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Lahat ng Kabanata ng The CEO Learned I Had Cancer and Went Crazy: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 9

9 Kabanata

Chapter 1

“The Laurent? You mean that members-only place? I heard you can’t even get a table without someone to recommend you.”“Vivian, your boyfriend must be loaded.”The coworkers marveled one after another, and Vivian quickly said, “Got it,” and hung up in a hurry.She was so worked up that she knocked over the wine glass beside her, spilling wine all across the table.“He just got his bonus, so he splurged this once. We’re just ordinary people.”She kept her head down, pulling out a tissue to dab at the wine stain on her skirt, never daring to look up at me.“That’s still spoiling you, though! Who else would blow their hard-earned bonus on a single dinner?”“A place like that, only someone like Mr. Blackwood goes there regularly. Right, Claire?”A coworker looked at me.I held my glass, took a small sip with my head lowered, and spoke softly.“Yeah. He used to go there a lot.”Then I set the glass down and turned to Vivian, whose face had gone slightly pale.“He just never once invited me.”

Chapter 2

I didn’t go home.At two in the morning, I sat alone on a bench by the sea, my stomach burning and stinging from the alcohol.That was when Adrian finally called.“Where are you? Why aren’t you back yet?”“Had too much to drink.”Twenty minutes later, Adrian’s car pulled over to the curb.He got out and walked up to me, and the second he saw the bottle in my hand, his face darkened.“Claire, have you lost your mind?”He pulled off his coat and draped it over my shoulders, an irritation in his voice he couldn’t quite hold back.“Don’t you know your stomach’s bad? Who told you to drink?”I said nothing.He bent down to look at me.“Why were you drinking?”I lifted my head and looked at him.“Because I walked past The Laurent.”Adrian went still.“I saw you and Vivian,” I said softly.He was quiet for a few seconds, then quickly regained his composure.“Since you saw us, there’s nothing for me to hide.”“Vivian’s been doing well on the branding project lately. I’m planning to move her to

Chapter 3

The next day, the moment I stepped off the elevator at the office, I could feel something was off.Back at my desk, there was a personnel transfer notice waiting for me.Vivian Lane, transferred to executive assistant in the president’s office.Effective date: today.I looked at those lines and felt no surprise.Last night on the beach, Adrian had already told me himself. The rest of the company clearly just didn’t know yet.All morning, the office floor was unnaturally quiet.Near noon, I went to the break room for some water.I’d just reached the door when I heard someone inside, keeping their voice low.“How long has she even been here? Less than a year, right? And she’s already in the president’s office?”“Claire’s been with Mr. Blackwood since before the company even existed, and she’s still only an executive manager. How does that girl get to skip ahead?”“Who knows. Guess she’s got talent. If you could get something going with Mr. Blackwood, you’d move up too.”The voice cut off

Chapter 4

I didn’t go back to the office. I went straight to the restroom instead.The moment I pushed open the stall door, I started throwing up violently.They say the stomach is the organ of emotion. Turns out it’s true.I braced myself against the wall to stand, then called the hospital. The line had barely connected when the voice on the other end spoke.“Ms. Prescott, why haven’t you come in for your follow-up? Your condition really can’t wait any longer.”“Dr. Reed, I heard your hospital started a body donation program. Is that right?”The other end went blank, and it was a long while before he spoke. “What... what do you mean by that?”I looked up at the faint light through the window overhead and let out a soft laugh. “I don’t want treatment anymore.”“And there’s no treating it anyway, is there? What little time I have left, I want to keep for myself.”The other end let out a long sigh, settled on a time for me to sign the donation agreement, and then hung up.At noon, Adrian asked me

