Chapter 56

*CORA* A knock sounded on my door causing me to lift up my head. It was my dad. I smiled at him as he walked into my office.He was holding a flask of food. “I brought you some food.”He informed me. “Thank you.”I replied. He placed it on the table and then stared at me,solemnly. “What is it?”I asked,curiously. “You’ve really lost weight,my dear.You’ve barely been home for the past few weeks.You’re always working overtime.The company is doing well now.And I want you to be well too.” “I’m okay,dad.I just…we just have a lot of business proposal and I need to go over every one of them.I do not want us to lose any of our business partners.It was really hard for us to get to this point.” “I know, my dear.But I want you to put your health first.C’mon,it’s getting late,let’s go home together.” “I’ll be working overtime tonight.” “Cora.”He groaned. “Dad,I won’t work overtime,tomorrow.I promise.” He sighed and moved closer to me. “I’m glad I have a hard working daughter but I want my daughter to always be bright and okay.” “I’m okay.”I assured him even if I knew that his concern were valid. I had really been spending so much time at the office for the past two weeks working on different proposal. “Don’t stay out too late.”He warned. I beamed at him and nodded while he walked away. I ate a little from the food he brought me then I went back to work. It was almost 10:30pm.I was pretty sure I was the only one left in the office. I decided to head home once it was 11:pm.But then I suddenly felt the urge to pee. I headed for the bathroom in my office and got seated in the WC. I sighed,thinking about the fact of how much rest I needed,especially in my condition. From tomorrow,I had to cut down on my workload and have healthy diet. I blinked when I suddenly felt something thicker coming out of me.I quickly placed my hand between my legs and when I caught sight of my fingers,I broke into cold sweats. I was bleeding! Oh God. I quickly tried to wipe myself and get out of the bathroom but more blood was coming out of me and I was starting to feel dizzy. Frantically,I grabbed my car keys and bag and headed out of the office but the more I walked,the more dizzy I felt and I was really getting wet down there. I knew there was no way I could make it down to the parking lot so I quickly called the security. I needed help. I needed to go to the hospital. ****************** *TRISTAN* I walked into my house to find Phoebe waiting for me. “Why are you home so late?”She asked,walking up to me. I just stared at her wondering what I was thinking ever considering getting back to her. I felt like a douche for being unfair to both women. “Why…why are you here?”I asked her. She frowned.”I live here.” “I mean,why are you still here?Aren’t you tired of this?I keep making excuses to you,I was…” “I don’t mind anything you do to me.” “You should mind,Phoebe.And it’s time we both accept that the two of us are never going to work.” She looked genuinely shocked.”What?” “I’m sorry,Phoebe,I led you on instead of setting boundaries…” “You bought me a jewelry store worth millions!I thought we were getting serious.” “I only did that to please you.That’s the only way I know of pleasing women and it’s wrong.I can’t even bring myself to have sex with you,Phoebe.Doesn’t that say a lot about us?!” “Tristan,please,don’t…I love you.” “I don’t love you,Phoebe.” And then she started to cry. God,can she not make this hard on any of us? “So are you kicking me out now?” “I…” “Don’t kick me out,Tristan.I have no where to go.” “Of course you do.” It wasn’t like she was broke or anything. “My dad…my family’s having some serious issues so I can’t go back and I…I sold my apartment building when I moved in with you.” “Why would you do that?” “Because I thought you were going to marry me!” I never promised her marriage. I was already feeling like a dick.And I felt like I owe her for using her to make Cora jealous so I tried to be nice. “You can…you can stay for a while to get yourself together.”I offered. We were going to be more like housemates now since I already made things clear to her. She sniffed and nodded.”Thank you.” I awkwardly walked past her and headed up the stairs but I could hear her crying loudly and uncontrollably. ************* I walked into Cora’s bedroom which had become my bedroom now.I sat heavily on the bed and brought out my cellphone. For the past two weeks since I’ve stopped making things hard for Cora, I haven’t been able to see her or reach her on phone. I know she’s probably not aware that I was making her father’s company thrive again but can’t she at the very least pick up the phone? I tried calling her again but as usual,she didn’t pick up. I shot her a text. Me:Are you sleeping? I have no idea why I was half expecting a reply but I didn’t get any. And I thought I was the cold hearted one among the two of us,I was no match for her.She was really doing a good job at cutting me off. But I couldn’t cut her off.I’ve tried countlessly but I still found myself wanting to talk to her,to see her.