One

Only One x

Republishig this... :)

xx

For Ayen, thanks for always being there for me. ;)

x x

Tell me that you turned down the man

Who asked for your hand

Cause you're waiting for me~

A song played unexpectedly while I was inside a nonmoving car; stuck in the middle of busy day traffic. I let my thoughts wander off, and listened well to the song, though I haven't heard it before.

"Ano'ng radio station 'yan, Kuya?" the guy sitting beside me asked the driver. He was typing something on his laptop. It seems that he was got distracted by the song, or he knows something about the song. I glanced at him for a while, but he was so focused on doing his thing, didn't even notice what I did.

I was with one of my officemates, we were both assigned to work at the same division. Also, we graduated from the same university in college. He used to be the organization president, but we did not get along that time. He was too busy being the president, I was too occupied being friends with someone else. We just found out we could be friends, professionally and platonically, when we started working together. To clear things out, we were in this type of friendship where he just says hi and bye, and talks about work-related stuff. I consider him as my friend, not sure if I'm one of his.

"Sipag!" I tried to make fun of him, a way of letting him know I was here.

We attended a meeting this morning and were on our way back to the office. Unfortunately, we've been on the road for almost half an hour; based on my minute-by-minute time check. This guy beside me sure doesn't know how to start a conversation.

He looked at me for a moment, smiled, and inquired again about the radio station. The company driver responded, also apologized for not hearing his question at once.

"You know the song?" he suddenly asked me, without making a side glance. Now he knows how to read my mind.

I was with a work-driven guy, I would make this count as a good comment. He was still occupied with the meeting details instead of just taking a rest. It was all done. I was the one in charge of doing the minutes or note-to-file, all he needed to do was clear my submission for our boss' approval.

I knew when we get back to the office, we're back to being so close with our computers; busy beating deadlines.

Instead of answering, I shook my head. I don't know if he noticed or if he was still waiting for my answer. But when he asked the driver to change the station, there I figured out that he was looking at me a while ago.

"You're not fond of sad love songs?" he inquired. Finally shutting down his laptop, eyes on the road, fingers tapping the top of this laptop bag.

Does he hate having eye contact with the person whom he's talking to?

"Is the song about tragic love? Unrequited? I'm a bit curious." I asked while looking at him.

"Nope, not really. Well, I want to listen to it all the time."

I nodded my head in approval, and he was not aware of what I did. He just remained silent after explaining his side. Something about the song might have struck him that's why he's into it. This guy still surprises me every day. Like we were just starting to build this friendship and all I know about him was his name.

Traffic pa rin. Kailan kaya luluwag ang daan sa lugar na 'to? I said to myself.

I made myself busy by scrolling through my phone when I received a call. It was from our officemate.

"Hi Kate, why did you call?" I asked the other line.

"Are you still on the way? We have something for you, Ashley." excitement was all over her voice.

"Something for me, like? A gift? Or another meeting to attend to? And yes, it's a bit traffic here."

"It's a surprise, Ashley. Bilisan niyo na dyan! Paliparin ang kotse, please. We're all excited about this. Yey!"

I was planning to ask Kate further questions about the surprise she was talking about when she ended the call before I could even say more. A surprise. Wow. It wasn't my birthday. What kind of surprise could it be? Why was she excited? The way she sounded on the phone, she's ecstatic. I had no idea why, honestly. It's not that I hate surprises, but I just don't know how to react to it.

I looked at Levine and found out he was looking back at me. "It's Kate. She told me that there is a surprise for me." I said then let out a short chuckle. "Weird."

I won't turn twenty-three next month, my birthday's still five months away from today.

"She should at least keep it to herself. It's not a surprise anymore, Ash."

At that moment, I knew he was smiling. I saw the way his lips curved up.

And he called me Ash. I think this was the fifth time that he used my nickname to address me. I felt my heart beat faster. I will not deny it, I do admire him, his wit, his skill, his hair, his stance, his dedication towards work, everything about him. Even the way he frowns.

But I'm pretty sure he doesn't feel the same way towards me. I'm just an officemate to him, three years younger officemate, former colleague, and an old organization co-member.

Let's just say Levine is too perfect to lay his eyes on me. There's a lot of fish in the sea, and I'm just a corral barely noticeable to him or less a seashell.

A lot of good-looking girls were in our department. He wouldn't waste time appreciating the ordinary me.

Who would have thought that we could spend an entire hour talking? That unexpected scenario happened when we attended a meeting in Bataan. Our flight was delayed, we were stuck with the boss at the airport, and he was left with no choice but to talk to me.

He said his phone's battery died out, and there's a lot more he has shared after letting me know he won't be able to use his phone not until he gets home.

He turned his gaze back on the window next to him, and I realized that I did not respond to his comment. Silly, Ash. I was dreaming about Levine in front of him. Mahiya ka naman, please. Huwag dito. Do it when you're at home, inside your room. Just not here in the middle of the hot afternoon traffic.

I wish I could get another chance to talk to him this way.

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23645bfe2dfb9aec7e89b8c496ff3a3aI'm serializing this work on Webnovel. Head over to Webnovel for the other chapter updates! https://www.webnovel.com