N: This is the first of the last four chapters of Remedial Heart. Are you ready for it? Yay!
Tip: Reread as needed, do not skip chapters
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As Lea walks directly to their bedroom Aga feels as if his soul is being ripped from him. He doesn't know where to start or how else to explain it.
What have he done? Her silence is making him guilty. It scares him.
Lea's coming out of their walk-in closet. She cuts him a quick, mean look, making him drop his head. She's angry because he can still manage to share the same bedroom or place with her despite of what happened.
Lea doesn't say anything. He looks up at her, and her arms are crossed. After a moment, she walks past him into the bathroom and shuts the door – she doesn't usually do that. He tries not to feel like he's being stabbed in the heart repeatedly, but that's how it feels. Every time she looks at him, she shows him what an insensitive person with lack of common sense he his and maybe, she's right. That's how he should feel.
She puts few drops of essential oil in the diffuser and turns it on.
Aga turns it off.
Wrong move.
"What is wrong with you?" she blurts out
"Let's fix this. Please let me explain, I don't think you understand"
"What's there to explain, Aga? You lied. That's it"
"Babes, it's not like that – "
"That's it!" she cuts him off "I don't want to hear it. I'm sleeping in the kids' room"
He gasps at her tone and the anger in her voice.
She picks up the diffuser and walks out. The bedroom door slams, causing him to startle. He hangs his head, knowing that he has caused this.
Lea's sitting across from him, her head angled down with her eyes on her plate. All he can think about is how different this breakfast is compared to their regular breakfasts. Lea used to laugh so much over something, answer the twins' non-stop questions and not getting annoyed. There was a permanent smile on her face and gleam on her eyes on an early morning.
Now, she doesn't even look at him. Her phone vibrates next to her plate, and she picks it up, responding to whatever it is. Usually, she doesn't take calls during "family time". When she sets it down, he decides to try and talk to her to break the lonely silence on their breakfast table. Sam and Eli does much of the talking. Sam, who can name all of his toy dinosaurs and Eli, who tries to listen to his brother's obsession. They're almost finished with breakfast and she hasn't spoken a word. She's definitely mad.
"Can you pass me the sausages, please?" he asks to open up a conversation
Her eyes lift to meet his, she passes the plate without objections.
"Daddy, when are we going back to your cold houth?" Sam breaks their silent war
"Do you mean the house in Tagaytay?"
The little boy nods yes
"When Mommy's free, when she doesn't have work"
She looks at him in a dash, that – he thinks it's a wrong choice of answer
Lea gives a small smile as if things are all better "Yep. When Daddy and I are not busy Sam, we'll go there"
"Really?" Sam's voice is cheery "When?"
"When the right time comes" she ends the conversation
The little boy's cheery face fades, Lea can see he's disappointed
Overnight past and she's still not talking to him about what had happened. He knows what she wants to hear yet he can't get the right timing to confront her.
Her phone vibrates again. She picks it up and then, without looking at him says, "I've got to go to the hospital. We have accreditors by afternoon" Lea stands and kisses the twins' foreheads to say goodbye. "Be good at school, okay? We'll eat ice cream when I come home"
"Promith?"
"Yep"
"You will get uth at school today, Mum?"
"No. I can't Babe, but Mommy will surely do next time"
"Mommy you said... I thought we'll..." Eli stops "Oh. Okay, next time!" She gives her that smile and finally lets her go.
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The rain is pouring hard. Aga can see the two little bears staring outside behind the glass door. Supposed to be, --they'll go swimming as promised, but the weather is bad and non-cooperative.
"Uhm... maybe... next time?" Eli gives up
"Mr. Rain ith bad"
"Yeth he ith" she sighs, deep
"You seem to have a big problem here" Aga enters the scene sipping his coffee
"Daddy!" she places her hands on her hips, very Mommy Lea "Ith raining!"
"Then... what's the problem?"
"We can't go outside; you said we can go swimming after school" Sam answers
"Who says you can't go outside to play if it's raining?"
Sam and Eli looks at him with face full of wonder
He kneels down to talk to them "When I was a kid, I used to play in the rain"
"Really?"
"So... we can still go swimming even if ith raining?"
"Of course"
Sam removes his shirt immediately "Yay! Leth go!"
Their pool area was filled with Sam and Eli's happy screams and laughter. It's their first play-in-the-rain experience. Aga is watching them as they play, jump and swim in the pool with almost all their toys in there, never mind the heavy rain.
