Somewhere Down the Road

Somewhere Down the Road 2

 I didn’t saw Lian until the next day.

“Good Morning Lian!” I greeted her cheerfully.

“Good Morning. And don’t call me Lian. Have you heard any of them call me Lian? I’m your boss so you’ll call me Ms. Adams or Ms. Jillian. Understand?” she said or should I say yelled.

“Y-yes!” I stuttered.

“Good!” she said then she turns around and walked to her office.

I stood there looking at her like an idiot. When I came back to my senses I sat at my chair and tried to do work but I can’t concentrate. I saw Ella looking at me.

“Is she always like that?” I asked

“Not really. She seems to be in a bad mood today. You’ll get used to her.”

“hmmm.”

“Why do you call her Lian anyway? Nobody calls her that. It’s either Jillian or Jill, not Lian.”

I just shrugged then turned back to my work.

The day at work ended without seeing Lian. I tried to distance myself from her to avoid another scene like that.

The next couple of day at work was uneventful. I do almost the same thing every day. I would draw some plans for a satellite tower and then draw some more. I want it to be perfect. I want to impress Lian with my skills.

After a week, my masterpiece is done. It was already in blueprint and ready to roll. I knocked on Lian’s door to let her see the plans. I went inside as I heard her say “come in”.

“Hi! I’m done with the plans.”

“Good. Sit down and let me see it.”

I unrolled the plans and set it laid it in her table.

“It looks good. Can you explain to me the details?”

I explained her all the details in the plan. It was easy because I put my heart in it.

“There you go.” I said as I finish explaining. I looked up to see her reaction. I can tell that she is impressed with my skills.

“That was good. Thank you, you may leave now. I’ll keep these plans.”

“Okay!” I stood up and walk to the door. When I’m about to open the door she spoke.

“Wait!”

“Yes?”

“How would you like to go on a business trip?” she asked

“uhmm.”

“Good. A car will pick you up at 10am tomorrow morning. He’ll take you to the airport. You got a passport right?”

“Yes! How long is the trip? And where?” I asked excitedly.

“It’s for 2 weeks and you’ll see it when you get there.”

“Okay! uhmm… Who else is coming?”

“It’s just you and the engineer.”

“Who’s the Engineer?”

“I don’t know yet. They haven’t decided yet.”

“Oh! Okay.”

I left her office with a big smile on my face. I’m still smiling like a dork when I got to my desk. I didn’t even see Ella looking at me until she spoke.

“What’s with the big smile? Happy much?”

“Well, she liked my plans and I’m going on a business trip tomorrow.” I feel like a little boy who finally got the action figure he always wanted.

“Well, good for you. Where are you going?”

“I don’t know yet, she won’t tell me.”

“Oh! Who’s coming with you?”

“I don’t know also, she said they haven’t decided yet.”

When I got home that night I ate my dinner. After eating I start packing up my bags. I don’t know where we’re going so I ended up having one big luggage, a big duffel bag and a backpack for hand carry.

The next day I woke up at 5am. Am I that excited? I guess it’s a yes because I can’t go back to sleep. I keep tossing and turning for one good hour. Then I gave up, I got out of the bed to get myself a breakfast and turned on the T.V.

Its 9:30 and I’m already done. I went for something casual. I’m wearing jeans, my black and white stripped polo shirt and my trusty high-top converse.

At exactly 10, someone knocked on my door. I opened it and saw a man who’s in his late 40’s. He’s wearing a black suit and tie.

“Good Morning Mr. Thomas.”

“Good morning.”

“Are you ready to leave now sir?”

“Yes, let me just grab my stuffs.”

I returned with my luggage, duffel bag and backpack. He took my luggage, but I insisted that I would carry the duffel and the backpack. As we get near the car I was surprised to see Lian inside. She's talking on the phone. I helped Ben, the driver, to put my things in the trunk. When I got inside the car she’s done talking.

“Good morning Ms. Jillian.” I said with a smile. It sounds weird calling her Ms. Jillian.

“Good morning Thomas. You can call me Jillian.”

“But you said…”

“I know what I said, but since you chose to call me Ms. Jillian instead of Ms. Adam. Ms. In not necessary.”

“OK Jillian. Please call me Tom.” Her calling me Thomas sounds weird.

“Okay. Are we in uniform?"

"Huh?" Then I saw that's she too is wearing a black and white stripes polo shirt. 

We laughed. 

Then we drove in silence. The airport is not that far from where I live. I was about to ask her where we’re going when we stopped and Ben spoke.

“We’re here Sir and Madam.”