Chapter 9

I woke up feeling of having a good mood. Pakiramdam ko, this day would be wonderful for me and it's something I'm already looking forward to. I just don't know why, but I guess what happened last night at my boss' flat, was something I would always remember.

Siguro isa na rin sa dahilan na rin no'ng nang makatanggap ako ng email from my bank that Connagh transferred money to me. Akala ko hindi niya seseryosohin 'yon, but he did. It's 250 pounds. That's almost one-third of my monthly allowance from my sponsor and I could really save up some money or else, I can send this money to my parents so it would also help them there.

I couldn't wear off my smile as I left my flat. At dahil sa excitement ko kanina, hindi ko pa napasalamatan si Connagh so I'll probably say it personally na lang. As I head downstairs and meet Berkeley out of the building who's already waiting for me.

"Good morning," he greeted with smile on his face. "You look lovely today, young lady," he said as bow in front of me. Natawa naman ako ng bahagya sa sinabi niya.

"Oh, well, thank you, Berk," I giggled as I drop down and did a little curtsy. "You look dashing as well."

"Thank you, I really appreciate that," he said, like a full-blown smile plastered on his face. He then looked at me as if he was examining me from head to toe. Nagtaka naman ako at naningkit ang mata ko. "There's something different on you now... I just couldn't figure it out."

Napakibit-balikat naman ako sa kanya. "I don't know what's different to me now. I don't think something changed... you're just making out of things, Berk. Don't get it over your head."

He chuckled, nodding his head. "Probably. That may be what I was thinking. Nothing changed... you just looked—"

"Blooming or whatever?" pagpapatuloy ko naman.

Tinanguan naman niya ako at tinuro ang kamay niya para ipunto na tama ang sinabi ko. "Yes, yes. That's it."

"Well, thank you for noticing it."

"Of course, you're always welcome, KC," he smiled, but he almost blushed out of slight embarrassment. "Shall we stop by to a coffee shop, first? I was out of coffee in my kitchen. I think I'll be going to the grocery later, but I can't start my day without having a coffee so you're ready to go?"

I nodded and we both headed to the near coffee shop near our place. When he got his coffee, we both stood to wait in the bus stop and wait for it to come. We spend our time talking about what happened last night. He was asking a few things about what I told him but limited to those things that I chose to respect our boss' privacy.

As soon as the bus came, hindi pa rin kami natitigil sa pag-uusap. Sa mga ginawa namin kagabi o kaya naman random things na nauuwi lagi sa tawanan. Nabuhayan kasi lalo si Berk nang makainom ng kape. He's interestingly funny. His rants are the best that made me laughed out of my seat. I didn't even expect I would be friend with him. Ang sabi pa ng mga kaibigan ko sa Pinas, it would be hard for me to befriend with anyone else here, first of all, sa pagkakaiba ng culture at may likha rin akong pagkamahiyaan minsan.

I'm trying to step out of my comfort zone and I think that's the reason I became friends with Berky. I never thought I would have so I guess I kept surprising myself every time.

Nagkahiwalay lang kaming dalawa nang tumungo na kami sa aming mga department. Naabutan kong wala pa si Miss Sienna sa kanyang desk. I tried looking at Connagh's office and I'm not sure if he's already there or not. I started assessing my things and checked my reminders what to do today. Dahil nagawa ko na rin naman ang mga task ko kahapon, I should be doing new task na ulit.

A moment later, I didn't notice that Connagh passed behind my back. Hinabol ko kaagad siya ng tingin.

"Connagh!" I called him, but I immediately held myself back when I called him by only his name. Napalunok ako ng laway at saka niya ako dahan-dahang nilingon. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to call you only by your name. I apologize, sir."

"Good morning, Kiersten," pagbati nito sa akin.

Tumango rin naman ako at ngumiti. "Good morning din po, sir," pagbati ko pa sa kanya. "I just want to thank you, sir. Siguro alam mo na 'yong tinutukoy ko."

He nodded his head. "Sure, you're welcome."

Napangiti na lang din naman ako sa kanya at hindi na alam kung anong sunod kong gagawin.

"Is there anything you would like to say?" he asked. I furiously shook my head. "Okay. Follow me inside my office, you'll be doing your task early. I will be unavailable throughout the day, I'm afraid."

"Okay, sir. I understand po."

"Brilliant. Come with me then."

Sumunod naman ako sa kanya sa loob ng office niya and then he just ordered me to grab the pile of folders sitting on his desk. It was a direct order. Pagkakuha ko no'n ay agad din akong lumabas ng kanyang office. I asked him if he needed something else, but he didn't want anything so I let him be alone in his office.

