Julie was sipping a cup of regular coffee at her favorite cafe, trying to kill time. She kept on glancing at her watch.
Really now, Jules, am I on your deadline, too? She smiled at the sound of the voice from her back because she knew whom it was coming from.
A pair of hands softly held her shoulders, eventually circling around her, forming into a warm embrace. She held on to one of the hands.
'Pag red nails kilala ko na kung sino. Julie teased, as she turned around to look at the one person she's been missing for months now.
A svelte, tall, pretty lady smiled back at her.
Maq, you're finally back. Miss na miss na kita.
Ako rin, Jules. I have so much to tell you. The best friends hugged and excitedly shared stories for several hours. It was already dark when they left the café.
It was when Julie got home when she realized that she forgot to do grocery and was sorely disappointed when she checked her watch, it was already half past 11 in the evening.
She was about to take a warm bath when she remembered that she hasn't been checking her phone since her story marathon with Maqui. Napailing siya when she saw several text messages and missed calls from Richard and one reminder from her dad.
The next day, Julie was got herself primped and preened for the big day. Their company has expanded to advertising and they're slowly getting big names on their clientele. For Julie, it was exhilarating and scary at the same time. Mas nadarama nya ngayon ang pressure coming especially from her dad.
Naging madalas na rin ang pag-iinit ng ulo ng daddy nya and Julie could do nothing but understand. She could feel that her dad is also under pressure dahil sa pakikipagsabayan ng company nila sa mga multi-nationals.
Julie put the picture frame back to her coffee table. It's a picture with her dad when she was in grade school. In it, she was raising a gold medal during which she won the junior athletics.
I'm so proud of us, dad. So proud that we've been fighting together all these years.
..............
Elmo was ecstatic as he watched a truck unload a number of unknown cargos into his garage. Nakabalot ang mga ito ng layers of bubble wraps and textile.
They're shapeless but soon enough I will make them come alive. Just thinking about his 'mission' made him happy. He thought of a few people to call about the good news but decided otherwise. Naisip nya na mas maganda ang sorpresa kung 'buhay' na ang proyekto nya.
As soon as the truck left, Elmo slowly unwrapped one of the packages at unti-unting kumabog ang dibdib nya as he stripped off layer after layer. The last time he felt this way was when his granddad gave him Chester.
Elmo beamed as he tore off the last parcel that covered the beauty underneath. He stood up and watched as it glowed against the light of the afternoon sun.
He clinched his fist up into the air and shouted.
Today is day one!!!
