Chapter 18: Chapter 18

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Running in circles, chasing our tails...Coming back as we are

"Hey, what did I miss?" I asked Missy as soon as I found her sitting inside the bistro. She was talking to a random guy who gave me a smile before moving to the next table.

"Who's that?"

Missy shrugged. "Just someone asking for my number and trying to make a conversation I'm not interested in."

"You've been telling me to date someone, but I have never seen you on a real date. You don't even have a boyfriend to mock me for not having one," I scowled.

"I don't like them. And," she flipped her hair. "I like someone who doesn't even know I exist."

"Who's that someone?" I asked.

"Someone you don't need to know." She put a weird smile and hissed for a second. "Anyways, you miss a lot. We have tons of papers and research to do."

"I already know that," I said as I scanned her notes. "I mean, what's new?"

I grabbed the list of research that we are required to finish until the year ends, which basically means I only have a few weeks to do it before Christmas break. I didn't even realize it's 'Ber months' until I heard someone play a Christmas song on the radio.

"How's your bestfriend? Is she okay?"

"She's still in comatose after drowning herself. And, I don't know..."

I lost my words again after thinking of Zee. It's been a month since she tried to kill herself and I think she's having those good dreams that she never wanted to wake up. She isn't waking up and the doctors told us to just have faith in her. I am trying not to lose my faith.

I'm exhausted.

"That's terrible. Your best friend is a swimmer, right?" Missy remembered. "She's pretty famous in that field before the accident. She did a great job in the UAAP a year ago. Why did she stop?"

I stayed silent and eventually Missy figured out I don't want to talk about it, so she changed the topic.

"Have you been sleeping? Look at your eyes," she pointed at them while I tried to read and focus my mind, but I couldn't do it.

"Where's Lauyton? Is he taking care of you?"

"I am not his obligation. I can take care of myself," I answered, still thinking of what happened after the Battle of the Bands. Pch. I guess he's busy with his new girl.

"By the way, I emailed all my papers due for this week. Please do me a favor. Print it and pass it for me. I still can't attend the class because I'm staying with my best friend until she wakes up," I told Missy.

"What if she's not --" She cut her sentence and nodded. "I will if you promise me you'll get a nice sleep tonight," she demanded.

"I'll try, okay? Thank you for being a nice friend, really," I smiled. "But, I have to finish my research for the firm."

"Oh, right! How's Maquess' Law Firm? Martinez' Law Firm kinda sucks! I mean, I hate their paperworks. Have you seen Judge Maquess?"

"No, there's no chance to meet him."

"That sucks! But, make sure to inform me if you get the chance to meet him," she said excitedly.

"What for?" I narrowed my eyes. I never thought that man was pretty famous, not until I realized I needed him to prove Loud's case.

"Duh! You seriously want to become a lawyer without knowing who he is? He's brilliant! Google him!" she urged and when I didn't do it, she grabbed her phone and showed me the picture of the guy we were talking about.

"Is he?" I doubted. I pretended to listen to her when all I could think about was if he's really brilliant or just some human who made mistakes - like imprisoning an innocent one. And, the best way to know is to actually work in his firm.

"I have to borrow all of this." I put her notes inside my bag and stood up. "I'll see you at school, okay? Grab a drink. I'll sing you any song you want."

Missy rolled her eyes. "I'm not the only one who told you to quit your part-time job!" She unbelievably stared at me. "Can you just pick one of your part-time jobs? You're a walking zombie!"

"You know I need to save for law school, right?" I waved her goodbye before going upstage to join my band.

"Yes, you do! Whatever!" She yelled before drinking her tequila. After seconds, a guy started flirting at her. Sometimes I wish my life was just like Missy, not that complicated, an easy one, with no pressure, just living the life she wanted - so that I could do everything I want to, like flirting or falling in love with nothing to worry about.

"Hi," I greeted Jacquer, who's fixing his guitar strap. He greeted me back with a smile and asked how I was doing. Of course, I'm used to saying I am fine when clearly I was never fine.

"Where's Lauyton?" Hander asked. He gave me a note with a list of requested songs.

"Busy doing hospital stuff," I replied. He hadn't been sleeping too since he was assigned to the emergency room.

"Should I play the guitar?" I opened my guitar case and eventually smiled when I smelled brewed coffee. Of course, there's only one person I knew who bathed himself with coffee fragrance.

"You can say you're busy thinking about you," Loud flirted as soon as he sat beside me. He winked as I tried to hide the jittery feeling in my stomach.

"Hey, you're here." I lowered down my voice when I realized it was too sudden and it felt like I missed him. Oh, well. I did, but he's never going to hear it.

"Where else do you want me to be," he whispered with a chuckle.

"I don't know? Spending time with your girls," I muttered.

"Oh, still jealous about that?" he giggled. He crossed the space between us and whispered, "I miss you, babe!"

I bit my lower lip and pretended to be busy. But damn! My face couldn't hide it.

"You're blushing, babe!"

I rolled my eyes and pushed him a little because he's just too close to me that I can't breathe.

