Chapter 145 - The Bloody Recap (2/2)

Gabriel says nothing. The hear somebody knocking on the door, and Mrs. Gomez's head peeps in. ”Do you have time for a little good news?”

”Please come in, Mrs. Gomez. Any news, as long as it's not bad is welcome here.”

Mrs. Gomez steps inside, surprised to find Claire and Catherine in the room. ”So that's why the public relations squad is standing outside,” she says. ”Hello, Catherine. Didn't see you earlier at the office.”

”I came in late,” Catherine says sheepishly.

”Well,” Mrs. Gomez says, regaining her bearings. ”I 'm glad to tell you we finally found a healthy compatible donor.”

”Really? Who is it?” Claire says.

”It's Mary, from one of our sales units. She's having her blood extracted right as we speak.

The room has breathes a collective sigh of relief.

”Thank goodness,” Catherine says. ”At least that's one less matter to think about.”

”Thank you, Mrs. Gomez. But just for contingency, can you call up your contacts in other cities,” Gabriel says. ”Just so we can find matching blood in advance?”

”Sure, Mr. Tan.”

After Mrs. Gomez leaves, Gabriel faces his ”girls”: on one hand, it seems to make sense, this suggestion by Claire, who knows, of course, what's at stake. But he feels something off about not telling it the way it happened. Is it really so wrong to tell the truth?

”Remember what I mentioned earlier about Occam's Razor?” he says to Claire, while Catherine's brow knits out of intrigue. ”Occam's Razor is a very simple principle. It only says that the simpler explanation is most probably the true one. Sure, we can say that we had a few drinks at the lounge, leading to Miguel's accident, in a completely neutral angle. But we've never had any airtight personal privacy or public relations policy. The Residence has almost a hundred employees, for starters, and each one of those could have already talked or sent pictures of us to their friends and family. The public has always inevitably known about every single thing that happened with me: Michelle Alcantara betraying me, for example. I weathered the storm, remember, Catherine?”

Catherine nods; she says nothing.

”I also owe the truth to Miguel—I want to acknowledge his love, or infatuation, and I want people to learn a few lessons from this. That's why I think, regardless of our fears, which I'm sure are legitimate, there's only one way to solve this.” Turning to Claire, he says, ”Love, I appreciate the effort. It warms my heart, believe me, to see you taking charge about this. But forgive me, but I will have to do what I feel I must do. And that's to face the music.”

”Are you telling the public everything, Sir?” Catherine could not believe it.

”Yes, every single thing,” Gabriel says. ”Schedule a press conference for me tomorrow.”