Chapter 23 Drunk
Tan did not wait for the man to react. He turned away, and carried Elaine, knowing that the man at the gate was following them with his eyes.
Elaine moaned softly. And as if looking for warmth, she pressed her face on his hard chest. Tan took a deep breath, calming his senses. She reeked of liquor. The smell completely and surprisingly blended well with her natural scent – which was… God help him – was still very familiar to him.
Tan shook his head to throw away the unwanted emotion. He carefully laid Elaine on her bed when they entered her room. A moan of protest escaped her throat. Then suddenly, as if awake, and stopping him from leaving, she grabbed his arm.
Tan wanted to kick himself. Just a while ago she didn’t hesitate to take Elaine away from that man’s arms. But now that he was alone with her in this small room, her touch felt like a wildfire burning his skin.
Tan withdraw his hands and gaze at the woman lying restless on top of the bed. He was hesitant if he’d change her long sleeve polo shirt and jeans into more comfortable clothes. Tan held firm, shook his head. He carried her on the bed, that was all he was supposed to do.
He turned the air-conditioner on then came back for Elaine. She tucked her in bed and gave her a pillow she could cuddle. He hasn’t even turned his back yet, Elaine kicked the blanket out.
“Hey! Be still,” he snapped. As if she heard him, Elaine stopped moving. He covered her body with the blanket again, sighing. Tan turned the lampshade on then left the room.
Just last night she went home late with wounds and torn shirt. Now she was back before midnight but wasted and drunk. On those two occasions, Elaine comes home with the same man.
Tan went out to lock the gate. His eyebrows furrowed when he found he was right. The man who came with Elaine was still outside the house. He was leaning on his car as if waiting for him to come out.
The man walked towards him. “I don’t know if Elaine mentioned me to you, but I am Marco. Tan right?” he said and extended his hand.
Out of courtesy, Tan accepted the handshake. Tan put his hand on his pocket and meets Marco’s gaze. He’s got a lot of questions on his mind but he decided not to ask. Anything that concerns Elaine was no longer his business.
“So, is Elaine fine? Did she vomit?”
“Thank you for sending her home. You can leave now, my wife’s sleeping.”
Tan clenched his teeth and lower his head. A self-mocking smile he could hardly conceal ghosted around the corners of his mouth. He just uttered the last two words possessively.
He just said Elaine’s business was none of his business. What the hell was wrong with him? Marco smirked. He fished something from his jacket’s pocket and tossed it to him.
“What - ?”
“Take care of her… For now. For me.”
He glanced up at him.
“That answers your question, right?” Marco said, grinning.
Tan’s jaw clenched. He wanted to choke the man to death.
Tan had read Uncle Ali’s e-mail a couple of times but he could not understand a single thing that was written there. He let out an annoyed sigh. Darn it, he could not focus. Exasperated, he put the tablet down at the top of the table then rose from the bed. He exits the room to get a bottle of cold water from the fridge.
He was about to enter his bedroom again when he heard rustling sounds coming from Elaine’s room. He walked towards her room and pushed the door open. A can of beer rolled towards him and settled on his feet. Tan picked it up.
His irritated gaze flew to the woman who was sitting on the floor, staring at the box of canned beer in front of her. When Elaine picked a can and opened it, Tan sighed and took it away from her.
“What—! Give me that, jerk!” she snapped angrily, stood up and swayed.
Tan’s smile was wry. She was completely different when drunk. Where were the trembling lips and the gaze that looked like would burst out in tears anytime?
“Go back to bed and sleep,” he commanded, pointing at the bed. But the woman just smirked. His thick eyebrows furrowed.
“You think this is funny? You think hiding this garbage here is funny?”
Elaine raised her eyebrows, crossed her arms and stared at him. Tan sighed angrily. The anger was meant for himself alone. When Elaine almost stumbled, he stupidly prepared himself to catch her and not make her fall.
“You’re boring, you’re annoying, you’re inconsiderate!”
Tan’s mouth opened in disbelief. Boring?
“You forbid almost everything! I’ll sue you for making everything hard for me! Marco, catch this jerk for me and make sure he’d rot in hell!”
Tan’s jaw tightened. Marco? Did she just say she wanted him to rot in hell?
“Go back to bed and stop annoying the crap out of me, Elaine.”
“Annoying? Me? Why? You’re the one who’s always angry!” she snapped, put her hands on her hips and gazed at him… Then her expression softened all of a sudden. “I waited for you… You tried looking for me, didn’t you?”
