Office Diaries - Chapter 136

“Sammy, sweetheart, are you okay?” Jena asked worriedly by the bathroom’s door.

Sammy was having a stomachache and said he wanted to poop. Normally, her son would go to the loo alone as Sam was an independent kid, and so, she was wondering why her son was acting like a big baby today.

Then again, it must be the crowd. The multitude of strangers making her little boy shy and clingy— not that Jena would complain. At least she had an excuse to take a break from the whirlwind of people and sit down for a change.

“Sammy? Do you want mom to come inside?”

“No mom. Just stay there,” her son answered and Jena sighed as she walked towards the bed and sat there.

She had brought Sam in her and Alvin’s room for another purpose. She wanted to think. She couldn’t get Alvin’s friends’ words off her mind now that she had an opportunity to be alone.

They called Sam a love child when it was just the opposite. It’s not that she hated Sam’s biological father— well not anymore, not after she gave birth. He gave Jena her son after all. She just didn’t want to think about him. But lately, she wondered about his identity.

“What do you know… It’s King’s love child.”

“Oh Jena, you don’t have to keep it from us. We know your love story. We were there when you first met king anyway. We just didn’t know you and king really hooked up eight years ago.”

Alvin’s friends’ words echoed in her head and she frowned. They made it sound like they had met a long time ago instead of just a while ago.

KING…

“King?” she whispered the name as she racked her brains.

KING.

EIGHT YEARS AGO.

Jena couldn’t remember anything eight years ago except for that one fateful night at the club. Wait a minute…

CLUB

Her eyes widened as she recalled something.

Her ‘friends’ had long since abandoned her on the table for the dance floor to watch someone called ‘king’ perform and she was left on her own with the guy who seemed to have been born with eight hands. The guy was forever trying to grope her but she had managed to fend him off so far.

KING. DANCE FLOOR. EIGHT YEARS AGO.

“Who is this ‘king’?” Jena wondered out loud, her brain trying to squeeze out memories she’d long since abandoned but desperately wanted to remember now. “And what does he have to do with Sammy?” she asked again, wondering if this man called “king” was the one who rȧpėd her.

Unfortunately, there was not enough time to ponder about these things. There was still a wedding party ongoing outside and she needed to return. Since Sammy was taking too long in the toilet, Mrs. So came inside and insisted that she took her place in taking care of Sammy since the guests were looking for the bride. It was rude not to show herself to them so she reluctantly agreed.

Soon the guests left one by one and the couple had time of peace. Jena’s family helped out with the clearing of the place so the couple was able to go and look for their son who apparently really got sick.

In the end, they didn’t have a wedding night.

“How is he?” Alvin asked his wife worriedly as he hovered over the bed where Jena and their son slept.

Sam’s feigned stomachache became real when night came. It seemed his son ate something bad or ate too much of something from the buffet table when his parents were busy circulating among the guests. The older So couple offered to watch over their grandson since Jena’s family had already gone home, but she knew they were both tired also and so she insisted on doing the guarding.

“He’s okay now. He’s not vomiting anymore,” she answered weakly, obviously exhausted making her husband frown.

Since the two hadn’t planned on going on a honeymoon immediately, postponing it to next week since Alvin still had tons of paperwork to do, Jena didn’t allow her husband to stay up with her so the president could go to work. In contrast to her haggard appearance, Alvin was now dressed immaculately in his suit.

“You look like you didn’t get any sleep,” Alvin commented worriedly as he reached for his wife to brush the strand of hair on her face and cupped her cheek. “Why don’t you go for a while? Take a shower and eat,” he said. “I’ll watch Sammy while you do.”

“But – ” Jena started to protest but Alvin shook his head at her.

“Go. I’ll take care of Sammy,” he said as he pulled his wife from the bed.

“But won’t you be late?” she asked with that adorable pout of hers and Alvin couldn’t resist planting a kiss on those delectable lips.

“I’m the president. I can afford to be late. So, Mrs. Secretary, go take a shower and eat,” he ordered with that easy grin of his and Jena wasn’t able to do anything but smile back.

