Anna closed her eyes and took another dose of the medication. She sat back on the toilet seat and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. After a few minutes she finally decided to go out of the bathroom.
"Are you alright, babe?" Rico asked while sitting at the edge of the bed still holding the items he brought from the pharmacy.
Without answering Rico, Anna immediately hugged his confused and worried boyfriend.
"I-I know I said some—" Rico tried explaining.
"I am sorry, Babe." Anna immediately replied. "T-that was on me…" She took a deep breath.
Rico never replied. He simply held her tight on his embrace, trying to calm her down.
"Rico, something is wrong with me." Anna began.
"I-I saw your meds on the bathroom." Rico answered back. "I know you've been hiding your medications inside a soap bottle." He added.
Anna simply looked at him, dumbfounded from his knowledge of the situation.
"Y-you knew?!" Anna asked.
"I already have an idea of what it was the moment you went to see Dr. Illustrado." He answered.
"H-how did you know about Dr. Illustrado?" She asked.
"You placed his calling card on the floor a few weeks ago." He sighed. "That's why you should always keep your items organized. You're still a bit messy." He smiled.
"You knew and you never said a word." Anna pushed Rico back. "You could've asked earlier… and I could've—"
"It's okay." Rico said. "I know how hard it is… but I am here for you." He kissed her forehead.
Anna looked at Rico, her eyes welling with tears. She knew how unfair she was with him. She knew Rico was in danger with her around. But she was still not ready to let him go. She was afraid to let him go and be alone again. Just thinking about it, made her remember that time when she lost her mother.
She recalled the emptiness she felt following her mother's death. She couldn't stand the feeling of reliving the cold and dark place she had been at that point of her life.
"Will you still love me if you—" Her voice shattered at the question.
"I will…I shall…always." He answered before giving her a kiss.
After their emotional conversation. Anna immediately took the pregnancy kits and joked.
"You know what," She said while dangling the pack. "I might as well use this and see it goes."
"You don't have to." Rico scoffed.
"Oh," She winked. "But I will."
After getting a negative result at the pregnancy test, the couple became a bit of coy once again and ended up making love. Afternoon came and there were only a few hours left before they would start their shifts once again. Anna rose up first, took a bath and prepared food for their packed dinner.
She fried some marinated bangus heads along with tomatoes, onions, and a dollop of alamang in a separate pan. Her stomach grumbled at the smell of pan-toasted alamang. She couldn't help but smile in relief. Only a few weeks back, her appetite would've twice as big and she would eat voraciously on huge portions of food, however after taking the treatment plan given to her, she was doing fairly well and insatiable appetite along with her monstrous tendencies all where all gone.
She excitedly packed up the food neatly and presentably inside the bento boxes she they brought together at a Japanese thrift shop a few months prior.
"What's for dinner?" Rico peeped his head from the bedroom door.
"Well, I got marinated bangus heads with fried onions and alamang sauteed in tomato and onions." She proudly said.
"I am guessing that's also for our food later?" He smiled coyly.
"Well, good sir…" Anna took a deep breath. "If you want to buy a take-out…let me just remind you that my cooking is better than any take-outs." She winked.
"Fair enough." Rico nodded.
"I am going to clean myself first before going to dinner." Anna said. "Don't you dare eat a single bite without me." She pointed at him with a whimsical grin.
"Nope, ma'am! I will stay out of it." he answered.
Anna immediately went to the bathroom and took a nice cold bath. She found the cold water perfect for her. The cold water chilled her nerves calming her down. She loved it albeit she ended up sneezing and shaking from the cool water.
After getting dressed, they immediately ate their dinner and went out to work early. They held hands as they sat behind the taxi talking over the shift and their plans after shift.
"Well, we still have work the following day." Rico said.
"Maybe, we could go to the market after shift." Anna said. "So, we can cook bulalo for dinner?" She smiled.
"Bulalo for dinner." Rico caressed his chin. "Sounds like heck of dinner!" He exclaimed.
"I know." She giggled. "This is going to be a long ride." She sighed after looking at the piling line of cars from the window.
"Geez, it's a good thing we decided to come to work early." Rico said. "Oh, by the way! There's a new movie coming up!"
The Metro's traffic has always been unforgiving. It might have been worse if she rode the taxi alone. Aside from the huge bill, Anna gets easily bored when she had nobody to talk to. With Rico by her side, the traffic suddenly became a doozy to her.
They arrived at the hospital with only 20 minutes left before the start of their shift. The sun had already set on the horizon, signaling the night has arrived. After paying the taxi, they separated ways and went to their respective wards. Rico went to the left wing heading to the orthopedic section of the hospital while Anna headed to the medical ward on the right wing of the hospital.
She walked along the wide, tiled hall of the ward. On her left was a narrow path heading to the nurse's station while on the left was to the nurse's quarters and lockers. She decided to head for the quarters first, since she need to put her bag on her locker.
The floor was eerily silent than usual. Mostly at this time, she would often meet a janitor or two, sometimes doctors doing their late evening rounds but this time there was no one in the hallway. There were also no nurses walking up and about the corridor heading to the quarters. Usually most of the nurses that ended their shift earlier would stay up by the corridor or lockers gossiping or planning on some team dinner. But no one was there.
She tried not to mind the situation. Anna immediately went for her locker, took her keys out and unlocked it. She opened her locker and was welcomed by the smell of rotting flesh. The foul stench immediately harassed her senses, making her to almost throw up from the odor.
Anna called for a janitor but couldn't find any. She took a deep breath and took out a piece of cellophane inside her bag. If there was something dead inside her locker, she ought to just take it out of their and file a complaint later to the administration.
She wrapped the cellophane around her hands and went in to find the cause of the stench. However, nothing was there. She looked inside the locker while holding her breath, but she found nothing. Not a few moments later, the stench was already gone.
She immediately threw the cellophane in the bin and decided not to put her bag there just in case another case of stinky odor permeates. She took her bag and hurriedly went to the nurse's station where she saw Samantha at the nurse's station talking to their colleagues.
She waived at them before entering the small transparent room at the middle of the room-filled ward. She placed her bag on a small empty cabinet away from the eyes of the Supervisor and then joined in on the conversation with her workmates.
Samantha was talking about a recent gossip. About a new doctor coming to work for the hospital.
"I hope he's hot." Samantha giggled.
"Oh, you shut-up, Samantha!" Their other workmate said. "You're gonna get us in trouble!" She winked.
"Hey, what's wrong with asking for a hot doctor?" Samantha said while looking at some of the charts. "I mean, old and cranky ones don't inspire me. I wanna stay here as looonggg as I want! And those hot doctors gives me a reason to stay! What do you think, Anna?"
Anna was caught off guard. She laughed and answered. "I am already taken."
"Sana all!" The other nurses chorused and laughed.
As they continued laughing, Anna suddenly felt a shudder in her body. The hair on her nape began to stand. She looked around but saw no one. Then all of a sudden, her stomach grumbled audibly.
"Are you hungry for a hot doctor, Anna?" Samantha joked.
Anna tried her best to repress her concern. "Maybe I am."
The other nurses laughed once again, but Anna wasn't too keen on what was going on.