| Fan Fiction |
by kglove
“Oh, hey Jane.” He smiled at her. “I am always happy.”
“Sure you are. But today, there seems to be a rather different glow in your eyes.” Jane teased.
Gerald pressed the number 3 button on the elevator as they went in. “I just had a good night sleep, that’s all. How are you anyway? I haven’t seen you visiting Kim lately.”
“I was on a night shift training class. But now I'm back to morning shift.”
“Great! Kim will be happy to know that.” Gerald said to her.
Jane chuckled. “Well, she already knows about it. In fact, she’s already waiting for me in her office as we speak. I called her up a few minutes ago to ask if she would like to have breakfast with me.”
“She’s here already? I didn’t see her car at the parking lot.”
“Well, from what she told me I think Jeremy picked her up from her apartment.”
Gerald’s smile faded instantly. Good thing the elevator door opened so Jane didn’t see his expression. Jane followed him out and called behind his back. “Hey Gerald, I’ll see you later. I have to pick up something from the HR office.”
Gerald turned around and waved at her. He then continued walking towards his office. He frowned when he heard Kim’s laughter across the hall. As he was about to close the door, Kim and Jeremy went out and saw him.
“Gerald, there you are.” Jeremy greeted him.
Gerald sighed before giving him a faint smile. “Jeremy, what’s up? You’re here early.”
“Yes, I didn’t see Kim last night so I picked her up this morning. Good thing she really was about to go to office early. Oh by the way, Gerald, I want to thank you for bringing Kim home last night.”
“No problem. Kim is an old friend and I would do anything for her.”
“Jeremy, you better go ahead or you will be late for your meeting. Thanks again. I’ll see you later.” Kim sensed Gerald’s serious tone.
“Right. See you both later.” Jeremy tapped Gerald by his shoulder before turning to Kim and kissed her gently on her cheeks. Kim blushed while Gerald avoided looking at them.
When Jeremy was out of earshot, Kim approached Gerald. “Gerald, are you okay?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”
Kim stared at Gerald for a few moments then dropped her gaze. “Nothing. You just seem so serious.”
“I'm fine. I'm sorry; I have to do something in my office. Do you need anything else?”
“No, go ahead. I'm meeting up with Jane anyway. Thanks again for last night, Ge. I really had a good time.”
Gerald just nodded once and closed the door to his office. He slumped on his chair and closed his eyes. Last night was perfect. He took Kim to dinner and it was like what they were before. They chatted for hours and even had coffee at her apartment afterwards. For a while, he forgot that she is now seeing someone else. Michael’s advice was ringing to his ears all throughout the night and he was determined to fight back and try to win her back. But seeing her this morning with Jeremy crushed all his hopes. He felt that he already lost.
Gerald stayed in his office all day except when he had to attend his class. It didn’t help that his and Kim’s training room was adjacent to each other. He has to see her every time he goes out. She would throw him smiles but he doesn’t respond. Kim was getting worried at Gerald’s actions but she didn’t confront him. At the end of their training class, both were inside their own office when she saw him log-in to the Office Communicator so she sent him an IM.
“Hey.” Kim typed.
Gerald stared at the screen for a couple minutes before he found the nerve to reply. “Hey.”
“Is there anything wrong? I know I already asked you earlier but I can’t help but notice that you’ve been avoiding everybody else today. Including me.”
“Sorry. Just busy.” Was all that Gerald managed to say.
“Ge, you know that you can come to me if you have a problem, right?”
“Thanks Kimmy. I'm really fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“Can I see a smile then?”
Gerald couldn’t help but to smile upon reading her message. “I just did. Thanks :).”
“Good :).”
“What are you still doing here? Waiting for Jeremy?” Gerald asked.
“Nope.”
“Really?”
“Yup! He’s out with the rest of the clients. They are checking the location of our next site, won’t be back for three days.”
Gerald grinned. He forgot about that. He thought of a plan to be with Kim until Jeremy comes back. This is his chance to win her back.
“Gerald, you still there?”
The sound of a received IM interrupted Gerald’s thoughts. “Sorry, had to answer a phone call.” He lied. “Anyway, want to go out tonight?”
“Why, what do you have in mind?”
“Well, there’s a newly-opened Chinese restaurant a few blocks from my apartment. Want to try it out?” Gerald’s hopes were high because he knows Kim loves Chinese food.
“Sounds good to me.”
“Perfect!” Gerald was all smiles as he was typing in front of the computer. “Meet you in about an hour?”
“Sure :)”
***
Gerald was already in his car when Kim went out of the building. He immediately went down and opened the passenger door while waiting for Kim. She was smiling as she approached him.
“Wow, very gentleman. Thanks.” Kim laughed as she went in the car.
