More than a reset, Jo needed a proper rest. Right after graduating from university, she moved away, far from everyone she knew. She lived in a completely unknown environment and started everything from scratch. All she had achieved so far was due to her determination and hard work.
She was very proud of herself but she had been working so hard over the past few years. She couldn't remember the last time she had allowed herself to a moment of weakness. When she had a cold or even pharyngitis or bronchitis, she continued to go to work unless she had a high fever and couldn't get out of bed, in which case she stayed home.
Immediately after graduation, she had joined the corporate "rat race” in which she lost herself for several years, but that was the reality of the labour market when she finished university. There was no other choice. If you wanted a job, you had to be a good and cheap slave, especially if you had no experience.
After changing jobs, she had a problem with showing weakness so far. Her vision of a perfect employee, even a boss, did not take into account normal human weaknesses such as being sick. She didn't even notice when she became a typical workaholic.
Feeling quite ill, she just ate a small portion of the lunch that Matthew had left for her. For the first time since her holiday began, she checked her email box. She was terrified of the number of the emails she might have received. Usually, she did it several times a day, so she didn't really realize the number of responsibilities she was undertaking.
It was only Tuesday. She had only been gone for less than a week and her inbox was almost full. She wondered what the others, who should have taken over while she was away, were doing. She just changed the return message that she would be back next week and asked to contact her assistant if necessary.
She was a real workaholic. She was well aware of this but the desire to be in control of her professional responsibilities was stronger. Life cannot be replaced with only work, she knew that. Looking at her almost full inbox, she made a decision that it was time to start fighting against her workaholism. She was determined this time around.
In addition, Jo was aware that her old, painful ailment - stomach ulcers, had probably returned. She had fought it for years and already thought she had won this battle against her illness. But she was wrong and now, she had to visit a gastroenterologist.
She put her laptop back in the backpack and decided not to open it until the next Monday. The decision to do so was really special in her case. She couldn't remember when she put her laptop away for that long. She also decided to significantly reduce her time spent with her mobile phone. Hence, she muted it.
Jo made a huge pot of her favourite, Russian earl grey tea and wanted to go to bed. She still felt some stomach discomfort, nausea, and felt weak overall. She knew what she was doing wrong. She had poisoned herself and it was not only the alcohol's fault, but also the constant stress and exhaustion that had been accumulating for a long time.
As she passed by the bookshelves, she decided to take some book to read. She was delighted with Matthew's collection. There were all the books written by Clive Cussler, one of her favourite writers, as well as a lot of books by Michael Crichton and Duncan Falconer. What surprised her more was to see all of John Grishams' novels.
Matthew had a similar taste to hers. All in all, their whole team read similar kinds of books and listened to almost the same music. They often went to concerts in smaller groups, so it couldn't be otherwise. Without looking at the titles, Jo chose one novel written by Cussler. She loved the adventures of Dirk Pitt and his childhood friend Al Giordino.
After a few hours, a sharp pain woke her up. It was already dark outside. It looked like she had slept all afternoon. She sat up and took a moment to regain her thoughts before she walked out to find Matthew in the kitchen.
"Hi, how was your day?" She asked, but didn't wait for him to answer. "Could you drive me to the emergency?"
"Good evening, Jo! What's wrong?" Asking that, he got up from the table he was sitting on.
At that same moment, Mike entered the kitchen from the dining room.
"Hi, girl! No need. I am here." He said.
Jo just noticed his presence. She was holding her stomach. Her face was white as a paper sheet. She had beads of sweat on her forehead as she slightly hunched over in pain.
"Pain? Did you eat?"
"I should go to the hospital." She replied.
"I got all your blood test results. You have inflammation of the stomach lining, caused by a bacteria called Helicobacter pylori. I have to take you to get a gastroscopy done to see the condition of your mucosa and stomach walls." Mike said.
"I told him… " Matthew cut in. He knew that she had it before.
"Infection with Helicobacter pylori requires antibiotic treatment. In other cases, drugs that inhibit the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach or protect the gastric mucosa are used." Mike tried to explain in simple words that she should stop being so perfect. He wanted to tell her that her body was desperately demanding a rest, but knowing her, she would show him the middle finger so he had to use other arguments. The only ones that came to his mind at that moment were only medical arguments.
