Mirage

thirteen

The two were sharing the cake in the living room. Aliyah was mostly eating it all while Mira was just taking a few bites.

"Hmm I really love this, thanks ulit."

"Thanks din for inviting me. You have nice friends."

Aliyah grinned and lightly nudged Mira. "Told you hindi sila nangangagat."

"They're super friendly, like you." Mira put the fork on the plate.

"Hmm, not really. Mahiyain din ako."

Mira raised an eyebrow, her expression clearly saying she doesn't believe the girl.

"Ikaw mahiyain? Maka tapat ka nga ng pepper spray sakin non eh."

Aliyah immediately felt shy and embarrassed at that memory. Her cheeks reddened. "Hoy! Kasi naman bigla bigla pumapasok? Tas naka all black pa kala mo akyat bahay."

"May akyat bahay na dadaan sa front door?" Mira's face was laced with both disbelief and wanting to laugh.

"Malay mo?"

"Buti na lang ayos na door knob mo." The girl mumbled.

"Yeah, thanks to you."

Aliyah stretched her arms and rubbed her tummy. "Grabe busog!"

Mira shook her head from side to side with a grin. Aliyah noticed this, "Good mood ka today huh?"

"Me?" The girl asked, a little shocked that she's referring to her.

"Oo ikaw. May reason ka na to smile?"

"Wala? I'm not smiling." Mira denied.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Sige, sabi mooo." Aliyah grabbed the plate and stood up. She put it in the sink and returned to the living room with two glasses of water.

"Here."

Mira drank the water slowly and put down the glass after, with a bit of vigor. "Hindi ako nag college." She started. "I didn't graduate high school."

Aliyah was surprised at the sudden sharing but listened intently to Mira.

"That's why puro part time lang ako."

She nodded in understanding and studied Mira's expression. The girl was having that no expression looks again.

When it seemed like Mira wasn't going to continue talking anymore, Aliyah decided to share something about herself too.

"I really like books, obvious naman sa bookshelf ko." She chuckled. "I like writing too kaya ayon job ko ngayon. I know Guia since we were in elem and naging friend niya si Mayu nung junior high kaya kami nagkakilalang tatlo." Aliyah smiled at the memory of Guia and Mayu arguing in high school and she had to be the mediator. Those two are really the sweetest of the sweetest. Guia and Mayu were clingy especially to Aliyah but also sometimes argue with each other.

"What about Joanne and Stella?" Mira asked.

"Nameet ko sila nung first year college na ako. Bago palang kaming tatlo dito sa unit non kaya naging close."

"Eh yung self-published book mo?"

Aliyah turned to Mira; she didn't know if she wanted to share about her self-published book. She was still not confident enough to share it with other people. Even her friends don't know about it.

"Ayon, dati ko pa yon ginawa. Wala lang." She shrugged.

Mira just nodded, sensing that Aliyah doesn't want to talk about it.

"May pasok ka pa ata bukas, mauna na ako?" The girl awkwardly said.

"Oh sure! Gabi na rin, thanks for coming." Aliyah smiled big at Mira and she didn't know why but she somehow doesn't want Mira to go already.

But she still went with Mira at the doorway and said, "Good night." Her heart was beating quite fast. It was like a flaming fire that is being forced to die down. She smiled it out and see Mira go.

"Good night." Aliyah heard Mira say before going to her unit.

Days had past since that night. Aliyah became really busy while Mira was doing her days like a routine already. From home to work to home, she was like this for days and she doesn't mind saying it was peaceful that way.

Aliyah hadn't got the chance to talk to Mira again ever since that Monday night. It was only hi and hello greetings whenever they see each other at the compound. But that just happened twice -- not that Aliyah was complaining or something.

It was already Saturday, almost the end of the week, there should be no work today but Aliyah was at a restaurant for a lunch interview with a business person for her article. This was the only time that the interviewee was available so Aliyah had to adjust, of course.

Waiting while drinking water, she was patiently seated on a booth type corner in the restaurant. She would have gone to the company's building of her client but his assistant said that they'll reserve a restaurant as they were on a tight schedule. She didn't know if she should feel special, charot I'm grateful kahit mag isang oras na ako naghihintay.

Sighing, Aliyah went over her questions again and played around with her pen.

"Ms. Villanueva?" A guy wearing white long sleeves and black trousers appeared. Then a Man who looks like he was in his mid-40s walked behind the guy.

"Apologies for the delay, Mr. Sevilla was in a meeting before this." The guy said. Clearly, he was the assistant as he guided the man to his seat and gave a document.

Sobrang formal naman neto, parang royalty kameet up ko. Aliyah thought.

The man has this big and cold aura that almost all of business tycoons have. He looked like old money from a generational and traditional family.

"Good afternoon, sir Sevilla, I'm Ms. Villanueva you're interviewer from the Elegance magazine. Konting brief lang po about sa cover article, it's about powerful people from different types of fields, and you're the one who we chose to represent the business industry." Aliyah said continuously, not wasting any time.

Aliyah gave him a copy of the guide questions, "Here is a copy po for the guide questions."

"No need. Binigyan na ako ng assistant ko." Sir Sevilla didn't even take a glance at her and was just reading the paper as he talked. So, Aliyah nodded.

They started the interview and it was going well. His answers were straight to the point and somehow proud. Though, Aliyah took it with a grain of salt as Sir Sevilla have the rights to have a little bit of arrogance since he said "I worked the company when it was in the lowest. When my brother died, the company was in the verge of bankruptcy."

The writer took notes and asked another question, "Since when were you working as the CEO?"

"6 years now. The company was up since my great grandfather's time."

"Any messages for upcoming business men and women? What should they expect when coming into the industry?"

"Hard work and luck. Those two come hand in hand and if you're unfortunate to only get one of the two then make sure to have a back up plan from a to z."

"Is that all?" The man asked when Aliyah was still writing down notes.

"Uhm," She finished writing first then looked up. "Yes sir. That's it, thank you so much for your cooperation." She stood up and extended her hand for a handshake.

Sir Sevilla took it and shook it once with a heavy hand and turned. He didn't say anything else and went on. The assistant looked at Aliyah and said, "Thank you for your time, Ms. Villanueva. Sir Sevilla really appreciates this feature."

She just nodded and looked on as the boss and assistant went in their car.

Wow, what an experience. Para siyang si ano.... Aliyah shook her head. "Para siyang si Mira nung first week na lipat niya." She mumbled and chuckled to herself.