The Wish You Left Behind

Chapter 2: The Playgirl

YOKO

On their way to the office, Marissa is unusually quiet. Her friend says nothing else after she led her away from the stranger earlier. Marissa even mutter apologies to the woman at the cemetery. Ever the kind one.

Amidst the quietness, Yoko feels something heavy sinking in her chest. She's never experienced such quick annoyance and guilt before. But then, no one dared to interrupt her alone time with her father.

She tries to recollect the encounter. The woman is tall. Despite the intimidating stature, the stranger looks gentle. If Yoko is being honest, she is beautiful too— and handsome. It's an odd combination, but the woman's feature is surely charming.

Yoko shifted in her seat before turning the radio on. The last thing she needs to think about is a beautiful woman. And it's not like she can apologize now, even if she wants to, can she?

An astonish sigh escapes her lips. Marissa glances at her. It was brief. Her friend focuses on the road ahead. This time, Yoko sigh more loudly, wondering how long Marissa's silent treatment will last.

It's already lunch break before she knows it. The cafeteria is uncannily busy that day. As far as she knew, their employees prefer eating outside. Not because the food isn't great. Yoko can testify how good their cooks are. But somehow, the staffs find Yoko intimidating. Or at least that's what Ice said.

She looks around, looking for Ice. But she cannot see the woman.

"Have you seen Ice?" she asks Marissa.

Marissa didn't answer, though. She stares Yoko down as she tears off a piece of chicken and chews noisily. She knows how much Yoko hates that.

"Seriously? What's the problem?"

Munch munch.

Since they arrive at the office that morning, Marissa refuses to still talk to her. When she asked about her schedule for the day, Marissa passed her a sticky note with the schedules in it. Marissa even gave her a note with three big dots when she didn't know where are the files Yoko was looking for.

Marissa squints before grabbing the lapel of her bag. She stops chewing, patting it inside.

Yoko purses her lips. "Don't you dare pass me a sticky note now." She knew her friend cannot keep this game for long.

Through the slowly filling tables, a group of woman passes by. One of which, a redhead, greeted her. "Good afternoon, Miss Apasra." If she remembered correctly, the woman's name must be Ploy, one of the staff from the Planning Department.

Yoko clears her throat before fixing a smile. "Good afternoon."

"The plans for The Green Timber Building is almost done, but can I discuss with you some changes? I'm afraid the budget cut of the client will compromise the initial design."

"I would love that. Do you want to discuss it now?" Yoko moves her plate to the other side, but Ploy touches her hand to stop her.

"We can discuss it after the break. I called your assistant earlier -."

"Oh," Yoko glances at Marissa, whose cheeks became a shade of red darker. "She must be busy and forgot about it. We've got tons of paper to read thru this morning. Please come by to my office later."

"Will do." Ploy offers a wai and takes a seat to the ones behind theirs.

In front of her, Marissa is frantically looking for something inside her bag. She sigh upon pulling a yellow sticky note. "Request for a meeting with the Planning Department," written in it.