The Doctor is in Love by Angeli E. Dumatol & Angeli E. Dumatol & EK Gonzales & Celestine Trinidad

Author:Angeli E. Dumatol & Angeli E. Dumatol & EK Gonzales & Celestine Trinidad [de Borja, Suzette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: An Apple A Day Books

“You seriously want to take the Greyhound to San Antonio?” he asked, looking up from his microscope.

She had asked him for directions to take the bus to San Antonio while they were working in the lab the next day, wrapping up last-minute work for their research project before they took a break for the Christmas holiday. Some of her mother’s relatives had invited her to stay with them for the break, but they were based all the way in San Antonio, a good four-hour journey from Houston. And in the US, something that was four hours away was far.

“That’s what I read I should take, yes,” she said. “It’s pretty safe, one of the other med-onc fellows said. And it won’t cost that much.”

He tapped a finger on his chin. “You know, I have a couple of friends over at San Antonio. Some of my co-residents in Chicago before. Maybe it’ll be a good chance to finally visit them. They’ve been bugging me to see them for so long.”

She blinked at him. “Wait. Are you offering to—?”

“Yes,” he said. “Let’s drive to San Antonio together.”

She thought the least she could do was invite him to her family’s Christmas dinner. She wasn’t expecting him to accept, because his own friends had also invited him over, but when he did, she was secretly glad. Since she hadn’t been born yet when her relatives immigrated, it was her first time to meet them and she needed to have someone familiar there with her to dispel the awkwardness. She wasn’t at all surprised that he fit in perfectly then, just as he always did.

“He’s really handsome, May,” her Tita Amor said to her in Hiligaynon, regarding Joaquin approvingly. “Is he your boyfriend?”

Mayumi colored then. “He’s not—um—no, no, Tita. He’s my research partner.”

“But he drove you all the way here, didn’t he? And he’s here. Sounds pretty much like a boyfriend to me.” She smiled. “You’re not getting any younger, hija. And imagine, if you marry him, we’ll see you here more often! That would be nice.”

Her relatives were deep in their videoke singing when the two of them finally had a moment alone together, out on her aunt’s balcony. He was looking in amusement inside the house, where her Tito Ronaldo was belting out “My Way” in a state of drunken bravery.

“Is this what it’s like too, back home?” he asked.

“You mean back in the Philippines?” She nodded. “Pretty much. My relatives love ‘My Way’ too. It’s a universal Filipino thing.”

“We have something similar back in Spain. Not the karaoke,” he said with a chuckle. “I mean this family dinner. Noche Buena. We also prepare a big dinner like that—lechon, turron, just like here—and then we go attend the midnight Mass—”

“Misa de Gallo,” Mayumi said.

“Yes, that’s what it’s called,” Joaquin said. He smiled. “You do that in the Philippines too, awesome. Abuela had the best cooking. My parents died when I was little, so I grew up with her. But she passed away before I went to the university, so I was pretty much on my own since then.

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