Claiming Andromeda #B1

32 Canteen

Andie's POV

"REID?!"

Medyo napalakas kong sabi. Bigla akong namula kasi pag-ikot ko ng mata, nakatingin sa amin halos lahat ng kumakain doon.

"Ikaw yung Freidrich Schulz?!" Hininaan ko ang boses.

He chuckled. "The one and only! Bakit ka bumubulong?"

Lalo akong namula. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Uh... I own the hotel, I guess. Doing inspection... Stuff like that," nakangiti nitong sabi.

"I know that now, dummy! What I mean is, ano'ng ginagawa mo dito sa employees' canteen?"

Tumawa ito ng malakas. "Whoa! An employee just called the hotel owner dummy."

Nagkulay talong na yata ako sa kahihiyan. Nilakasan nya pa talaga. Di ko napigilan na kurutin ng kamay niya na nakapatong sa ibabaw ng mesang nakapagitan sa amin.

"Ouch! And she's beating me up!" Patuloy itong tumatawa.

Sinamaan ko ito ng tingin."Reid... I mean, sir... Pwedeng pakihinaan po ng boses nyo. Kanina pa kayo agaw-atensyon."

"Not really. Kanina mo pa ako di pinapansin kung di pa kita nilapitan."

Marahas akong napabuga ng hangin. Matutuyuan ako ng dugo sa half-breed na ito!

"Mr. Schulz,"

Tinaas nito ang dalawang kamay na tila sumu-surrender pero nakangiti pa rin. "Tss, Reid will do. Matagal na tayong magkakilala. Di ako sanay."

"We're not friends and you're my boss now," sabi ko na nakatingin sa plato ko. Nakakahiya! I called him dummy, pinched him and all. But I can't help it. I feel somewhat comfortable with him. Maybe because of how he helped me more than once in the past.

"Oh, that hurts! After all I did for you. You still don't consider me as a friend?" Nakakalokong tanong nito.

"Sinusumbat nyo po ba,sir? Di ko naman sinabing gawin nyo yun. Tsaka bayad na yun. Tinapon mo cellphone ko," sabi ko.

"Oh that. Ayaw mo kunin nung pinapalitan ko."

"Then we're even. I don't owe you anything."

"Smart... Really smart like what you're supervisor said," komento nito.

"Mr. Schulz,"

"Reid." He injected.

"Fine, whatever! Ano'ng ginagawa mo dito sa employees canteen?"I asked. "I mean, the executives normally eat outside or sa hotel resto."

"Bawal ba ako dito?" Sinamaan ko uli ito ng tingin. He chuckled."I was looking for you. Sabi nung kasama mong receptionist dito ka raw. Akala ko kasabay mo yung boyfriend mo."

"Boyfriend?" Kunot-noo kong tanong. Wala naman si Ar -- may kirot iyung hatid sa akin. Ex ko na nga pala sya...lampas tatlong taon na.

"Arthur Cena? Ring a bell? He was telling us earlier you're his special girl."

"Gandang lalaki mo pa naman, tsismoso ka pala. Sayang." mapakla kong sabi. Talaga naman si Sir Art. Sarap bigwasan.

"Why, thank you. I know I'm good looking," napaikot ang mata ko. "Pero di ako tsismoso. It came from a party involved," kibit-balikat nyang sabi.

"Ano'ng party involved pinagsasabi mo? Look, walang 'kami'... past, present and future!" Naiirita kong sabi. I even raised my hands to gesture quotation marks for the word 'kami'.

"Assuming talaga ang lalaking iyon. I don't even like him," mahina kong sabi sa sarili ko pero narinig pala nya.

Mahina itong natawa. "Wait for me here. I'll buy my lunch sa counter. You're not even halfway with your food so sabay na tayo. We'll catch up while eating."