“Thanks for coming with me tonight, Kim.”
“Gerald, I’ll never turn down a trip to a Chinese restaurant.”
“I know that. So are we all set?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.” Kim said eagerly.
***
Gerald spent all his free time with Kim for the next two days. He even had flowers delivered to Kim’s apartment when he wasn’t able to drive her home because of a meeting. When Kim received the flowers, she called Gerald.
“Kim, did you miss me already?” Gerald answered the phone.
“You wish.” Kim laughed. “I just want to thank you for the flowers you sent me. You didn’t have to do this.”
“Well, it’s my way of apologizing for canceling our plans tonight at the very last minute.”
“Gerald, I understand. We have a lot of time to go out some other time.”
“I hope so.” His voice was a little low because he remembered that Jeremy is arriving tomorrow. He wouldn’t have as much time with Kim as he had this past couple of days.
Kim heard a beep on her phone. “Hey Gerald, I have a call waiting. Thanks again for the flowers. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.”
“Bye Kim.”
Kim smiled before he pressed the end button and answered the second call.
“Hi Kim. Did I disturb you? It took you a long time to answer my call.” Jeremy asked.
“No, I was just on the other line with someone else that’s why I wasn’t able to answer right away. How are you?”
“Oh, I'm sorry. Well, anyway I'm good. I love this place. But I'm excited to leave as well. I already miss you, Kim. I can’t wait to see you.”
Kim was staring at the flowers that Gerald sent her. “I'm glad that you enjoyed your stay there. So does this mean that our new site is already approved?” Kim asked Jeremy.
“We’ll discuss about that once we get back. But I have to say that we are very pleased with how things turned out during our stay here.”
“That’s nice. All our efforts are now paying off.”
“Exactly. Anyway, I have to go now. Our dinner is served. But I’ll be seeing you as soon as I get back, Kim.”
“Take care, Jeremy. Have a safe trip back to Manila.”
“I will. Good night, my dear. Sweet dreams.”
“Thanks, you too. Bye.”
For the first time since Jeremy left, Kim felt sad. She has been spending a lot of time with Gerald since he left that she didn’t notice Jeremy’s absence. Sure, he has been calling her constantly whenever he can but it was Gerald’s presence that really lifts her mood everyday. She looked once again at the flowers. The past couple of days were great for both of them and somehow she felt guilty that she didn’t tell Jeremy that she has been going out with Gerald. She resolved to tell him when they see each other.
***
Gerald was surprised to see his brother waiting for him outside his apartment.
“Ken, what are you doing here?”
Ken was sitting on the floor and he immediately stood up when he heard Gerald’s voice. “RJ, where have you been? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for an hour.”
“Ken, relax okay? Come in, we can talk there.” Gerald opened his apartment but Ken remained standing outside. “Ken? Come on!”
“RJ, we have to see dad. His wife called me because dad had an accident this morning.”
Gerald felt numb when he heard the news. “What?! How is he doing? Where is he now?”
“She said he’s still unconscious and is under observation at the hospital’s ICU. If you want, we can go there together tonight.”
“Okay, just give me a few minutes to pack some stuff. Have you called mom?” Gerald started scrambling for his stuff that he needs to pack.
“Yes, she already knows about it but will not be able to go until tomorrow afternoon. Mom was the one who asked me to pick you up first because when I first learned about the accident, I was ready to go see dad.”
Gerald zipped his bag and closed the door. “Let’s go. Let’s take your car. Are you okay to drive, Ken?”
“Yes, I think I can manage.” They walked to the parking lot in hurried paces and drove off as soon as they got in the car.
***
The following morning, Kim saw Gerald’s empty office when she arrived. She shrugged and proceeded to her office but she was surprised to see Jeremy inside. He had her office decorated with balloons and flowers all over.
“Jeremy, what is this?”
“Did you like it? This is my way of showing you how much I missed you.” he came up to her and touched her face. “I hope you missed me too.”
Kim smiled and hugged Jeremy. “You shouldn’t have bothered. When did you do all of this?”
“Well, I took the earliest flight and asked a couple of people to help set this up for me. Good thing I arrived here before you did or it would have spoiled the surprise.” Jeremy released her and kissed her forehead.
“Thank you, it’s beautiful.” Kim said.
“And so are you. I couldn’t wait to see you and my god, it was all worth it.”
“You must be very tired. Here, take a seat.”
“Now that I saw you, I’ve never felt more awake.” Jeremy beamed. “So tell me, what have you been up to while I was gone?”
Kim stopped and looked at Jeremy. “I worked of course. And then I would go out and have dinner with Gerald afterwards.”
“Did you really?” Jeremy smiled.
“Actually Jeremy, I have to tell you something about Gerald.”
