Rachel cleared her throat and continued with her unfinished presentation as if nothing had happened. But because of this incident, the others couldn't help doubting her professional ability.
As a result, when all of them gathered to plan a dinner after the meeting, no one approached her. They had decided to go to a small restaurant nearby, but nobody asked her to join.
Fortunately, she wasn't also interested in joining them, so she didn't care about their attitude towards her. She quietly packed up her things and was about to leave. She planned to go back to the hotel and order a take-out.
All of a sudden, a petite woman came to her and said in a sweet voice, "Dr. Shen, we are going to have dinner later. Would you like to come with us?"
"No, thanks. I have something else to do later. Have a good time," she refused with a smile. She noticed that they stopped talking to each other
and looked at her in disdain.
Rachel smiled at the woman again and walked out of the meeting room. But she was still able to hear them questioning the woman. "Why do you have to invite her?"
"Yes. She looks so arrogant and not easy to get along with. Imagine, she stopped halfway of her presentation to look at her phone, but she didn't even apologize. If she joins us later, she'll only ruin the atmosphere."
Before she entered the elevator, she heard the woman defended her, "You are all overreacting."
'She's right. Was it really a big deal?' Rachel thought. She had actually wanted to ask them but eventually decided to let it pass. After all, they were all just strangers to her, and she would only spend a week with them. She didn't need to waste her energy in considering their feelings. She'd better focus herself on thinking about how to coax Jack.
"Miss, are you awake now? How do you feel?"
A clear female voice broke the silence. Rachel slowly opened her eyes and saw a strange face.
A woman wearing a nurse uniform was frowning slightly and staring at her unblinkingly. When she did not respond, she asked again, "Miss, do you feel uncomfortable?"
"No, I don't," she answered.
When Rachel spoke, her throat felt uncomfortable, and her voice sounded hoarse. She looked around and realized that she was in the hospital at the moment. She got confused. Why was she lying in a hospital bed now? She was supposed to be in her hotel room.
All of a sudden, she felt a faint pain at the back of her neck.
The nurse noticed the confusion on her face, so she shook her head and said, "I don't know what happened. You were sent by a police car here, but you were alone. The police will come back later to talk to you."
Rachel thanked the nurse and sat up slowly. She looked around but she couldn't see her bag. She thought that the nurse might have kept it, so she asked, Excuse me, have you seen my bag?"
"No. You had nothing with you when the police sent you here."
Not long after the nurse left, a young policewoman came in with a pile of documents in her hands. She put them on the bed and said, "Check these things. Are they all yours?"
Rachel looked through all the materials she had taken back from the meeting earlier. She got more confused, so she raised her head and asked, "What happened?"
"You were robbed and almost got raped," the policewoman replied.
Robbed?
Raped? Rachel's face immediately turned pale, and she shivered while trying to recall what had happened. Unfortunately, she could only remember that she went back to the hotel after coming out of the meeting room. After that, her memory was already blank.
The policewoman moved a chair to her bedside, sat down, and flipped through a notebook in her hand. She then said slowly, "We received a report from someone, and then we rushed there. According to him, he just got off work and was on his way home when he saw a man squatting furtively beside the road, and you were lying on the ground, unconscious."
The policewoman stopped and took a sip from her thermos flask to moistened her throat first before she continued, "He shouted from the other side of the road, so the man got scared and ran away. Since the criminal was tall and strong, he didn't waste his time chasing him. Instead, he gave us a call."
Rachel broke into a cold sweat after hearing the policewoman's story.
She couldn't imagine what would have happened to her if that kind-hearted man didn't show up.
To suppress the fear in her heart, she took a deep breath. After calming down a little, she said, "I really don't remember anything."
"Didn't you notice that someone was following you at that time?" the policewoman asked. "Because when we rushed there, these documents were the only ones left. No bag, cellphone, wallet, or anything, so we suspect that you were robbed."
Rachel fell silent, trying to recall everything carefully.
"I came out of the hospital and was about to go back to the hotel. The road was deserted, so I walked very fast. I didn't notice anything."
No matter how much she racked her brain, she couldn't recall what happened after that anymore. She shook her head helplessly and said, "I really can't remember anything."
"It's okay."
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