"What's the matter?"
"Hmm...", I turned my face towards him.
"Nothing", I sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit tired. We had two emergency operations today."
He nodded.
"We'll be home soon."
He fetched me at work today and we went to Jodel's mom birthday party. However, my mind was wandering the whole time. It started since I saw Simon and shared a lunch with him, in which he invited me. I declined at first for I didn't want to be familiar with him anymore but he insisted, almost pleaded actually, so for old time's sake, I gave in.
"I can't stay long Simon, I only got fifteen minutes break", I said hurriedly, glancing at my wristwatch to check on the time. The hospital cafeteria was filled with people. I usually take my lunch with the ICU staff.
"Don't I know that, Nicky?"
My head snapped up, he was the only one who called me Nicky.
I took a deep breath, trying to kill the urge of giving him a piece of my mind. I would be a hypocrite to say that I forgot everything that happened between us. Words of accusations wanted to burst from my mouth but what was the point of stating them?
"You always didn't have time for me in the past, too."
I frowned.
"What do you want?", I sounded stern but damn it to hell what was he doing here?
"I wanted to see you. I mean my cousin is here but aside from that I wanted to know how are you doing?", I could sense that he was studying my reactions.
"I'm perfectly fine", I smiled but it didn't reach my eyes.
I saw his eyes sombering as if he was in pain.
Now what?
"I heard you got married", he said in a low tone.
"Yes, I did", I nodded my head in emphasis.
"Why?"
"What do you mean, why?", I asked, dumbfounded.
"Why did you marry him, Nicky?"
I was surprised by his question.
He has the gall to question me?
"Why do you think I married him, Simon?", my temper not far from the surface.
What's his point?
"He's quite the catch", then he glanced at my engagement and wedding rings on my left hand.
I always wore them when I was not working as a bedside staff.
I scoffed sarcastically and crossed my arms against my chest.
"Are you thinking, I married him for his money?", my frown deepened.
"You don't love him, Nicky", he ignored my question and declared that.
I stared at him levelly. Then took a deep breath to calm my nerves.
"Oh, I do. I love him so much", I said seriously.
He shut up. Both of our emotions were running high. Simon could be very stubborn and I didn't want to put up with his attitude anymore. I couldn't believe I survive those years I was his. Then to my surprised he clenched his fist and he looked so forlorn.
I slowly leaned forward and reached for his hand. As much as I wanted to be mad at him, I didn't want to carry the burden of hate in my heart. I couldn't bear to see him like this. Not only him, that includes everyone I knew.
"Simon, I want to thank you for trying and have this talk with me", I took a deep breath and continued. "Remember we both agreed it was for the better to part ways. I—"
"I still love you, Nicky", he said and squeezed my hand. He was staring blatantly at me.
I was shock.
What happened to his other woman? The woman he got with child?
"I realized, I made a huge mistake. I want you. I need you. She's- she isn't you, Nicky. I'm so sorry for what I've done, I love you. Please believe me, I love—"
"I'm sorry", I cut him off then I removed my hand from his grasped. I didn't need this. He was troubling me.
"I'm not going to give up on you, Nicky. I know you still love me and I won't stop not until you tell me to."
"Stop now'" I said quietly. "This is madness. I'm married Simon", I hissed.
"I know—"
"No! I told you to stop. I'm happy and I'm very much in love with my husband. I don't want you coming here disturbing my peace and disrespecting my marriage. I don't want to discuss our past with you any further. Past is past. I moved on and so should you. We're through", I was unrelenting.
He needed to know that I was not the same Nicky that I used to be.
I changed and that was because of him.
My husband, my Eric.
He healed my broken and shattered soul.
I had a change of heart.
I would always be grateful for Simon for if he didn't leave, I would never have met the man of my dreams.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
"Is there something you want to tell me?", Eric said the next day while we were strolling around the park just right infront of the hospital. Near the place where I sat with Mina when he had an accident.
