Chapter 20:

That was a good afternoon nap.

I keep my eyes closed and I allow my mind and body to take its time to wake up. I start moving my body slowly. My legs first, my arms, I turn my neck and finally, I open my eyes.

Everything is blurry at first. I blink a couple of times and see Claire's arm. At first, I'm a little confused by the cast, but then I remember the last week. I look up to find Claire looking down at me. Smiling.

"Hey.", I say with a hoarse voice.

"Hey."

"Why are you smiling?"

Her smile turns into a grin. "You snore."

I look at her. "I don't snore."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

She raises an eyebrow. "I woke up 10 minutes ago and you have been snoring every second since and I woke up because you were snoring. You. Snore."

I look up at her for a minute and think about what she has told me. "I've never been told that I snore, and I've slept in a room with 10 other guys before."

She shrugs. "I'm telling you now. You snore."

I sit up. "If I snore how come this is the first time you've noticed? We've slept together on the same bed a couple of times now."

"I don't know. Maybe this is the first time you've done it, but right now, you definitely just did."

I nod. "Okay, fine. I believe you. I snore. Was it super loud?"

She shakes her head. "Not really. It was kinda cute, actually. I wish I could've recorded you. I really have to get a new phone."

"No, you don't. I forgot to give it to you. Your phone's intact."

I stand up from the bed and open one of Claire's suitcases. I pull out the ziploc bag with her phone and wallet.

"I can't believe they made it out. I thought they had been incinerated or something."

I pull out her laptop too. Since it was in one of her suitcases, it was unscathed too. I sit on the bed again, hand her the ziploc bag and place the laptop next to her.

"The policewoman who gave me all of your stuff told me your phone and wallet must've flown off at the moment of impact."

She frowns. "I understand my phone flying off because I had it, most probably, in my hand, but my wallet?"

I think for a second. "Maybe you pulled it out to pay the driver."

"Yeah, maybe. I guess we'll never know."

"Doesn't matter, it's not important. Hey, how'd you sleep?" I change the subject. Thinking about the accident still makes me nervous. I can't even imagine what Claire must feel about it.

She smiles. "Pretty good. I didn't wake up once. Until you started snoring that is."

"You're not going to let that go, are you?"

She shakes her head. "Nope.", she says popping the p.

I roll my eyes. "You're lucky I love you."

"Yes, I am."

We stay in bed for around an hour. I position the mainstay so it's hovering around Claire's waist. I put her laptop on it and she starts typing away. Of course as soon as she opens that first email she goes into businesswoman mode. That look of utter focus is quite impressive. I don't say anything. I lay on my side of the bed admiring her. That is, until she calls me out on it.

"Are you trying to drill a hole on the side of my face?", she says without taking her eyes of the screen.

"No. I'm trying to memorize everything about you. Beginning with your face."

She stops typing and looks at me with a contained smile. "God. From which cheesy romcom did you take that line from?"

I laugh. "I don't know. But I just heard what I said and you're totally right." I sit up. "What are you so focused on?"

"Oh, I'm answering emails. A lot of well wishes emails and some old ones from Masrani Global. I just have to send one more. You want to read it? I wrote a draft of it the night before I came here."

"Sure." I take the laptop off of the mainstay and put it on my lap.

"Can you read it out loud?"

"Yeah. Let's see." I arrange the screen so I can see better. "Dear sirs, I would first like to begin this letter by thanking you for giving me this one in a lifetime choice. I always felt valued by this company and now, even more. After careful consideration, I have decided to work at Roche Pharmaceutical in Philadelphia. I look forward to working for an industry that's constantly evolving and growing and I hope I can be a part of that growth too. Thank you again for this opportunity. Sincerely, Claire Dearing." I nod and look at her. "Pretty good."

"Short and simple, right? I thought that would be the best approach. Are you sure it's good? I don't want to sound too robotic."

"No, not at all. It's good." I put the laptop back on the mainstay and she sends it.

She closes the laptop and looks at me. "That's it, then. We're officially moving to Philadelphia. Are you completely sure you want to do this?"

I look at her with a deadpan look. "Really? At this point why are you even doubting that I would go with you? Even if you decided to work in Myanmar, I would still go with you. I will follow you anywhere. Got it?"

She smiles. "Got it."

"How are your arms? Do they hurt? Your ribs?"

She wiggles her fingers. "My right arm hurts a little and my ribs hurt the same as before."

I nod. "You can take a pill if it hurts too much. Do you want it?"

She shakes her head. "No. I can handle it."

"Are you sure? Don't be acting all tough on me. If you're in pain, please tell me."

"I'm not. I promise, I'm fine."