"A stomach ulcer is a crater-shaped defect in the stomach or duodenum. It can also form in the lower esophagus, which is sometimes exposed to stomach acid. Usually, however, ulcers form in the part of the digestive tract where pepsin, an enzyme that digests proteins, is present." Looking at her pale face, he wondered if she was listening to him at all.
"The cavities in the stomach or duodenal wall vary in size - from peppercorns, cherry pits to a few centimeters. A stomach ulcer can be several millimeters deep, and can even go through the full thickness of the stomach or the duodenal wall."
"I know." She said without fail.
"You know! And?" Mike hesitated for a moment. "If you know, then why don't you do anything about it?"
Jo didn't know how to answer this question diplomatically. She was aware, but lately she had been so busy that she didn't have time to think about it until the time of meeting their group came around, and the pain and ailments were not so bothersome by then.
"I know you so well! Damn workaholic! You even dared to drink alcohol!" He was furious but there was no sense to fight, she was in pain. "I have got all the medication for you, but we will leave the hard conversation between the patient and the doctor for later. Just one thing.” Mike said, giving her a big paper bag with a logo of a pharmacy in front.
"Treatment of peptic ulcer disease should also be supported by a proper diet, and most importantly, lifestyle changes. So, think about it!"
At that exact moment, they heard the sound of a phone ringing.
Mike went to the living room upon hearing his phone ring. Jo could hear him pick up his call and pieced the bits of conversation that she could intentionally hear to find that he was talking about work. He came back after a few minutes.
Jo was already sitting with all the bottles and pills on the table. There was already a lot of food too. It looked like Matthew was serving the dinner. Mike was happy about it since not only was he tired, he was also very hungry.
"By the way, I won the court trial." Matthew stated very proudly.
"Wow! Congratulations!" Said a happy Jo. "Hello Paris!"
"You deserved it, Bro!" Added Mike while serving a huge portion of steamed vegetables and steak on his plate.
"As you wish, Jo. I already got the tickets. I even packed my suitcase." Mathew stated without any emotions in his voice.
"Did I hear correctly? Where? When?" She didn't really get what he just said.
"We are flying to Paris tomorrow morning." He added with a poker face.
"That's great! I am happy for you guys." She was really happy. He really deserved a rest.
"You and me." Matthew was speaking with a poker face, carefully watching her reaction. "That damn friend," He pointed at Mike, "has to work tomorrow, so he has not much choice."
Jo was speechless; Mike was the same. He was curious about her reaction. Will she explode into rage? Will she accept the sudden trip? They bet on it an hour ago.
She still couldn't believe that she was sitting on the plane and in less than three hours, she would be in her beloved Paris. Despite the fact that it was not so far away, due to her life plan being jam-packed to the limit, she could not pay the visit there earlier.She had to fall ill to have free time. In addition, friends had to use a trick to make her forget about work. It was really pathetic when she thought about what had happened to her life. There hadn’t been even a hint of spontaneity in the recent years.What happened to her? She became the person she swore not to be. Has she grown up? Is this what the life of mature people is like?Everything in her life had to be carefully planned. At work, she had a plan for any unanticipated situation. Seemingly impossible, but it was so. Working in public
They walked all the way from Rue du Bac and the D'Orsay Museum to the Notre Dame Cathedral, on the southern side of the Seine. The weather was absolutely stunning. A gentle breeze was blowing so they did not feel the heat.There were a lot of souvenir stalls, painters selling their paintings, various types of artists, musicians, dancers and mimes performing along the shore. Jo took a lot of photos, as usual.Matthew was very exhausted, but he didn't want to tell her. She looked radiant, and it seemed like her smile did not want to leave her face even for a moment. That was an extremely rare sight for him to admire.At that moment, he felt as if she was so happy, then he could be too. He just had to find a way to sit, even for a few minutes. He hadn’t had a proper rest and sleep since the reunion of their team on Saturday. His body was desperately demanding a little downtime to get back up."Jo, it's almost lunch time. We should look for a nice
The loud sound of the phone ringing woke her from deep sleep. The ringtone was really annoying. It just kept ringing and ringing. When she woke up, it was so dark in the room that she didn't know where she was. She forgot that last evening she had tightly closed the shutters to make the bedroom completely dark and more quiet. It took her a long moment to realize where she was. Finally, she found the source of the sound that disturbed her nap.When she picked up the phone, she heard a well-known voice. It sounded lively and fresh, even quite irritating."Hi guys! How are you? What did you do yesterday? Nobody called me. What did you do last night?" All in one breath, Mike recited."Damn, Mike! It is half past six in the morning. What do you expect?" Jo had already found her mobile phone and checked the time and to say that she was furious would be an understatement."Is Matthew around? Could I talk to him?""No. You can't!"She really w
