"I told you I was alone." I frowned at Marcu. “Stop being so nosy, okay?”
Marcus shook his head. "Nah. You were with someone. I know you. You won't go there alone. So who was with you?" He continued to ask me.
Sometimes, I really hate it that Marcus really knows me well. "Was it a guy?"
"What?" I frowned at him. "You know I don't have a boyfriend. "How would I manage to get a guy when you just literally told me I almost live here in the office? It doesn't make sense, Marcus.”
"Then who was with you? Why were you keeping it a secret?" His eyes slanted a little as he continued to stare at my face. "Damn. You looked different. You have an after sex glow." My cousin grinned at me. "Who was it?"
After sex glow? Was there such a thing as that? I felt my cheeks flushed.
"Oh. Now you're blushing." His annoying smile grew bigger. That made me roll my eyes at him.
"Fine," I finally said to stop him from annoying me. "I was with a guy… but he was a stranger. What happened between us was a one time thing."
Marcus' eyes widened in shock. He then blinked his eyes a couple of times before his lips formed a grin.
"Damn, Claire." He laughed as if this was the most entertaining thing he'd heard in his life. "You really are a Buenavista."
"Don't tell this to anyone," I demanded.
"I won't," he replied, still grinning. "So how did you meet the guy?"
"Shut up," I rolled my eyes. "You don't need to know about that."
He just laughed harder. I ignored him and drifted my eyes on the documents in front of me.
"Oh, by the way, I'll go with you to Singapore on Friday. We'll attend Amelie's exhibit."
"Really?"
I nodded without looking at him.
"What happened to you? You said you don't have time to leave our beloved company, didn't you? What? Is this the effect of spending a hot weekend with your mystery guy?"
My eyes went to him. "Shut up. He's not my man." I bit my lower lip. "I just realized that you're right. I needed to take a break from work. I needed to get a life outside this office."
"Wow. You've finally realized that, Claire. Whoever that man is, I wanted to thank him. He did a great job." He winked at me.
Yeah. He really did a great job. Damn. My cheeks flushed when I remembered how good he was in bed.
I rolled my eyes. "This has nothing to do with him. I just realized that I really needed to balance out my life. I've been working my ass off for years now. It's time to take a break." I pursed my lips. "Next week, I'll file a leave and travel to Europe. You know I've always wanted to visit Europe."
"Wow…" Marcus exclaimed. "I can believe I'm hearing this all from you. I feel like I've been talking to another person right now. Are you sure you're my cousin? Or you're just a clone pretending to be Claire?"
"Shut up, Marcus. That's what you get for watching too many Sci fi movies."
"Can you blame me, though? You're talking as if you're going to die soon," he joked.
I loosened the hold of the pen in my hand. "Stop those morbid thoughts." I frowned. "I just wanted to go on a nice vacation."
"Alright. But do your parents already know about this?"
"Not yet. I know I'd disappoint dad but—"
I wasn't able to finish when I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I clutched on my abdomen as I searched for my medicine bottle. I opened it and popped one tablet in my mouth.
"You're still drinking this?" Marcus asked me as he grabbed the bottle I placed on my desk. "Didn't your doctor give you something else?"
"She said it's okay if I continue taking this." I lied. I waited for a few more minutes before the pain eased away.
My phone rang. It was a strange number. I excused myself from Marcus before taking the call.
"Ms. Claire Madrigal," said the voice on the other line.
I cleared my throat. "Yes? May I know who's this?"
"This is Doctor Angie Jiménez of St. Catherine Doctors Hospital."
She was the doctor who examined me. Why was he calling me? Was it because I walked out on her? But I already paid her consultation fee. I glanced at Marcus who was busy playing with his phone. I walked to my pantry area before I speak again. “What can I do for you, Doc? I mean, do we have a problem here?”
"I've been calling you since Saturday but I couldn't contact you, Miss Madrigal," she continued. "Can you swing by my office today? I have something to discuss with you."
I bit my lower lip. "I'm not available for today, Doc. How about tomorrow? I'm sorry, I really couldn't cancel my meeting this afternoon." My eyes flew to Marcus who was now looking at me with furrowed brows. Thank God he’s meters away from me.
"This is really important, Miss Madrigal."
"Can you tell this over the phone? I wouldn't mind. I'm sorry."
I heard her deep sigh from the other end of the line. "I misdiagnosed you, Miss Madrigal. You don't have cancer."
My free hand automatically flew to my mouth. “W-What did you say?”
“You don’t have cancer, Miss Madrigal.”
I didn’t realize Marcus was already in front of me. “Claire, What’s wrong?”
“Alright. I’ll swing by your office to discuss things with you.” I told the doctor on the other line before I put down the phone. I looked at my cousin. Then I smiled. “Nothing. Come on, are you busy right now? I’ll treat you to breakfast donwstairs.”
Marcus looked at me quizzically. “Now you’re being weird, Claire. But fine, let's go. I won't refuse to free breakfast."