"I love that you are growing your hair. Let me braid that for you later," he slowly caressed the tip of my shoulder length hair before grabbing the microphone. "Hello, everyone!"

The crowd cheered when they heard his voice. He's pretty famous with girls that they all turned their attention to him as he spoke. I have to agree that he has that charm that can catch your attention. Or maybe it was the fact that he was really glowing...or it was just me? Why do I even think he's glowing? Pch! He's not even an angel. Whatever!

"I'm afraid this will be our last set of songs for you," Loud stated.

"What?" I turned to my bandmates. "Do you mean by that?" I mouthed.

Hander pulled a folder in his bag and handed a contract to me. Before he could say anything, Loud answered the question in my mind.

"We got a regular gig at the Kerry Hotel, so if you still want to hear us, especially our beautiful vocalist, you might want to visit us there," he winked at the crowd that made them - the girls went nuts. Ugh! Does he even need to wink?

"Seriously?" I whispered with excitement.

"Yes, so you can quit your other part-time jobs because as you see, they pay a lot for just a night," Jacquer smiled happily.

"Wow. How did we get it?" I raised an eyebrow. "I mean, it's amazing, but this is somehow too good to be true. With the amount of money they are willing to pay for us? They're owned by big companies and we're not even famous enough to be recruited by them."

"You are famous. They've seen your performance at the Battle of the Bands, and Lauyton is quite famous. You gotta trust him on that," Hander meaningfully replied.

"Definitely, babe!" Lauyton turned to us. "You just have to trust me," he winked.

I trust him, that's why I'm afraid that I might regret trusting him in the end.

Or maybe, it was the fact that he trusted me and he might regret it in the end.

----

“How are you related to Wong-Tan Corporation?” Sena, one of the lawyers in the Marquess’ Law Firm asked me as she ran our files in their system. “You know, the owner of one of the biggest hospitals in Asia?”

“I don’t know them,” I lied.

“Oh, really, I thought you knew them,” she read my Personal Data Sheet. “Oh, you’re an orphan. Are you sure you don’t know them? Have you ever thought you’re their long-lost daughter?”

I choked. “What do you mean by that?”

“You looked like Dra. Tan. It’s like you are her younger version,” she said pertaining to my mother which made me raise my eyebrow.

“How did you know Dra. Tan?” I was intrigued.

My family may have been one of the richest families in Asia, but we always avoided the limelight, especially my mother. She never attended any gatherings with the press or media, and doesn’t even allow people to post any stuff about her or us. She did publish several studies with regards to medicine, but I never remembered her allowing anyone to include her pictures. Usually, it was my father or my brothers who were sent to the press when they needed statements from us or interviews.

“Did you visit their hospital? I heard she’s not into the limelight, so you must have seen her personally?”

Sena nodded. “Yes, she actually went here five years ago as a client of Judge Maquess.”

“Why? Did she sue anyone?”

“Oh, no. It was their hospital and one of their doctors that got sued,” she explained the case when I asked why. “One of their doctors, Dr. Pervilla operated on a patient under the influence of drugs, so he wasn’t able to accurately diagnose the patient on the operating table. He’d done a procedure that shouldn’t be done and the patient died. There’s a breach of duty of care, so the family sued the hospital.”

“Is he really guilty of that? I mean, are all elements of medical malpractice present in his case? Did he really do drugs while operating? Do they have evidence?” I curiously asked.

Sena gave me a questioning look.

“Uhm, I just want to learn. I want to be a lawyer like you, so you know, just curious,” I awkwardly smile.

“He’s guilty,” Magne, another lawyer of the firm, answered. He dropped his suitcase on his table before turning to me again. “They’ve found illegal drugs, paraphernalias, instruments, and such in his possession. The patient died because the doctor failed to diagnose the patient right. If he is in his normal state, he would have known it was an acute aortic dissection, thus he would be able to apply the right procedure any sane doctor will do.”

“What are you talking about?” Levi, a senior lawyer of the firm, entered the conference room and asked. “Is that the Elarde vs Wong-Tan Case?”

“Yeah, we were just talking about it since she looked like Dra. Tan,” Sena pointed at me. “Don’t you think?”

Levi scanned me from head to toe as if he was trying to remember me.

I looked down and hoped that we did not cross paths when I was still running around our hospitals. It’s a good thing that my mother never liked to expose us to the media, which is why I was able to keep my identity when I ran away from home.

“Yeah. It’s like I am looking into a mirror. Are you her daughter?”

I immediately wagged my head and lied again. “No, I’m not related to her or to her family.”

“Really?” Levi didn’t look convinced. “What a mere coincidence.”

“Ah yeah,” I slightly smiled. “Do you need anything? I’ll be glad to help.”

“Do you need anything?” Levi mocked. “It’ll be my pleasure.”

“Ah, no. I’m good. I’ll just arrange the files over there,” I suggested. “I’ll go ahead. Just call me if you need anything.”

I turned my back and walked, but suddenly stopped when Levi called me.

“Ms. Tan, are you interested in the Elarde vs Wong-Tan case?”