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Lea was with the Hospital Board and other department directors for three working days straight for the accreditation of the hospital's special units. Unfortunately, the A&E director got measles so Lea subs in. She was the true hero. It was exhausting and brain draining as she did her very best to present and discuss, in impromptu oral presentation, of why their department should be accredited. Not to mention, she's battling some personal issues. Very professional.
She throws herself down on the lazy boy chair in the Doctor's Lounge to rest. She breaths in deeply and checks the time, it was almost one o'clock in the morning. The dose of two cups of coffee subsides and its anesthetic-effect was eliminated. She's drained. Physically, mentally and emotionally.
Lea is in the middle of her dream when she wakes up to her phone ringing and vibrating. She's still on the lazy boy chair, in her white coat, where she unknowingly dozed off. She turns it off immediately without looking in the screen knowing there were other on-call Doctors sleeping in the lounge.
She closed her eyes again giving herself time to recover from the shock. Her phone rings, again.
It was Aga and it's almost three in the morning.
"Yes?" she answers, lazily
"Babes, I'm sorry to disturb your sleep but – "
" – but what?" she sits straight, she can immediately sense his worried voice
"Eli has fever. I already gave her sponge bath as you've always said before giving any medicine but the fever's still 39"
She finally wakes up at the figure "39? That high? What happened?"
"I'll tell you what happened after this, what medicine should I give to her? she's having chills now, I'm so worried"
"Oh, lord. Give her a teaspoon of Biogesic now. Any shortness of breath? Vomiting?"
"She vomited twice"
"Bring her here, immediately"
"Okay, Babe. I'll hang up now"
She takes a quick hot shower, a lot of thoughts running through her mind. She realizes, it has been three days that Aga and her are not in talking terms and it makes her stomach roll every time she remembers the face of the woman, smiling flirtatiously, sitting beside her husband. She evaluates herself to distinguish if she's jealous or pissed-off or both. The silent war gave her the space to think and reflect.
She believes in Aga. She knows he wouldn't do any crazy things that will destroy or hurt them. She trusts her husband but that woman, as she remembers how she flirts with Aga, is not trustworthy... At all. What if... that woman is strong-willed to destroy them or has been used to break other relationships. She will surely ruin everything. That thought worries her, infuriates her and scares her all the same time.
Aga arrives in the Emergency Room carrying the ill Eli. She can see her husband obviously haven't sleep yet.
"What happened to my baby?" she says in her childish voice as she picks Eli from Aga's arm. Lea can feel Eli's high body temp even if the little girl's wearing a jacket
"Oh, what happened to the baby girl?" the Doctor approaches them
"Febrile at 39. Emesis two in count"
"Doc, do you want me to co-manage?"
"No, I'll just call you if she's for admission"
"Okay, bed 7 is ready Doc"
Eli is now crying refusing to be put in the ER-bed "No, I don't want"
"Mommy's here, Babe. Mommy will treat you, okay? You'll be fine"
She tries to take off Eli's jacket but she wails again "No, I don't want"
"Let me just see. Do you feel cold?"
"Yeth" she cries
"Mommy will hug you na lang so you won't feel cold"
When Lea successfully bribes her, she removes her jacket and checks her, petechial rash starts showing up in her skin. When she percusses her abdomen and flank area Eli squeals
"Oh, sorry" she repeats the percussion in the flank area "Is this painful?"
"Yeth! Stop it!"
"Perform CBC, PLT, HCT and urine cytometry" Lea instructs to the Nurse "To consider UTI"
Looking at her little girl, now with rashes and the possibility of having a urinary tract infection, made Aga more anxious "Is she okay?"
"She's definitely not. Do you see that?" Lea looks at him "She has rashes, flank pain and fever" she tries her very best not to sound blaming
The MedTech went in to withdraw blood but Eli's still cranky and fretful so she volunteered to do the extraction. Lea signals Aga to sit on the bed so Eli can sit on his lap "Mommy will do it. Shhh... Don't cry, babe"
"No!" she wails
"Why not? Mommy will be very careful"
"Ith painful! No!" Eli tucks herself in Aga's armpit
"You saw me doing this, right? Taking out my blood? I did not cry at all"
"Be..becauth you are Mommy! Pleath, no!"
"But... you're a big girl now. You've said you're an Achi already. Achis are brave, they are strong!" Aga convinces
Eli stops crying and looks at Aga "Ith ouchy!"
