Fight or Flight

Chapter 18: Guest speaker

"Hindi mo ulit ma-contact no?" Sean asked me.

Tumango ako. "I understand though. She told me busy raw siya and she will try to text or call me when she is free." I added.

"Ahh.. miss mo lang." Sean nudged my elbow nang mapang asar.

I shrugged, defeated, at him. "Okay, lang. Nakausap ko naman siya this morning before I left my condo. She called me and she sounded a bit tired to be honest. I'm worried she's stressed and drained from all the things her dad asks her to do."

"Oh oo. I heard about that." Sean reacted. "She's on vacation pero business pa rin inaasikaso niya. It's impressive but at the same time, nakakaawa rin."

"Well, she said she does enjoy the things she need to do pero she just doesn't like her parent's approach regarding them." I told Sean.

"Anong business ba inaasikaso nila ng family niya?" He asked.

"They own a resort in Legazpi. Remember the hotel resort my family and I always go to pag December? Sakanila pala 'yon, I had no idea." I answered.

I learned that Adie's family owned the resort we stayed at. That explained the flowers delivered to my hotel room, her access to the hotel's restaurant in the middle of the night, and why the staff knows her too. 

Adie told me she never considered to tell the management staff that she is the daughter of the owners that's why to most staff members, hindi siya kilala.

I noticed Adie never likes attention. She's very introverted. So demure but confident.

"Okay, we will start our briefing." The speakers of the auditorium, loud and clear. All officers gathered at the front of the auditorium. Student volunteers were all at their individual posts, ready to start our event.

Our head organizer started to go through the whole flow of the event, making sure details are clear and instructions are delivered to all officers. "As we all agreed, during the final talk of all our guest speakers, there will be an open forum. We will accept 7 students from the audience to ask their questions to the speaker and another 3 students from the organization officers. The officers will be Rick Davidson from Daily Journalism club, Joe Vargas from the Debate team, and Blaire Prima from Theater club."

I'm used to doing this so I wasn't surprised that the organizers picked me to ask a question to our guest speakers later.

We opened the doors and have the audience settle in their seats, as we were to begin the event, I checked my phone and realized that Adie had 3 missed calls. 

She also had left a text, asking where i am and if i have eaten my breakfast, just a few minutes after she called, so I got relieved that it must not have been an emergency or important call from her.

I wondered why she called because she is well aware of my schedule today.

I decided to give her a call since I am not busy at the moment.

She didn't pick up so I rang again. And again, the line ended.

I sent her a text to call me back or text me.

"Ladies and gentlemen.." our emcee greeted to the full house auditorium.

The event started off smoothly, and one of the officers has now placed a microphone in the middle of the aisle by the audience for the open forum.

Our department heads, deans, and other VIPs, were sat at the front row as we, the officers, sat at the row behind them.

"Now, for the main part of our event, we would all like to welcome our guest speakers.. From Imperial College London, Paula Barnes is a 5th year architecture student, top of her class and top of her batch, she is expected to be the valedictorian. Over the course of her college life, she has collaborated with more than 100 architects and engineers to provide sustainable products to suppliers and families in London and to some countries in Asia."

The student with blonde hair made her way to the 3 empty chairs on the stage and sat on the very end one.

"From Ashikawa Medical University, Aoko Asahise is aspiring to be a surgeon, majoring in biology and human physiology. He is a member of the university's research and dissertation project and has contributed to management of cardiovascular diseases in Kyoto, Japan." The emcee announced as the second speaker made his way to the the other end, leaving the middle chair vacant..

Lastly, "From New York University, Olivia Guerrero, a psychology and neuro science student, board of the Psychology Society in New York, and also top of her class. She has successfully contributed in the studies of neuropsychological and behavioural aspects of the human mind NYU as a freshman.. We welcome you all to Ateneo de Manila University. Let's give them a round of applause."

Cheers and applause filled the auditorium.

All three student speakers were standing up, waving, bowing, and smiling at the crowd.