"Hi Doc Tricia, here to see Mr Rivera?" The nurse in charge of Jayden's ward greeted.
"He hasn't been giving you any trouble, has he?" Tricia joked.
"Other than the fact that he has all the nurses swooning over him, all is well." The nurse chuckled.
"That's not very good news for me, is it.." Tricia laughed as she headed towards Jayden's bed.
"How...Jayden? Jayden? Are you in the washroom?" Tricia looked around the one-room ward. Jayden was neither in bed or in the washroom.
"Sorry but was Jayden scheduled for anything? He isn't in his ward." Tricia ran out to the nurse.
"Mr Rivera doesn't have anything scheduled...the last time I checked, he was in bed..." The nurse was equally surprised.
"Where on earth could he have gone..." Tricia tried calling Jayden but he wasn't answering.
"Let me ask the other nurses." The station nurse paged her colleagues.
"You're looking for the patient in bed 3? I saw him take the lift upstairs..." A cleaning staff informed.
"Alone? Gosh...thank you!" Tricia muttered a word of thanks before running off.
"Doc Tricia, do you need help?" The nurse called out, only to get a wave back.
"Jayden!" Tricia called as she pulled open the doors to the rooftop and scanned the area.
"Trish? I'm over here!" Jayden's voice was coming from a corner. Tricia's secret corner.
"Jayden Rivera....What..." Tricia was about to nag at Jayden for coming up himself when she noticed how the secret spot she'd had visited in months.
"I heard from the security guard that you haven't been coming up here...so I thought I'll clean it up. So you can have your breaks here again." Jayden needed to move around after lying on bed for so long.
"You could have informed the nurse or me before disappearing..." Tricia pouted.
"Sorry, sinta. The nurse was busy and I didn't want to bother her...I was going to call you when I was done cleaning up." Jayden felt guilty for making Tricia worry.
"What if something happened to you alone?" Tricia frowned.
"I promise I won't do it again..." Jayden knew Tricia was worried.
"Hmmph..." Tricia crossed her arms.
"Trish...Sinta?" Jayden approached Tricia.
"I'm still angry." Tricia didn't look at Jayden.
"5 months, Jayden. You left for 5 months." Tricia sighed. Jayden kept silent, allowing Tricia to express herself.
"5 months. I didn't even know if you were alive. I didn't know if you'd ever come back. I didn't know what I was ever going to do if you never came back. I cried myself to sleep, prayed desperately for you to come back safe and...and was this close to giving up." Tricia got emotional.
"I'm sorry, Trish. I'm sorry for hurting you like this..." Jayden hated that Tricia was crying because of him.
"I hate you, Jayden. I love you but I hate you so much..." Tricia started hitting Jayden's chest. Jayden stood there and let Tricia hit him.
"I hate you...I really do..." Tricia was losing strength after hitting Jayden for a good while.
"I know. I know that no amount of sorry will ever make up for the hurt I caused. I know how much you cried over me. I know that you were always waiting patiently for me. Will you give me the chance to make it up to you slowly?" Jayden held Tricia's hands gently and rubbed on the areas that had become red from hitting him.
"Are you going to leave me again?" Tricia looked up at Jayden, tears glistening in her eyes.
"I won't. I will never ever leave your side ever again. I would never want you to cry because of me again." Jayden caressed Tricia's tear-streaked cheeks.
"You're not going anywhere now." Tricia felt her heart soften.
"I'd take bullets over losing you. You're where I want to be for the rest of my life." Jayden pulled Tricia into his arms.
"Take that back." Tricia protested.
"Take what back..." Jayden was confused.
"You are not taking any bullets. I want my panga, not a target board." Tricia grumbled.
"Oops, my bad. I'll be your panga, not a target board." Jayden chuckled.
"I'm not done being angry." Tricia reminded.
"Sorry...sorry....sorry..." Jayden planted kisses everywhere on Tricia's face, apologizing in between the kisses.
"Stop...It's ticklish!" Tricia giggled.
"Forgive me 1%?" Jayden asked as he planted more kisses.
"Okay, okay....Wait..." Tricia noticed something near Jayden's collarbone.
"Oh this..." Jayden realised that Tricia was talking about his tattoo.
"When did you get this?" Tricia grazed Jayden's rainbow tattoo with her fingertips.
"Right before I met Mr Ortega. To remind me of who I was doing this for. And who I had to go home to." Jayden confessed.
"I lost my memory for a good 1 month after the blast. I stared at this everyday wondering what it meant. Thank God I did. Since then, everytime I felt like giving up, I had this to remind me of you. Every storm that i go through is for the rainbow at the end." Jayden placed his hand on Tricia's.
"I think you got even cheesier after 5 months. Who did you sweet talk over there?" Tricia glared.
"Diablo?" Jayden brought up the very name that started everything.
"You okay?" Tricia asked carefully.
"Surprisingly, yes. I've been thinking a lot about everything that's happened. And I realised that I allowed myself to become so caught up in 'taking revenge' for Papa and Mama, I lost sight of what was in front of me. Lola was right, Papa and Mama would never have wanted me to lose myself to seek justice for them. They would have wanted me to live life to the fullest." Jayden realised how close he came to losing everything.
"So now what?" Tricia wondered.
"I want to make the conscious effort to be happy. To focus on the people I love and the things that make me happy." Jayden smiled.
"So..." Tricia trailed off.
"I want to continue working with the team, helping Lola at the bakery and most importantly..." Jayden paused.
"Most importantly?" Tricia repeated.
"I want to spend the rest of my life beside you. Get married, buy a house, have kids and grow old with you." Jayden confessed.
"Aren't you jumping the gun, Rivera? I don't remember saying yes to marrying you." Tricia teased.
"Uh...I don't have anything on me now but...Oh, let's just use this for now..." Jayden fumbled through his pockets until he pulled out a beaded ring he got from one of the child patients earlier on.
"Where did you get this?" Tricia was amused.
"I treated a kid to a drink earlier so she gave this to me." Jayden grinned as he got down on one knee.
"I promise to propose to you officially but...Janine Patricia Gerona Robredo, do I have your permission to love you for the rest of our lives?" Jayden 'proposed'.
"If you promise me a lifetime supply of pandesals?" Tricia was near tears again.
"Anything for you, sinta." Jayden slid the bead ring onto Tricia's ring finger after earning a nod.
"Jayden! You're still injured!" Tricia squealed as Jayden picked her up and swirled her around in circles.
"I'm fine! I couldn't be better!" Jayden cried out as he set Tricia down carefully.
"Thank you for coming back, panga." Tricia whispered.
"My heart beats for you always, my rainbow." Jayden held Tricia's hand against his chest as he leaned in for a kiss.
"You're mine now, Rivera." Tricia giggled.
"Take me, Robredo." Jayden was more than willing.
A/N:
Just a short chapter because Trish and Jayden deserve alone time <3