Aga gives her an assuring smile "It's not. Mommy will do it! Mommy's very good! Look at Mommy's hand... it has magic!"
Finally, after minutes of convincing and Eli being so fussy, Lea withdraws Eli's blood.
After an hour, the result reveals Eli's high WBC count and bacteria in the urine confirming initial diagnosis of urinary tract infection thus explains the rashes due to high fever caused by the pathogen.
Lea comes back with Eli's medicine, a sandwich and coffee. She saw Aga waiting at the cafeteria with Eli sleeping in his arms "It's hard to be in a graveyard shift" she says offering the coffee to Aga "Lucky for me, I'm used to this"
"Thanks!" he smiles as his heart tightens, the wife must have forgiven him
She picks up Eli to let Aga rest and drink his coffee "I prescribed her with antibiotics. Cefixime, 5mL twice daily after meals. Please tell the yaya not to skip any dose and finish the seven days' treatment"
Aga sighs as he takes his first sip "It's my fault, I ignore what she eats. I let her eat what she wants. You were all right about the junk foods"
Lea chuckles "It's not that"
"It's not what?"
"It's not the junk foods or whatever she eats. That's a UTI misconception" she kisses Eli's nose
He stares at her for a moment and smiles, he falls in love with his wife again. It always melts his heart every time he sees her cradling his children. Truly, she's the Mom he wants for his children.
He holds her hand "I'm sorry, Babes. It was just a miscommunication. I failed to tell you about her coming with us"
They sit in silence for a moment, and he wonders what she's been thinking.
She sighs "I can feel and see her flirty motives – and that pissed me off, that makes me angry. I'm a woman and so I can clearly read her. Bet she's fully aware that you already have a wife! I don't like you hanging with her again"
"Sure! If that is what you want" he kisses her forehead "I'm so sorry"
"I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have slapped you, it must be painful"
He chuckles "What is more painful is you not talking to me or anything that I've caused you to be stressed-out and sad"
She cups his cheek "Awww... you're a sweet Daddy" she teases
He clears his throat "So... are you going home tomorrow? I mean, later?"
"Maybe... I'll come home the next day pa, marami pa akong tatapusin. I don't want to bring work in the house. Why?"
He smiles flirty "We need to catch up"
Lea hits his leg "Are you going to exhaust me?" she winks
"In the most favorable way you want" he smirks and leans forward to kiss her cheek
"Babe, drink your medicine ha, don't give your yaya a hard time, okay?"
"Yeth, Mommy" Eli wriggled in her Daddy's arm "I can walk on my own, I'm not a baby anymore! I'm an Achi"
They laugh "Ay sus!"
"If I drink the medithine, I won't feel cold anymore?" the well-rested Eli's now back in her chatty mouth
"Yes, babe"
"I don't want to go to school today, I'm sick. My friendth will get sick too"
"Okay, you won't today but the next day... you'll go to school already"
"I will only go to school if I have no fever"
"Yes, babe"
"What if my friendth will get fever, too?"
"They won't"
Aga laughs "Magaling na siya!"
"Ang dami niyang alam, hindi na siya baby pero kanina –"
" – Mommy!" Eli interrupts and holds Lea's hand
"Yes, po!"
Aga is following behind Eli and Lea as they cutely walk hand-in-hand
"I tell my friendth you have magic handth and if they will get sick they will come to you!"
Lea shakes her head "I don't have magic hands"
"Daddy sayth you have, I believe in my Dad. What he sayth ith true!"
Lea nods and turns to look at Aga "Okay... okay... you believe in your Dad and not on me"
"He'th a Daddy. You should alwayth lithen and believe to him, okay?" Eli lectures
"Okay, po. Yes, po"
Eli sounds so determined and Lea sounds so defeated and that makes Aga smile.
Somewhere in all the darkness of moods, hurt and pain, there's light at the end of it all. Lea knows how Aga genuinely loves her. Like him, she will continue to do anything for him and their marriage. She stands there, watching them as they get in the car, that's his all-out husband embodied with so much sacrificial love. She's lucky. She's proud.
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Vera doesn't knock when she walks through the door of his office. It was early in the morning; the first time he saw her after that incident.
"Good morning, Aga!" she says in her usual chirpy voice
"Don't you know how to knock?"
She hisses. Aga is quite curious how she can maintain to greet her pleasantly without feeling guilty about what she has caused. His inner self starts to become confrontational.