“What is it?” Jeremy’s smile never left his face.
“Well, I don’t know where to start.”
“Why don’t you start with the basic and take it from there?”
Kim heaved a deep sigh. “Gerald and I, well, we share a history together.” Kim started. “He was my boyfriend even before I started working for this company.”
Jeremy looked at Kim. “And is he trying to get back with you now?”
“Uh, I don’t really know. I'm not in the position to answer that, Jeremy. All I know is that we are good friends right now.”
“I'm glad for the both of you. It’s not easy to maintain a friendship with a former love.”
“You’re not angry?” Kim asked.
“Why would I be? Everybody has a past. I'm even honored that you told me about it because it means that you trust me well enough. I really appreciate the honesty, Kim.” Jeremy held her hand and kissed it.
“I'm sorry; I should’ve told you about it sooner. You have been very vocal about your life with me and I think I will be unfair to you if I don’t try to open up”
“No worries, I understand. It’s hard to let someone in your life completely especially when you just met and your culture is different.”
Kim smiled. “I have to admit, I'm quite surprised that you are like that. You always try to see the best in everyone around you.”
“I'm happy that you see me that way. Maybe I just don’t like to think negatively of anyone because I would hate to seen like that as well.”
“Thanks Jeremy.”
He frowned. “For what?”
“For understanding.”
“Kim, I know Gerald is a nice guy and I'm not going to take it against him if he wants you back. I mean, I don’t blame him. Look at you, you’re so beautiful inside and out I even wonder why the hell did he ever let you go.” He saw Kim drop her gaze. “Oh no, Kim, you don’t have to tell me why. Whatever it was that you guys went through, it’s none of my business at all.” Jeremy assured her. “By the way, where is he? I want to talk to him.”
“I haven’t seen him. Maybe he’s just late.”
“I’ll try to drop by his office later then.” He stood up. “Well, I better get going. I just have to go back to the hotel first and get some rest. I will be back later in the afternoon.”
“Okay, thanks again for everything Jeremy.”
“Kim, stop thanking me, alright? Nothing you say or do can change the fact that I like you very much and for as long as you want me around, I'm here to stay.”
***
Kim was in training the whole morning so she didn’t notice that Gerald was not around. When she passed by his class and saw a different trainer that was the only time that she realized his absence. When she got to her office, she grabbed her mobile phone and dialed his number. He was not answering so she tried sending him a text message. She waited for about half an hour but still no reply. She has tried several times to call him but he’s still not answering his phone. Kim was getting worried that something might have happened to him. During her class, she was distracted and kept on glancing at her phone if Gerald had replied or called back. After her class ended, she immediately went to her office and grabbed her bag, went out of the building and called for a cab. She went to his apartment building to check on him. The very first place that she checked was the parking lot because she is quite sure that he will not leave without his car. When she saw that his car is there, she went up to his apartment and knocked. Few minutes and still no sign that someone is there, she went down and talked to the lobby guard.
“Hi, my name is Kim and I am Gerald Anderson’s friend. He lives here.”
“Oh yes, I know Sir Gerald. Does he know you’re coming over?”
“Well, that’s the problem actually. I haven’t seen him all day and I already checked his apartment however no one is answering although his car is at the parking lot. I'm getting worried that something might have happened to him.”
“Let me just check the log book.” The guard scanned the records and after a few minutes, “Miss, it says here that Sir Gerald had a visitor last night. Kenneth Anderson, do you know him?”
“Yes, that’s his younger brother.”
“They left together around 9:30 PM. They didn’t say where they are going though. Sorry.”
“Okay, thanks anyway. I’ll just call his brother.” Kim left and hailed a cab once again. This time, she went home to her own apartment. When she checked her phone, she has missed calls and all of them were from Jeremy. She felt guilty for leaving the office without telling him so she called him back.
“Hi Jeremy, I'm so sorry I wasn’t able to answer your calls.” Kim told him as soon as he picked up.
“Where are you? They said you left the office in a hurry. Is there something wrong?”
“Sorry Jeremy, I just had to go out and do something. I'm already here in my apartment now.”
“Do you want me to come over?” Jeremy offered.
“No, no need for that. I don’t want to bother you. I'm fine, don’t worry. You need to get some rest so I’ll just see you at the office tomorrow, okay? Take care, Jeremy.”
“You too, Kim.”
As soon as she hung up, she contemplated on whether to call Ken or not. She hasn’t talked to him since she and Gerald broke up. But she’s really worried about Gerald. And she’s also feeling guilty that she lied to Jeremy when he accepted her past with Gerald with no questions asked or violent reactions. However, if Jeremy knows about the real reason why she left so fast, she doesn’t know if he will be as accepting as he was earlier. And so Kim fell asleep in a confused and worried state.