Chapter 16 - BAE

"Was it you?" Halia asked in horror as she pointed to Dr. Ren. He was good-looking, but she had never thought of him in that way.

"Was I what?" Dr. Ren looked at Halia confusedly.

"Did we kiss??!!!"

"Kiss? No! I simply picked you up from the police station. Were you even listening? Someone took you from the bar and brought you to a hotel. Was it against your will? Did he take advantage of you?" Dr. Ren asked worriedly.

Halia shook her head. No, she wasn't taken advantage of. If anyone was taking advantage of anyone, it was definitely her. She remembered initiating a kiss and she remembered the man trying to push her off.

How embarrassing!!

Halia held her cheeks as they burned in embarrassment.

"Are you OK, Halia?"

"Wh-who was he?" Halia asked.

"The police already let him off by the time I arrived, you'll have to ask the chief, I think he saw him," Dr. Ren replied. "By the way...I...errr...Why is my phone number named 'BAE' on your phone?"

Halia looked at Dr. Ren and laughed, "Brain Assistant Eric."

Dr. Eric Ren sighed, "Don't you know that girls call their boyfriends bae?"

Halia looked at Eric awkwardly and blushed. "I totally didn't think of that," she cringed as she waved her hands.

"Well...the police thought I was your boyfriend, so I played along. It gave me a good excuse to pick you up from the police station," Eric explained.

"Boyfriend?" Halia blushed. "I'm so sorry for creating that misunderstanding."

Eric shook his head, "Everyone's just glad that you're OK. How did you know my name was Eric anyway?"

"I overheard Dr. Li calling you that."

"Then...you can call me Eric from now on. Change my name on your phone, it's awkward."

"OK OK, I'll do it later," Halia chuckled.

"By the way, is this coat yours?" Halia asked as she lifted the coat that was covering her body.

"No, it was already on you when I arrived."

Halia looked at the coat curiously. Who did this belong to? Was it the man that took care of her? The one that she forcefully kissed? Halia blushed again.

She could briefly remember the events of the previous night, but...she couldn't quite remember any faces...

Halia looked at the coat again. Whoever left it would eventually come back for it, right?

...

After freshening up a little, Halia turned to Dr. Ren and asked, "So what exactly happened last night? Was I drugged?"

"Highly likely. We are suspecting that someone put a drug called GHB in your drink. It's very hard to detect, it acts quickly and 50% of it is usually eliminated from the body within the first hour even though the effects can be felt for many hours after."

"The average person already has a bit of GHB in their body, but we detected a slightly higher level in your blood. It's not conclusive, but that's all we can go off for now."

"Actually, I don't want to scare you, but we've had a theory that the serial killer has been using this same drug to suppress his victims. It's practically undetectable after 12 hours, so it was impossible to detect it in the first 5 victims since we discovered their bodies at least an entire day after their death. But, we did find a slightly higher level of GHB in Sara's blood. The amount was not enough to be conclusive, but it makes sense. She was a black belt in karate!"

Halia listened to Eric's analysis and started to feel a little uneasy. What if the killer was after her. After all, 2 of her 5 suspects were at that bar last night and they were the ones that bought her drinks.

"Are you busy today, Eric? I'm planning to do some research into the victims."

Eric shook his head, "I'll come with you."

...

Eric and Halia soon arrived outside a cafe.

"The 4th victim was a waitress here. She didn't turn up to work on the day she was killed and they discovered her body in an alleyway around the corner the next day," Halia explained.

"She was the reason why Sara was sent to PUH."

Halia gestured to a red logo that peeked out between a few buildings.

"PUH is only a few blocks from here."

"According to her workmates, no one hated her and she didn't have any enemies. In fact, the doctors from the nearby hospital used to order directly from her because she always gave them the best service."

"So, are we here to ask more questions? Aren't you afraid that someone from the hospital will see you?"

"Oh, I'm not here to ask questions. I'm just here because I'm hungry. I heard they make great pancakes here..." Halia said as she walked in.

Eric shook his head and followed behind.