"Don't come near me" he warns with a calm voice. Maybe he should've sounded more pissed because she ignores him "And its 'Sir Aga', my position in this company is higher than you"
"Uh-huh? Parang hindi tayo –"
"Yep. We're not even friends" Aga cuts her
"Are you triggered by my presence?"
"Kasi ang kapal ng mukha mo. You don't even know the stress I've been through because of what you've done"
She laughs, devilishly "Babae lang 'yan, Ags!"
His eyes darkened at what she has said "Are you serious?" his voice rises and it pisses him off that she doesn't even care at all "She's my wife. Lea is my wife. Hindi siya 'babae lang 'yan!"
"Fine... she's your wife" she stays quiet for a moment "...But I can adjust"
Understanding dawns in an instant "Fuck" he clenches his jaw "I have no plan, not even thinking about, having another woman. You shit crab, get out of my office!" he explodes
Aga sighs in disappointment. What happened to Vera? What's with the aggressiveness and eagerness? He didn't regret the curses he has said. Good. Maybe it can stop whatever plans she have in her mind.
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Lea stares out the glass door of their veranda, rays of sunshine shooting through the cloudy, gray sky. It's nine in the morning and she just woke up after that roughly seven hours of sleep. She's renewed after a whole weekend of exhaustion
"What the – "she startles
"Language!" Scarlett warns as her eyes points direction to Sam and Eli
"You scared the hell out of me, bitch" Lea said softly, she fixes her hair and notices Scarlett only wearing elephant shorts and t-shirt "wait... did you sleep here?"
Scarlett smirks "So what?"
"Did you even asked permission to the owner of the house, which happened to be me, if you can sleep-over here?"
"Like I care?" Scarlett shrugs
"You can't sleep here" Lea declares
"Why not?" Scarlett frowns, raising a brow
"Scarlett, I know who you are more than you know yourself. I know all of your capacities and tendencies – the good and the bad. So... you can't sleep here!"
Scarlett chuckles "Lea... Lea... calm down. I promise, I won't disturb you and your... yeah, you know! –" she giggles "Swear! I promise"
"What the hell, Scarlett? It's still a NO"
"You know what? You're mean like your husband"
Lea laughs "He's more mean in a gentle and hard way than me"
"Here's what happened; I arrived here at 5 in the morning and I took a bath that early. And your husband, instead of welcoming me in, he asked me if I'm drunk? Like – what the hell? Am I a drunkard? Your wife is the drunkard one. And, that moment, I want to remind him that it was all because of me that he was able to walk again!"
Lea hits Scarlett's arm. A belly laugh erupted from her "Because nobody, if not drunk, will go to any house at five in the morning! That's not normal, Scarlett. For your information"
"Well, in the past, I don't remember you having issues of me going to your apartment on wee hours" Scarlett approaches with two cups of coffee "Coffee"
Lea takes a sip "Girl, I have no choice"
Scarlett brings a leather diploma case with a wide grin "I have... I have another add-on in my name!!!"
Lea's eyes widen in admiration "Oh. My. God! Did you pass?"
"Yes!" she opens the diploma case "Ta-da!!! Diplomate, Asian Orthopedic Association"
Lea cheers her on enthusiastically and hugs her tightly "I'm so happy for you, Hun! You know what... pwede ka nang maging next Medical Director or hospital President!" And even in their breakfast table, Lea can't get over with how proud she is "Man, you are amazing! I even haven't seen you having a hard time studying for the exams. Why is my Brit exam so hard as fuck? I can't count how many times I cried"
Scarlett hisses "Because you went through general anesthesia, my dear!" she says while there's bread, full in her mouth
Lea rolls her eyes "Okay – for that conclusion... I'll pretend you're not a Doctor"
Scarlett giggles "If I'll be the hospital President, I'll make you the Medical Director"
"Gaga! Wala akong balak"
"Come on... hindi sa wala kang balak. Lea, think about this; if I'll be the president and you'll be the medical director then Eli or Sam can have a position in the Boards"
"What are you talking about? That's roughly twenty five or thirty years from now or I'm not even sure if one of them will be in the medical field. But for sure, I'm already six feet under the ground that time"
"Hoy! You should still be alive that time. Can't you wait to witness one of them receiving their MD certificate? Ako, I can't wait!!! Kahit I'm so old when that time comes, I'll cheer for them!"
