Mistaken by the Billionaire Marquess

CHAPTER 23: Shocked

– LIA –

KELLEON didn’t let go of my hand when we travelled from his rest house to the International Christian Hospital. When we stepped out of his car, he even used his left hand to hold my left hand, while his right hand held me by the waist.

People are giving us different looks. Some are looking at us with love and amusement, as if we are their favorite and ideal couple. However, there are also some people who looked at us with disgust on their face, as if our body language irks them.

I just gave those bitter people a bombastic side eye.

I removed my shades and cap when we entered the hospital. We went through the visitor’s door and answered their logbook before going in. Kelleon guided me towards the receiving station where several hospital staffs are accomodating the visitors.

While walking towards there, I saw that the hospital is busy. Doctors and nurses are walking back and forth to different rooms and I also saw patients in stretchers. There are also patients who has still there dextrose on sitting on a chair and waiting in line.

I leaned towards Kelleon. “I think we arrived in a bad time,” I whispered to him. “The hospital’s busy.”

He continue guiding me by slightly pushing my back to walk. “It can’t be help. We’re already here. Let’s just finish this quickly,” he responded.

I nodded at him. We stopped in front of a staff with the name “Pia” on her tag. She smiled when she noticed us.

“Good morning, ma’am and sir!” she greeted as she closed her ballpen. “How may I help you today?”

I was about to answer but Kelleon was faster. “We’re here to ask information about Doctor Adrian Andres. It has come to us that he worked here. We want to request some records,” he said directly. No introduction, no context. Just direct saying of what he wants.

The staff slowly nodded at Kelleon. “Uhm, for what reasons, sir?” she asked. “We can’t give our staff’s records to others, unless it is really needed or permitted by our head.”

I already so this coming, so before Kelleon could pull some excuse, I grabbed my ID from my bag and showed it to the woman.

“I’m Dr. Ma. Mahalia Mendoza, registered psychologist and a criminal profiler in NCRPO,” I introduced myself to her while showing my work ID and professional ID.

“We need those records for our investigation. I can request for permit or search warrant if the hospital needs it,” I said, even though I’m not sure if we can get a permit. I just said it to get her trust.

Pia took a closer look to my IDs and nodded afterwards. “I see,” she answered and typed something on her computer. “Please give me a moment to check his records here. Do you know the year he started or ended working here?” she asked.

I turned my head to Kelleon, signaling him that he’s the one who needs to answer. He nodded and cleared his throat.

“He started working here on 2003 and ended on 2019,” he answered.

The staff nodded at him and told us to wait for a few moments. She offered us to sit on the nearby chairs while waiting.

“What specific details are we looking for, again?” I asked him while flipping my notes because I can’t see it in any page.

“Denisse Cantos’ purpose of visit, workmates of that doctor, and what happened before he disappeared,” Kelleon answered as he put his hand on my shoulders and leaned to me to read the things in my notebook.

I wrote down what he said so I won’t forget it later. I skimmed through my notes and tried to memorize the timeline

Denisse Cantos went to the Philippines last July 2019. She disappeared eight months after that, which was March 2020. Doctor Andres was reported missing last March 27, 2020. Detective Javier said that Dennise Lopez left the Philippines on April 1, 2020. Kelleon and Dennise Lopez started their relationship on May 8, 2020.

I was about to ask Kelleon a question about Dennise when the staff, Pia, called me.

“Dr. Mendoza?” she said. We walked towards her and she gave us a piece of paper.

“The records of the former doctors here were deleted from the receiving staff’s computer records,” she said, making my heart fell for a second. “But we still have a copy on our records department.”

Her answer made me smile. “Where can we find that department?” I asked.

She pointed a set of stairs on our left. “Go down to the lower ground floor. There are arrows there that will bring you to the records department,” she explained. “Enter the door with the signage ‘Staffs Records Secretaries’ and look for Mr. Ferrer.”

“Give him that paper and show your ID,” she added on her instructions. I thanked her while Kelleon grabbed my hand and we walked towards the stairs.

“Why wouldn’t you tell people to call you Doctor Mendoza?” Kelleon asked out of nowhere while we’re walking in the hallway. “You have your professional license. It’s just weird for me that you prefer to be call by your name only, without your profession.”

I turned my head to him. “Yes, I am a licensed psychologist. However, I don’t work as a psychologist. My license is like a decoration,” I answered him. “I will let them call me Doctor Mendoza if I’m working in that field.”

He nodded and didn’t ask questions after that. It was just the two of us in the hallway so I grabbed the opportunity to ask him.

“Kelleon,” I called him and slightly tap his hand on my waist.

He turned his head to me with his eyes furrowed. “Why are you not calling me ‘cariño’?”

I slapped his hand and glared at him. He just chuckled.

“I’ll ask you an important question yet you’re concerned on our call sign,” I told him.

I sighed before speaking again. “How did you meet Dennise?”

I saw his eyes turned cold after I asked him. I’m already ready to apologize because I thought that I asked the wrong question, but he answered me.

“I met Dennise twice,” he responded, making me confused.

