Chapter Five: Janine

Tan's attention shifted to his front, pulling his eyes away from the desktop by the time the door swung open, revealing Dr Janine Crisostomo, the immunologist and the Hospital Director's only daughter. 

She marched her way directly to his spot. As soon as she reached him, she laid down a rectangular box on his desk and stared at him with a broad smile on her face.

"I spent almost an hour contemplating whether I should buy this for you or not. Since I haven't seen you wearing any single one that I gave you so far. This time, make sure you're going to wear this,"

Tan smiled shortly. "Thank you." Even though he hadn't unboxed it yet, he knew it contained a necktie.

"Are you not going to ask me how the conference went?"

Tan went back to his monitor. "I know it went well,"

The week-long Medical Conference was held in New York City. Originally, Tan was supposed to be one of the representatives of AMM Hospital, but due to the problem in the company that he was facing, Tan requested Aaron Villegas, the neurologist, to come on his behalf.

"I know you're not interested in the conference. Share a meal with me,"

"I've got tons of work to do for now,"

"I'll be waiting at Caesar's by one," she rose to her seat and walked towards the door to leave his office. He glanced at his wristwatch. 

An exasperated sigh escaped from his mouth. He only had a few minutes to spare.

AFTER flipping through each and every page of the tabloids that Anne handed to her earlier this morning, Elaine ended up tossing them to the table. She can't help but sneer internally as she reached for her glass. Those photos were an eyesore. It was a feature article about this beautiful doctor at AMM Hospital. In the other magazine, Tan was also featured there together with this particular doctor. He was recognized as one of the top surgeons in the country.

She decided to spend time at Mr. Chito's bistro after work. There aren't so many customers that night since it was pretty late. Aside from his old age and his often sickness, Mr. Chito barely managed to keep it operational, so he decided to close the shop early. Elaine finally found the time to revisit him after three years of absence. She sure owed them a lot.

Drew picked up the tabloid, poking the beautiful doctor's smiling face as harshly as she could.

"Look at this..." she spoke. "Is this how the media perceives 'beauty' today? This folk has too big front teeth,"

Elaine exhaled deeply.

"They're right. Intellectual women are always more attractive than those who aren't," Elaine muttered to herself. She had heard those words many times over. The more she heard them, the more she believed that it's true.

What advantage do uneducated women have against those who are successful and admired by society? Nothing. She might wanna beg to disagree, but she knew she was right anyway.

Janine Crisostomo. Everything about the woman was perfect. From her beautiful face and body figure down to her flawless family background. Plus, she's the rumoured girlfriend of her ex-husband.

"What plan do you have in mind? How are you going to claim your ex-husband back from this woman?"

"Tan could not bear to lose the Textile,"

Elaine wanted to believe so. However, it's been days now ever since he'd seen Tan. As expected, she'd never heard from him after their last discussion.

"You'd appear as a third party in their relationship. And surely, people would make a dirty perception of you if you carry on with it. As per dispatch, they're about to get married,"

"Tan hadn't confirmed about it just yet," she answered.

"You knew how private he was, right?"

"He didn't keep me as a secret before,"

Drew shook her head, not knowing what to say to her.

"What are you doing here?"

Elaine glanced over her shoulder to the source of the voice. She and Drew rose in unison, seeing Mr Chito staggering his way towards them. He wasn't using the walking crane Elaine gave him a few years ago. She watched the old man taking careful steps forward. His walk unsteady. His hair was all white, his face was time-worn, and he had crow feet under his eyes. He's aged. But just like the last time she'd met him, The old man's eyes still filled with animosity.

"Leave,"

Elaine swallowed hard.

"She had just arrived, Mr. Chito," Drew doubtfully said.

"How are you feeling, Father?" asked Elaine, flashing out a smile

The old man just turned his back on Elaine as if he didn't hear anything from her.

"Get out of here and never come back,"

She just watched him heading his way to his small office. Not even giving her a final glance. Heavy-hearted, she picked up her bag on the counter.

"I'm sorry, Elaine," Drew apologized. A pang of guilt was shown on her face as she gave her a light pat on the shoulder. 

A smile crossed Elaine's face. Heading towards the door of his small office, she knocked gently. "I'll be back, Father,"

No response.

She glanced at Drew and waved her goodbye. With a heavy heart, she marched towards the parking lot. As soon as she reached the car, Drew ran after her, panting. 

"You left your phone," she said, waving her phone in hand, which she took right away. "Please don't be too upset, okay? These days, he's getting short-fused pretty much easily, probably because of his condition. Just bear with him for a little while,"

Elaine nodded, smiling at Drew's worried face. 

"You have my support for Tan. Call me when you need help. Macon and I are here for you,"

She chuckled. "Go back inside. I'm leaving now,"

Drew waved at her once she got in her car. She started the engine and waited for Drew to come back into the bar before she finally drove off her car.

After a few moments, she'd finally crossed her way towards QC. She pulled to a stop when she caught the stoplight. As soon as it switched to orange light, two men stopped by her car. It looked like they were both arguing against each other. Words registered slowly for her since she was in her car. But she knew they're both getting ballistic. After a couple of seconds, their disputes turned into pushing and hurting. Uttered profanities flew around them.

Elaine tried to tear her gaze from them, but she couldn't seem to move her body. This time, the huge guy grabbed him by the collar. 

Elaine's knees started to turn jelly. Her hands were shaky. The deafening sound of her pounding heart felt like she'd run out of breathing at any given moment. She took a series of long drastic breaths; her fist was pressed against her chest. Car horns blared behind her, but Elaine remained immobile.

When she finally found her way to push herself to move, her feet reached for the accelerator pedal instead. She held her breath when her car bumped into another vehicle in front of her.

"Just die! Just die!" she heard that familiar woman's voice again from her head.

Her head hit the steering wheel, her eyes broadened. A series of knocks brought her back to her senses. She searched for the two men who just shared a heated argument earlier. To her dismay, they had already gone.

"May I ask for your driver's license, Miss?"