We were holding hands while we were enjoying the playful kids running around with their onlooking parents.
I raised my eyebrows in question.
He stopped walking and let go of my hand. He cleared his throat and faced the sunset. He then placed his hands inside his black slacks pockets.
It was almost seven in the evening but the sun was still up.
"I saw you talking to a man yesterday, Nic", he started. His voice sounded different.
My eyes widened.
Why didn't he asked me this last night?
He glanced at me and studied my reaction.
"I waited for you to say you've seen him", he stated, answering my silent question. "He's Simon, your ex-boyfriend, right?"
I nodded. My heart started booming in my chest. I frowned. I wasn't prepared for this.
"Yes. How did you know him?"
"Mina told me his identity", he sounded deadly, and I felt like the hair at the back of my nape started scrambling. But he continued, "I wanted to take you out for lunch myself."
"His cousin is our patient. She's admitted in room four", my voice sounded funny.
If you were listening to it, you could even say that I sounded guilty.
"What did he tell you?", he inquired.
God! He looks dangerous.
Is he jealous?
I looked around but everyone was busy with their activities.
Why is he confronting me?
"E-Eric, I don't think this is the best place to talk about this." I didn't answer him.
We were in a public place and by the look of him, he was boiling mad.
He stared at me for a long time with those chilling blue eyes, which was new to me.
He never looked at me that way before.
Never.
Just today.
Then he smirked and shook his head to himself.
"I'll wait for you in the car", he said, resigned.
I opened my mouth to explain and tried to grab his hand but he walked fast ahead of me.
Shit! What have I done?
I was left dumbfounded.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
He didn't touch me that night and the night after that. He slept on his study and my pride didn't want me to asked him to stay in our bed.
I didn't want this silent treatment he was giving me. It was such an uneasy situation. It felt like we were having a strained marriage and I knew it was because of me.
I should have told him about Simon, about the unintended visit and about the ending-it-totally-communication-part but due to my stupidity, I didn't tell. Maybe because at the back of my mind, I wanted to delve his reaction. He sounded jealous and it made me feel triumphant.
For that meant, he really cared a lot about me.
But still there was this thing about his paintings which left too much doubts in my head.
I sighed and bit my lower lip, worrying about his whereabouts while I was preparing my patient's medications was not gonna help. I need to concentrate or I might give the wrong dosages.
After writing my nurses notes, I started thinking about him again.
God, I want the loving Eric back.
What happened? How can I bring him back?
Well, there was no one to blame but myself.
I got to go to him and explain things. He would believe me, because I knew he trusts me.
I checked on the time from the wallclock. I still got four hours before I could leave from work but I needed to get the hell out of there.
I need to explain to him. Quick.
I didn't think this can wait till he would fetch me after work.
I made up my mind.
I would run into his arms and declare my greatest love to him.
I called the nursing office and informed them I would leave early from work with no thorough explanation. That was one of the benefits of marrying one of the hospital owners, people didn't question your motives.
Sorry to say but I had a reason so I was not guilty of being lazy.
I endorsed my patient hurriedly and gathered my things. I didn't even took the time to change my clothes. I covered myself up with a wrinkled lab coat and got away from there.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
It took me forever in traffic to reach his office building. It was warying to say this was my first time to see the place.
I actually didn't know where it was located, good thing the taxi driver had a knowledge of it.
Most of the people there looked crisp in their business suits. Even the receptionist looked so elegant that she raised her eyebrow at me when I told her I came to see the owner of the building. Her eyes avidly feast on my person but I ignored her. There was a bigger task I had to do.
I went to the elevator and pushed the top floor button.
Top floor, imagine that?
I was aware that his family owns a shipping company but to be included in an airline company too was too much for me to handle?
He was that rich and his wife was left in the dust. For I had no idea how wealthy he was. Nothing at all. I felt momentarily like a rag doll.
I married a guy you can google and his name was included in wikipedia.
Where am I from? One would think I was from planet gaga.