Nagtaka naman ako kung bakit parang nagbago ang mood niya or maybe pure mentorship lang talaga ang turing niya sa akin kapag nasa loob ng kompanya. At bakit ba ako nag-iisip ng ibang bagay? What happened last night might be the last thing kaya kung ano mang closeness ang naganap kagabi, I guess that moment would only meant to stay on that night and never on the following days.

And that's fine. I came here to work and learn. That should matter above anything else. I'll just keep everything professional so I'll get a good grade after my internship.

I started doing my tasks and Sir Macek gave me an instruction thru email so I guess we'll be talking in the emails today. Hindi rin naman naging mahirap sa akin ang mga ginagawa ko. Doing this so, I still made my work as it is, I can still reached him out thru email so I guess that won't be a problem for me.

Before lunch time, Sir Macek walked out of his office just to attend the meeting in the conference room. He just nodded to my direction and I guessed he trust that I'm doing my tasks according to what he had given in me.

Lumapit naman ako kay Miss Sienna na aligaga sa mga gawain niya.

"Miss..." pagtawag ko sa kanya pero hindi umalis ang mata niya sa screen ng computer. Tutok na tutok siya ro'n. Abalang-abala kung ano man ang ginagawa niya. "Miss?"

"I'm busy," sagot nito sa akin nang hindi man lang ako nililingon. "You can come back after lu—" pinutol niya ang kanyang sasabihin nang lingunin niya ako. "Oh! It's you, Kiersten. I thought you're someone else. Well, what can I help you with?"

Napakamot pa ako sa ulo ko kasi hindi ko alam if this was right to ask, but shoot, gusto ko lang din naman malaman kung anong nangyayari kay Sir Macek.

"Ahm...I would just like to know—uh... if it's okay? What's going on in with Sir Macek?"

She gasped. "Oh! Did he forget to give you your task today?"

Agad naman akong umiling sa kanya. "No, not that thing. I was just curious because he came earlier with not sort of a good mood. Well, I just noticed, I might be wrong—" hindi ko na naituloy ang sasabihin ko nang tumango si Miss Sienna. She just confirmed that our boss is not in a great mood today.

"Earlier, we just had a call from one of our clients withdrawing from the partnership before it could even be dealt with. And so there should be another to fill that spot to recover the business timeline and data. And then... there's more thing that surely pissed him off. His schedule got messed up so here I am trying to rush and fix his schedule. He will be out of the country next week so everything should be done before this weekends."

"I see..." Tango-tango kong sagot. "Do you have an idea where he would go?"

Umiling naman nito. "He hasn't mentioned that yet, but he'll be away for three days. He can't leave his job for more than a week. He hasn't been since then, but I think he'll be going to some special occasion he has to clear his schedule off this week."

"Uh... what about me? Who will look after me?"

She shrugged off my shoulder. "I'm not sure how that will go, but I'm going to ask him, okay? But for now, I'm going back to fix his schedule. You can take your lunch. I'll be fine here."

"Thank you, Miss Sienna," I smiled, and then she immediately put her attention back to the screen of her computer.

I left her alone so she could finally get all her work done. Tumuloy naman ako sa elevator down to the ground floor to have lunch at the cafeteria. Medyo maraming tao ang kumakain ngayon unlike the other day na maraming bakanteng upuan. I fall in line and then wait for my turn to buy my food.

When I have the food and the tray in my hand, someone caught my attention and she's waving at me to come at her. I tried looking around for someone I know, but clearly, there was no one I can join with, but Amanda showed eagerness to have me around.

Napahugot pa ako ng malalim na hininga nang tumungo ako sa direksyon niya. As I got closer, she examined me from head to toe. Nabalot din naman ng ngiti ang labi niya hangga't sa makaupo na rin ako at inayos ang tray ko. I flashed a smile on my face as if I'm loving her companion around... but maybe she learned from her mistakes na.

"You looked lovely, KC," she complimented. Maybe she really had changed.

"Thank you, Amanda. You looked elegant, too," pagbawi ko naman sa kanya.

"Well, I curled my hair for almost an hour earlier," she said, playing the curls of her hair with her finger. "Was it really good?"

Tumango naman ako sa kanya. "Yup, it does. Why do you think it wasn't?"

She shrugged off. "Nothing... I guess... people just kept on looking at me as if I did something bad. Look, I really don't know that the person you were with last week was the CEO. I thought he was your boyfriend or someone random at all. It was so bad, I hated it."

"At least you've learned from your mistakes now," sagot ko. I'm really trying to start eating my lunch but she kept on talking to me. Ito naman ako si sagot ng sagot because I don't wanna make her feel bad.

"I know," she smirked. "Anyway, where did you get that yellow dress? It seemed like it was similar to the past dresses from Prada."

"I don't know... this dress was just given to me. I didn't know it was from Prada anyway."

