Things we do on a Whim

PROLOGUE

"Do you have a dream?"

Being questioned for what feels like already half an hour, all the overwhelming quisiness she's been feeling the moment she entered this airconditioned small room have long gone out the window and Eury Bartolome, a fresh graduate who's now spending her days submitting resumés to companies that offer a position in their accounting department is currently groping for something to respond to get this whole interview session she's in over with because she's starting to feel tired now.

"Y-yes I do. F-for now it's to get a job from a reputable company like Strong Piece." Is what she managed to grasp.

She's apparently saying the truth. STRONG PIECE CONSTRUCTIONS, INC. which she's currently trying to enter is undoubtly listed in the country's top companies, they manufacture construction materials and they also sell high-tech construction machineries. In addition to that, they just recently added real estate in the services they're offering and even though they just started it five years ago they were already listed in the top 50 highest grossing real estates and as of now, they're mainly operating in more than 200 different cities all over the country including Cebu, Bohol, Davao and etc. with their headquarter in Metro Manila.
Eury wants nothing but be part of such wonderful company.

"Of course, but aside from getting a job here you got to have something you actually want to do or have, right?"

"Uhh..."
Eury started biting the insides of her cheek when she realized it's not a question that would help the interviewer to see the connection she wants to have in the company but rather one that is about her personally.

She got a little taken aback because the interviewer who introduced herself as Joan - the H.R. personnel who was leading the activities concerning the recruitment of manpower - has been throwing standard interview questions that she mostly encounter in some interviews she been to and they were mostly about what she wants and have that would benefit the company up until now. This one question that seems like already the last is rather personal and pretty unexpected.

"You got to have selfish desire you actually want to achieve that doesn't really have anything to do with your professional goal, right?" At Eury's evident loss for how to respond, floundering for a reasonable and unequivocal answer, Joan asked again, probably to goad her out for some answers.

Though she's quite unsure about the point of the question, Eury understood what Joan meant, the problem is... "Uhm, I'm actually trying to figure out that one t-thing."

She's may be stuttering but she made sure to respond with an unwavering eye contact which everyone considered an important gesture for a successful interview. Eury may have delivered an answer she deemed impractical but figured it's pointless to lie. She got a feeling that Joan can see through her. Yet despite the idea, she can't help but wonder if her response gave Joan a bad impression of her but it might be better than to give her an impression as a liar.

"You mean to say, you're still in the process of figuring what you really want to do?

Yes is the only answer she could come up with since it is the truth.
Working to hide her discomfort by displaying an unruffled expression presented with a natural looking smile - which is also a crucial factor to a successful interview - is really difficult because in actuality, a feeling of depression and dismay is growing inside her, gradually depriving her of any composure.

Harboring such feeling is probably not just because of the notions running inside her mind saying that maybe this interview had always been doomed to fail, she's not the pessimistic type but she's also not the positive type who thinks everything will work out if she believes or something. She wouldn't want to think or mouth-off anything too optimistic and then ends up screwing everything.
Eury also knows that one reason of this unpleasant emotion is clearly from her realization that she actually never had any desire or dreams for her self. The feeeling is pretty sad and really... empty.

All her life, what she ever did is something that won't make people look down on her and to her family. Her parents never finished school unlike their siblings who are professionals. She grew up entertaining the belief that she has to do something worth clapping for by her judgemental relatives in his father's side who knew nothing but to criticize her parent's ability to to raise her and her brother.

Although she's sure that the clapping would actually never gonna happen because they might not admit it but all their meddling was an act that shows nothing but insecurities probably because despite not achieving something professionally, her parents was able to provide them a pretty charmed life. They're really resourceful, managed to use their talents in cooking and turn it into a business, it's not really that big but they currently own one of the best restaurant in town.

After a too-lengthy stretch of silence, Eury spoke gently "I-I was kind of got too focused with my professional goal that I actually never thought of anything like a selfish desire, so for now I'm still with the idea that getting a chance for a position here is quite a dream come true in on itself..." She paused for a couple of seconds to inhale then continued, "...probably having this job looks like something I have planned, after all it is what I've been studying this whole time. However, those decisions are actually something I did on a whim."

Nobody actually told her to take the accounting course, it's her own choice. What everyone suggesting is something she has no interest at all.

Her relatives' idea of college course limits only between being a Teacher or Police Officer. She believes that both are truly noble professions but it requires an individual to have a great passion to service the citizens and to ensure them with good future and to prioritize their safety before themselves, yet she neither has any of that. She just wants to do something flexible and will give her an immediate but stable job. She never developed an interest in any of the job her relatives were suggesting, probably because of her pride and stubborn nature,  she doesn't want to do anything that connects to what she considered as a chain of madness in the family. Having a deluge of unpleasant and irritating feelings, she drew a decision to get a course that is not something on can look down upon easily and randomly chose accounting.

"You think that doing something on a whim will able to help you in finding your dreams?"

Asked so pointedly, Eury had no way of being sure whether it does or not but one thing she knows she's sure of is...

"I think that sometimes the things we do on a whim can become something very important to us."

----