PARADISE OF THE DEVIL (GONCALVES 1)

Chapter 38

"You're here again," I blurted out when I saw Jair when I opened the door.

"Sure," he only answered, bumping my shoulder to walk past me.

What an asshole.

Mabibigat ang paa kong sinundan si Jair na dumeretso sa cubicle ko. Hindi ako makapaniwalang nandito na naman sya. Dalawang araw lang syang nawala dahil sa isang business trip pero nandito na naman. Wala ba syang ibang business dito sa syudad na inaatupag bukod sa akin?

"I found a new place where you can open your line. It's a perfect spot in BGC," he said.

"It's going to be so costly," I replied. "May nahanap si isla na mga lugar na hindi masyadong mahal. Maraming pagpipilian at may maganda na pwesto sa Makati na affordable."

"We can open one there afterward," he said.

"Jair, we have to think it through," pakiusap ko sa kanya.

"I thought that it would be the best first location," he said.

"You did. But you have to also consider what I think. The location really doesn't matter as long as I can open one. This is mine and I think I should be the one making the decisions here. What you do is to support me and I will do my job to make a good profit."

He sighed and realized, then said, "I was just excited."

"We've got the list already and we might consider. You can talk to Isla about the space's information and I will narrow it down," I told him.

"I will stay," aniya.

Tinalikuran ko nalang sya at bumalik sa trabaho ko kasama si Vanessa, Hillary, Lyka, at Bonnie. We would have a meeting about the details of the clothes that we would be creating. From blouses, pants, skirts to dresses.

We weren't yet launching but I'd received some calls already from people I knew, especially from the clients I had handled before. I was not yet open for personal services but I promised them I'd be entertaining soon.

Isla was handling the orders and some calls for deliveries of the materials. Jair was here so her time was divided. My sister was not as short-tempered as I was so she managed to entertain Jair while working. Siguro ay pinag-usapan nila ang location ng store.

At lunchtime, Jair treated everyone. She ordered us a meal as gratitude for working hard. I was supposed to be the one treating my employees but his doing the job. He even used his own money without hard feelings.

"Ate, ano yung suggested mo sa logo?" tanong ni Isla. Palagi nya akong kinukulit dito pero wala akong maisip. Gusto ko simple lang pero gusto ko din yung eye catchy.

I'd decided to name my clothing line ELEONES and I couldn't think of the best signature trademark. "Let's just go by the letters."

"I thought you've got a great idea," she sounded disappointed. "I'll make some drafts and I'll show them to you by the end of today."

Isla left my cubicle and then Jair entered. I was not sure if he was jobless or not, he was lingering around as if he had worked here recently. Maybe he forgot that he also had a company to run.

"What is it now?" I asked right away, not to waste time. "I've been receiving some calls, I bet you're here to tell me about how good your team is in the market. We can't entertain them yet and I can't promise all of them."

"About the app... that project will take a couple of months, the visual is quite complex," he said. "The team is fixing the code as we speak."

"That's alright. We've accomplished a lot here in just two months," I said.