‘WHAT’S her name?’ Jeffrey thought as he watched the woman poured her glass of wine. She looked so innocent with her bare face. This is the first time that he sees a woman with no makeup at all.
He walked around the table to serve the other’s wine glasses. The woman with a beautiful smile nodded at him and raised her glass. “I saw your latest IG post that you are featured in a women’s magazine,” she said with a smile.
Jeffrey nodded, then glanced at the woman on the other side. She was not looking at him, but he was sure that she could hear everything he would say. She must be impressed with how popular he was, and she was just hiding it. Jeffrey suppressed a smile as he watched her sipped on her wine elegantly. But, to his dismay, the woman started a new topic that diverted everyone’s attention to her.
Even the lady that was occupied by him just a while ago quickly turned her attention to her. Jeffrey shook his head when he left the table. He walked back inside the kitchen with plopped shoulders.
“I have to know her name,” Jeffrey said as soon as he entered the kitchen. He even kicked the soundproof metal doors of their kitchen.
All his kitchen staff looked at him alarmingly. “Chef Jeff… is there a problem?”
Jeffrey removed his apron and threw it to the large marble tabletop. He ignored the employee that approached him. Instead, he pulled a bar stool, sat on it, and folded his massive arms in his chest like a kid having a tantrum attack.
“Hey, Chef, what happened?” Marvin asked him with an arched brow. “You looked like a kid who your crush has dumped.”
“Fuck off, Marvin,” he snarled back. “I can’t believe a girl as fierce as she existed.”
“Who?” Marvin asked and went to peek over the glass window of the door. “Who’s your new prospect?”
Jeffrey went to the door also and stood beside Marvin. “She’s gorgeous…” he said and pressed his face on the glass. “Look at that face, Marvin. So angelic, yet so fierce like a cat if you would attempt to be near her.”
“Who?” Marvin asked. “I can see a lot of beautiful women—”
“But only one woman stands out,” he said and swept Marvin away from the glass. “Table number four. The woman with brown wavy hair, bright eyes, and plump lips—”
“Where? Oh, are you talking about Rochelle Ocampo?” Marvin asked. “That beautiful woman in red turtle neck topped with a white cardigan?”
“Rochelle? Is that her name? It suits her perfectly,” he said and watched the woman talked with her friends.
“So she’s the girl that caught your attention?” Marvin made a ‘tss’ sound while shaking his head.
“Do you know her?” Jeffrey asked, suddenly became interested in what Marvin was saying.
“Not really, but I know the guy on her right. He’s Thaddeus. We’re badminton buddies in—”
“I don’t care about that asshole,” he said and remembered how Rochelle touched his arm a while ago. “I only care about Rochelle.”
“Dude, you’ll be surprised to know—”
“I’m ecstatic to know her,” Jeffrey cut off. “I will date her as soon as possible.”
_____________
“ROCHELLE, I’ll see you at the Coroner’s Office first thing in the morning for the laboratory results that I need in my current case,” Detective Albert told her as they walked towards the parking lot. “Would that be ready by eight?”
Rochelle unlocked her car before she answered the detective. “The results will be released by seven, so yeah, you can pick it up by eight.”
“Great, I’ll bring you coffee,” he said and rode his big bike. “Drive safely.”
All of them waved goodbye at him, except Thaddeus, because he was still at the entrance, talking with a different chef, who looked like he knew by how they spoke at each other.
“Don’t think about it too much, Rochelle,” Dr. Saavedra squeezed her shoulders.
Rochelle didn’t bother to hide her reaction. She faced her deputy with her brows furrowed. “I still don’t understand, Dr. Saavedra—”
“That case is complicated,” she cut off. “And, Thaddeus just doesn’t want you to experience again the threats that you received in the case that you handled four years ago.”
That was her first year as a medical examiner in Bulacan Coroner’s Office. The case that Dr. Saavedra talked about was Case #567, about the murdered man with misRochg internal organs. Rochelle figured out who the killer was by identifying the debris around the lacerations where the organs were cut. But, they didn’t expect that it would lead her to a much-complicated case that almost caused her life back then.
“But, I can handle it now. I’m not afraid to die,” Rochelle insisted.
Dr. Saavedra smiled at her. “Well, Thaddeus is.” He tapped her arm. “He was right of what he said a while ago. That cheeky man likes you—very much.”
Rochelle frowned. “And, I don’t like him.”
Dr. Saavedra chuckled. “I have to go. My husband must be home by now.” She called Thaddeus and waved at him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“We’ll get going, Roch.” Marielle kissed her on the cheek. When Janus was about to do what she did, Marielle pulled his collar and dragged him away. “`Bye, Roch! See you tomorrow!”
Rochelle laughed as she watched her two colleagues got in their car. Marielle and Janus were roommates. They came from a different province and were scouted from their respective medical schools to join their team. Like her, she was chosen particularly from the list of Academy students who participated in a forensic class way back in 2013.
She was about to get in her car when Thaddeus called her. She looked at him and knotted her forehead. “I gotta go.”
“Are you mad at me?” he asked as soon as he approached her. “Roch—”
“I’m not mad,” she said in a neutral tone. “But, I must admit, I can’t believe that you would organize a fake dinner meeting—with Dr. Saavedra—just to make me trade posts with you.”
Thaddeus scratched the back of his head. “Because I know that you wouldn’t give that case to me, and even if I tell you the real reason, you wouldn’t believe me—”
“Because you’re always tricking me just to get the not-so decompoRochg bodies,” she cut off. “But, if the Condo’s case was dangerous, then it’s yours. Compared to me, you’re much experienced in handling that kind of case.”
Thaddeus smiled. “I just don’t want you to be in danger,” he said and looked at her intently. “I—”
“I’m tired, and I want to go home,” she said and opened her car door. “Drive safely, and please don’t send me good night quotes. It’s cringy.”
***