Tan could not reply. Then suddenly Elaine’s face turned grim again, pointed her finger on his chest. “It was not my fault you forgot your cell phone, you scum!”
She pushed him away but because she was drunk, he did not even budge.
Tan tightly closed his eyes, collecting patience and self-control. When he opened his eyes, he held her shoulders and made her sat on the bed.
“If you don’t have anything good to say, go back to bed and sleep!”
Elaine looked up at her and Tan went still for a moment.
“You resigned…” she whispered softly.
Tan straightened his back and withdrew his hands.
“Someone said I made you do it. That it was my fault you gave up your dream…” Elaine said poignantly.
The room was dim-lightened but he could see the sorrow in her eyes. Tan forced his gaze away from her, and sighed.
“Stop drunk talking and go back to sleep,”
He was about to put her back to sleep but Elaine caught his hands. They held gazes and his stupid heart started to hammer against his chest.
“I… I feel sick. I want to vomit – “
“What?”
She bent over, gagged, and vomited right on his chest.
Tan gasped aloud, “Damn it, Elaine!”
Elaine touched her throat. It felt very dry. She checked the clock, quarter to eight. She scratched her head, got off the bed and walked towards the door. She stopped right in front of Tan’s bedroom door. What time did he go home? She could not remember.
All she could remember was her getting drunk. She could not withstand the silence inside the house that’s why she decided to have a few cans of beer in the nearby convenience store. It felt like she’d go crazy if she’d spend another hour inside the house by herself.
She wanted to ask Tan why he resigned from the hospital. Was it really her fault as Janine claims?
Elaine panicked when Tan’s bedroom door swung open. She quickly turned her back, pretended she was about to go to her room. Tan who was dressed in his business attire stepped out. Elaine hesitated but came back to ask Tan to have breakfast with her.
“You still have an hour to spare… Would you like to share a meal with me before leaving?”
Tan stared at her momentarily…
“Forget it,” he coldly said.
“Tan…” she called when Tan walked past her. “Someone told me you quit being a Doctor.”
Tan swung around and meet her gaze. His face void of any emotion.
“Why? Do you think I did it because of you?”
Elaine could not find words to say so she decided to seal her lips.
“Every single thing I did since you left and everything that I am about to do from now on, rest assured you’ve got nothing to do with it. So stop blaming or flattering yourself. It’s pissing me off.” Tan shut the door.
That made her unable to move. She tightly closed her eyes and let the memories bring her back to the time when their almost perfect relationship started to crumble…
====FLASHBACK====
SEPTEMBER 8, 2017
QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES
“Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you the whole night,” Tan asked as soon as he entered their room.
Elaine heard his car engine but instead of welcoming him back like she used to, she remained seated in front of the vanity mirror. She applied moisturizer on her face after throwing a glance at Tan’s reflection on the mirror.
He looked tired and worried. It was two in the morning and he just came home after working for three days straight in the hospital. Instead of resting and taking a nap to regain his strength, Tan went out looking for her.
Drew called and told her Tan went to look for her at Mang Chito’s place. Mang Chito berated her for making her husband worry.
“Elaine, do we have a problem? You keep avoiding me. You won’t even answer my calls or reply to my text messages.”
Elaine did not answer. Tan’s sigh was deep. He sat on the chair and held her hands.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re having a hard time because of me but please bear with me. I promise to – “
Elaine withdrew her hands and glared at him. “You’ll resign from that darn job or I’ll leave the house. You decide.”
Tan was stunned for a moment. He still could not grasps why Elaine was being like that but he remained calm.
“You know it’s you I’ll choose, Elaine… But…” he stops in mid-sentence. Trying to pick a better word to say to her.
Elaine scoffed. “You’ll choose me. So what’s the but - ?”
“Elaine…”
Elaine stood up angrily that the chair she sat on fall down. She saw the confusion on Tan’s handsome face as he gazed at her.
“What do you want me to do to make you quit? Do you want me to pray for your patient’s death so you’d stop choosing them over me?”
===END OF FLASHBACK====
ELAINE gasped and clutched her aching chest. Tears started to sting her eyes until they all escaped her eyes. A sob escaped her throat. She held onto the counter as if it was her lifeline. She was almost breathless and was sweating hard when she heard the doorknob from the front door clicked.
She panicked. She stumbled several times before she made it to her bedroom door. She opened it and entered. Her hands were trembling but she was able to press the lock button. Knees wobbling, Elaine slide at the back of her door, still grasping her chest. She could hear Tan’s footsteps nearing her bedroom door.
Elaine bit her lower lip trying to prevent a grunt from escaping her lips…
