped her phone onto the bed and coughed again, feeling the strain in her chest and throat. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on breathing. She’d barely even been able to make the effort to speak to Robby. She would set up her medications by the bed and try to dose up enough so that she would sleep. She thanked herself for having the foresight to put cold and flu tablets into her toiletries bag and forced herself to get up and go into the bathroom. After standing under the shower for a minute, barely able to stand up, she then collapsed into bed feeling like death warmed up. Nina Lavendar couldn’t remember ever feeling as poorly in her life.
27
Nina found out later that it had been a member of the housekeeping staff who had alerted people that she was not in a good way. She woke up with a start to find someone in the room. Before she really knew what was going on, the hotel manager was also beside her, speaking to her in English, informing her that they were going to call an ambulance. Nina was delirious and didn’t really understand what was happening.
The next thing she knew, she had a vague recollection of other people entering her hotel room. Then, she was being put into the service lift and wheeled into the back of an ambulance with a mask over her face. All she could see were snatches of the scenery going past as the ambulance sirens wailed and it weaved its way through the Bangkok traffic. All Nina could think about was trying to make the effort to sit up and insist that she was fine. That she just had a bit of flu and that she would be okay. She was so far from okay it wasn’t even funny.
Her mind went from thinking about sitting up to feeling delirious about the illness to feeling petrified about ending up in a Thai hospital. As she panicked, she remembered giving her phone and details to the hotel manager with her travel insurance. There were only fragments of recall after that. Wherewould she end up? She needed to call Robby. Where was she? As she drifted in and out, she wasn’t really sure what was what or where she was going. She’d lost all track of time or even what day it was.
The next thing Nina knew, she found herself in the stark, sterile environment of a Bangkok hospital. The sharp smell of antiseptic pierced through the fog of her illness as she came to. She realised that she was on a bed with railings and as she tried to feebly turn on her side, crisp hospital sheets rustled around her. She looked around as she started to put two and two together. One thing was for certain: she was no longer in the comfy hotel room surrounded by traditional Thai furniture. She was, rather, in a very brightly lit room, surrounded by medical equipment, with a disinfectant smell and thick blue curtains.
As she tried to piece together the events leading to where she’d ended up, her thoughts were muddled. Everything seemed fragmented by a head full of fever and a deep fatigue of which she’d never felt before in her life. As she stared up at a white ceiling full of downlights, she remembered the intense heat of Bangkok, constant coughing, the humidity, sitting by the pool, a pounding head, talking to Robby, going to bed, taking cold and flu medication repeatedly, and then not a lot else. Snatches of images from an ambulance, a mask over her face, sirens, lots of words in a language she didn’t understand. Obviously, by the looks of where she now found herself, the simple flu she’d thought would get better in a few days had rapidly spiralled into something else.
After falling asleep, the next time she woke up, the beeping of machines and the soft low voices of medical staff speaking in Thai filled the air around her. Every so often, a nurse displaying the Thai smile would come to check her vitals. Nina drifted in and out, feeling so far from home as the reality of her situation began to sink in every time she was awake.
When Nina came to the next time, she wasn’t sure what time it was or what day it was. She did know that she was very relieved to see Robby sitting to her right. He squeezed her hand and smiled.
‘Hi. You’re awake.’
Nina blinked. ‘I am.’ She then went to sit up, felt pain in her ribs and changed her mind. ‘I don’t even know where I am. When did you get here?’
‘Day before yesterday. I came straight away. You’ve been drifting in and out, but I’ve been here most of the time.’
‘Oh, I didn’t think you were here. You weren’t here when I was awake before.’
‘I went back to the hotel to shower and they said you’d been awake.’
Nina couldn’t believe where she was or how much effort it took for her just to speak. ‘How long have I been here? What in the world?’
