Two Seasons

The New Chapter

Chapter 2

The New Chapter

Four years after...

Two girls ascend from the escalator. The one in front is wearing a beige blouse with a ¾ sleeve with matching brown skirt worn just above her knees. Her hair, straight and silky black, is neatly brushed on her right shoulder. She wore black shoes with heels standing 3 inches from the ground. In her right hand is a brown hand bag bordered by shiny silver linings which she neither held loosely or tightly. She sports a dark sunglasses that perfectly hide what's underneath and unwittingly highlights the clarity of her facial complexion.

As she walks away from the escalator, the other girl follows her from behind. From the first look, the other girl seems to have a characteristic which is an opposite to that of the first girl. She wore a white undershirt paired with a knitted blazer. She sports a rather fit black trouser and a white rubber shoes. Her hair is shoulder-length but is tied to a loop which make her looked like she has just painted a wall. She's also wearing an oversized reading glass that she keeps on nudging upward as she walks. She has a manila folder tucked under her left arm and on her left shoulder rests what appears to be a laptop bag.

They walk past the aisle that goes to the elevator, inching their way to the growing crowd waiting for the elevator door to open. A sign board on top of the elevator door reads 3rd Floor and under it is a sequence of numbers from 1 to 10 which states what floor the elevator is currently at.

There were ten people waiting in the queue including the two girls. The first girl removed her sunglasses and held it with her left hand. Standing left to her is the other girl. She bent her head a little sideways and spoke something to the other girl, "Jasmin, are you sure we didn't forget anything?"

Jasmin gazed down at both her hands and quickly replied, "Yes ma'am Fritz. I have the proposal and the laptop." Her voice seemed nervous.

"Good. 'Cause I want this to be perfect."

Before Jasmin could even reply, the elevator bell sounded and its door opened. Inside were five people including the operator who was gesturing to some people inside to give space to incoming passengers. Fritz and Jasmin immediately squeezed their way into the elevator. Only four of them were allowed to enter and the rest were told by the operator to wait for the next descend.

As the elevator goes up, Jasmin felt a little shiver went down her spine. She's indeed nervous. This is the first time ever that her boss Fritz has brought her to a prospective client; her first time to defend a project proposal. She has gotten used to defend her projects only within their company's premise in front of familiar faces but this time it will be different. The thought of knowing what a single mistake in her part could do during the presentation made her stomach churn and felt like it was going to invert upside-down.

When was the last time she had the courage to do something with confidence? She was asking this herself but couldn't seem to find the answer. The moment that she lost Brenan was the moment that she lost most about herself.

How many years was that?

Three...

...four?

She couldn't even remember how she had survived the first month, or the succeeding months. She remembered to be always in the hospital and was constantly weak as she didn't want to get any food or drink near her. She didn't want to live and she remembered she just wanted to die... right after that, right after the love of her life disappeared from her—forever.

The elevator bell sounded and its door opened. Jasmin snapped out from her deep thoughts and followed her boss hurriedly out to the hallway.

The hallway was silent. Every door they passed by are closed or, if wasn't, marked with vacancy. They walked past a couple of rooms until they arrived at a door that had a sign "Blueberry Properties."

They stood right in front of it. Jasmin noticed that Fritz paused for a second to compose herself then spoke to her almost in a whisper, "Okay, here we go."

Jasmin forced a weak smile and embraced the manila folder close to her chest. As Fritz was about to knock on the door, it swung wide open. To their surprise, a lady in her mid-thirties dressed in office attire greeted them, "Oh I'm sorry to have startled you Miss Diaz. Please come inside, the bosses were expecting you."

Fritz went in first. Jasmin noticed the small dome-type CCTV camera mounted overhead just a few inches away from the door. She thought that may be the reason why these people had known of their presence. She followed her boss Fritz inside as the lady closed the door behind them.

To be continued...