Chapter 5

(Third person's POV)Adrian’s eyes locked onto those words.The living room went dead silent.His knuckles whitened around the report, and his brow drew together bit by bit.“Stomach cancer... late-stage?”As if he’d read some kind of joke, he couldn’t help lowering his head and scoffing.“Claire, you’ll really pull any absurd stunt to force me to spend time with you now, won’t you?”He threw that report into the trash too, then settled comfortably onto the couch, fished out his phone, and dialed Claire’s number.His fingertip tapped against the edge of the couch, over and over, but all that came from the other end was a cold automated tone.The smile on his face stiffened for an instant.Still, he didn’t think much of it, and got up to shower.When he came back to the bedroom, he found the closet door open, a few pieces of clothing missing, and some of her skincare gone from the table.Only the expensive jewelry he’d once given Claire sat untouched in the cabinet.He gave a cold laugh

Chapter 6

(Third person's POV)The doctor’s words came down like a thunderclap, and a ringing filled his ears.“You... what did you say? Stomach cancer... late-stage?”Adrian’s voice shook badly.The doctor watched him and knitted his brow tight.“Mr. Blackwood, you used to come with her to every appointment yourself. Do you really not understand her condition?”Every word caught in Adrian’s throat.He didn’t understand. He truly knew nothing. He’d thought Claire’s stomach was just a little sore.For that instant, Adrian’s mind went completely blank, and it wasn’t until the doctor was about to leave that he came to his senses.Adrian seized the man’s hand. “Do you really not know where she went? Didn’t she let anything slip at her last appointment?”The doctor gave him a long look, then turned and said, “She did.”Adrian’s eyes lit up at once, but the next second, the doctor took out a document.“She said that after she dies, she’ll donate her body to this hospital.”Adrian saw the donation agre

Chapter 7

(Third person's POV)The next day, the whole company was rocked by the announcement from HR.No one was more worked up than Vivian, who grabbed her termination letter and stormed into Adrian’s office.“This is fake, right?! Adrian, how could you do this to me!”“Just two days ago on vacation you told me you’d keep pulling me up with you! ”But Adrian didn’t even lift his head. He just tossed a card at her.“Take it and get out. That’s enough money to live on for the rest of your life.”“From now on, don’t ever show up in front of me again.”Vivian stared at him in disbelief. She wanted to make a scene, but Adrian simply called in his bodyguards.She looked at the towering men in front of her and, in the end, left the company, unwilling as she was.The office finally went quiet, and Adrian stared at the file in front of him.The page was dense with text, but he couldn’t take in a single word.Until his secretary burst in. “Mr. Blackwood, we found Ms. Prescott’s information.”He immediat

Chapter 8

(Claire’s POV)I never thought I’d wake up again.And I certainly never thought that when I opened my eyes, I’d see Adrian standing not far away.Wasn’t he supposed to be at the office? Why on earth was he here?The instant our eyes met, Adrian went completely still. I’d never seen this expression on him before.At last he slowly pushed the door open and took my hand, taped full of IV lines, in his trembling ones.“Claire... I’m sorry... I came too late.”I wanted so badly to pull my hand back, but there wasn’t an ounce of strength in my body, and I could only let him hold it.Adrian’s tears fell on the back of my hand, cold and unfamiliar.“I was wrong... I was so wrong... I never should have let my heart wander. It’s all my fault!”“It’s all my fault!”He said sorry so many times, begged me so many times not to die.But it was too late.The day I was diagnosed with stomach cancer, I’d prayed to the heavens too, asking if I could please not die.I was only in my twenties. I hadn’t got

Chapter 9

Adrian had my body flown back home.When news of my death reached the company, everyone was stunned.They came to my funeral and, one after another, laid down their flowers, murmuring what a shame it was.Adrian stood at the very front, so thin now he seemed like a different person from before.The weather was bad that day, the rain coming down hard, and once the mourning was done, everyone left one by one.Adrian was the last to go, and on his way out he saw a Maybach parked not far off.Inside the car, Vivian was straddling some executive, the two of them kissing like they couldn’t get enough of each other.He casually snapped a photo, then had his secretary send it to that executive’s wife.Once it was done, he returned to his car in a daze, and just then the hospital called.“Mr. Blackwood, Ms. Prescott’s body...”“Donate it, as agreed.”Adrian spoke softly.“It was her choice, wasn’t it?”The doctor was silent for a long time, and let out a long sigh before hanging up.“Mr. Blackw

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