Luana felt uncomfortable by Gehrmann's words and chose not to say more. She put down the umbrella and turned to leave.
After walking a few steps in the rain, she felt indignant and turned back to Gehrmann, "Mr. Moriarty, I appreciate your kindness in taking me home, but you don't have to judge me with prejudiced eyes. I just thought the umbrella you gave me was too expensive, and I was afraid I wouldn't have the chance to return it. That's why I refused."
Luana spoke her mind in one breath and, without waiting to see Gehrmann's reaction, turned and ran.
Gehrmann watched the petite figure disappear into the rain, feeling slightly stunned.
He had assumed that women like Luana, who sold themselves, would try to seduce any wealthy man they encountered.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have moved on to Travis so quickly after parting ways with Cline.
But her words just now made Gehrmann feel a bit embarrassed, as if he had misunderstood her.
Running home in the rain, Luana quickly stripped off her evening gown and removed the diamond necklace from her neck, throwing it into a box.
Tomorrow, she would mail these items back to Travis. His things disgusted her too much to keep.
Closing the box, she headed to the bathroom, turned on the bathtub faucet, and lay down.
She scrubbed her face and back vigorously with a bath sponge until her skin turned red. Then she looked at herself in the mirror.
Without her makeup, her face was sallow and lifeless, her eyes dull and devoid of vitality.
She felt like a dirty ant, someone everyone could step on.
But she was a person with dignity, too...
"Dignity," Luana muttered the word to herself and laughed mockingly.
From the moment she sold herself to Cline, she had lost her dignity.
She dried her hair and lay on the bed, falling into an exhausted sleep once more.
After getting caught in the rain, her condition worsened significantly, and Luana slept until the afternoon of the next day.
Clarissa, who had worked a night shift, slept from morning until afternoon. After getting up and preparing a meal, she noticed Luana hadn't woken up.
Feeling something was amiss, she knocked on Luana's door and called out to her, but there was no response.
Clarissa hurriedly opened the door and found Luana's face flushed red.
She touched her forehead and exclaimed, "You're burning up..." She quickly pulled back the covers, helped Luana up, and said, "Luana, you have a fever. Get up, and I'll take you to the hospital."
Delirious from the fever, Luana instinctively resisted at the mention of "hospital", "No hospital..."
"You're this sick. We have to go to the hospital," Clarissa insisted, lifting Luana onto her back and rushing to the car, heading for the hospital.
At the hospital, they went through the emergency department, received an IV, and even used a ventilator.
Clarissa knew about Luana's congenital heart disease and how a common cold could lead to oxygen deprivation.
Worried Luana wouldn't make it, she asked the doctor to put her on a ventilator.
After a long night, Luana's high fever finally subsided.
Clarissa breathed a sigh of relief, took out her phone to request two days off, and leaned against Luana's hospital bed, keeping watch in silence.
They were both adopted by the orphanage at around one year old, and aside from the director, they were each other's closest family.
Clarissa touched Luana's pale face and sighed with heartache.
Poor Luana had bad luck with men, spending her youth on two scoundrels who left her heartbroken and wounded...
Feverish and deep in slumber, Luana vaguely dreamt of a young man extending bloodied hands toward her.
He opened his mouth in apparent agony, as if to say something, but she couldn't hear him from afar.
She instinctively moved closer and asked, "What did you say?"
The young man suddenly fell silent, staring at her with clear, pain-filled eyes.
The night sky erupted in a downpour, washing the blood from the young man's face clean.
Luana recognized him and lunged forward, crying out, "Albion!"
The scene shifted abruptly. The young man vanished, and she saw herself kneeling at the nightclub's entrance.
A man with a black umbrella approached her, towering over her as he asked, "Are you clean?"
She blushed and nodded, placing her hand into his palm.
As he held her hand, she saw his suddenly transform into bloodied hands, and the man morphed into a ferocious youth, his eyes red as he choked her and screamed in anguish, "Luana! Why did you sell yourself to him? Why did you betray me? Why did you do this?!"
Luana shook her head frantically, shouting explanations, but the youth pushed her away and turned to leave.
She chased after him, grabbed his clothes, and cried out, "Albion, don't leave!"
Clarissa, hearing Luana's continuous shouting, was frightened and nudged her.
"Luana, what's wrong?"