As soon as Jo and Matthew had their breakfast, they packed up and got ready for the late evening flight so they could spend the day out. The weather was amazing with the blue cloudless sky and a nice cold breeze."Matty, let's go to one of the most amazing places in Paris." Jo piped up as soon as they arrived at the Esplanade de la Defense station."Hm…" Matthew just muttered in agreement. He wouldn't consider that place as amazing. He wondered why she wanted to come here. For him, it was just a business district like Manhattan in New York or The City in London. There was nothing interesting among tall skyscrapers."That's our goal!" She said pointing in the direction of La Grande Arche de la Defense.On the way, Jo stopped many times to take some photos of original skyscrapers and several dozen modern sculptures by artists such as Calder, Miro, César from the station to the Grande Arche. She also showed him interesting reflections in the gl
In a moment, they were at the central platform under the arch. From that point of view, this place looked amazing. A set of domed glass elevators lifted visitors from the platform to the gallery and observation deck on top. The elevator track was detached from the sides of the arch while the platform at the base formed a plaza in itself and was covered by a permanent tent anchored by cables to the sides of the arch. "Jo, I'm serious. Could we take the other way?" Matthew tried to find a solution, which would guarantee him not to use the glass elevator. Only the mere sight of them made him feel sick. ‘Good thing that I haven't eaten yet.’ He thought of a contingency plan, but nothing came to his mind. It would be tactless to stay on the ground and wait for her. "That's not easy. The public doesn't have access to the other elevators inside the building. Only people who work in offices inside the arch can use them. These elevators are one of the attractions. It will be
They came back from La Defence quite early and still had plenty of time before the ride to the airport. Matthew copied all her photos on his laptop. He was surprised by how many great shots she had taken. Some of them were so amazing, suitable to be advertising posters. He already got permission to print some of them. Then he packed his laptop and got his stuff ready. “Jo, are you tired? Do you want to go for a walk?" Matthew asked, taking his suitcase to the corridor next to the front door. "I am not. I just finished packing too." Jo said as she thought where they could go somewhere for 2-3 hours. "Let's go for a walk." "Fine, but not too long a walk. We have a journey to the airport and a flight ahead of us." She was already tired but didn't want to admit it. She was in her beloved Paris and wanted to enjoy every minute of it. She had no idea when she could be here again so she had to make the most of every moment to enjoy herself.
The plane from Paris was delayed by almost thirty minutes. Mike had no choice but to leave his car in the carpark. He sent them a message to inform them of where to find him and decided to wait for them in the coffee shop in the arrival hall. "Isn’t too late for coffee, dude?" Matthew approached him poking his left shoulder. Mike was sitting in the corner of the café and had a large cup of black coffee with a plate with a big piece of Napoleon cake on the side. "Hm… Sweets!" Jos’ eyes shone as soon as her eyes landed on his cake. "Doc, you’re setting up a great example! Matthew, would like to have a cup of coffee and dessert at half past eleven?" "Why not? What can I order for you, Jo?" He didn’t joke as he wanted to sit in the cafe and eat something light. "Regular cappuccino and pavlova cake or that Napoleon will do." She pointed at Mikes’ cake which looked tasty. She wasn’t hungry but wouldn't mind having a piece of any delicious gateau. Th
The next morning, they all got ready without talking much. Matthew and Mike watched Jo closely from the moment she got up. They knew she was angry, primarily because she was hungry but they couldn't do anything about it.On the other side, Jo was terrified of her visit to the clinic as she was well aware that an unpleasant examination awaited her soon. She had a similar one a few years ago and had no good memories of it. She had vomited all day. Just the thought of it made her have goose bumps on her back.All of them left Matthew's apartment at the same time in complete silence, taking the elevator down to the underground parking lot."Beauty, don't be afraid! You are going to a reputable, private clinic." Finally, a worried Matthew broke the creepy silence in the elevator. He gently stroked her head and tucked a strand of her blond hair behind her ear. "Our dear Doc," He pointed at Mike "will do absolutely anything to make sure that everything goes smoot