The Billionaire's Contract Wife [COMPLETED]

Fifty-Nine: Losing the Love Bond

Nagpalipat-lipat ang tingin ko sa dalawang software engineers ng ThinkSoft na nagsasagutan sa aking harapan.

We're here at the company's conference room. I'm with my team. Louie's with us, too. So are James and Mei. Even the senior developers and designers who were not part of my team were also here. And two of them were arguing in front of everyone right now. 

"So, why don't we hear it from the project manager?" ang biglang baling sa akin nung isa sa dalawang nagtatalong software engineers.

Everyone turned to me. 

Wait, nahihirapan akong i-process ang nangyayari. I'm overwhelmed.

Yes, I knew what they're talking about. I know what the main issue is, I just can't process it. 

Or maybe because I was in denial? Hindi ko lubos maintidihan kung panong nanakaw ang ‘Love Bond’ app idea ng competitor. 

I mean how? Paano?

I couldn’t seem to process the whole thing. I just can't.

Yes, the whole 'Love Bond' idea was stolen. Iyon ang nalaman ko kay Louie kagabi. Kaya pala latang-lata ito noong umuwi.

I knew he tried to hide it from me at first pero hindi rin ito nakatiis. He broke the sad news to me, dahilan kung bakit hindi namin nakain ang mga inihanda ko kahapon.

We were both shocked.

The competing company just launched their very own version of the app last night. It was called ‘The Love Band’. Yes, ‘band’ with an ‘a’. 

Not that the spelling matters because the whole idea was an obvious rip-off of our very own. Except that they get to launch first so obviously they now own the trademark and patent rights for it. 

Coincidence? No, I doubt it. I highly doubt it. 

Ninakawan kami ta's inunahan. 

Pero paano? Paano kami nanakawan? Iyon ang malaking katanungan ngayon.

“I… I’m sorry but I honestly do not know how this happened,” I said in my broken Mandarin. 

I was flustered. The whole thing kept me awake last night yet I still don't have even the slightest idea how it happened. 

“Yeah, of course,” said one of the engineers with a smug smile. “What do you even know?”

It was double-meaning. She was reminding me how incompetent I was.

Nakita kong gumalaw ang mga panga ni Louie pero hindi ito nagsalita.

It was James who butted in. “Let’s be careful in putting the blame on anyone. We don’t know what happened yet.”

But it didn't stop the software engineer from voicing what she had in mind.

“But isn’t it her responsibility as the project manager to ensure that everything’s going according to plan? And isn’t it her responsibility to know what exactly went wrong?”

“That’s why we're working on the investigation right now, so we will know what exactly went wrong,” replied James. “I think that it’s best that we remain calm. Fighting and putting the blame on anyone will not really help solve the case faster.” 

That put the arguing into halt though ramdam ko pa din ang tension sa loob ng conference room. 

I was fighting the urge to cry.

No, I can’t cry right now, definitely not in front of everyone. It will only prove how incompetent I am and that Louie made a huge mistake when he let me handle the project.