Chapter 54.2

"Oh, you already gave me something, but that was cheap compared to what I'm about to give to you!" She exclaimed when she realized Quintin gave her a portable expresso machine that he said was his advance Christmas gift. "Gifts are not about the price, you know; it's about the thoughts that count. You should be happy enough that a handsome creature like me gave you a present. But wait—Wow! I have a gift from you?" Quintin suddenly got excited. He was not expecting anything from her, and he was touched to discover it. "Yes, you have, and I agree. It's the thoughts that count," Elyana answered. "But what kind of gift do you have for me?" Quintin started getting curious. He sounded like a child with the way he acted. "It's a secret, and I'm about to wrap it," Elyana replied. "Come on, take a picture and send it to me," he requested, but Elyana had no plans to reveal what she had brought for him. "I can't do that." "Why not? Just one picture," he pleaded. "Please?" Elyana sighed. She thought of fulfilling his request; however, she immediately changed her mind and decided to do something else. She took the brown box where Quintin was inside and took a picture. She placed a gift wrapper above it to hide it from him and keep it a secret. "There!" She sent it, and Quintin received it immediately as an email. He was smiling as he tapped the screen, and that wide smile disappeared when he saw what Elyana sent. "What the f***?! Remove the wrapper!" he protested. He heard Elyana giggle from the other line. "Go home before Christmas to get it and find out what it is. If you're late, I will give it to someone else," Elyana warned him. She smiled, knowing Quintin would certainly love the gift she had for him. It was a vintage camera. Quintin mentioned he lost the same camera when he was a kid. It was a gift from his late mother that he cherished the most, but he accidentally lost it and only had a picture of it that Elyana managed to get from Quintin's father to surprise him. "And why would you do that? You are not supposed to give away a gift from someone to someone else just because they didn't manage to get it on the 25th. I'm not sure if I can go home for Christmas." Quintin's voice went low—sadder. "Anything wrong, Quintin?" Elyana couldn't help but ask. "I'm just worried about how Dad will spend his Christmas now that I'm still away. He'll be home all alone. All our servants will be with their families," he answered. "Oh! Tell him to come here with us. We have a Christmas party. I'm sure he will be happy with the games we have come up with," she suggested. "Thank you for that, but I don't think he would agree. He didn't like parties anymore, especially now that he's older. He won't be enjoying the food either because of his allergies and diabetes." "If that's the only problem, there's nothing to worry about. I will ask our chef to prepare food only for him." Quintin smiled at how kind Elyana was. He didn't expect her to hear from her. "That's so sweet of you. If only you were near right now, I might have hugged you." "Eww, as if I would agree to that!" "Why not? Aren't we friends? Friends hug and some even kiss—" "That's them. I'm not that kind of friend," Elyana interrupted. "Even if you miss me, you won't hug me when we meet after a long time?" Quintin asked, pretending to sulk on the other line. "Yes, I won't still hug you. Your hug can make girls pregnant, you know. You are dangerous!" Elyana jokingly replied, causing Quintin to burst into laughter because he knew how charismatic he was. "I agree. That is one of my long-term problems. So many women have said that I'm hard to resist, and now that you already know you can have a huge chance to be a mother, you better stay away from me if you don't want to be my baby mama," Quintin said, riding on it. "Exactly! I need to be very careful. But to correct you, mister, I'm not that weak to let that happen. You will get hurt first, and that's the end," Elyana firmly said. "You're something," Quintin commented, laughing so hard after. While he laughed at their silliness, Elyana stayed silent. She was having a second thought about whether to ask or not about Felicity. She knew they were close, but she was not sure if the two were sharing personal problems. 'I won't lose anything if I try,' she thought and sighed before speaking her mind. "By the way, did Felicity mention anything to you?" she asked. "Mention what?" Quintin stopped laughing to clear out. His frown was enough to tell how clueless he was about what Elyana meant about her question because Felicity and he had been talking about many things recently, and most of those were about the person he was on the phone with at that time. "If... he... has... a... problem?" Elyana replied, word by word like she was not sure of her question. Quintin instantly jumped to the conclusion that there was a new conflict between the two. "He didn't mention anything to me. Why, did you both recently fight?" he answered and inquired. "No, we didn't," Elyana replied and paused for a few seconds before continuing, "I'm only concerned about him. He decided to go back to his condo, and it seems he has been drowning himself at work lately, or maybe just to avoid me." Quintin could feel the sadness in Elyana's voice at that moment, but he didn't know what to say. "Don't say that. Maybe he was truly busy. You know what agency he has and what he does every day for his countless clients." Quintin tried comforting her with this, but he knew it was not enough. "Do you want me to ask him instead?" he eventually asked to ease Elyana's mind. "N-no, don't! It's okay." She panicked. "Maybe you're right; he is only busy, and I'm just being paranoid here," she uttered with a soft laugh at the end that sounded too awkward to Quintin's ears. "Yes, just busy lately, that's why," Quintin repeated, although deep inside, he wanted to ask Felicity to find out what the true reason was. "I should go now. It's too late here, and I still have so many things to do tomorrow. Good night, Quintin," Elyana sweetly uttered. "Alright. Good night to you too. Have sweet dreams," Quintin stated and he let Elyana press the end bottom before him. "Why does it seem I'm being the mediator between those two? If something is going on, they will come to me to ask, like I know everything going on with each other's lives," he thought. "Well, I do know things about the other that the other doesn't know—yet, not everything!" he realized. "I better be ready; I have an auction to attend. Those two can wait," he continued, and he rushed to the bathroom.