Anna
I am fully aware that in all of this, I am keeping myself distant emotionally from Marco. That is by design. The episode when I told him about the harassment from an ex-colleague was one of the very few times I allowed myself to show him some vulnerability.
Why?
He would be leaving anyway. Why let myself care for him when I knew this would all be temporary? Letting him in would only hurt me in the end.
He would fly off, back to Brussels, and back to his happy, ideal life - one that would have no traces of me, while I would be left here, wondering if spent a moment to miss me.
And he won't.
Except that sometimes, I pretended he would.
Like that time when he gave our secretaries a dilemma.
"Hey, bakit kayo nag-a-away diyan?" I called them out. Ruby, my secretary, and Cara, Marco's secretary, had been huddled at Ruby's desk for awhile now, looking over the calendars and arguing.
"Kasi Ma'am... ano... nagalit po si Sir Marco nung nalaman niya na kailangan niya pumunta sa Cebu for two weeks na hindi kayo kasama," Cara explained. "May conflict pala po kasi so one week lang kayo pwede pumunta dun."
"I'm trying to fix your schedule po, Ma'am Anna, pero hindi talaga pwede. Yung isang meeting niyo is with the bank na ayaw ni Sir Marco, kaya po lalong nagalit," Ruby added.
"Cara, do I have to be in that meeting in Cebu?" I asked his secretary.
Cara shook her head. "No, Ma'am. Si Sir Marco lang naman po talaga ang kailangan. Pero po... ano po kasi..."
The girl suddenly looked like she was trying not to smile, and Ruby had the same expression. I stared at one girl then the other. "Nagpipigil ba kayo ng kilig o ng wiwi?"
"Ma'am naman!" They both said.
"Ano nga? Why does Marco need me to be in Cebu?"
"Kasi hindi daw po siya makakatulog kapag hindi kayo magkasama. Ayaw niya daw pong mamiss kayo masyado," Cara spilled.
"Arte niya ha." I said, turning my back and retreating to my room.
It was there that I bit my lip and hid my smile.
Hindi ako kinikilig ha.
And he moved heaven and earth to get our separation down to four days. He left on an early Monday morning flight, crammed all meetings and the site inspection from 7am to 9pm when possible, then headed back to Manila on another early flight on Friday and went straight to join me in my meeting.
But as a backup, he already asked my Uncle Santi , who knew the situation with my ex-colleague, to join me along with a security team.
I'm pretty sure I melted when I saw him walk in the meeting room, gave me a kiss in front of everyone then took a seat. He passed me a note that said,
Don't look at me like that. Hindi kita matitiis.
I blushed and tried desperately to focus on the business deal. Once everything was signed, he asked Uncle Santi if we could both take off early from work because he was exhausted.
Back home, he all but collapsed in his bed and took me along with him.
"You overworked yourself. Don't do that next time ha? Okay lang naman ako mag-isa for two weeks," I whispered while I caressed his face.
Without opening his eyes, he pulled me closer and said, "Nakakapagod yung work, but mas stressful na hindi kita kasama. Don't worry about me, I'm good now. Let's rest."
I was quiet and he fell asleep soon. Looking at his sleeping form, I whispered, "I missed you. Huwag mo naman akong paasahin, baka mag-fall na ako."
Hay, I thought. Sino bang niloloko ko?
*
I was up early on Saturday because it was one of those weekends I'll be spending at the ice cream shop.
When Marco's transition was starting, I reduced my visits to one a week or random ones just to see how they were holding up. Now that he has gotten a better hold on the business and we've developed a routine for his knowledge transfer to me, I found some free time to head over and help the shop every other weekend.
I would spend the afternoons there, manning the cashier or just reading at my corner and then come home to Marco, who would comment, "Ang saya mo tingnan. You should do that more often."
Taking his advice, I did.
But in the three months that I've been doing this, he has never visited. It made me a bit sad, but I didn't push it.
When I arrived, our accountant was there and requested to speak to me. "Ma'am, ang laki po talaga nung lugi dito eh. Sure po ba kayong itutuloy pa rin natin?"
"Oo. The firm is infusing cash naman, we'll continue hanggang kaya."
Today, we served the cupcakes I made as a bonus to the customers. I brought three dozen but we never even got to finish giving out the first dozen. The staff brought home most of the rest, I just got a few for our house.
"Hey, here o. Cupcakes," I said, when I saw him eating afternoon snacks.
"O, didn't you bake these for the shop?"
"We closed early. Wala na tao," I said sadly.
He took one and tasted it. "Ang sarap mo pala mag-bake kahit walang kwenta yung adobo mo."
"Marco naman eh."
He chuckled. "Sorry. Sorry!" He hugged me and brought me to the couch where he continued to hold me. "I'm sorry konti lang yung customers today, but I'm happy you're home early. Namimiss kita kapag wala ka dito, alam mo ba yun?"
I hugged him tighter. "Why are you here anyway? No meet ups with friends?"
"No, reading a book," he said, kissing my forehead. "What do you want for dinner?"
"Spaghetti."
He chuckled. "I knew it! Alam mo ba, I've figured out that you have a few things you like when you feel bad?"
I looked at him like he was insane. Of course, I knew what I wanted and what my comfort food was. "Sige nga. What?"
"Spaghetti, frappuccino, chocolates and sometimes, ice cream," he declared.
"Very good! But it's really not that uncommon."
"True, except that I also know your standard orders at your preferred restaurants," he added, then proceeded to list down the top three.
I truly was amazed because I didn't even think he was paying attention. "Great job, Mr. Genius. Now, how about order in from one of those and feed me. And if you could somehow get me the frappuccino from the coffee shop I like-"
"You'll make out with me later?"
"HOY!"
"Hehe! Try lang, baka makalusot."
I left him to take a bath. While in there, I realized he had successful redirected my attention and made me feel better, when I normally would be sulking.
Hmm maybe that guy deserved a kiss after all.
French.
