I did not see him the next morning and I waited for him outside his door because I wanted to apologize hoping that I'd see him while he was on his way out. Fifteen minutes of waiting for him outside his door later and I decided to give up because I didn't want to be late to work.
I should have just knocked on his door and told him I'm sorry instead of wasting fifteen minutes trying to make it appear as if we met outside our door by chance, I thought to myself as I took the elevator to the basement parking.
I drove to the office in a rush forgetting about Castor Saenz because I was busy the whole day. Come dinner, I drove to a nearby hotel to meet our newest client. The Lims are a family friend though it was the first time that they would be availing of our company's services.
"I could believe here we are having a meeting with Soren's little one," Mr. Nestor Lim said. The Lims had migrated to the US in the late nineties but they came back to the Philippines because they said that nothing beats retiring in Pinas.
"Oo nga, ilang taon ka nga lang ba n'un, Ayn, when we last saw you? Five or four yata," Mrs. Belinda Lim enthused. "But look at you now, all grown up and managing your family's business."
"I am just helping Mom and Dad, Tita. Sila pa rin naman po ang nag-ma-manage ng business namin. 'Tsaka pasensya na po talaga Tito, Tita, because Mom and Dad have a prior engagement that they couldn't cancel kaya ako na lang po ang pumunta rito."
"Naku, it's okay. Nagkausap na kami ng Daddy at Mommy mo and we really apologize kasi last minute 'yung pag-set-up namin ng meeting na 'to. It's just that since we got back we have been busy and this is the only time when we're available. I am so glad that you accommodated our request, Ayn," Mr. Lim said.
I smiled. "Tito, wala pong problema."
"And I am so sorry that you have to drive all the way to this hotel. May ka-meeting kasi kami kanina rito and we thought it would be convenient kung dito na lang din tayo mag-usap."
"It's not a problem po, malapit lang naman po ito sa office."
"Ilang taon ka na nga ba, Ayn?" Mrs. Lim suddenly asked.
"Twenty-seven po, Tita."
"And you're still single?" she queried.
I smiled choosing not to reply because really, I hated talking about my relationship status regardless if they were family friends.
"You should meet my son. He's a doctor but he's based in the US. My Benjamin is thirty-three years old and such a workaholic kaya hindi na nakapag-asawa. Naunahan pa s'ya ng mga nakababata n'yang kapatid na babae. Bianca and Beatrice are both married. You remember them, right?"
I nodded. "Yes, Tita. We played together when we were children."
"Fantastic. Well, Bianca has three children now at si Beatrice naman just gave birth to her second child."
"Wow..." I pretended to sound interested because I couldn't tell them I didn't find it appealing to talk about other people's offspring. "By the way, you mentioned earlier that there's something that you wanted to be revised in the building plan po—"
"Teka lang, Ayn, I will call Benjamin so you two could talk. Malay mo naman, it could lead to something beautiful, 'di ba?" Mrs. Lim said.
"Po?"
"It's ringing," she excitedly told me.
I forced myself not to react even though I was so tempted to roll my eyes at her.
I was surprised when I felt someone's lips on my cheek and had I not seen his reflection on the glass panel separating the tables, I would have freaked out.
