Fever, it was rare for Xenia to be sick. The woman couldn't even remember when was the last time she had a checkup.
Even the sensation of being ill was almost unknown to her, but everyone guessed as Xenia entered her office.
"Are you okay, Xenia?" Timothy asked.
"I don't know; I think it's something I ate."
An hour later, Xenia's eyes were hazy, and she boiled. Opening her shirt's buttons and drinking water didn't help.
Eve, Cassie's PA, poked her head into the open office, "Xenia, Cassie wants to see you."
What does the b-witch want? Xenia thought.
"Achoum," Xenia spurred as she entered Cassie's office.
"Good Lord, you look ugly. Are you sick? Don't take another step; get out of my office; I can't be sick with all these mutations."
"What do you want, Cass? I mean Mrs.Jensen?"
"It can wait. No, actually, take a step back and tell me about Gregory."
Xenia attempted to widen her eyes, but sickness weighed, "you mean Carlton, Gregory Carlton."
"Who else, what other interesting Gregory is there in Astoria?"
"Cassー."
Cassie lifted an eyebrow.
"Mrs. Jensen," Xenia corrected, "I only worked two weeks with him."
"Come on, Xenia; you must have flared something. Is it fusion or acquisition the English are here for?"
Xenia sighed, "I don't know. Gregory spent all his time doing analytics."
The man is our director's left arm; he even did the Sanchez deal; there's more to him than meets the eye, Cassie thought.
"You're useless, get out of my office and take sick leave. I don't want you spreading whatever you have in my department."
Xenia didn't even have the fighting spirit to counter-attack, she left the head's office almost unable to see as her eyes swelled, and she felt the irresistible desire to vomit. She ran to the toilets, where her breakfast went down the drains.
The business developer wanted to stay at work and do a remake of the Exorcist. The thought of painting Cassie's bureau with vomit appealed to her, but she wasn't in a state to do it.
"Priscilla, I'm not feeling well."
"We know, hun, go home."
"But I've got a lot of work," Xenia protested.
"Don't worry, Timothy, and I can look through a few things."
"But you've got your own," Xenia said. The woman with trust issues wasn't keen on having them access her files. Cassie taught her a great lesson.
"No, really, Xenia, let us do for once."
"Eh, Priscilla, you are nice and all doing your Samaritan, but speak for yourself. I can't help Xenia. I've got too much to handle."
"See," Xenia said, almost relieved.
Priscilla sneered at Timothy and patted Xenia on the shoulder, "anyway, you go home and rest."
XY XX
Gregory missed his daily dose of Xenia as if the woman was a TV show. The reruns playing in his mind were amusing but not enough.
Why was he thinking of her?
The dreary day made the man look for some distraction. At lunch, he saw Niki eating with a man from the overseas department.
Where was Xenia?
Gregory thought of an excuse that would allow him to go to the 18th floor, but he found none, and he wasn't in the mood to have a dodgy conversation with Cassie.
Gregory had no reason to call Xenia. What could he do?
Sick leaves were rare in Astoria, and so the news flew fast. Gregory was in the accountancy department when the message arrived in the workflow concerning Xenia's salary. Three days without pay, if she didn't come back before, she would be paid a percentage from the 4th day the national health insurance would pay the other part.
Xenia's sick; the thought stuck to him.
XY XX
In front of Xenia's door, Gregory hesitated. What would she think?
It didn't matter; he wished to check if she was okay; neighbors do that, don't they? He rang the bell.
The door seemed to be challenging to open for Sia, who looked at Gregory oddly.
"Don't open the door," the man heard Xenia yell.
"Xenia, it's Gregory. I wanted to see how you were."
"I'm fine to go away," Xenia said, coughing; her voice seemed burnt.
Gregory stepped into the hallway, ignoring her request, "I'm coming in."
"No, you'll be sick, go awayー."
Xenia's eyes widened as she saw Gregory standing at her bedroom door. Like Sia's room, it was functional: bed, desk, nightstand, and dressing. The walls were painted in a light gray, contrasting with Xenia's all-white bedspread decorated with scrunched up tissues for the occasion.
"Can I do anything for you?" Gregory asked.