Lea laughs at Scarlett's determination "Oh edi ikaw na ang Mommy nila! And if I'll die, I will give them to you"
"Hay nako Lea, ewan ko sa'yo. I'm serious about Sam or Eli's position in the Boards"
"As I've said, that's roughly thirty years from now. We don't know what will happen along the way"
"Fine!" Scarlett shrugs in defeat "Okay... enough about that, though. There's something you should tell me" Scarlett sings out. She looks at Lea inquisitively "I heard, you and Aga had misunderstanding"
Lea was all surprise; she chokes on her food. She's sure she didn't tell anybody about it
"I hate you for not telling me about it!" Scarlett adds
"Then... who told you?"
"Aga"
"What? Why did he tell you about it?"
"Actually... he has no choice, I figured it out" She lifts a brow "Now... tell me what happened?"
Aga's big mouth obviously made her to be put on a hot seat on an early morning. Scarlett and Lea chatted the rest of the time about Vera, the ex-girlfriend. Somehow, it made Lea feel good. There's Scarlett who she can tell all her rants about what happened. Scarlett, the shock absorber.
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Aga pulls into the driveway. It's almost midnight. Damn, a day passed by again of not spending time with his family. Their company's new project is consuming his supposed to be 'family time'. He glances at their bedroom's window. The light was still on, then... in a few seconds, it was turned off. He knows, his wife just waited for him to arrive before she sleeps.
He looks around as he enters the house. It was quiet – all must be in bed. He went directly to the kids' room and peeks through the door, they're sleeping soundly. He's relieved.
Aga flips the light switch and startles seeing Lea in skin-tone satin robe, flaunting too much of her flawlessness. He immediately closes the door.
Lea walks closer to him, her smile was bright, she was so damn beautiful.
He laughs nervously "Be right back" he manages to say. But, she wraps her body around him and crush his lips to hers. Whatever train of thought he had vanished as he kissed her in return. His hand in her hair as the other strokes her back. He misses her kiss so much.
He then pulls away from his mouth, a grin playing on his lips "Hi." he catches his breath "You're still up!"
"I waited for fucking hours" she says
"I'm sorry... I told you – "
"Go! Clean yourself" he follows immediately as she commands
Lea lays perfectly still in the bed, he crawls over her and press his lips against her neck "I'm sorry to keep you waiting"
She smiles "It's been a month, Babes"
"I know... I know, I told you; we need to catch up"
She giggles. He loves seeing her happy, making her happy.
He trails kisses along her neck until his face was right in hers "What makes you happy?"
"I'm pretty sure anything you do will make me happy"
With a swift, Lea flipped their positions and was now poised above him
Aga grins "Why do you always do this?"
"You don't like it... woman in top?"
"I – I do" he stutters "I like it. You're the boss!"
"Good" she nods "Sit up"
He pushes up, liking her bossy attitude, giving him orders, taking the control.
She takes her time. His blood boils from wanting her. The slow seduction, the soft caress – it was fun. She can do whatever she wants.
"You want to know a secret?" she leans over him, lightly biting at his lower lip.
He could barely think, yet he wanted to know more. He nods his head thinking it'd be something light or unimportant – just the girly things she always do.
"I want to try this. They say, this is fun" she covers his mouth with her own and there she plays.
She removes whatever that covers him and wraps her hand around his manhood, sliding it up and then back down
"Whoa..." he looks at her, he stuns
Aga bites his lip, trying to keep in control but Lea knows the right amount of pressure, at just the right speed. "Oh, Babes..." he moans
"Shhh"
His vision blurs. A soft sound came from him, though everything was muted to his ears. All he can feel is her hands around him – teasing.
"Look at me" she orders and he cries out of spasms.
She grins as she tucks her head against his chest, she was surprised at the fast beats of his heart. She rubs his chest to help him recover.
They stare at each other for a moment and laughs "Where did you learned that?" he asks
"Well... they say, it's a 'wife's must'"
"Am I good?"
"You're the best"
To her surprise, his hands slide up her legs. He takes off her robe, leaving her exposed. Her breathing accelerating. He rolls her underneath him, locking his lips against her.
He drives in. His hands grip her waist
"Do it!" she pleads
He stops and smirks "Do... what?"
She growls and slaps his chest "Damn it! Do it fast!"
Her cries drive his already loco mind out of this world. He gives all he has as he pours his pleasure into her.
She silently screams and convulses, her back arches off the mattress.
They collapse weakly
"You're beautiful"
"You always say that"
"You're gorgeous"
She grins "Thank you, Babes"
"I love you with all my heart, Lea"
She was the real deal.
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Have a great week, you guys! <3
X