Closing the Books

Prologue

I picked up my glass of Bacardi while laughing at my workmate's stories. She's telling us about her 'sexcapades' with her flings and how wild each of it was

"How about you, Leren?" she asked me which made the others turn their attention to me

"What about me?" I asked her back while grinning, pretending that I don't know what she's talking about

It's 10 days after April 15 so my workmates and I decided to unwind tonight after the long days of hectic work from the firm. We should have done this right after tax day but we still took care of other important things after that. Good thing we finally went out, it's been so long since I've been inside a bar. I missed the hype!

"Don't be coy! Tell us about your flings and all" Aira, one of my workmates, teased while drinking her cocktail and swaying her body with the music

"I don't have flings" I laughed because almost all of them made a face as if I'm talking nonsense

"Walang naniniwala sa'yo dito. Ang dami-dami mo kayang lalaki" push pa rin ni Aira sa pinaglalaban niya

"They're just my friends" kibit balikat ko because that's the truth. I'm so contented with my title that it's like I don't even need a man in my life, even as just a fling

I worked so hard studying and surviving the 4 years of accountancy and then almost one year of review to just get the title 'CPA' and it's like I'm already married to it. And I'm a very loyal wife that men don't interest me anymore

"Friends my ass! Some of them always visit you at the firm! Do friends really do that?"

"Well, I'm that friendly" I shrugged and then laughed when they booed me, but atleast they left me alone and talked about other things after that

"May nakita akong gwapong pumunta sa firm kahapon!" Kwento ni Michelle, isa rin sa katrabaho ko, naging attentive naman kaming mga girls sa kanya agad while the boys just rolled their eyes at us.

Well, what can I say? Gossip is the only thing that's making our work have a little life, it's our own kind of fun. And our gossip is sometimes the juiciest because it's about our clients who are the owners of large businesses or sometimes famous actors and actresses. We're just really careful because we might lose our job if we're caught. Pero kung gaano kami kagaling sa trabaho namin, ganun rin sa pagchichismisan kasi never pa kaming nahuli

"Client natin?" excited na tanong ni Aira na halatang tipsy na sa dami nang nainom

I'm also starting to get tipsy though I didn't drink that much, it's my low alcohol tolerance talking.

I listened to their conversation even though I'm not really interested and is just busy looking around the people in the bar

I saw some familiar faces so I decided to say hi to them. I stood up and told my workmates that I'll just greet my friends

"It's like you have friends everywhere!" sigaw pa ni Aira habang papalayo ako sa kanila.

I just rolled my eyes and readied my smile for my other friends

"Hi!" nagbeso kami sa isa't-isa at nag-offer pa sila ng drinks na tinanggihan ko lang. I know I won't be able to drive myself home if I won't stop now. And I still have to go to work tomorrow so I need to control myself.

Pinaupo nila ako sa table nila at dun kami nagkamustahan

"How are you?" they excitedly asked me.

They're my friends from CIU, Clarett International University— where I studied accounting, and we rarely see each other cause it seems like we're all too busy with our professions. So I'm really happy to see them here today.