“I’ll go then sir,” the new missus chuckled as she turned to go to their own room.

“Take your time,” Alvin called out in a sing song voice as he watched his wife disappear from the room.

Alvin gave out a sigh and turned his attention to his sleeping son. Sammy had dark circles under his eyes and he reached out to touch the boy’s forehead and was relieved that it was cool.

“Sorry sport,” he murmured as he sat on the bed to be closer to his child.

He was feeling guilty. He was thinking that if he hadn’t made Sam act sick, his son wouldn’t really get sick. It was illogical, yes, but he couldn’t help but come to that conclusion. He believed in karma after all.

He flipped the comforter on the side and sat comfortably next to his sleeping child. He’d stay with him for a couple of hours or more. Jena needed a breather, and so even after twenty minutes, when a newly showered Jena returned, he managed to shoo her out of the room and told her to relax. He reckoned his parents were now awake and he convinced his wife to have breakfast with them.

“Daddy?”

Alvin’s eyes immediately met his son’s and his arms automatically reached out to help his child when the latter shifted to sit on the bed.

“What’s wrong sport? Do you want something?” he asked worriedly and the boy shook his head.

“Does your tummy still hurt?” Again, Sam shook his head, and when he did, his father saw the red rash on his neck.

His frown increasing, Alvin pulled at his son’s pajama shirt to expose more of his skin and his eyes widened as he proceeded on checking his son’s body. Sam’s skin was covered with red rash and based on his son’s labored breathing, the rash wasn’t only external.

“Sammy, what did you eat yesterday? Do you remember?” he asked although he already had an idea what. “Did you eat shrimp?” he prodded wondering how much shrimp his son ate.

“Yes,” the boy answered weakly as he coughed. “Daddy, I can’t breathe,” he added and Alvin didn’t think twice on picking his son up from the bed and running towards the door.

“Alvin, what’s wrong?”

His parents quickly stood up in alarm upon seeing him run with Sammy in his arms.

“Sammy?” his wife’s eyes filled with panic as she hurried towards his side. “What’s wrong with him?”

“I think he’s having severe allergic reaction to food. He ate shrimp yesterday. He’s having rashes now and can’t breathe,” Alvin recited as he and Jena marched towards his car.

He secured Sam into the child seat while Jena sat with him at the back and he immediately got in and drove off to the nearest hospital.

His parents followed suit and the four of them stood worriedly at the emergency room while doctors and nurses catered to their baby boy. The nurse however asked them to go out for a while so they could work without bumping into them.

“He has allergies to shrimp and I didn’t know. But he didn’t have this reaction with seafood before,” Jena said woefully as she glanced at her son, wringing her hands as she did.

She was really upset over the fact that she had overlooked this condition Sam had. Alvin, understanding his wife’s anxiety pulled her close to him.

“Don’t think too hard. Sam might have eaten a lot of scampi yesterday.”

“It’s my fault.”

Jena and Alvin glanced at their parents who were standing just next to them. Mrs. So was doing the same thing Jena was doing to her hands.

“I saw him eat a lot of those yesterday and I didn’t stop him,” the old lady sobbed and Mr. So tried to comfort her.

“It’s okay mom,” Jena told her mother-in-law, touching her hands as she did.

She was really grateful for their presence. If they weren’t here she would have driven herself crazy all alone. But she didn’t want her mother-in-law going crazy for her, blaming herself as she did.

“You didn’t know Sammy had allergies. It’s not your fault.”

“But I should have known,” the old lady continued to wail. “Alvin had the same allergies. I should have known Sammy has them too. Like father, like son.”

Alvin watched nervously as Jena frowned over his mother’s remark. In her distraught, his mother might have forgotten that Jena didn’t know Sam’s his real son, ergo the slip. He saw Jena’s lips parted as if to ask questions, but before she did, the doctor came out of the room and told them that Sam had been given some shots for his allergies and would be okay. Alvin was once again saved.