The tone of his voice made me realize that he knew something other lawyers from the firm weren't aware of.

“Is that a good case for me to study?” I replied. “I really want to digest a good case, but it doesn’t seem interesting to me. If I’m right, Dr. Pervilla was sentenced to serve in prison for 4 to 5 years since he was caught with drugs, he lost his license to practice medicine, and the hospital compensated the family for their loss.”

“Indeed,” Levi agreed. “In fact, today is Dr. Pervilla’s last day in prison after 4 years.”

“Oh, I see,” I reacted. “Well, it's case closed, right? I want some interesting cases. Do you have any new cases for me to ponder? I really want to learn.”

Levi deeply smiled as he said, “Would you be interested if I told you that the son of the victim filed for a retrial because he believed that Dr. Pervilla isn’t really the doctor who operated on his mother?”

My lips parted in shock. Well, I should congratulate myself for being such a good actress.

“Why would he do that?” I lifted my brows. “What made him think of that? I believed Dr. Pervilla admitted his mistakes, and the nurses and the staff were there to prove it.”

Levi shrugged. "Tell me about it, Ms. Gabriella Wong-Tan," he emphasized my last name which concludes that he does know about me or maybe it was his wild guess. Of course, I couldn’t never deny the fact that I looked like my mother, a lot, that people would say we’re like twins.

“What happened after he filed for a retrial?” I asked. Loud never told me things about his mother’s case as if he was telling me to do all the work just to prove that it wasn’t Dr. Pervilla.

“If it wasn’t Dr. Pervilla, who was it?” I curiously asked. I’ve been dying to know that I actually thought of asking my mother and hoped that she would tell me the truth.

“I thought you’re not interested,” Levi licked his lips. He’s handsome, I’ll give him that, though he isn’t my type and he's a lot older than me. And, of course, I like someone else.

“You made me,” I fake a smile.

“Well, then,” he sat on his chair, wore his eyeglasses, grabbed a paper, before saying, “Go ask Judge Maquess because he was the one who told me it’s case closed when…” he cut his sentence and shrugged.

It’s a cold case. Now, I wonder what evidence Loud has on his hands.

“Anyway, I need help arranging the cases in my office. Feel free to read some cold cases. Maybe you got some miracle to solve them. I would really appreciate it,” Levi smiled as he continued writing.

I felt the mockery in his smile that made me hate him for a second. But, he gave me so much information that all I have to do is to dig more. I could sense that he already gave me permission to read any cases I wanted in his office, so I did. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen Elarde vs Wong-Tan, so it must be hidden somewhere. Surely, it was inside Judge Maquess’ office.

“Are you done?” Levi asked me. I was sitting comfortably on his couch like we’re close when we just met twice. First, during my orientation in their firm and now is the second time.

“What’s your relationship with Var Maquess? We don’t often accept interns in our firm, so as you see you are our only intern this year,” he curiously asked.

“Why are you so interested in me?” I fired.

He sat on his swivel chair, placed his knuckle under his chin, and seriously looked at me as he revealed my secret, well it wasn’t a secret to some, just a reality I never wanted to embrace.

“Why did you lie about your true self?”

“I did not lie.”

“You are lying again, Ms. Wong-Tan.”

“I ran away from home, okay?” I said, irritated. I don’t want to talk about my family. If only I knew that there would be a nosy lawyer like Levi here, I would never choose this firm at all. “So, I am no longer part of their family. I did not lie. I just forget about them like they did to me.”

I flipped my hair. “Why am I even explaining myself to you? And, how did you know?”

“I’ve seen your photos in Dra. Tan’s office. I happened to have the best memory, so you can’t lie to me. Even if you cut your hair short, her runaway daughter looks exactly as you.”

“Why did you go to my mother’s office? Even a patient can’t get inside her office,” I eyed him suspiciously. “

“She invited Judge Maquess, and I happened to join them.”

“Why would my mother invite the judge assigned to the case? That is suspicious. So, why are you telling me that?”

“You don’t have any proof and I will not testify in court, if ever. But, I felt like sharing it to you,” he leaned on his back as he started to play with his tennis ball.

“Wait…” I started thinking.

Judge Maquess was the judge assigned to the case. The lawyer who represented Loud is yet unknown to me. But the one who represented our hospital…

“You were the lawyer who represented Dr. Pervilla and our hospital,” I stated which made him grin. “You knew everything about the case.”

“Indeed, Ms. Wong-Tan.”

I smirked. “Are you trying to tell me that…”

“I am not trying to tell you anything, just trying to make a conversation because it feels nostalgic to see you since you look exactly like your mother,” he innocently smiled.

“I may look exactly as my mother, yet we’re not the same,” I stressed. “Do you still need something from me, Atty. I still have things to do,” I picked up the folders.

I was already in front of the door when I remembered something.

“Why did Dr. Pervilla plead guilty when he’s not really the doctor in charge, Atty?”

Still leaning on his back, Levi closed his eyes and smiled as he said something that made me doubt everything I knew in this world.

“Go, ask your dear brother Gabriel.”