"What are you guys talking about? I could hear your laughs from outside the office." Lia let the artificial smile on her face sit on her face as if it was superglued to her skin.
"Oh! You're back! Nothing, we were just teasing Selina about her chugging the milk tea you made earlier. She said it tasted delicious and even licked her lips! Hahahha, we want to take a picture of her and set it as her contact photo on our phones." Celinda chuckled while uncapping a bottle of Mogu Mogu drink.
"Oh? How was it? Is the milk tea to your preference?" Lia nonchalantly asked.
"It was perfect! In fact, I would love to have a second cup too. Aiya, look at me! I haven't even had lunch yet. I also ate a peanut butter cup, so right now the milk tea is making me feel gassy. I'm bloated. Maybe I'll have another cup in a while." Selina rubbed her stomach in a clockwise motion.
"Then don't drink it anymore. It is not good to feel bloated. Since you haven't eaten lunch yet, have some snacks first. I'll order food for all of you later." Lia looked at Selina with eyes filled with concern.
"Yeah, Lia is right. Here, have some of these small pastry cakes. These crackers taste really good too." Kyla passed two bags of snacks to Selina.
"Okay, I'll try some. These two brands were really popular recently. Hehe, then I'll try the crackers first. Oh yeah, didn't you guys go shopping early in the morning? You guys were all over the group chat that my eyes saw stars just from your spams. Show us those baby clothes you guys were talking about earlier." Selina took two individual packages of crackers out from the bag and started ripping it open.
"Right! That's what we came here for! Let me look through my photo album. Hold on a second...Look! These are the onesies I found! Aren't these adorable? They have different types of animals for you to choose from. I think the piglet one that comes with the tiny swirled tail is so adorable!! Here is the kangaroo one with a pocket in front with a tail that drags across the floor. It even comes with the baby mittens!"
Kyla was the first to bring up two sets of onesies she spotted while window shopping earlier. Since the gender of their babies was unknown, none of them wanted to buy clothes yet. However, it didn't stop them from looking around for potential outfits. They decided to make notes on their phone and order the pieces that catches their eye when they find out about the baby's gender.
"Tada! Look at this style! I found this adorable milk tea outfit too! It comes with a boba milk tea cushion for the baby to sleep on and when you zip it up...it looks like this!!!! Look! When the baby model sleeps on it, it'll look like milk tea spilling out of the cup!!!" Celinda giggled as she showed the pictures she saved on her phone.
She continued introducing the clothes she saw, which were quite uncommon to find in stores. "Oh, and look at the Saitama outfit from the anime One Punch Man! Literally, they even made a baldheaded hood and drew the details beautifully with the cape on the back! Hahahahha!"
As their conversation grew more and more heated, everyone's focus was on their phones and the clothes they found earlier. Only Lia had her eyes on one person - Selina. She noticed Selina's bright smile turning into a slight frown and how she started biting on her lips.
Still, she didn't voice her discomfort to the group in front of her. Her hand covered her stomach and soon, perspiration formed across her wrinkled forehead. She took deep breaths and closed her eyes.
"Selina, are you okay? You don't look well." Lia was the first to reach out and grab a tissue to dab on Selina's forehead. Once everyone heard Lia's words, they turned their heads to see Selina slouching on her chair with an expression that looked as if she had foundation blended out on her lips. It was so pale that it scared them.
"Oh my goodness. Selina, what's wrong? How did you suddenly become like this? Is it the snacks? But we also ate the snacks and we are fine! What should we do?" Celinda panicked at the sight of Selina's grave expression.
"My stomach hurts!" Selina gritted her teeth, slowly crunching her hand into a tight fist as she changed her sitting position.
"Ambulance! Hello? We need an ambulance! We have a patient whom we suspect to have eaten something wrong, and she is in a terrible state right now. Sweating and- Jason?! Oh my god, I must have dialed the wrong number. I was dialing for an ambulance, but my phone dialed one of the saved contacts. Listen, you need to come to Selina's company right now. Selina is really sick, and we need to get her to the hospital!"
Jessica quickly summarized what had happened to Jason and the snacks that she ate earlier. "What? You're around the corner of the block and will be here in a few minutes? Okay, we'll wait for you. Call me when you're at the parking lot so we can bring Selina down."
"Don't worry, Jason will be here in a few minutes to bring you to the emergency room. Honey, take deep breathes and and..do you want some water? Here, drink some to stay hydrated." Jessica handed a cup of lukewarm water to Selina.
However, before Selina could take a sip from the cup, she whimpered. "I need the bathroom. Bathroom." Immediately, Lia wrapped her arms around Selina and helped her to the private restroom in her office.