Chapter 16: The Sickness

Marco Conti's POV

It has been the worst. Not only that the other Marco was trying to surpass me but I have to call in sick as in I will not be there when that bastard was laying his eyes all on Anna. I gritted my teeth before I was rolling in my bed as my headache was taking another toll on me.

"Lord, mercy. Dio!" I said in Italian as I was so composed on the pain that I forgot my mother tongue. I cannot even surpass this after Anna's late-night visit. I have to stop her coming here before my head exploded.

'just give in, you know you want to,' another voice was playing inside my head. I was gasping as I was trying to surpass myself.

"shut up," I hissed at it before I was knocking a glass of the counter. A gasp came from me before I turned to look at it. Anastasia was here. Damn it!

"no, you got to go. Just stay away from me," I said as I was walking away from her. She did not heed my warning.

"Marco!" Anna screamed before she was beside me, inspecting the injury that I may have. She sighed a relief before she urged me to rest on the sofa. As she was trying to help me up, I shrugged her off.

"I can handle myself, thank you very much," I snapped at her. She was stunned for a while before she cleared her throat.

"I brought something, I think you might be hungry," she said before she went to the kitchen like she owned the place. She pulled out the bowl after she dumped her handbag on the stools that we sat last night. Memories came at once but I shook it off from my head.

"you don't have to," I groaned as I was rubbing my temples. I can sense that she was rolling her eyes at me. I smiled at the thought that even when I was sick, I can be annoying to her.

"why can't you just let me help you for once?" She said then something echoed in my mind.

"why can't you just let me help you for once? I know how to let you loosen up," the voice that was threatening to get out of my mind. I shook my head before I went to closed my eyes.

"here, have some of the porridge," Anna said as she settled the plate on the coffee table. She put the porridge in a bowl. I can see the steam was still there. She just bought it and went straight here.

"did you eat yet?" I asked her. She was silenced before she put some onto the spoon and brought it to my mouth.

"I can eat by myself," I snapped at her before her big blue eyes were hard.

"fine, do it yourself then," she snapped before she got up and went to take her handbag. She was pissed I can see that before she was hesitating to get out of my house or not.

"I don't need you to take care of me. We're not even married for real. sure, it was a good show to shove the unwanted attention but when we were alone, you don't have to pretend," I said as I got up of the sofa and she was looking at me murderously.

"you know what your problem is?" She asked me. I shrugged.

"handsome, charming, wealthy? I can list some of them," I said as I was smirking at her. She gritted her teeth.

"also known as jerk, selfish, bastard. Oh, let's not forget that you shut everyone that cares for you. Maybe that's the real problem is, not the stupid drug that you failed to create?!" She shouted before she went out of the front door before slamming it.

I winced. I never see her this made. Sure, she was mad when she was training but that was an entirely different thing. now, it felt personal and I don't know how to handle it. I looked at the steaming porridge before I took a scoop and eat it. It was good, it almost felt like it was handmade. By Anastasia herself.

The next day, I felt nice. Good even. I never felt like this in the year as I was getting up from the bed and went to take a shower. Was I ever felt this giddy?

I went to the kitchen and I remembered that I lived alone now. It was not a fancy house, I secured it with all the money that I have on cash and some from my offshore accounts, the ones my family did not know about.

I sighed before I went to take an apple and some milk from the fridge. It's better than nothing. I looked at the porridge that Anna made last night, or at least I think she did. I smiled before I took my bag and went to the office.

it was only 15 minutes drive from my new house. I was happy to walk but being a supervisor, I need to make sure that I have the right image for my position. I was about to get my car when suddenly I felt like I wanted to walk with Anna and asked for forgiveness about my bad behavior last night. My mother and father would roll in their graves if I ever harm a woman. They did not raise me like that.

I abandoned my car as I took my bag and walked on the street. It was a 30 minutes walk if you know how to get through shortcuts as I was spotting a familiar redhead on the other side of the building. I smiled at the sight before I went to cross to walk with her.

"Hey, good morning," I said as I came up to her side. She turned to look at me before she went ahead of me, not waiting for me to catch up. I chuckled. I guess she was still mad about me last night.

"Hey, wait up," I said as I jogged to her side. Anna was wearing sneakers so she did not have a problem to walk faster than me.

"what do you want? I thought you can do it 'all-by-yourself'," she air quoted the last part before I chuckled at her. She turned sharply at me before narrowing her eyes at me. I smiled at her.

"I know I was being a jerk last night. I was not myself and with the drug in my system, it gets worst when I was sick. I'm sorry for snapping at you," I said before I held out my hand.

"truce?" I said as I stopped. She stopped as well before looking at my hand and my face. She was thinking as I can see her motors were turning in her head. Before she did anything, she walked ahead of me as I was dust in her shoe. She left me hanging there as I felt a cold breeze was passing me. I scoffed at her before I gripped my hand as I walked at her figure. I scoffed as the other of my lips was raising.

"Okay, you want to play the hard way, huh? Two can play at this game," I said as I went to the building with a plan in mind for this evening.

It was the evening after I was shoving some paperwork that has been submitted by most of the employees here, except for Anna. She was still working as I can see it from my office. Most of the people have gone home or maybe went out.

It was Friday night after all. I smiled as I know there was not a lot of people to see what I was about to ask her. So I took my bag and my jacket as I went to her cubicle.

"Hey, what are you doing tonight?" I asked as I looked at Anastasia that was busy recording something in her lab report.

"I have to complete a summary of the report that I need to submit tomorrow, why?" she said as she did not look up from her computer. I sighed as I looked at her condition, desperate, loner.

"it's Friday night, let's get ourselves drunk," I said happily before she looked at me with her judgmental eyes.

"Yeah, that sounds wonderful," she said sarcastically before walking toward the test tubes that have the drugs that the company was asking for her to develop. it said that it can help to develop strength and agility to help fight crime.

"look, I don't want to be bitter but I kind of need you there. who knows what I'll do without your supervision. we don't want the public knows, right?" I said as I looked at her with pleading eyes. she looked briefly at me before I smiled at her defeat.

"I thought you can do it by yourself," she said sarcastically. man, can she let go of what happened last night?

"Come on, I said I'm sorry, please? Just this once?" I asked her as she was eyeing me. She sighed before she closed her laptop and shoved it into her bag. I beamed before she closed the lamp of her cubicle and was ready to go out.

"The first drink would be on me," I said as I walked out of the lab before a big pain was causing in my brain. I grunted as I stumbled to the ground. oh no, not now, I thought before the last thing that I saw was Anastasia's concern face over me.