I scanned the massive elevator with my eyes, it described how many employees they can accomodate in that area alone.
I got a bit dizzy after the elevator ride that I had to collect myself.
Wow! That was a long ride.
I walked over to a long hallway looking for a sign at the door with his name on it. This part of his building looked grim for it was so silent and not a sound could be heard, except for my footsteps.
Did I come at the right office?
Then to my luck, I saw a massive desk at the far corner of the hallway. Atleast someone was around.
As I traced the path towards it, I saw a lady coming out of the door from the wall that opened up automatically. I smiled.
That's it!
So that was what I needed to look around the house.
A secret door.
I grinned and was still grinning as I approached the woman in her mid-forties who was now sitting behind a desk and answering a phone call.
"Good afternoon, may I speak with Mr. Morrison, please?"
She covered the mouthpiece of the phone and gestured that she will entertain me after the call.
So I stood there, awkwardly waiting for her to finish. My eyes roamed around and my! There were five massive paintings around. They were all painted with flourished. My heart started thudding. I knew they were his creations.
But among them, one particular painting caught my attention. I walked towards it and as I got nearer, I frowned.
It was a woman sitting in a bench, looking so sad with only the side of her face visible.
Actually you couldn't even recognize her as if the one who drew it just made a rough draft. The background of the painting was blurry, as how the painter wanted it to look like. It was as if he didn't want anyone to recognize the model of his art or, even the location where it was taken.
Hmm... There's something very familiar about her.
Something that really piqued my interest.
Who could she be?
As I stood there trying to come up with an idea, the woman called my attention.
I went to her and introduced myself.
Her eyes widened. Oh-oh, maybe she thought I was making that up. I hoped not.
"I'm h-his wife", I said, in a low tone again. Now, I sounded so unsure of myself.
Who would believe a plain-messy looking woman was the wife of a handsome billionaire?
She raised her brows, too but atleast she smiled.
"I apologise Mrs. Morrison, I didn't recognize you there."
"It's fine", I gave her a small smile.
"Does Mr. Morrison knew you're coming today?", she continued, "He's in a meeting right now, but you can wait inside for him so you can be comfortable."
She ushered me inside that magic door and you could guess what I saw inside his office.
And yes, there were paintings there, too.
One looked like a real family photo but if you would look closely it was a painting. Eric was very talented. He really captured each of his family's features in that frame.
"Can I offer you refreshments?"
"Just plain water please."
"Right away, Madam", then she left.
She called me Madam?
That was new. I was just nurse Nicolaa but never madam at the hospital.
I tucked my hair behind my ear and let my eyes wander around.
Soft carpeted floor, expensive furnitures, I sighed.
Who's this guy I married?
My hands started sweating.
She came back with a bottled water and a tall glass with ice on a tray.
"The meeting's over. He'll be here in ten minutes", she informed me, smiling.
I smiled back and thanked her for her assistance then I was left alone again.
As I sat there, rumagging my bag for a lipgloss, I heard someone giggling flirtatiously from outside the door.
Then I heard his assistant informing him about my presence.
"Mr. Morrison, your wife is here."
"Wife?", he sounded confused, then there was a paused. "Do you mean, Nicolaa?", he sounded surprised.
I frowned. As far as I know I was the only wife he has or, does he have another one? Or maybe he must have forgotten he was taken when he was strutting like a peacock when I wasn't around.
"Wife?! When did you got married?", a heavily accented woman spoke.
There was a long pause.
"It's a long story", he said in a bored manner.
My eyes widened in shock while my heart and breathing became erratic.
Long story?!
The door opened instantly.
They both looked gayishly smug and beautiful with their office business suits while I looked so out of place with my lab coat and scrubs suits.
Who the hell is this tall, blondie?
Then, a wild recognition dawned on me.
I felt like I wanted to destroy things.
My eyes huge with accusations, seeped into his way.
Because damn it to hell!
That's the woman from the internet!