Autumn of May

Autum of May Sequel: Lovers in Springtide Season

Tumatakbo akong  bumababa sa hagdanan habang inaayos ang suot kong formal na damit. "Yvan, anak, kumain ka muna" sabi ni Mom sa akin. "I need to go mom, I'll be late for the interview" I said to her at tsaka I give her a kiss on the cheeks. She smiled at me and said, "Good luck sa interview and alam kong kayang-kaya mo yan" she said kaya I smiled at her back. "I'll get going" I said and she nodded kaya tumakbo na ako palabas ng bahay.

Pumara kaagad ako ng taxi and luckily nakasakay kaagad ako. "Sa Royalties Company please" sambit ko at agad naman pinatakbo ni manong driver ang sasakyan. Pagkadating ko sa company ay inayos ko muna ang aking sarili bago pumasok. I inhaled and exhaled heavily to calm myself up and tumingin sa napakalaking building ng Royalties. "This is it, I'm going in" I said, cheering myself na kakayanin ang interview. Pagkapasok ko sa building, may lalaking nakatayo sa may entrance area and the moment that he saw me, he smiled at me and walk towards me. "Hi, nice meeting you. Are you Miss Lim?" He asked.

I smiled at him back and said, "Yes I am" I spoke. "Alright, so I'll accompany you to the head office" he said at nagulat ako dahil sa sinabi niya. Head office? That's the venue of the interview? Hindi nalang ako nagsalita pa at sumunod nalang ako sa kaniya. Upon arriving at the 8th floor, namangha ako sa establishment ng building. It was so elegant and looks very expensive. "By the way, hindi pa ako nagpakilala sa iyo. I'm Steve, Xavier's former Secretary" he said and reached his hand to me. I hurriedly accepted his hand and smiled at him. "My name's Yvan" I simply said and he smiled. "I heard" he shortly replied.

I am here at Royalties for the application. I am applying for the Secretarial spot. I heard a lot about Royalties dahil sobrang successful ng company na ito. It always create buzz in social media and even in news. Dahil sa pagiging successful ng company at besides that, this company helps a lot in charities, it gained my interest. Upon hearing na nagbukas ito ng slot, I hurriedly applied. "Ahmmm... where is the interview room?" I asked Steve. He pointed the large black door in front of us and speak, "Go straight to that door and opened it. The CEO is waiting for you there" Nanlaki ang mga mata ko. The CEO? Is he the one directly interviewing us?

"Excuse me. The CEO?" I asked again. I expected that there will be a bunch of company employees na mag-iinterview sa amin but nagulat ako when I heard that the CEO himself will do the interview. "Yes. He insisted na siya ang gagawa ng interview since the slot is a secretarial one" he spoke. He has a point also. It's better that he himself can evaluate the person to make sure that's he's hiring a capable and valuable one. "Thank you" I said shortly and he smiled at me. "Go in now" he said.

"Ahmmm, last question po Mr. Steve. Nasaan po ang ibang applicants?" I asked curiously kasi I didn't even saw anyone in here. "You're the only one" he replied. I'm the ... what? Mas lalo akong kinabahan. Maybe he's very strict or he's very picky on he's employees kasi ako lang ang nakapasok for final interview. Kahit kinakabahan, I make sure na hindi siya halata. I smiled at Steve and said, "Thank you. Papasok na po ako" I said at mahina na humakbang palapit sa pintuan. I prayed for God's assistance. I don't have any idea kung anong klasing CEO ang naghihintay sa loob.

Mahina kong binuksan ang pintuan and mas lalo akong namangha sa design ng establishment sa loob. The room is halfway black and halfway silver. The walls are full glass and you can see the view from the outside. Napangiti ako because of its view. Sobrang ganda. I wanted to rush towards the glass walls para aliwin ang sarili ko sa magandang tanawin but I stop myself from doing that baka ano pang isipin ng CEO. I scanned the whole place. It's a typical CEO office. There are books, table in the center with a rotating chair, papers on the table and of course a computer. Mayroon din siyang sofa couch for visitors and he even had an aquarium.

"Miss Lim?" My heart jump when a man with a husky voice spoke. I slowly turned my gaze to him at napahinto ako when our eyes met. It's Xavier, the well-known CEO. "Yes sir" I hurriedly replied. "Please sit" he shortly replied. Nakatingin lang ako sa kaniya. He's very stiff, stern, and cold. His face doesn't even portray an expression. Lagi ko siyang napapanood sa news and even sa social media but he's kinda different in person. Well, he's way more than handsome but the vibe that he's giving is different. Tumingin siya sa akin ulit and said, "Please sit down" nagmamadali akong umupo at inayos ang damit ko. Why am I spacing out?

"Miss Yvan Nathalie Lim. Business and Financial Analysis Major. Foreign Languages Expertise..." he scanned my resume. He put my resume on the table and look at me seriously. "You're hired" nagulat ako sa sinabi niya. He didn't even asked me questions about myself, about my profession. "Hired sir?" I asked while processing those thoughts. "I have some few rules that you should follow" I attentively listen to him. "First, my schedule should have personal time. I need some time alone" I gently nodded to him as a response and he continue speaking. "Second, I don't want you to touch my things unless needed and lastly, no personal questions. I don't have time and energy to answer that questions" he added.

"Yes sir, all of that are noted" After saying that to him, he stood up and dialed some numbers on his phone. "She's settled" he spoked and minutes later, Steve came inside the room and give me a smile. "Steve, handle her" he shortly speak and walk across us. He live the room coldly. Hindi ko alam kong ano ang mararamdaman ko. I'm happy that I got hired pero I'm worried dahil I don't think na magkakasundo kami ng CEO. Steve give me a briefing of everything that I need to know. Not only about work but some important things also about Xavier.

After the briefing and a quick tour, Steve allows me to rest in the pantry. It was a good thing for me kasi I saw some employees there taking their lunch. "Hi, are you the applicant?" One employee asked me. She's around 40's and she's very welcoming. "Yes, ako po" I said and she offered me a seat next to her. "You know, our boss is very unapproachable ..." she said. At tama naman siya, indeed Xavier is very unapproachable. "But we should understand him, he went through a lot" she added. "Yes, grabe naman talaga ang nangyari" sabi ng isa pang employee. Hindi ko alam kung ano ang nangyari at wala akong idea kung ano ang pinag-uusapan nila kaya nakinig lang ako sa kanila.

"Ano.. ano ang nangyari kay sir?" pagdadalawang-isip kung tanong sa kanila. "His wife died years ago" sambit ng isa at agad naman pinigilan ng isa pang employee ang nagsalita. "Bakit? She'll be working here so she should know" sabi niya na may halong pagtatangol sa sarili.

He had a wife?

——

Author's Note:

Hello readers! I'm back again with the sequel of Autumn of May. I've been thinking a lot about this one for how many days but here I am giving a sequel to my first novel "Autumn of May". I may had created my first novel with so many lapses, I will make sure to give you this time a worth of your time. I do hope that you will support me as I make my journey in the "Lovers of Springtide Season" and get to know more of our new characters in the story.

I'll promise to give you love, lesson, and sweet moments in this story and may this inspire you to aim for better things and to not settle for less. I am needing your love and support for this. Thank you again for giving me all that you have.

Love,
Laime