Playmaker

8

"Bes, are you sure you wanna permanently move here?" Yassi turned to ask Nadine as they waited for their luggage in a crowded John F. Kennedy International Airport.

About a month after the incident, Nadine got a call from a small graphic design studio in Manhattan. They called to see if she was interested in merging businesses and opening a branch there, but it would be strictly for the up and coming craze of webtoon publishing. After numerous flights and meetings between New York and Manila, Nadine decided it would be best to move to the states to monitor the growth after the merge.

So within the following month, she settled her papers and left the Philippines with almost no trace. She wanted to leave everything behind her, but of course her parents decided to stay and thought it best if someone helped her settle in.

After getting into the cab, she decided to answer Yassi. "It's not permanent. It's just until the business can run on its own without me. I'll come back eventually."

Yassi pursed her lips in disbelief, "Are you really?"

Nadine didn't respond because both girls knew that she was just running away. She had left Bret and James with nothing but letters and everything that represented them behind. She thought that it was best that she left, even if she didn't talk it out with them, in hopes that time would fix everything instead.

But Yassi knew that she was running scared at all the what ifs. Nadine knew this too, but she didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to admit that the more time she spent in the Philippines, there were more chances for things to happen: things to break or things to start. She didn't want to take her chances on going through another painful heartbreak, so she thought that moving away would lessen the what ifs and the maybes.

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"Ma'am, some of us are going to Williamsburg for some drinks after work. Do you wanna come?" her assistant, May, asked.

Nadine sighed and looked at May, wondering if she could think of a proper excuse.

It wasn't that she didn't like her staff. Her whole staff had actually been very friendly, showing her around New York and teaching her the tricks of the locals when they were out looking for inspiration. Nadine felt bad for turning down their offers to hang out after work, but she would always feel some sort of guilt for having fun. She started to think that if she became happy again, the universe would realize and she'd end up on the floor crying again.

But after working tirelessly for 8 months to start up the branch and submit a new webtoon proposal for publishing, her team finally caught their big break. So Nadine smiled, but never let it reach her eyes.

"Sure. My treat."

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10:50 AM

Nadine opened her eyes to check the time on the clock and jumped out of her bed, pulling on the closest pair of work pants she could find.

Over 2 years of working in the new branch and she had never been late, not even by 2 minutes. Her daily routine was the same for 6 days of the week: wake up, work, gym, skype family, and repeat. How she managed to sleep in at all was almost incredible since her schedule was almost ingrained throughout her whole mind and body.

But now, here she was, almost 3 hours late and rushing out of her Upper West Side apartment trying to catch a cab to Tribeca. The minute she stepped out, she saw the streets lined with yellow cabs that were bumper to bumper.

"Shit," she said, shoving her heels in her bag and putting on her flats.

She took off running to catch the 1 train, which would take her directly to lower Manhattan. But when she got onto the southbound platform, the train had already left.