Chapter 4

~The Tea~

Andrès did not take offense to it because he was well aware of her temper and she only just returned, he didn't want her to leave again.

With a click of his tongue, he turned to her. "I wanted to talk to you first. I'll accept the offer tomorrow." He said to her, only to cool off the tension in the air.

He just wanted a peaceful night and that was the only way to get it.

She smiled and hugged him tightly, happy that he changed his mind.

The rest of the night went on well and they had a good time before going to bed.

Both of them overslept, for some reason they didn't hear the alarm ring.

“Shit!” Andrès exclaimed when he saw the time.

He hurried out of bed and woke Emilia up too. They both hurriedly prepared for work and headed out without delay.

Married to his wife, Emilia, he was quite confident that everything in the world was well and good, because his wife was a catch, he had a steady job and income and everything was perfect in those moments. Something that Andrès seemed to constantly forget was that good times do not always last.

Today was one such day when Andrès discovered the truth in these words.

He had been sitting in his office, typing away at his computer when the phone beside him rang. He picked it up at once.

“Yeah?” he said into the receiver.

A cool tone greeted him. Andrès rose from his chair and looked around, outside his cubicle. The other workers seemed preoccupied with their work. Andrès grinned even though the person on the other end of the call could not see him, and he settled down more comfortably in his chair.

“Hello, darling,” he said sweetly again.

“Don’t call me that,” his wife, Emilia grumbled. “You know we’re at the office.”

“Oh, right. Right! What’s going on?”

“The boss has requested for tea.”

Andrès pulled away from his desk, a frown slightly etched on his face. “Okay…?” he said, unsure of why she was telling him what the boss wanted to have. “Well, what’s the problem? And what does that have to do with me?”

He heard his wife grumble in the background, then she as talking again. “Everything, Andrès. I’m not feeling too well right now. I have a headache, and I’m a little light-headed. I really feel like I’m either going to fall in front of the boss or I’m going to puke my guts out before him. Even now, I’m—”

She made a puking noise into the receiver, and Andrès recoiled, grimacing. “Alright! You should have just said so. Go to the washroom and stay there until you feel better or something.”

“I can’t,” she protested. “I’m the only person here right now. If the boss finds out that I left my post…” she trailed off. “Can you please come help me take this tea to the boss’s office?”

Andrès sighed and rubbed his temples. He did not like this one bit. He was also busy and in the middle of work, and no matter what or how he felt, it was his strict belief that work should always come first.

He didn’t like that he was going to take over his wife’s duties—not that he didn’t want to, but because it would eat into his own work time.

He groaned into the receiver. “Just hold on. I’m coming.” He dropped the call.

When Andrès got to Emilia’s desk, he made a face at her. She didn’t look at all like she was light-headed. She handed him the cup of tea without any formalities.

“I thought you said you were feeling sick?” Andrès asked.

Emilia gave him a look and said, “Have you ever heard of makeup, my dear husband? Even dead people look alive these days with a little bit of makeup.”

Andrès took the cup from her wordlessly. Her gaze was already back on her computer and Andrès walked off in the direction of the boss’s office. He knocked once on the door and entered.

“Forgive the interruption; I’ve got your tea, sir.”

His boss nodded gruffly without looking up from what he was doing. “Just leave it on the table.”

Andrès walked to the table and wondered where exactly his boss wanted him to set the cup on. The entire table was occupied with files, stationery and the boss’s computer that he was working on.

The boss turned to him when he saw Andrès’s confusion. He took the cup from Andrès and smiled at him. Then he squinted when he saw that it was Andres and not Emilia, his wife.

“Andreè? Why are you the one bringing my tea? What happened to your wife?”

Andrès rubbed his head and laughed nervously. “She was coming to deliver the tea to you, but I insisted that I did it since I was already on the way here.”

“Ah…” said his boss. “Oh, you married people always make me wish I was married too.” He took a sip from his cup and placed it back down. “But nope. No marriage for me again. I’ve burnt that bridge down a long time ago.”

“Don’t let me bore you with my thinking.” The boss sipped some more at his tea and nodded. “You can go, Andrès. Thank you.”

Andrès bowed a little and made for the door. Then he heard a strange sound from his boss. He turned and saw that his boss was struggling and clutching at his neck.

“Boss?” Andrès called, unsure of himself. “Are you alright?”

But his boss only continued gargling and clutching at his throat. His eyes were wide. Panic flooded Andrès. He ran to his boss’s side, trying to right him up, but the boss was a very big man and Andrès found it difficult to help the man up.

“I NEED HELP IN HERE!” Andrès yelled. “THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE BOSS!”

Almost immediately, people rushed in, other employees, like himself. Andrès was relieved that there were people coming to help out. He could not have been able to lift the boss up by himself alone.

But just as immediately as the people had come in, their confusion came in with them too.

“What’s happened?” Someone asked. Andrès opened his mouth to answer but another person cut him off—

“You’re trying to kill the boss!”

“You’re trying to kill the boss?”

There was mass confusion and Andrès did not know how he had gotten himself mixed into the entire commotion. All he had wanted was help so he could move the boss.

“I don’t know what you’re all saying, but he’s dying. We need to get him to a hospital.”

“Yeah,” someone countered. “I bet you’d love to take him to a hospital and play hero for saving his life.”

“Shut up!”