“The first one is here in the Philippines, last 2018,” he smiled a little as if he remembered a happy memory.

“It was love at first sight,” he said as he looked at me in the eye.

“I didn’t know her name when I met her that time. Then, I met her again in Spain last 2019.”

I didn’t speak. I let him narrate everything that he remembers. He put his sight back on the hallway again.

“That time, she entered my building as one of the applicants for the secretary position,” he continued. “Seeing my first love so close, I didn’t think twice and hired her.”

Look at what love can do. It can make you hire someone without looking at their credentials and interviewing them.

“A month after that, I asked her to be my girlfriend. I don’t want to let her go again, so I made a way to keep her near,” he sighed after saying that. “My worst decision in my life.”

I somehow felt bad for him. It’s just sad that the first person who made his heart beat is also the one who shattered it into pieces.

“But you didn’t regret loving Dennise, right?” I asked him. He looked back at me.

“Do you know what I realized after she left me for another man?” he asked.

I raised my eyebrows at him. Although we are talking seriously, I can’t help but be sarcastic.

“Of course, I wouldn’t know. Unless, I can read your mind,” I answered. He just chuckled at my response.

“I realized… that I didn’t really love Dennise. The one I love is the Dennise I met in the Philippines, five years ago,” he told me while looking straight into my eye.

I tilted my head to the right and asked him. “What do you mean? Aren’t they the same person?”

He just smiled and didn’t answer me. He just continued on walking and looking for the office. I asked him again, a couple of times, but he wouldn’t respond. I got tired of asking him so I shut my mouth up.

It didn’t take us long to find the office that Pia is saying. When we entered, there’s only one man inside. I walked towards his table.

“Good morning,” I greeted him. “Are you Mr. Ferrer?”

He looked up at me and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. How may I help you?”

I put the paper and my ID on his table. I pushed it towards him.

“You staff, Pia, told me to give this to you,” I said. He grabbed the paper and scrutinize my ID before handing it back to me.

“What specific records are you looking for, ma’am?” he asked.

I was about to answer but Kelleon’s hand touched my waist again like a possessive boyfriend.

“Check the records if he had a patient named Denisse Cantos, together with the records of their transaction. We also need the information of those who worked with him, like nurses, anesthesologist, or assistant. We also need information on what he did before he disappeared,” Kelleon answered the secretary with his authorative aura surrounding him.

The man was seem shocked on how Kelleon looked at him. Kelleon looks like he was about to break the man’s neck.

Mr. Ferrer cleared his throat. “How do you spell Denisse Cantos?” he asked.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

I spelled her name as he typed. We waited patiently as he searched through the records.

“Are you investigating about Doctor Andres’ disappearance?” he asked while typing. I nodded at him.

“I’m glad that you’re opening the case again. The former investigators we’re too slack at their work and didn’t do their job properly,” he said as he shook his head.

Kelleon took a step forward. “Are you close to that doctor?” he asked.

Mr. Ferrer shook his head. “No. I just knew him because he’s one of the best doctor in this hospital. He’s a registered neurologist and a dermatogolist which made a lot of people look up to him.”

“When he went missing, the whole faculty was down. It’s like the ICH lost a limb,” he added.

He stood up after the printing of records was finished. He handed it to us with a smile.

“Please, if there’s any lead on the investigation, contact us,” he gave a calling card. “I’ll also try to talk to other doctors here who know him to ask about what he did before he went missing. Hopefully, I can find a lead.”

Kelleon nodded at him. “We will. Incase you find something, contact us.”

Kelleon handed him his calling card. We bid goodbye and said thanks to him. We walked up to the upper ground floor and told Pia that we already got the records.

As we walked towards the exit, a nurse accidentally bumped me from the back. Her things fell on the floor so I bent down to help her.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the nurse said.

“It’s okay, just be careful next time,” I asnwered.

After she got all of her things, we stood up. We met face to face. She was smiling at me when she turned her head up, but it slowly faded. She tried to hide that fading smile by bowing.

She didn’t say anything. She just walked fast to the exit like nothing happened.

I walked to follow the nurse but when we got outside, Kelleon grabbed me because I was walking towards the opposite direction of the parking lot.

“Where are you going?” Kelleon asked me. “We’re outside! You don’t even have your cap and shades on!”

I walked fast and he walked faster to caught me. “That nurse is suspicious. I felt like she know something about Denisse,” I told him.

“She was smiling earlier, but her reaction changed when she saw my face. There’s something wrong. We must ask her.”

With that, we both ran after the nurse. She must have seen us, that’s why she also ran.

However, Kelleon was faster. He has longer legs compared to the nurse who I think the height didn’t reached 5’0.

He cornered her on the side of the building.

I was about to interrogate her about her reaction earlier, but Kelleon spoke first. He wasn’t patient. He asked her directly.

“Do you know anything about Doctor Andres’ disappearance?” Kelleon asked while pinning the woman using a long stick which I didn’t know where he got from.

The nurse didn’t even fight back. Instead, she glared at me with fury in her eyes.

“Why are you asking me?” she said. “Ask that woman with you. She’s the one who shot Doctor Andres. Didn’t you know that?”