His Muffin

Chapter 18: She is my responsibility

Tristan POV

Few hours of torturing journey finally ended as the bus stopped in front of a luxurious hotel. Looking at the couple sitting together for the whole journey during the trip was tiring. I tried to force my eyes to sleep, but I couldn't help peeking at them several times. And, God made it perfect by arranging their seat a few rows in front of me.


I got out of the bus after them. The hotel we chose for this year was one of the highly recommended hotels, which was completed with accommodations for team building. We treated this as a token of appreciation for employees. Spending time and budget for the event, which benefits both employees and employers was nothing compared to their hard work.


Soon, everyone gathered in the lobby for the briefing session. First, the event planner gave a simple briefing about the room's arrangement.


"Guys, please come and collect your key card." As the head of the HR department, Marco handled the event for today while Trisha was assisting him. All the employees were divided into a pair while for the higher management team we got a different room.


She came closer to us. "Here is for the sweet couples." She whispered, teasing Cassandra and Scarlet. They are both sharing rooms with their partners. Everyone in the company was aware of their relationship, so nothing to hide about it.


"Unfortunately, it is not a honeymoon suite." She continued teasing them, which led to both of them tickling her.


"Okay, okay, I surrendered." She yelps in defeat. I couldn't help but smile looking at her interaction with the girls.


"Mr. Manuel, please accept your keycard." She feigned a serious face while holding the keycard, waiting for him to accept it.


"Thank you, cutie." Manuel tried to flirt with her, which made me glare at him.


"Oops, I forgot the over-protective brother is here." His words were saturated with sarcasm, noticing me glaring at him.


"And this is yours," I said nothing, just staring at her pulling my arm out, and placed the keycard on my palm. I got my own room, and the same goes for Manuel.


"Alright, guys, it's free time for everyone. After two hours, please gather in hall A. Everyone clear?"


"Clear!" The crowd answered him at the same time.


"Trisha, can you come over?" My gaze immediately followed her movement when she sprinted to Marco.


"What a good assistant," I complained without realizing my voice was heard by Manuel.


"Make her yours then." He mocked before fleeing from my side like a coward.


*****


As instructed during the briefing earlier, everyone gathered outside hall A. A huge swimming pool was placed near the hall. My eyes stopped wandering around as I spotted the person who I was looking for. I wondered for how long she will stay next to her boss.


"Do you think something is going on between them?" Manuel's voice snapped me back to reality. I wondered too, why this guy loved to linger around me, probably because we were both single.


"Nothing is going on between them and not going to happen in the future too."


"Your confidence level impressed me." He lightly punched my chest.


"Attention, everyone! Come forward, please." The voice through the speaker got our attention. We moved to the front and joined the crowd afterwards.


"We will divide the group by number. So, everyone needs to say out the number accordingly. Let's start from here." He pointed to his right side, and the first person standing there called out the number.


"One, two, three, four..." and it goes on till the last person.


"Okay, I need those with even numbers to stay on the right while those with odd numbers, please move to the opposite side." Everyone started moving around to form the team while we were standing beside observing the progress.


"Since we have our boss couple on the team, we will warm up with a simple activity. Is that okay?" The group cheers, responding to his question.


"Hurray!" Manuel screamed and clapping his hands.


"Fantastic! Can we have our couple here?" Carlos and Cassandra represent group A while Miguel and Scarlet from group B. They moved to the front as the group cheers for them.


"Look, how sweet is our boss! Okay, back to our first activity. We need to tie their legs together, and they will have to move in sync to the finishing line. The winner will gain 10 points for the group. Is that sound good?" Trisha and few employees from the HR department help to prepare for the activity.


"Yesss!"


They were hugging each other while each side of their legs were being tied with a ribbon. Then, with a blow of the whistle, they were running towards the finishing line. While the crowd was busy cheering for them, I was busy keeping my eyes on Trisha. She was standing near the poolside with her joyful face, and I didn't notice how many times her smile and laughter made me want to smile as well.


Out of a sudden, I gasped as I caught her slipped and fell into the pool. Wasting no time, I threw my sunglasses and sprinted to the pool. I jumped inside without having a second thought. The rest were too busy with the activity to notice the incident until her scream caught their attention.


"Trisha!" They yelped her name as they saw her body almost drown in the pool.


I quickly swam to her and caught her body. They helped me to lift her body to the poolside. She was coughing hard, and her chest raised up and down as she tried to catch her breath. I climbed out from the pool and immediately knelt at her side.


"Are you okay?" I made her leaned on my body, patting her back gently as she was still coughing and gasping for air. She nodded her head.


"Trisha, do you need me to send you to your room?" I don't know when Marco appeared next to us, and I dislike the sight of him touching her shoulder.


"You stay here and handle the rest. She is my responsibility." I don't mind what others will think about us anymore. I carried her in my arms in bridal style, but she kicked her legs as a hint to put her down.


"It's not time to protest now, Trisha," I whispered in a low tone, and I guess she was too weak to argue. At last, she stays still in my arms with her eyes shut.


Instead of sending her back to her room, I brought her to my room, considering it would be easier to take care of her as I stayed alone. Then, kicking the door after unlocking it with the keycard, I straightly carry her to the bathroom.


"Can you take a shower on your own, or do you need my help" I placed her on the countertop sink, making her sit there. My hands were on both sides of her to avoid her falling. The countertop sink was quite high, which made her face at the same level as mine.


"What are you talking about?" She pushed me by my chest.


"Okay, I got the answer. Look like I've underestimated you." I noticed her face turned red.


"Why don't you bring me to my room? What if someone sees us and having the wrong idea about us?"


"That is not important. You better take a shower now if you don't want to get sick. Use the hot water."


"But my cloth-"


"I will take care of that. Quickly take your shower. Call me if you need anything. I'm just outside." I walked towards the door and shut it.

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