“Ms. Alexia should be sleeping. Sir, do you want me to call her down?”
“No, I’ll go get her myself.”
With that, Chaim headed upstairs.
The room was dark and quiet when Chaim switched on the light.
The blankets were bunched up, making it obvious that a person was sleeping underneath.
Chaim walked toward the bed with slow, light footsteps, looking down at her creased brow and frown.
She wasn’t sleeping peacefully. Was she having a nightmare? Chaim reached out to feel her forehead
and decided against waking her up. He would talk to her tomorrow. It was already late.
Then, Chaim headed for the bathroom.
*****
The next day, Alexia woke up when she felt a hand hitching toward her waist.
She startled awake and looked up to discover Chaim sleeping beside her.
“Why are you here?” Alexia asked in shock and not believing she didn’t know he even came back and
went to bed at all.
Chaim unhappily opened his eyes and responded in a hoarse voice, “Why am I here? I am your
husband.”
Alexia scratched her head embarrassedly, “Sorry, I’m still not used to you coming back to live—”
“I see you’re clearly used to being free,” Chaim said, getting up with a cold expression on his face.
Alexia pouted. Chaim’s words weren’t fair but she didn’t know how to respond. Ever since their first
night, he had only come back to stay for two nights, never giving her any notice.
Patting her checks, Alexia got up as well.
After breakfast, Chaim dropped her off at the same intersection and everything seemed normal. That
was, until she entered the gate and found a lot of people pointing at her and whispering.
“That’s her…”
“Oh, I know her.”
“Yes, she was so hilarious.”
Alexia looked around in confusion. She got the feeling that she didn’t want to know what they were
talking about. So, she ignored them and entered the elevator quickly.
The three secretaries were gone, and their office doors closed.
Seeing that, Alexia suddenly realized she would probably have to take over all their work. The thought
of quadrupling her workload made the world spin for a few moments.
“Secretary White.” Assistant Chiao’s voice broke through Alexia’s daze.
Alexia turned around and greeted him listlessly, “Good morning, Assistant Chiao.”
“Good morning. What are you doing here?”
“Nothing, just wondering if there’s more work for me to do now.” She replied bitterly.
Assistant Chiao couldn’t help smiling, “Don’t worry. Mr. Lancaster has asked me to transfer three
secretaries from headquarters. They will arrive tomorrow and you won’t have to worry about picking up
any extra work.”
“Really?” Alexia’s eyes lit up.
“But of course.”
Alexia spirits rose instantly. “That’s great to hear.”
“Secretary White, don’t celebrate too soon.” Assistant Chiao’s smile grew bigger.
“What do you mean?”
“They will arrive TOMORROW. So, you still have the responsibility to deal with triple the usual work
today. That’s what Mr. Lancaster ordered.” Assistant Chiao headed off, leaving a deflated Alexia
standing in the corridor.
With no way around it, Alexia headed for her office to deal with the extra work until noon.
After sorting out the messy documents, Alexia needed to deliver it to Chaim without stopping if she
wanted to get everything done on time.
“Mr. Lancaster, the documents for today have been sorted out,” Alexia reported with a tired face.
“Put it down.”
Alexia put down the pile of documents, “If that’s all you need, Mr. Lancaster, I’ll be heading back to my
office.”
She still had so much more work to attend to.
“Wait.”
Alexia stared at him suspiciously, “Is there something wrong, Mr. Lancaster?”
“What’s your decision?”
“What?”
Chaim frowned impatiently, “Bone marrow!”
Hearing those two words, Alexia’s face turned pale, “I haven’t thought about it yet…”
Chaim stared at her in shock, “What is causing your hesitation? We don’t have much time.”
“I…”
Watching Alexia fiddle with her clothes, Chaim took a deep breath and lightened his tone, “Do you have
any concerns?”
Alexia nodded hesitantly.
“What?”
“I looked up some information…” Alexia bit her lower lip. “The information shows there’s a thirty percent
chance that bone marrow donors will have side effect. Many will grow old and get leukemia...”
“Side effect?” Chaim’s expression grew grave.
He had no idea there would be side effects of the operation and such serious ones at that.
Chaim’s fingers tapped on the cold desk, making a clattering sound, “I understand, you may go back to
work. I will speak to Nathaniel specifically about the potential side effects with donating bone marrow.”
“… Okay.” Alexia forced out a smile.
Even though he would be talking with Nathaniel, Chaim still wanted her to donate bone marrow.
After Alexia left, Chaim called Nathaniel.
Nathaniel yawned as he answered, “What do you want from me?”
“Are there side effects from donating bone marrow?”
“Yes, of course.” Nathaniel replied sarcastically.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“You didn’t ask.” Nathaniel set his phone on the table and took off his glasses to clean them slowly and
methodically.
“Do I need to ask questions every time I talk to you?” Chaim asked angrily.
Nathaniel put his glasses back on before responding. “I just forgot to mention it.”
“So tell me now, what kind of side effects are there?”
“It’s different for everyone. Some people’s health gets bad, some even developing leukemia
themselves as they age.”
Chaim’s hand tightened violently around the phone. “What are Alexia’s chances of having such serious
side effects?”
“Why are you suddenly asking about Alexia?” Nathaniel smiled in interest. “Didn’t you say she didn’t
matter in the past?”
“Yes, I said that. But that doesn’t mean I’m willing to see something happen to her.”
“To me it sounds like you care about her.”
“Answer my question!”
“Ok, Ok, Ok.” Nathaniel responded seriously, “Her body is still in good shape, but I can’t guarantee
there won’t be side effects or predict what sort of side effects she may have if she has any, at least not
without seeing her. You’d have to bring her to me for an examination.”
“Okay, I’ll bring her over later.”
Hanging up the phone before Nathaniel could respond, Chaim stepped out of his office.
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