for the love of us

chapter ii

Nga nga!! as in Nga nga!!
Grabe tong batang to talaga!!

No matter how many times I've seen her chunk down her foods like it's nothing,hindi pa rin ako nasasanay.
Sa liit ng batang to, pano nya nakakayang lununin sabay yung madaming pagkain na yun? San napupunta yun?!

I was still standing gaping at her when she turned to me.
Bigla syang bumunghalit ng tawa while pointing at me.

I was caught off-guard and looked at her. Masayahin si Arthea but she rarely laughs like this. Yung parang mauubusan sya ng hininga sa katatawa at mangiyak ngiyak pa. Sa sobrang rare ng ganitong event, I can barely remember the last time she laughed like this.

And seeing her like this right now really warms my heart.
I was smiling from ear to ear until she stopped laughing.

"haaa!" she exhaled "grabe, your face was epic. I'm glad I snapped a photo of it" she said chuckling while wiping her laugh-tears from her eyes before holding out her phone.

She showed me a really funny picture of me that I couldn't help but laugh at my stupid reaction kanina. Nagsimula uli syang tumawa ng tumawa hanggang sa hindi na namin namalayan ang oras.

"oh shoot!!" she exclaimed while looking at her watch and I realized the most important thing ever!

we're gonna be late!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inihatid ko sya sa skwelahan after our laughing fit.

"Bye honey," i called out as she made her way to the school gates "I'll see you after class,okay?" I reminded her while sending her a flying kiss.

"bye Artie! I'll call you when to pick me up!muah!" she shouted then returned my kiss while slowly walking towards her school.

I sighed,

She's really grown up. I still remember nung inihatid ko sya nung nag day care sya. Parang kahapon lang yun. Tas ngayon sa college ko na sya inihatid.

Ang bilis nga talaga ng panahon. I smiled at myself and the sense of nostalgia while slowly backing up my car. I need to head to the office now.

*riiing

I snapped my head to my phone when it started ringing suddenly, I put it on speaker seeing I can't hold it while driving *safe-driving*

"Mckinley," I answered with my serious tone.

"Good morning sir, this is Betty," my secretary and bestfriend greeted then paused.

"Hey Betty," I eased up "what's up?"

"Just want to remind you about your meeting in about half an hour,"she replied in all seriousness "and, where the hell are you?! Please don't tell me we're gonna push this meeting again?! we've rescheduled this meeting twice already! Nakakahiya kung mag re-reschedule nanaman tayo! They've been waiting for a month now!" she ranted and scolded me not caring that I'm actually her boss.

Napangiti nalang ako listening to her rant. Sanay na ako dyan, I don't really mind her scolding me or anything coz I know she's just looking out for me.

"hey! Are you even listening to me?!" she called almost shouting pulling me back to reality. Ha! naiimagine ko yung itsura nya ngayon. Her face would be showing the darkest shade of red right now, that's for sure. At sure din ako na dahil sa inis yun sakin.

Natutuwa talaga ako pag nakikita ko'ng namumula ang bilugan nyang mukha. It looks so adorable.

"ARTHUR CLINT MCKINLEY!" this time, she really shouted.!

uh oh! trouble!!

"chill Betty," I tried keeping my cool but failed as the shaking in my voice was evident "eheem, I'll be there in 5.. so please calm down.. Paki prepare na lang ng documents na kailangan ko sa meetings ko today" I continued trying to change the topic.

"Galing sumegway." parinig nya pa na ikinangiti ko naman "Everything's ready, Nareview naman na natin lahat ng documents na kelangan, we'll just do a quick re-reading pag dating mo." she went back to her "pro-tone".

Nakahinga ako ng maluwag ng i let go nya yung naunang topic. Nag end na pala yung tawag,hindi ko manlang napansin. Siguro masyado akong nag focus sa pag park ng sasakyan. I grabbed my phone and got out of my car hastily. Naalala ko na may timer lagi si Betty kaya nung sinabi ko kaninang 5 minutes nalang,kelangan nasa office na ako in 5 minutes or less. Hindi pwedeng malate kahit 15 sec. Nag mamadali akong tumungo sa private elevator ko.

I placed my palm sa reader para mag bukas ang elevator then pressed 52.

This 53 storey building was designed by me and Arthea. Ako sa structure, si Arthea sa facilities.. Pansin nyo na mejo hightech yung elevator? kelangan pa talaga yung hand-print scanner, that was Arthea's idea.. At tatlong tao lang din ang may access sa elevator na to. Ako, si Arthea and Betty.

This elevator goes straight from basement 2 kung saan nagpapark ng sasakyan lahat ng empleyado ng kompanya, to the very top of the building kung nasaan ang opisina ko pati ang penthouse.

Baka iniisip nyo na stairs lang yung ginagamit nung iba, hindi ah..
there are four more elevators na available para sa lahat. I'm not cruel naman to let them use the stairs all the way up to the level 51 *since nandoon yung offices ng lower employees*

Naisip lang daw kasi ni Arthea na mas convinient kung yung gagamitin kong elevetor ay hindi pahinto hinto kada floor. At "cool" din daw.

Ang GEM HOTEL ay ang pinaka una at original branch ng chains of hotels na naipatayo ko dito sa pilipinas. Kaya memorable ito para sa akin at kaya nandito rin ang main office ng kompanya.

*diing

The sound cut me off from thinking. Pagkabukas ng pinto ng elevator, Isang maganda at sobrang pamilyar na pigura ang sumalubong sa akin.

Maganda talaga.

Except sobrang salubong yung perfectly arched na kilay nya while she's also tapping her foot furiously. Ang maganda at pamilyar na babae sa harap ko na super obvious ang pagka irita ay walang iba kundi si Bethany Ricci. My secretary,my best*sometimes beast*friend at pangalawang taong naniniwala ng buo sa akin.

She is my childhood friend. I've known her for more than half of my life. She's a few years younger than me pero sobrang close namin since bata pa kasi we share the same interests. Mas gusto namin ang academic activities kesa physical. Although we both are pretty good athletes,mas nag i.enjoy lang talaga kami magbasa at matuto kesa mag papawis *or maybe we're both lazy*

Nakilala ko sya when I was 8, bagong lipat kami non sa subdivision nila when i saw her sa may park ng subd. She was reading my all-time favorite fantasy novel/series, yung Harry Potter. Naamaze ako kasi akala ko 3 years old lang sya tas ang galing nya na mag basa, sobrang liit nya kasi.

"Hoy!!nakatunganga ka dyan?sabi ko i review mo ulit yung papers baka may mga last minute changes ka pang gustong ipagawa." mahabang litanya nya ulit at ngayon ko lang napansin na nakaupo na ako sa swivel chair ko at nagbabasa ng mga papel.

grabe,lutang na lutang pala ako..tsk tsk

Mamaya nalang siguro ako mag re-reminisce ng moments and adventures namin ni Betty, for now, focus muna sa trabaho. I've got 15 minutes pa before mag start yung meeting.

let's do this!

"you're 23 seconds late, by the way" pahabol nya pa without even glancing at me.

oh no!! I'm in sooo much trouble...