St Andrews was under a lot of scrutiny after Wesley spilled the beans. A lot of protesters were outside of Dr. Llana's office shouting things like 'Have a doubting professor? Get an easy 100% on your exam!'. She had to resign from being a professor right away and was even under investigation for her Ph.D. They had to do a background check to make sure she didn't pull off any similar tricks as a student during undergrad or graduate school to inspire giving such a fraudulent exam to Steve and Wesley.
Wesley broke off his life long friendship with Steve. He thought that during those days out of town, Steve secretly told Esmeralda that her sexual services were no longer needed and they are even with Dr. Llana. Steve reciprocated breaking off this friendship with Wesley for being so distrustful that he couldn't even wait a whole day before assuming the worst, that he just had to ruin everything. However, he was glad to at least have spent those days with Esmeralda, if everything else was going to go downhill from this incident.
The two parted. Wesley decided to complete his degree elsewhere, as St Andrews shut down after the scandal. Wesley got a Scholarship at an Ivy League College, of his choosing, for being the one to expose the corruption at St Andrews. Steve didn't get such a luxury, as he was ratted out by Wesley for taking a bribe, and it was on his permanent record. This made it harder for him to further pursue his degree.
Esmeralda got moved to a different hospital to begin the mental recovery. The scar on her nose was slowly healing, with the stitches being dissolvable. Although, it was a bit itchy until the scab healed fully. Her parents were the first people to pay her a visit her. They were informed right away after the first responders took the ID out of the pocket of an unconscious Esmeralda when she passed out in front of the liquor store. They also took the car keys out of her pocket and gave it to them so that they can drive it home while she stayed in the hospital, and avoid parking fines.
Dr. Llana visited her and wished no ill will for failing to fully satisfy the boys. She understood that it was simply too much for Esmeralda to handle. She wished her the best recovery. Esmeralda was put on anti-depressants, to be taken twice a day. It took a few days for the effects to settle in, but she was monitored by the hospital staff to avoid causing any more self harm (intentional or not).
Her hospital roommate was named Bing. He was an Asian man who loved to talk in simple short phrases, instead of complete sentences. She didn't look down on him, because she was in a similar situation of facing mental battles. Esmeralda was getting some vibes to a novel she read in high school English called 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest'. She never thought she would be put in such a similar situation. There was a lounge room where the patients hung out when they weren't eating a meal nor getting exercise in the basketball court just outside. It had a TV mounted in a corner, where a few patients often watched sports. There was a piano in the room as well. Bing loved to play the piano, although only seemed to know one song. He played Hedley's 'Perfect' several times a day. Esmeralda was impressed by his talent. She knew every patient there was talented, and only had a shadow or demon that they had to get rid of before returning to being a functional member of society.
The meals were very minimal and left her, and all the other patients, very hungry most of the time. Dr. Llana visited her a few times, feeling guilty for Esmeralda being in this situation. She told her that she took all the responsibility for the flawed exam. Esmeralda will not be held accountable, as Dr. Llana made it clear to investigators that she had no idea the contents in the exams and therefore, can't be held as an accomplice. Wesley initially thought of challenging those claims, but decided just to settle for the free tuition and not waste anymore time contributing to the investigation.
The narrative that came out was that Esmeralda didn't know what exam questions were being given out to the two when she was an invigilator. But she was dragged along by being presented as a bribe to the two when they matched their tire question, and Steve was the only one to succumb to his lust while Wesley refused and took a few days to summon the courage to come out to the public with the allegations. The story was plausible because Steve already spent his refunded tuition, while Wesley didn't. Steve didn't receive money from his parents that week to go on a splurge, so it had to have been the money from getting a half course tuition refund. Wesley even presented the photos from that day out of town, to which investigators quickly went back to the area and confirmed with the restaurant staff that the faces were familiar, and that there were only two of them that day (ie Wesley wasn't with them).
Esmeralda felt some comfort, that it wasn't all her fault. Given how easily Wesley would stab his supposed life long friend in the back, he probably would have eventually snapped and exposed everything regardless, even if she did wake up that day in time to meet him.
Her parents also visited from time to time. They were given the narrative that everyone else was and understood why Esmeralda drank herself crazy, as she was used as a sex toy for bribery. It was one fateful day when their visit collided with Dr. Llana that Esmeralda's dad tried to strangle her. The staff had to intervene and it caused quite a scene. It would have been even worse if Dr. Llana didn't already pay for Esmeralda's hospital bill. Bing played Hedley's song again on the piano. Hearing it play from the lounge room gave Esmeralda's dad some emotional feelings, by reminding him that people, even people like Dr. Llana, aren't perfect. He eventually restrained himself. A daughter in hospital is already bad enough. He didn't need to go to jail and cause even more grief for the family.
Jewels also visited her. She was allowed one daily call while in the hospital, and she used the first chance she got to call Jewels to tell her which hospital she was in. She welcomed her with a kiss on the lips. Esmeralda was a bit embarrassed to do it in front of the other hospital patients. She visited when they were doing an arts and crafts activity in the dining room. They made paper flowers. She gave it to Jewels to take home when she was done.
The anti-depressants were slowly taking over. It made Esmeralda get amused very easily. She stood on a small table in the lounge room and used a marker to draw a penis on the ceiling. She also started getting into smoking. Patients who were already smokers were permitted to go down to the hospital entrance and have a smoke. Bing had a deep voice and it made him sound silly when he whispered short phrases like 'Smoking is fun'. It made her giggle enough that she just had to go outside and join him. He gave her a cigarette and taught her the basics: like keeping it in your mouth while igniting the flames, and using your free hand to cover the lighter from the wind. Her parents did smell it in her clothes during their visits. She showered at most, one every few days at the hospital, as she barely had any change of clothes. However, they couldn't dare get mad at her lest it upset her enough that she causes more harm to herself.
It was after a week and a half when her nose was almost fully healed. Esmeralda was ready to be discharged. She wanted to leave with Jewels. Her parents let her be with her love. Nothing could have been worse than what that evil Dr. Llana put her through, granted they didn't know that Jewels worked at a waxing salon. They thought Jewels was another former teaching assistant of Dr. Llana's, and that she could support her during this hard time. The nurses informed Jewels of the anti-depressant prescription for Esmeralda, that she takes it twice a day for another six months.