"Okay. Do you want some water?"

She smiles. "Sure."

I stand up and walk to the small coffee table that's in the corner of the room and pour water into two glasses. I hand her a glass and I sit back down on the bed.

"So, you haven't told me why you chose the pharmaceutical company."

Her whole expression changes. She drinks some water and puts the glass on the nightstand. "Well, in order to tell you that, first I have to tell you about my parents."

"Okay." A sad look settles on her face. This is the first time she's mentioned her parents at all. This is probably going to disclose a lot more about Claire, and it probably won't be easy for her to tell.

She looks down at her hands and then looks up at me. "When I was 16, my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer."

Cancer. This definitely won't be easy for her. She continues.

"It was a huge shock for everyone. My mum was the healthiest person I knew. I couldn't comprehend how she could've gotten so sick, none of us could understand. She became really ill very fast, we almost didn't have time to react, to process it all."

I don't ask questions, I don't interrupt, I do nothing. I let her tell me about her family at her own pace.

"A couple of months before my graduation, mum got to the point where she couldn't even walk by herself anymore. One day after school, I went to my parents' bedroom to say hi to her and the moment I saw her I knew she wasn't going to be with us for much longer. There was something in her eyes that just gave it away. I broke down immediately. She called my name and I walked into her room and lied down next to her. While I was sobbing on her chest, she promised me she was going to be in my graduation ceremony. She said she wasn't going anywhere until she saw me graduate."

A single tear runs down her cheek. I wipe it away with my thumb and she looks at me. "She was there, like she promised. I was the class valedictorian and I barely made it through that speech. Every time I looked at her, I wanted to burst into tears. After the ceremony, we had a small dinner back home and two days later she was gone. She passed away while she slept."

More tears start coming down her cheeks. I move to sit closer to her and she rests her head on my shoulder.

"We were all heartbroken. Devastated. Those first couple of months were, what I thought at the moment, the hardest of my life. But then it got worse."

Worse? What could be worse than losing your mother at such a young age and in such a shattering way?

"My dad became… lost. It was like he lost his compass. He became a robot. He would wake up, make Karen and I breakfast, take a shower and leave for work. He would come back and sit on the couch staring at the empty space where my mum used to sit. Then he would go to sleep and start the same routine the next day. He would only speak when necessary. Hearing him talk became a rarity. At first Karen and I didn't notice, 'cause we were in a similar state, but then exactly 4 months after mum passed away - dad killed himself."

"Oh my God." Poor Claire! Poor Karen!

God, Karen. If the unthinkable had happened to Claire, she would've lost her parents and her sister in horrible ways.

Claire's chin starts trembling. I kiss her on the temple. "I'm so sorry this happened to you and Karen."

She sniffs softly. "Yeah, me too." She raises her left hand and wipes the tears from her cheeks. "And the way it connects with me choosing Roche; when Karen and I were going through dad's things, I found a 5 boxes of antidepressants. 3 were empty and the other 2 were sealed. We contacted his doctor, and it turns out that dad had been taking them and he had been going to a psychologist to help him through his grief. We couldn't understand why had he killed himself if he was receiving so much help."

"Because it was a suicide, we were told by the authorities that they were required by law to do an autopsy and when we got the results, it turns out that dad's serotonin levels were extremely low for a person taking antidepressants. At first we thought that maybe he wasn't taking them, but the toxicology results proved that he was. So, with the help of some of my parents' friends, we gathered enough money to hire a lawyer and demand explanations from the pharmaceutical company that produced the antidepressants."

"We took them to court, and it turns out that a batch of the medication had been defective. My dad, amongst other thousands of people, were unlucky to get those particular boxes. Karen and I were given a settlement that allowed us to live comfortably while we studied. The both of us got full scholarships in our respective universities, so the money we were given helped us after we both got our degrees."

I look at her and know 100% why she is the way she is. Why she's so determined, so independent, so strong. "You want to make sure what happened to your dad doesn't happen to any else ever again."

She nods. "Exactly."

I stay in the same position, with Claire's head still on my shoulder and I digest everything. No one should have to live through such horrible things. I move gently and I sit by Claire's legs so I can look at her better.

"I am so proud of you. Of the person you are today. What happened to you was tragic, and so many people would've let that destroy them, but not you. You fought and you worked so hard to make sure you became someone. I didn't have the privilege to meet your parents, but without knowing them, I know for sure they would've been so proud of you. I admired you before and now I admire you even more. You should be extremely proud of yourself, Claire. Thank you for telling me this."

Tears run freely down her cheeks. She grabs the pillow I was using and holds it against her ribcage. "Thank you for listening."

