"She still needs to drink the milk before she sleeps. I'll wake her up."
"What are you doing?"
I grabbed Mia's arm.
"Jessica's already asleep. Why do you need to wake her up?"
Mia looked at me, then down at the glass of milk in her hand.
"So this milk's just going to go to waste?"
I rolled my eyes out of sheer exasperation.
I couldn't understand why cooking eight dishes for Sophia wasn't a waste, and spending twenty thousand dollars on prep classes wasn't a waste, but letting Jessica skip one glass of milk was?
Too tired to argue with her, I took the glass from her hand.
To Mia's astonishment, I downed the milk in one gulp.
"Now it won't go to waste, right?"
"You..."
Mia pointed at me, unable to find the words, and then stormed out of the room, her face contorted in anger.
Watching her furious retreat, I found it odd. Why was she so upset just because I drank the milk?
However, when I came to think of it, the milk tasted a bit strange tonight. There was a faint, chalky flavor that lingered.
Perhaps I was just tired from running around all day. I didn't even bother going back to my own room, and I just lay down beside Jessica and fell asleep.
The night passed without dreams.
When I woke up, it was already nine in the morning, and the house was eerily quiet.
Feeling a bit dizzy, I gently shook Jessica, who was still nestled in my arms.
"Jessica, wake up. We're going to the hospital."
Once we arrived at the city hospital, I called Ava. Clark.
She was my childhood friend who worked as a head nurse there.
Ava hurried out to meet us shortly after.
"Laura, you finally made it! Dr. Harris' appointment slot is almost over."
After a series of tests that took us all morning, I sat outside the examination room, listening to Ava's chatter.
"Don't worry, Dr. Harris is a top neurologist. He'll definitely figure out what's wrong with Jessica."
"That's good to know."
I mumbled absentmindedly.
"I did some research online. Excessive sleepiness could be caused by things like meningitis, stroke, or even a brain hemorrhage..."
The more I thought about it, the more terrified I became, and I couldn't help but blame myself.
"If only I'd taken her to the doctor when she first started showing signs of sleepiness instead of being so caught up with work. What am I going to do now?"