Chapter 28 How Did You Lose So Much Weight?

There are about ten days left until the ninth of next month.
Annie goes to different hospitals daily to get prescriptions for sedatives and saves the pills with soothing ingredients. After placing these pills safely, she sees the box containing Carl's dress and necklace on the table. She suddenly remembers that she hasn't returned them yet, so she quickly schedules a courier pickup using her phone.
Although Annie has to deal with Carl, these items don't belong to her so she will return them. The courier arrives quickly, and Annie feels relieved after sending out the package.
When Carl sees that his dress and necklace have been returned, he is even more excited. This woman Annie is different from others; anyone else would have sold these luxury items for money already, but she returns them!
It seems like he has encountered a tough nut, but it doesn't matter; once she gets the project, he will conquer her fiercely!
After resting at home for a while, Annie receives a call from Fiona. Her custom wedding dress is ready, and Fiona wants Annie to accompany her to try it at the bridal shop.
Annie hurriedly supports her tired body and heads to the bridal shop as Fiona requested. Fiona's fiancé Joseph also comes along and greets her when she enters.
Annie already knows Joseph well, so they skip formalities and sit together on one of the sofas in the storage area while waiting for Fiona, who is trying on dresses inside one of the fitting rooms.
Ever since suffering from high fever last time around, Annie's body has become increasingly weak and exhausted; she is often unable to stand steadily due to late-stage symptoms of heart failure where blood circulation throughout both systemic circulation (body) & pulmonary circulation (lungs) becomes severely impaired leading insufficient supply of oxygenated blood to brain cells causing ischemia and hypoxia. Once there is a lack of oxygen, it's easy to feel tired and sleepy.
After waiting just a few minutes on the sofa this time, she props up her head and starts dozing off. Fortunately, Fiona comes out of the fitting room soon after and gently calls her name, which brings Annie back from drowsiness.
Fiona doesn't notice anything unusual about Annie, so she twirls around in front of Joseph and Annie while holding up the large wedding dress skirt.
"How does it look?"
"Beautiful."
Annie forces herself to perk up with a sweet smile.
Joseph quickly chimes in: "My wife looks good no matter what she wears."
Fiona laughs as she pats his shoulder, saying he knows how to flatter people. Joseph then indulgently rubs her head.
Seeing that Fiona has been dating Joseph for eight years now with their relationship still stable & harmonious, Annie feels relieved. Joseph passed exams by himself from his hometown; he has an elegant appearance and honest character traits. Fiona says that because he had experienced hardships before, he understands how difficult it is to live well and thus cherishes family more than ever. She thinks following such a man would be reassuring & dependable without having any worries about being betrayed throughout life.
Fiona trusts herself entirely with him so that Annie won't interfere too much; as long as Fiona is happy, everything will be fine.
The custom-made wedding dress ordered by Fiona was quite expensive, so the bridal shop gave her a set of bridesmaid dresses for free. She quickly picks out a champagne-coloured dress for Annie, asking her to try it on too. Still, since Annie's body has become much thinner lately due to illness, the dress ends up looking big on her frame instead making Fiona worried when touching only bones at the waist area while feeling sorry for poor-looking pale face:
"Annie, how did you lose so much weight?"