"I'm fine; I just need some sleep," Xenia said before sniffing up what dripped from her nose.
Sia stood next to Gregory in the door's frame.
"Xenia, be reasonable. You are sick; you need to see a doctor."
"No, doctor, I'll take a few Dolipranes, and I'll be up." She reached for the box, popped out a pill, and grabbed a glass of water on the nightstand. Before she could slip the pill into her mouth, Gregory held her wrist.
"I won't have you auto-medicating under my nose."
"Oh, my goodness, you're wearing your shoes in my bedroom," Xenia said in shock.
"Xenia, that is not important right now. What you need is a doctor," Gregory said, taking her pulse while looking at his watch.
"Do you imagine the bacterias you are carrying? It's important, can you, pleaseー, what are you doing? "Xenia asked when she saw the man take out his phone. "What are you doing?"
"Calling a doctor."
"No, are you nuts? That's expensive. You see what time it is. They take at least 120euros for a home visit, Gregory, no."
"Allo oui, j'aimerais savoir si le docteur Moreau est libre pour une consultation à domicile?" [Hello, I'd like to know if Dr. Moreau is free for a home visit?]
It was too late; Gregory hung up, "he'll be here in 30min."
"Why are you doing this?" Xenia said before blowing her nose.
"Astoria needs you alive and operational ASAP."
"Of course, anything for Astoria," Xenia said with her almost dried up voice. Despite the illness, she even managed the metronome style eye roll.
Gregory put a hand on Xenia's forehead.
Xenia lifted her eyes, "ahh, oh, my, what are you doing?"
"You have an intense fever. Wait a minute."
Gregory left the room, followed by Sia. He took a few steps before he turned to face the little girl, "do you know where your mom keeps the towels? I need a tiny towel for your mother."
Sia left him and came back with a little pink towel.
"Thank you, Sia."
Gregory took off his jacket, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and prepared the towel, which he managed to land on Xenia's forehead after a little game of head dodging from his patient.
"Can you please get out of my house?" Xenia said.
The situation made her uneasy, as she felt the British invaded far beyond Calais.
"I'm not listening," Gregory replied; he did not give his actions much thought. Xenia was sick, and the man tried to help; why was she making a fuss?
After their little verbal jolt, Gregory turned his focus to Sia, who seemed immensely amused by the scene.
"Are you hungry?"
The little girl nodded; Xenia tried to get out of bed to make dinner, but she didn't have the strength, and so she watched Gregory leave with Sia to head to the kitchen. On the fridge, there was a meal schedule that wasn't as fun as Xenia's personality.
"Well, Sia, a seems your meal today is broccoli and fish."
The little girl scrunched up her nose.
"I thought you'd say that. How about we make a deal of spaghetti and fish. How does that sound?"
Sia welcomed Gregory's suggestion with a smile.
In the meantime, Oasis came to intertwine herself on Gregory's leg, "I'll take care of you too," Gregory said, smiling at the cat who meowed in approval.
Xenia's orderly cupboards surprised the man. Everything was well arranged and labeled. It was something he didn't expect from Xenia, who gave off all the auras except one of an interior girl. Her house was tidy; even Sia put things back where they belonged.
The doorbell rang, doctor Moreau was there. Gregory seated Sia to eat and accompanied the doctor to Xenia's room, where he stood at bedroom the door as the doctor examined her.
"Toussez s'il vous plaît [cough please]," the doctor said, placing his stethoscope on Xenia's back. "You've got yourself little pneumonia. I'll subscribe to you an eight-day treatment and a radio just to check."
The doctor finished and left.
"Where's your national insurance card?" Gregory asked after accompanying the doctor to the door.
"Pardon, what are you going to do now?" Xenia asked.
"Isn't obvious, I'm going to get your medicine."
"This is insane. Go home; you've done enough, go home and leave me alone."
Gregory ignored her, "okay, I'll go without."
"No, wait," Xenia leaned over and grabbed her purse. There was no use fighting him for this.
Ten minutes later, Gregory was back with her medicine.
"Good Lord, how much do I owe you?"
"Take your medicine; we'll see about that when you'll be better."