Chapter 17 - The Offer (2/2)
”Now if you'll excuse me, I must have my business breakfast, please,” Claire says, expecting Gabriel Tan to disappear. Yet, he stays there, standing. Claire shrugs, and resumes eating.
The eggs, previously divinely poached and warm, are now cold and greasy. The bacon has lost its crispiness. And the coffee's almost gone. These things do not escape Gabriel Tan's attention.
”You need a full refill, Miss Monteverde,” he says, as he presses a buŧŧon on the wall. Three seconds, and Lucille is back at the door, pushing another trolley.
Claire is so surprised and impressed that she almost stood up. ”Lucille? How did you know…”
”We anticipate our master's needs, Miss Claire,” Lucille chirps. ”We know everything.”
Gabriel looks on as Lucille deftly replaces the dishes on the table with a fresh batch of everything, and then some: she also arranges another set of plates and cutlery on the opposite side of the table.
”Whose plate is that?” Claire says. ”Do we have another guest?”
Lucille doesn't know how to answer it. She glances uneasily at Gabriel Tan, who's standing there and seemingly waiting for her to finish up.
”Miss Claire, what do you mean?”
”That extra plate. Whose plate is that?” In all fairness, Claire is really innocently bewildered—she's thinking there must be some other guest who's coming.
Gabriel clears his throat. ”It's mine, honey,” he says. ”I've decided we should have breakfast together. Celebrate our recently forged engagement. Remember, you're my fiancée? Lovers like us should have breakfast together, don't you think?”
Claire secretly cringes at ”lovers like us”; what the heck is wrong with this guy? One moment he's so suave, the next moment he's awkwardness and silliness personified. ”Oh, how sweet of you, my lover, err, I mean, honey!” Claire tries not to giggle. ”Please let us have breakfast together as two recently engaged people, or lovers.”
Gabriel glares at her. If Claire keeps up with this, Lucille might sense that this is all some kind of joke. ”Thank you, my…Err, I mean, Claire.” Ostensibly, Gabriel takes the seat opposite her.
Claire is trying hard not to giggle that she has reddened in the face. She stabs an egg, fried sunny-side-up and still steaming, but the egg falls apart and the yolk gushes out. ”Look, even the egg is trying to be hilarious.”
”There's nothing hilarious about us having breakfast together, honey,” Gabriel says sternly.
”Yes, I completely agree with you, my lover,” Claire says, now giggling.
”Why are you laughing then?” Gabriel still tries to keep a straight face in front of Lucille the maid.
”I'm not laughing,” Claire says. ”I'm just so happy that you are eating breakfast with me, my lover!”
Gabriel glares at her and mouths out wordlessly, ”Stop saying 'my lover'!” That finally sends Claire to laugh out loud.
Even Lucille is confused about how to behave or what to do—she's having a hard time following what seems to be a secret conversation between the couple. She meekly excuses herself, and slips out of the room.
As the heavy doors bang shut, Gabriel Tan faces his fake fiancée. ”Come on. Stop it, Miss Monteverde. We can't play that kind of game. If anyone here catches on what we're up to, I'm telling you, the deal will be forfeited.”
”Alright!” Claire puts her hands up in mock surrender. ”I'll behave, then. Now, are you really having breakfast with me?”
”Sure, why not?”
”Are you sure? Isn't this what you people call 'peasant food'?”
”Don't be silly.” Gabriel shoves stacks of bacon and eggs on his plate and begins eating rather voraciously. Yolk dribbles down his chin, but he doesn't wipe it off and just continues eating. Claire watches him in amazement; she feels as though she's seeing a rare side of Gabriel Tan, a side that the world outside almost never sees.
”What?” Gabriel says, noticing her staring at him.
”Nothing,” Claire says. She points to his chin. ”You eat like a pig. Yolk down your chin.”
”I don't care,” Gabriel says. ”This is how I eat. I eat in utter abandon. You should see me make love.”
”Eww!” Claire grimaces. ”Please don't even try to describe your sėx life to me, Mr. Tan.”
Claire makes a face as though she's disgusted. But deep inside, she wonders: So how is Gabriel Tan in bed? Is he a tender lover, or a hard, acrobatic, demanding one? Would she even have a chance to know? It's weird: everyone else in the mansion thinks they're the real deal, a true couple. Yet here she is, wondering about the peculiar ways Gabriel Tan makes love with his women.
”Stop staring at me like that,” Gabriel says. ”It makes me think you're falling in love with me, Miss Monteverde. We can't have that. This is purely business.” He grins.
”Not in a million years,” Claire says. But as she quietly sips her coffee, she wonders: is it really impossible? What if she actually falls in love with this man?
What if?