Together but Separate

Chapter 38: Soft Formality

Kate R. Ferragni

"Good morning, ma'am!" bungad sa akin ni Linda pagbukas ng pagbukas ng elevator. Nakaabang siya sa akin nung nalaman niya na dumating na ako. She had been waiting for me to come to work.

I immediately stepped out of the elevator, and she followed me, catching up with my fast pace.

"Since you are an hour and a half late, ma'am, we have to push back your appointments except for your appointment with Ma'am Nadia at 1pm. It's your first meeting with her po at alam kong hindi siya matutuwa kung iusog natin ang oras, so I just worked around it."

I looked at my wristwatch. She was right. I was an hour and a half late. I didn't want to waste more time. I walked as fast as I could to reach my office right away.

"What time is our last appointment?"

"6pm po ang last appointment niyo. I already informed the chefs about the delay in your meeting with them. Should I order dinner, ma'am? In case the meeting will end late. For sure, they will appreciate that."

"That would be great. You're very reliable and efficient. Thank you, Linda," I complimented her. She was always on top of everything that was why I liked her. I couldn't imagine not having her with me. I did everything to make her stay working with me, including giving her yearly bonus and paid vacation leave. She deserved those anyways for making my job a lot easier.

I opened the door to my office. I placed my purse on my desk and sat down on my swivel chair.

Linda placed a pile of folders in front of me and said, "Ito po ang mga inventory ng spending and sales natin last year. Hinanda ko na po para mabasa ninyo before your meeting with the board members next week." Tinabi ko muna ang mga iyon dahil may mas importante akong dapat gawin. "Saka, ma'am, nangungulit na naman po ang Metro and Mega companies na i-feature kayo ni Sir Nicko sa magazine issues nila."

Since Nicko and I got married, many magazine companies and talk shows wanted to invite us, but I would always decline. Nicko and I were businessmen, not celebrities, and I wanted it to remain that way. Ngayon pa lang nga na we were keeping our life private, marami ng paparazzis na nanggugulo. How much more if we opened up to the public? Parang binigyan na rin namin sila ng permission to have access with our lives and ruin it.

"Just ignore them like before. I have no time for that. Besides, they have probably reached out to Nicko, too, but I haven't heard him considering it, so I guess he is not interested."

"Okay, ma'am."

Iniwan na ako ni Linda sa office ko. I turned my laptop on to start doing my work. It was my first work day for this year, but I had a lot of to do things already because we had been away from work for a long holiday.

When my laptop turned on, my picture with Nicko appeared as it was my home screen photo. I sighed. We looked so sweet in this photo, it was so opposite to our situation now.

When Nicko walked out earlier after he found out about my secret, I was left in dismay. I tried to call him couple of times, but he wasn't answering my calls. Kaya nga na late ako ng pasok dito sa office because I was trying to reach out to him, but I was not able to.

I grabbed my phone and pulled up our conversation. Still no response from him. I sent another message. This time, I didn't bother to explain. I just texted him, I'm so sorry. Then I sent the message. I stared at my phone for a good ten minutes, but he didn't respond. I sighed again and put my phone down. Bumalik ako sa ginagawa ko sa laptop ko, but I kept thinking about Nicko.

I decided to eat lunch in my office, so I could still do my work. I just asked Linda to order food for me.

At exactly one-forty five in the afternoon, I changed into my extra clothes and made sure I was presentable. Ma'am Nadia wanted to hold our meeting here in my office, which I found it weird. I was the one who needed something from her so dapat ako ang pumunta sa kanya. But maybe, she wanted to see my company kaya dito niya gustong mag-meeting kami.