"Haven't you looked at tag?"

Napailing din naman ako. "Should I even looked at it?"

She arched her brow. "Maybe... just to be sure that it's not cheap at all."

Napakibit-balikat naman ako sa tanong niya. "I don't really care if it's a branded dress or a cheap one. It doesn't matter. I usually wear clothes from ukay."

"UK?" she squinted her eyes. "United Kingdom?"

Umiling ako. "No, like a thrift shop. It was called in the Philippines as ukay-ukay and shorten like UK to sound expensive."

She smirked. "That's ridiculous..."

"Well, it's the truth..." I muttered. "I'm just going to eat... you're probably on a diet so I'll just spend time here."

"Sure you do you," she said and then focused on her phone.

She spends most of her time scrolling on her phone while I mind my own business eating my lunch. I was only relieved by her presence when we both went back to our offices. While I'm heading to my area, Berkeley sends an image to me. I checked it and immediately noticed the same dress the girl was wearing.

I asked him what should I look into the photo and he didn't reply. It bugged me throughout the day. I was about to ask and see him during snack time pero wala silang dalawa ni Arden do'n. They had a meeting so I've got only to spend my time alone. Sir Macek was busy then I couldn't reach Arden and Berk.

Nang uwian na rin naman ay hindi na kami nagkita ni Sir Macek. Wala pa rin namang sinabi si Miss Sienna sa akin kung anong mangyayari next week. Tinapos ko na lang din naman 'yong mga gawain ko today kaya wala akong aalalahanin bukas. Panibagong task ulit and I think after this one or kung kailan maisipan ni Sir Macek ay magkakroon na kami na field work and that's what I'm looking forward to.

As I left, I met Arden and Berk sa elevator. They told me they weren't at the pantry during snack time because they were having a meeting on new content. I also took the chance of asking Berk why would he send me an image of a random girl. He also took the chance of answering me when Arden left with her boyfriend.

We waited at the bus stop and I'm so eager to know about it.

"I just don't know how to say this... but I hope you won't take this bad. It's just what I knew, but I'm not sure if it's true or not. This is just based on what I know and what I've seen, alright?"

I nodded as if preparing myself to hear him pero ngayon pa lang para gusto ko ng bawiin 'yon.

"So... uhm... I'm going to ask you and then answer me as honestly as you can, is that fine?" he asked and I nodded slowly to give my confirmation. "Where did you really get that dress, KC?"

"I didn't buy this... it was given to me."

"By whom?"

"By Sir Macek," pag-amin ko sa kanya.

"Did he give it to you last night?"

"Yeah... most stuff," sagot ko saka tumango. "Why do you ask? I'm curious, Berk."

He took a deep breath. "Because... the truth it is... the girl from the photo I've sent you earlier was his girlfriend—well ex-girlfriend. She specifically wore the dress you were wearing right now."

Kumunot naman ang noo at natawa na lamang. "Are you kidding me, Berk? I don't think he would do that."

He sighed. "I hope I am... but I hope I was wrong as well."

"I see... maybe not really..." sagot ko pa kahit nagsimula na akong mabagabag sa nalaman ko.

The girl in that photo was pretty—she's, I think a British as well, had complex skin and golden to brown hair. Maamo rin ang mukha nito and has a quite endearing smile. Someone would Connagh be in a relationship with... but why would he give the dress to me? Is it really the same exact dress?

"Are you okay, KC?" tanong ni Berk sa akin. Tumango naman ako. "Do you want to go have dinner? I know a place you'll probably like!"

"Hm... maybe next time, Berk."

"Oh... okay... sure, not a problem."

As soon as the bus came, I was quiet and anxious about it. Whenever Berk asked me, I kept repeating the same answer until we went back to our home and separated. As I got into my room, I immediately took the dress off and wore my pajamas.

So maybe I was right after all. He had a girlfriend... but who could he be giving to the hyacinth flower then?

And one thing I've noticed, Connagh drastically changed his mood. I know he remembered me from the first time we've meet and kiss on that day and the next day, he meets me like nothing happened. Katulad kaninang umaga, greeted me like nothing happened last night. I was so unsure of his personality na. Medyo nakakalito ang pabago-bago ng mood niya.

Maybe he's just really busy... siguro?

When I was about to go to sleep, I've noticed my phone and it received a message an hour ago from Connagh. Kinabahan naman ako ng malala kasi akala ko papagalitan na niya ako or what, but then his message made me more confuse. Hindi ko na alam ang gagawin ko.

Connagh: I was so busy I didn't notice you wore the dress I gave to you earlier. I just realized it now. You look wonderful in it, Kiersten and yeah, thanks for all the help. Good night xx.

***

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Let me know your thoughts! I would appreciate it so much!

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