Serendipity - A Chance Encounter

She told Daniel around Christmas that they should visit their friends there soon. He agreed to her wish but because of her current health condition, Daniel thought that instead of going to a foreign country, it would be best to fly her friends to see her instead. So after careful consideration and planning, Daniel prepared for her friends" arrival to Country K.

Samantha felt so warm and happy that she dashed forward to greet all of them. Everyone wished her blessings while Daniel just stood at the side, smiling and looking at his wife who was feeling ecstatic at that moment. He felt contented to see her happy.

After exchanging hugs with Daniel"s and her parents, Samantha scanned the room as she had been looking for her husband since earlier.

Suddenly, a warm pair of arms enveloped her around the waist and she instantly knew that it was him. Turning around, their eyes met and a radiating smile formed on her beautiful face. She felt so happy to see her man before her who was looking so das.h.i.+ng in his dark blue suit, making her so proud as she gazed at him.

"Looking for me?" he asked, gliding his hands on her arms until they settled on her hands.

"Honey, did you do all of these?" Samantha rested her hands on his chest, the smiled on her face complimented her rosy cheeks. She looked really stunning, making Daniel"s heart flutter, knowing that she was his.

Removing his coat, Daniel draped it over her shoulder after he held her cold hands. "I had some help. Did you like your surprise?"

Receiving his coat, Samantha allowed him to wrap her up like a burrito and then she nodded, "Of course! This is…" she scanned the room again and found all of her friends and family having fun on her birthday celebration. "You really are one of a kind, Daniel Cho," she marveled at him before she tiptoed and kissed his lips.

"Happy birthday and Congratulations on your marriage," a voice sounded from the side, making the couple turn their heads to its direction and saw Lucas.

"Lucas! h.e.l.lo!" Samantha gave him a friendly hug and noticed that he looked extra stylish tonight. "Thank you… and it"s nice to see you again."

The corner of Lucas" mouth curled upward and he patted her back lightly before stepping back, "You look lovely tonight, Samantha."

"Thank you," she smiled.

"Kira! Over here! Hurry!" Kai and Chelsea called her over in which she nodded in response.

Excusing herself, she walked towards her friends from the other side of the room to entertain them. It had been months since she last saw them and she was excited to introduce her friends and family.

"Thanks for your help," Daniel shook his friend"s hand before they clinked their gla.s.ses of whiskey together.

Tapping his friend"s shoulder twice, Lucas replied, "This is no big deal. What are families for?"

When Daniel called him the previous month, he was only told that Samantha was currently having health issues, hence why both of them arranged for her friends to go to her instead. And seeing how Samantha looked tonight, he just had to ask, "I see that her health is better these days?"

"She"s getting better," Daniel answered briefly while he looked at her from afar.

"What happened to her before?"

Daniel told Lucas about Samantha"s health condition from when she first fainted to her most recent checkup. Both he and Samantha thought that her immune system was quite low, which was why she kept getting sick and Lucas also thought the same. However, after Daniel"s explanation about what"s been happing to her since, Lucas" stomach suddenly felt knotted.

"Did you say she was low in iron first… and then her pota.s.sium level went high?" Lucas probed.

Nodding, Daniel confirmed, "Yes, according to the tests, that"s what happened and she"s been weak since." He watched the change in his friend"s expression and saw how Lucas was in deep thoughts. "Why?"

Tilting his head, Lucas was not sure about his theory and he did not want to scare his friend but it was best to tell him in order to rule out any possibilities rather than neglect them. "I"m not quite sure as I"m no doctor or even an expert in this area. But, brother… have you ever considered that Samantha might have been poisoned?"

As soon as he heard Lucas" words, Daniel"s brows furrowed, forming a crease on his head. With his racing heart, Daniel signaled Lucas to follow him out to the balcony.

"What do you mean poisoned?" He asked in a hushed tone, "What are you talking about?"

Raising both of his hands forward, Lucas noticed that Daniel became tensed. "Woah… easy. Sorry, I did not mean to make you anxious. It"s just a hunch… and I am not positive about it."

"But what made you say that? How did you come up with that hunch?" True enough, Daniel was nervous as he had never thought about it before.

"Just… calm down, okay? I"ll tell you but why don"t we sit down first?" Lucas brought Daniel to the bench and they both sat there for a good minute before Lucas started, "A few years ago, I have heard of a drug that was created by a team of scientists and doctors. They were hired by someone from the underworld but as to who it was, I do not know. The project was done very secretly that it was impossible to be known about, even for us."

"You searched for it? Why?" Daniel curiously asked.

Lucas nodded his head and continued, "That became quite the talk of the town for a while in some organizations because one of the doctors tried to escape when he knew that they were actually creating a very harmful drug.

"I wanted to have my hands on that drug and so I sent some men to lurk in the shadows and when they found that doctor, all they got from him was a few papers of their research and tests. It did not make sense yet as they were not done with that drug at that time. However, a few days after he got out, he was found and then he was killed. We wanted to bring him over to us but he died before we were able to transfer him.

"Apparently, they were trying to make the drug undetected after administration so even symptoms should be kept to a minimum. But, two of the obvious effects were that their test subjects had insufficient iron and high pota.s.sium level."

While Lucas recalled the incidents, Daniel felt his heart became heavy. His stomach churned at the thought of his wife being poisoned. If Lucas was right, who would do such a thing?

"After that, there was no news about that drug or the project again. That was the last time that I have heard about it." Lucas remarked.

Daniel did not talk for some time as he was unsure what to say at that moment until he asked, "How do we know that she was poisoned? How do we check that?"

Wrapping his head around the possibility, he thought, "If Samantha was indeed poisoned, there must be an antidote, right?"

With this thought, he was at least given hope that he will be able to save her as long as they knew what was the problem.

Shaking his head, Lucas responded, "I"m afraid I don"t have an answer to that. I don"t know a lot about this poison and I"m sure this is not known to the public so I doubt ordinary doctors have knowledge about this."

Daniel was conflicted. If Samantha was not poisoned, that would mean they still have no idea about what"s causing her illness. But if Samantha was poisoned, they also don"t know how to get rid of it just yet, not until they find that antidote. "Do you know what poison this is?" he asked but Lucas shook his head again, "I have to go over those papers. It has been many years and I don"t remember any names mentioned on it."

"Can you get me a copy of those files that you said? I"ll ask someone to check on it."

"Sure, of course. I will help as much as I can." Lucas placed his hand on Daniel"s shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "Don"t worry, brother… No matter what it takes, I"ll be with you."