"Of course." I go back to sitting next to her and I put my arm around her shoulders carefully. She rests her head on my shoulder again.

"What were your parents' names?"

"Catherine and Eric."

"I wasn't wrong then."

She raises her head and looks at me confused. "What do you mean?"

"Catherine and Eric are very royal names. You are definitely a princess."

She stares at me for a second and then rolls her eyes. "Shut up."

I laugh softly. I realise what Claire must've thought when I told her about my parents. I basically had a temper tantrum and didn't speak to them for 11 years. She lost both her parents in tragic ways and here I am deciding to ignore my parents for something, that really, was stupid. What she would give to have both of her parents with her right now.

I decide here and now to never again take my parents for granted. I am lucky to have them with me and I will make sure they know how much they mean to me.

I look down at her. "Hey. Are you hungry?"

"I am a little, actually. What time is it? I don't even know."

I pick up her cell phone and press the home button. "It's 4:37pm. Do you want to have a late lunch or maybe just a protein shake?"

"I think a protein shake sounds pretty tasty right now."

"Perfect. You stay here and I'll go make them." I remove my arm from around Claire's shoulders and stand up.

"Wait. Before you go, can you help me stand up? I've been lying down for too long I think, and I need to wash my face."

"Yeah, of course." I grab her above the elbows and pull her gently forward.

"Are you going to need some help? How are you going to wash your face? You can't bend forward."

She shrugs. "I don't know. I'll figure something out. Now go. I'll be fine."

"Okay, okay. Be right back."

I walk out of the pool house, walk across the yard and into the living room. I close the screen shut and I lean against it. I exhale. I never expected such horrible things to have happened to Claire. She's so strong. I don't think I could've learnt to live with that. I would have survived, mainly because of Isa, but man it would've be hard!

I shake off all those emotions for now and focus on the task. Make the protein shakes. I walk into the kitchen and there's no one there. Good, I could use a minute of just my thoughts. I will make it my task to make Claire as happy as I humanly can. She deserves all the happiness in the world and I will make it my goal in life to make sure that happens.

I pull out the two containers, caramel for Claire and chocolate for myself, and make the shakes. I have it ready in record time. I wash the blender and put it away. I grab a couple of straws and napkins and walk back to the pool house.

When I open the door, I see Claire standing next to the TV holding a picture frame and looking fondly at it. When she hears me come in, she turns towards me and a smiles.

"Is this you?", she says showing me the picture she's looking at.

I walk further into the small living room, until I'm standing next to her. I look down at the picture and smile. I hadn't even realised that was there.

"Yeah, that's me. I must've been 4 or 5 years old. Nonno Luca took me to the bakery and when he told me we would bake cookies, he unleashed the beast. I ate all the chocolate chip cookies and ended up throwing flour around."

In the picture, I'm covered head to toe in flour. When I was a kid, I had blond hair and freckles. I was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans overall. I'm a mess in that photo. "I was a bit hyperactive when I was a kid. Add sugar to that - it wasn't a very pleasant experience for anyone looking after me. Here."

I stretch out my arm and she takes her protein shake. She takes a sip and looks a little surprised. "This actually tastes better than I thought it would. I was expecting a more synthetic taste."

I take a sip of mine and swish it around my mouth a bit. I raise my eyebrows. "Not bad. So, what do you want to do now?"

She takes another sip. "I don't know. Do you have anything in mind?"

I hold the straw and move it in circles. "You want to go and meet the maids? They're super nice people."

She nods. "Yeah, I would like that."

"Okay. Let's go meet the girls."

I open the door for her and we walk to the kitchen. When we step into the living room, we run into Teresa, who is climbing down the stairs.

"Teresa, we were just about to go look for you. I wanted to introduce you. Teresa this is Claire. Claire, Teresa."

Teresa smiles. "It's very nice to meet you, Ms Dearing. We've been hearing a lot of great things about you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Teresa. You have? Have you been talking about me to everyone in the house, Owen?"

I take another sip of my shake. "Yes.", I say simply.

She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. She doesn't hide her smile. I introduce her to Patricia and Augusta and we talk to them for a bit. Mum and dad come back home about an hour later. We talk in the living room for a little bit and then they excuse themselves. Claire and I walk back to the pool house and decide to end our day by watching a movie. We go with a drama. We avoid comedies for now, since Claire can't laugh without her ribs causing her pain.

After the movie is over, we change into our pyjamas and go to sleep.

I feel like I could've done a better job in closing this chapter. I'll do better for the next one, I promise! We're approaching the end, guys! I'm not sure how many more chapters are left, but I'm guessing 2, maaaybe 3. So things are bound to get a little more interesting, I presume! See you next Saturday!