The apartment had a strange atmosphere following the sudden departure of Miki. There was a lot of silence as all of us were reflecting on Miki's bravery as well as or own personal goals.
It was an unspoken rule not to talk about each other's goals of the Makati Transfer, it was firmly on everyone's mind though. Who would be next to move out?
My work was still busy and at times I wondered how much harder I could work. My projects all seemed to be peaking at the same time, I had to be on my toes to make sure everything progressed on schedule and budget. I hardly had time for any other things apart from shopping, gym and of course our weekly dinner nights with my room mates.
These dinner evenings were a lot of fun and my relationship with my room mates was excellent. Where possible we supported each other with advice or more practical things like shopping or laundry. I never felt lonely or alone, its nice to come home to familiar faces.
Dan is busy as well as he is opening a new store in Quezon, the travel time to Makati seems to be taking its toll on him. We try to have a cold beer a few times a week to touch base on the latest developments in each other life. This Saturday I am planning to help refurnish his shop as I am pretty handy with woodwork and painting. I am curious to see what he is trying to set up in Quezon, he seems entrepreneurial and I appreciate that drive and energy.
It was now 4 days since Daisy and I returned from Borocay. I had a few cuddles with Daisy on the sofa while we were watching television, I wanted to be intimate with her nothing sexual took had been taking place since. Daisy seemed tired and I felt that she was holding back on showing affection towards me.
I was dreading tonight for another reason as Jean invited me for another gym session.
"Are you ready Stan the Man" Jean shouted through the hallway towards the boy's bedroom. I was just getting changed and tried to take a few deep breaths. I had not forgotten my previous session with Jean, she is a hard task master.
"How is life treating you Stan" Jean asked as we walked through the hallway towards the elavator. I responded "Busy with work, need more sleep and want to do more exploring in this new city for me....I am short on time".
"So no time to be home sick?" Jean smiled.
"No" I laughed as we got into the elevator.
We started our gym session with a small warm up after Jean pulled her daily program of push ups, cardio, weights and lifting.
As I was lifting weights some Jean suddenly started a conversation that concerned me. "Stan, I know you had a good time with Daisy. I say this as a friend, be careful. Daisy has not been sleeping at home every night and as far as I know she doesn't have any family in Manila" she said.
I didn't know how to respond, what should I do with this information and what is Jean implying? What do I know about Daisy? Enough to like her but really, I didn't know much about her social life.
I nodded to Jean and said that nothing is certain and that we are just enjoying each other's company.
We finished our gym session and as we walked back to the elevator I asked how Jean was spending her days, I knew that she had a lot of job interviews recently but none of them had resulted in a job offer.
Jean grunted and admitted that it was very hard to find a job with stable hours. Until now she was providing some personal gym training and worked in a coffeeshop for 10 hours a week. Not enough work for her liking.
I promised Jean to keep my eye out in our company for any admin or clerical work she might be interested in.
After a shower I ended up back at the kitchen table to check some work emails.
Jin came around to the kitchen area to make a vegetable smoothie and asked if I wanted a glass. I responded "yes thank you" before realising how terrible her smoothies are. I knew they were healthy and decided to just drink it.
Jin came and sat with me at the kitchen table and said "Stan, I notice you are working a lot....are you stressed?"
I responded "No not stressed just busy, I feel that time is slipping through my fingers and there is so much to do and see in this city, I just run out of time at the end of the day"
"I will be performing in the new larger venue tomorrow I told you about a couple of weeks ago" said Jin with a smile. I closed my laptop and took a sip from the vegetable smoothie before asking "That is so exciting Jin, congratulation, are you nervous?"
"Terribly nervous" Jin laughed and continued "But I have been reading your study material on public speaking, there are some good tips in there.
"Now I just need to remember the lyrics of some news songs I will be singing"
We had some further small talk and I tried to re-assure Jin that she should relax and just grab the opportunity.
Jin suddenly looked with a puppy like expression with big eyes and cute smile before asking in a soft voice "Are you free tomorrow night to see me perform?"
