Chapter 46 - The Exquisitely Luxurious Seaweed Soak (1/2)

Claire's eyes are closed, yet all her senses are acutely in tune with the wonderful thing Gabriel, her boss, is doing with her mouth. At this point, he has stopped all pretense of giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, as they're actually shamelessly kissing, right there in the reception lobby. Claire doesn't know what to feel—she's very well aware that if she was blushing previously, her redness at this point would be on a different level now. She'd be swooning. And because she's pretty sure Gabriel's eyes are closed too as he ”passionately” plays with her tongue and lips, he also doesn't realize it.

She loses track of time, of the minutes as they pass by. Then at one point, she hears something distinct, which seemingly is coming from far away: the sound of someone clearing his throat.

She opens her eyes, adjusting to the sight of the hazy figures of two people looming over them. Gabriel stops kissing her, too.

”Uhh, Mister Tan,” one of the figures says, and as Claire's vision pulls into focus, she realizes it's the doctor from last night, with the pretty receptionist. ”Is there anything I can do here?”

Gabriel stands up reluctantly, as though waking up from a lovely dream. ”Doctor, she was feeling ill. I was trying to give her a… a… a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”

The doctor fake-coughs at that, yet tries to compose himself. He approaches Claire, who is already sitting awkwardly on the sofa, still in her bathrobe. He gently puts a hand on her forehead, and examines her eyes. He feels her pulse. It takes him about a minute to declare, ”She's fine, Mister Tan.”

”Are you sure?” Gabriel says.

”Yes,” the doctor says, visibly uncomfortable with trying not to say the obvious. ”It seems Miss Claire experienced some after-effects of what she had taken, uhh… Last night.”

Gabriel nods. ”Yeah, that's why I was resuscitating her.”

”Yeah,” both the doctor and the receptionist say in unison. They look at each other, trying not to grin.

”Had to do that,” Gabriel says. ”Because we don't know what could have happened.” He puts his hands on his hɨps and turns around, looking for more approval, like he really believes his own bullshit.

The doctor clears his throat. ”It's so gallant of you, Mister Tan, to do everything you can to keep her safe.”

”Yeah!” Gabriel exclaims.

And while all this is taking place, Claire is gazing at them, trying not to laugh at this silly charade. For some reason, she finds Gabriel's shenanigans, whether he really believes it or not, deeply amusing. Gabriel could not do anything mean or nasty. He seems insane, but as far as she's seen it, mostly in a good way. Like ”insanely cute,” if that makes sense.

”So I think we're ready for some pampering,” Gabriel declares. He offers his hand to help Claire get up from the sofa.

The receptionist flashes her sweetest smile. ”Sir, we have prepared a truly lavish couples treatment for the two of you.”

”Perfect!” he says.

”Can I choose what treatment I like?” Claire asks.

”Then what treatment would you like?”

She mulls it over for a moment. ”A nice backrub?”

Gabriel laughs. ”Jesus, Claire, you're in a luxury spa. They do more than just give you a backrub. Haven't you had a spa treatment before?”

She shakes her head. ”I don't know what to expect,” she says sheepishly.

”Then let them surprise you,” he says.