untouchable

28

"Ayan, tapos diyan din po, bossing." Ethan coaches you as you sign the papers he brought with him. "Dito din po... Tapos ito pa po."

"Ilan pa 'to?" You asked your subordinate as he gives you more and more documents to review and sign.

"Hehe, you knows naman that client." Ethan replied.

You sighed and smiled in agreement and continued scanning the paperworks. In the meantime, you can see the younger man fidget on his place. He's been like that since he entered your office, but you didn't prod since you're drowning at work.

You're actually quite fond of Ethan. He reminds you so much of your younger brother Sinag, just a more chaotic version of him. He looks up to you so much, reveres you in an endearing way, and as an eldest daughter, you sort of have a soft spot for idiots who obey your every word like a loyal acolyte. Ethan was an intern who was absorbed by the company when he graduated, and he has been working under you since his internship until now. It's funny because you aren't keen on taking someone under your wing for you yourself has a lot of things to learn, but Ethan's quiet persistence made you relent. You just hope you're doing more good about this promising young man's future than bad.

His movements are distracting you. You hate people who moves around on your periphery when you're trying to concentrate. You looked up at him with a glare. "Ano bang problema mo?" You complained, your tone coming off a little more irritated than you intended, but that's fine. It's just Ethan.

Ethan bites his lower lip, as though contemplating whether to spill his mind or not. But you're glaring at him right now and he won't challenge your ire any further, he still loves his life. "Uh, boss. Ano..."

His vagueness made you roll your eyes and carried on reviewing the papers before you.

The man then sits down across you, folds his hands on your desk, and looks at you pleadingly. "Boss, 'di ba magkaibigan kayo ni Jill?"

The mention of Jill's name made you pause on turning the page midway. You only raised a single brow, asking a silent question and beckoning him to continue.

"Edi ibig sabihin n'on, mas magkakilala kayo. Mas magkakilala kayo, so may mas alam ka tungkol sa kaniya." Ethan sheepishly stated.

"Can you just get to the point?"

"Okay, uhm. Boss, baka naman p'wede mo 'kong bigyan ng tips on how I could swoon her?" Ethan said, voice sounding hopeful.

You went blank. What? May gusto ba siya kay Jill? It took you a good few seconds before coming back to your senses from that very random question. You're still speechless, still don't know what to respond to that, so you just breathed out a chuckle. You let go of your pen and lean back on your chair, arms laid on the armrest, still trying to grasp the weird question if you misheard or whatever. But Ethan seems dead serious, and you can see it in his eyes.

"A-are you... Okay, uhm. Are you, really, asking me? Me? Na boss mo, na hindi ine-encourage ang office romances, on tips how to swoon your colleague?" You slowly asked him. "Nag-sink in na ba sa'yo na baka ako dapat ang last person to ask about this?"

"Well..." Ethan purses her lips as he shrugs. "Naisip ko naman po 'yan pero kasi out of everyone here, ikaw pinaka-"close" kay Jill? Uhm..."

You chuckled at the man as you massage your temples. For a cum laude, Ethan sure is a very stupid guy. Naive and stupid. "Ethan, I appreciate you always turning to me for advices and such, pero shet, excuse my French. Hindi totally prohibited ang office affairs as long as it doesn't affect an employee's productivity, pero you know well kung ano'ng stance ko about this. You know I don't like drama on my team, you know kung sa'n ako may ethical dilemmas."