Why didn't Gabe tell her that he's allergic to shrimp? She could've prepared him another food if she'd just known.

There were a lot of thoughts going through her mind that she failed to realize that she was already in front of his hospital room. The door was slightly opened, the reason why she could hear the voices outside.

"Why did you eat shrimp last night when you're allergic to it, Gabriel?"

Chiara heard the voice of a woman.

“I thought you'd die last night, considering how you look. Come on, Gabe. Don't die without spreading our beautiful genes, okay?"

“You're overacting, Trish.”

Chiara heard Gabe's answer.

“Overacting? Really? Oh, you should've seen your face last night. You were struggling to breathe."

Gabe… almost died last night? Chiara swallowed in extreme guilt. She felt like something squeezed her heart.

She took a deep breath before she decided to knock on the door. Then she slowly pushed it and entered the room. Both Gabe and the woman standing beside him turned to her. Gabe was sitting on the hospital bed, while the woman he was talking to had a slice of pizza in her hand.

“Chiara.” Gabe greeted her with a shocked expression on his face.

“Oh, hi,” the woman greeted her with a smile. “Hi, I'm Trish. This crazy man here is my cousin."

“Hey, stop calling me crazy."

“If you're not crazy, then why did you almost kill yourself last night?" Trish answered back before her eyes went back to Chiara.

“Uh, I’m Chiara.”

“I know,” came her cheeky reply. “Mary already told me about you.” Trish looked at Gabe before her eyes traveled back to her.

“Anyway, I'll go ahead,” he said, smiling at her. “I still have to check on my patient.”

When Trish left her, she turned to Gabe. Their eyes met.

“Why didn't you tell me you're allergic to shrimp, Gabe?" she asked.

She examined his face. He looked okay. But then she remembered what Trish had said earlier. Gabe had struggled with breathing last night. Chiara felt like something hard clenched her chest as she imagined Gabe in that scenario.

“I'm sorry, Chiara,” Gabe said in a gentle voice. “I just… didn't want you to worry about nothing."

“Worry about nothing?” she muttered in a sarcastic voice. “Ypir cousin said you almost died last night. And you're telling me now it was nothing?"

“Trish is just exaggerating, Chiara. I won't die over a mere shrimp. It will take more than that to kill me.” he even said, pursing his lips.

“You know you're allergic to shrimp but you still ate it? Why didn't you tell me, Gabe?"

Gabe met her eyes. “I don't want to disappoint you. You make an effort to cook that for me…"

“You're impossible, Gabe!” she muttered to him. She couldn't stop the tear that fell from her eye. She felt something pinched her heart after hearing Gabe's words.

“Hey...” Gabe's face was now filled with concern. “Come here.”

Gabe held her hand and dragged her to sit on the stool next to him. He then reached for her face and gently wiped the tear off her cheek.

“I’m sorry…” he said in his most gentle voice.

She bit her lower lip to prevent her tears from coming out more. “You're crazy, Gabe,” she said to him.

“I know.” He sighed.

“Maybe I really am crazy because despite knowing I'd get hurt, I still decided to continue… "He smiled gently. “But I don't regret anything, Chiara. The pain is worth it.”

“I don't know with you, Gabe," she said, rolling her eyes at him.

Her lips then parted when he suddenly pulled her into his chest. “I'm sorry, Chiara…” Gabe whispered like a prayer. “I’m sorry for making you worry. I’m sorry for making you cry…I’m sorry if I lied to you…”

Every word that Gabe said was like a feather caressing her heart. She didn't know how long she was in his arms. Slowly, she became aware of their position. Slowly, she realized that her heart was already beating wildly inside her chest.

“G-Gabe, I'm fine now,” she said.

Gabe slowly pulled away before he met her eyes. “You're not mad anymore?" he asked.

“No,” she answered in a small voice. Then she looked away. She was suddenly ashamed of what she had acted.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why you can't look at me in the eye?”

Chiara tilted her head and tried to meet his eyes. “There, Im looking at you now. Satisfied?”

Gabe pursed his lips as if he was stopping himself from smiling. “Have you eaten yet?”

Before she could answer, Gabe already picked up a slice of pizza and handed it to her. “Eat, Chiara.”

When she didn't get the pizza from him, he placed it near her lips. “I don't want you getting hungry. come on, Chiara. You have to eat. If you don't want pizza then tell me what you like to eat. We can have it delivered.”

Chiara felt like something touched her heart with the way said those words to her. She cleared her throat and smiled at him. “I’m fine with pizza, Gabe.”

“Are you sure?”

Chiara stilled when Gabe raised his hand and brought his fingers to the corner of her lips. “Wait…”

His thumb gently brushed the crumbs off the corner of her lips. In an instant, her heart hammered inside her chest. She blinked a few times and tried to calm her raging heart.

“How about you? did you eat already?” she asked in a small voice.

Before Gabe could answer, the door opened.

“Gabriel!” A girl entered the room. She went straight to Gabe and hugged him. “Gosh. You made me worried, Gabe,” The girl said with so much concern in her voice.

“Zoe,” Gabe said to the girl.

Just a while ago, Chiara’s heart wanted to get out of her chest. But now she felt like her heart stopped beating while looking at the scene in front of her.