Smitten: A Mafia Romance — Chapter 28

"Daniella! Daniella!" Korina called rushing into the apartment, "Daniella, are you okay?"

She scanned the living room frantically, no sign of her.

"Daniella! Dan!" She screamed again, "Where are you? Can you hear me?"

She raced up the stairs and went straight to Daniella's bedroom not caring to knock before pushing the door open.

Daniella was laying there in her undies, she was shivering, her skin so pale, it was almost ghost white.

"Daniella?" Korina rushed to the bedside kneeling, "Oh dear!" She shrieked on taking in her cousin's full appearance.

Korina threw the bed covers over her, she went to the closet to find more duvets to lay on her.

She rested a hand on her forehead and withdrew in shock at the feel of her temperature.

"Damn girl!" She said, "You are burning with fever." Daniella only shivered in response.

"I would go make something hot for you." Korina mumbled rising from her position, "Soup or anything."

'How to take care of a person with fever.'

Korina typed the words and tapped the search symbol. The search results loaded, she read the instructions, rolled her eyes at some.

She dropped the phone when she was done and went on the heat water.

Korina turned Daniella over, bringing the covers down to her chest, she put the clean rag into the steaming water and winced slightly as the temperature was a little too high.

She squeezed the cloth dry and brought it down on Daniella wiping her face, neck and chest.

The treatment cooled Daniella down a bit but she was still shivering. Korina pulled the covers back up and went to see what she should do next.

'How to make soup for a fever patience.'

She huffed as the network was too slow in producing the results.

Korina was really disappointed in herself, she was disappointed that she was googling how to make soup.

The results loaded and she read through, searching for ingredients in the kitchen Cabinets as she did that.

She got everything and was about to start when she figured she had to call aunt Dido.

"Hey Dido." One of the fire fighters called rushing towards her, with her phone in his hand, "you have got a call."

"Thank you ramy." She said smiling at him. She dropped the water hose she was inspecting and collected the phone.

"Hello." She greeted putting the phone to her ear, "How are you Korina?"

"Hey aunt, I am fine." Korina replied, "Although, we have a bit of emergency." She inspected Daniella again, "Okay aunt, it's a really big emergency." Daniella's fever had worsened.

"What's wrong?" She asked Korina, her face paling.

"Daniella is down with fever and I don't know what else to call it." She sighed, "Her body temperature is skyrocketing."

"How's she doing now?" Aunt Dido asked.

"Worse!" Korina replied, "She dosen't look good."

"Okay, I would be there soon." She told her niece, "Take care of my baby." She put and end to the call immediately and got to taking an excuse from work.

She ran to get car and jumped in.

She was ready to race.

" you burnt the soup?" Aunt Dido asked staring at Korina unbelievably.

"You see..."

"Who the hell burns soup?" She asked again as she turned the burnt left overs in the pot, Korina scratched her head looking at her sheepishly, "How did you even manage to burn the soup?" The woman shook her head, "Where is Daniella?"

"She's upstairs in her room."

She dropped her handbag on the counter and went upstairs to the check on Daniella leaving Korina alone to clear up the mess she made in the kitchen.

"Korina!" Aunt Dido called, "Could you please bring my handbag?"

She rushed to the room with the bag and handed it over to her aunt who sat on the bed.

Daniella was dressed now, in a pair of pants and a sweater, the numerous layers of covers on her earlier were removed, just one was left.

"Get a glass of water please."

Korina returned with it and handed it to aunt Dido. They both moved and helped Daniella sit up, she was partially awake now.

Daniella opened her mouth as her mother brought the glass of water close to her for a sip, she took it and swallowed the pills, she wrinkled her face, the bitterness of the pills forcing her to be alert.

"Hey mum, hey Korina." She greeted blinking at them.

"How are you feeling?" Korina walked closer to the bed.

"Fine." She groaned.

"Young lady." Daniella's mother took her over protective stance, "Why would you sleep carelessly with your undergaments?"

"Mum, not now please." She fell back on the bed and drew the covers over her, "I want to be alone please." She said.

"Why?" Her mum asked.

"I said I just want to be alone."

She shook her head and pecked her daughter on the cheek before exiting the room with Korina.

"You look terrible yourself." Aunt Dido said assessing Korina as she sipped her smoothie.

"I just feel down lately." Korina said and went further explaining how she felt and how she missed her mother.

Aunt Dido's eyes welled with tears at the mention of her dead sister but she pushed them back wanting to be strong for her niece.

"You would be okay baby." She comforted her patting her back, "How's that kid Cole?"

"Cole?" Korina looked up surprised, she didn't remember talking about Cole with her.

"Yeap." She replied dropping her drink, "You went on a date with him right?"

"How did you find out aunt?" Korina asked.

"Daniella told me."

"Typical Daniella." She rolled her eyes, "It was two dates actually."

"So..." Her aunt probed with a raised brow.

"The dates were fine, he's fine." She said, "We are getting along pretty well."

She just nodded at her niece and took a long sip from her drink not knowing what to say next.

"Do you think my father is still alive somewhere?" Korina asked.

Aunt Dido's head shot up, she was startled at the question, "I don't know dear." She muttered, "I don't know."

They both sat in silence, none saying a word, both women just staring into space, Daniella was fast asleep upstairs, Korina had a lot of questions to ask her aunt but she decided to keep mute, to keep the questions to herself.

About an hour later, She was ready to leave, it was getting late already.

"You should get some rest when you get home." Aunt Dido advice as they pulled out of their embrace, they were standing next to the door now, "You don't look good."

"I will aunt." Korina said, "Take care good care of Dan."

"I will, she's my daughter." She winked and they both smiled.

They said their final goodbyes, Korina went out the door and Aunt Dido went into the kitchen to prepare some food. She was done soon enough and took the food up to Daniella's room hoping her daughters condition had improved, saying prayers intermittently as she walked up the stairs.