Craved Affection

4. David Brook

"Yes. You can send that to Kim so he could look over it before we finalize everything."

Sunday should be my rest day but here I am still talking about work. I'm in the parking lot of a hospital. I'm about to go in to visit David before I receive a call from Jackie. She is in the office finishing the contract that will be sent to the legal team before the finalization. We only have three days including today before the presentation. And I planned to join Jackie at the office later.

But before that, I need to show my face in front of Anna first. She's been bugging me for how many days–saying that I should at least let them see my face once in a while. She said that she was about to forget my face.

Super dramatic.

I enter the hospital and go up to where David was admitted. I enter the elevator and a familiar smell engulfs my senses. It's the smell of cedarwood and pines. But I'm the only person on the elevator. The smell stays in the air and as I inhale it, the image of that guy in the coffee shop appears in my mind.

Catherine, what is wrong with you? What's happening with you?

To be honest, I don't know. This is not me. I'm not a lovestruck teenager, so why am I feeling this way?

Bear with it, Catherine. The ride isn't that long. But it is, for me that is. When the elevator finally dings, I see hope that I will be able to escape this delicious torture. I exaggeratedly inhale the fresh air of disinfectant and medicine. That's more like it.

"Mom?"

I look at my side when I heard Luigi's voice. He is standing in the corner with his water bottle in his hand. I walk over to him.

"Hey, little man. What are you doing here? Didn't you bring enough water?" I pat his head. That earns a scowl on his face.

"I did. But I already finished it earlier." He gives me the water bottle and arranges his hair.

I smile as I watch my six-year-old son murmuring as he arranges his hair. I don't know where he got that but he was very thorough with his style. He looks like he was not a six-year-old kid.

"Are you done? Are you satisfied now?" I earn another glare from him and a small teasing smile appears on my lips.

Can you imagine it? A kid glaring at his mother as if I did something awful.

I laugh at him and tousle his hair as a tease. His scowl deepens and I chuckle. He's taking this seriously and he looks super cute. Before I could hear another tantrum from him, I walk away and into David's room.

Anna was arranging the blanket when I enter. The television is on and she's listening to the news. She looks up at me and she too scowls.

So much for the smile that I was expecting. Well, it was my fault anyway.

"You finally showed up. I thought you are just some kind of apparition and we just picked Luigi up from somewhere," Anna said with irritation.

I put the water bottle down on the table and went up to her. I was about to touch her elbow but she quickly dodge it. I try again and she's quick to swerve away from me. I inwardly click my tongue. T

his is not good.

Grumpy Anna was hard to handle than typical Anna. She's the sweetest woman I have ever met but when she is like this, she will become the most annoying one.

"I'm sorry, Anna. You know that I'm swamped right now with the company's project. I promise after this, I will treat everyone on a vacation. Vacation for two days." I tried to trap her hoping that she would bite.

"Love, did you hear that? She said she would treat us to vacation but it was only for two days. She would not come home for three weeks; when she did, she would just stay for a little time and then leave again. Now, she is planning for a vacation for two days, just two days."

She is arranging the blanket all over again but she was doing it in a stomping manner. She will glare at me once in a while too. I am just standing there, taking it all in, as she plays with my conscience.

"Right, Anna? I think she had forgotten that she had family and her world doesn't revolve around her work. I wish she could also remember me. She even forgot to call."

Luigi enters the room just in time to join with Anna's antics. His acting is on point with a pout and with his sighing.

"Luigi, darling," I call out to him and try acting cutely.

"Hmph!" That is all I get from him.

"See, Love? Even her son was disappointed with her."

I saw Anna fake a sniffle and hold David's arm. I'm outnumbered and boy I'm glad that David is unconscious or else, I can picture him siding with them against me. He had a soft heart for them.

Which is so unfair.

"Okay. Okay. I surrender! I will take a vacation after this project for a month. I'll call Jackie to schedule it." I even raise my hands in the act of surrender.

Anna and Luigi look at each other and a smile breaks on their lips. And just like that, I get defeated by the two of them. I shake my head as they did their little dance of victory in front of me.

Anna is holding Luigi's hand up in the air and my son is jumping up and down. They are chanting their song of victory. I sit down on the stool beside the hospital bed and look at David.

"Hey, Big D. Bear with the noise for a little while, okay?"

David is a victim of a car accident. He is in a coma for three years now and in those three years, I took over the company he was managing. It was their family business and it was important to him as he and Anna were important to me.

I'm outcasted by my own family and they are the ones who took me in. My parents died when I was eight years old because of a plane crash. I was given to my uncle who later outcasted me when he was asked to choose between me and his daughter.

"Catherine, you promise that, right? You can't back down. I don't want to hear any last-minute changes of plan," I hear Anna say beside me with a firm voice.

"I promise. I will call Jackie later for..." she cut me off by raising her hands at me.

"I will call your secretary. I. Will make that appointment with her just to make sure."

I'm about to retaliate but she shushes me again.

"Just to make sure."

Okay, just like what I said earlier. I could not win with this annoying Anna. But don't tell her that.

"Good."

Anna walks out of the room with her phone in hand. I'm worried because who knows what she will tell Jackie or what she could be planning inside that head of hers.

"Mom, I think you should listen to Anna when she asks you for something. She's scary when she's like this."

Luigi and I are watching Anna talking on her phone at the glass side of the door. She's all smiles and friendly. I don't like that smile. It s a smile that says she is planning something that I wouldn't like.

"Mom, you need to listen to me. I'm just looking out for you."

My good son said as we watch Anna laugh wholeheartedly. As if what she's hearing is the greatest joke of all time.

"I should, right?" and we both agree with each other.