Beleza
Napatingin ako sa pinto ng opisina nang bigla itong bumukas. Handa na sana akong batiin si Ma'am Arkanson, pero hindi siya ang aking nasilayan.
Anong ginagawa niya rito? Bakit nandito si Sir Buendavid Villasuarez IV?
"Good morning, Sir Villasuarez. Base from Ma'am Arkansons' schedule, you haven't set an appointment with her for today. But if it's an urgent matter, I'll inform her right away," magalang kong pag-iimporma sa kanya.
"It's no longer necessary, ikaw talaga ang sadya ko." Napaamang ang bibig ko dahil sa naging pahayag niya.
Nilibot niya ng tingin ang kabuoan ng opisina at pagkatapos ay ako naman ang tinapunan niya ng titig. Hindi ko alam kung bakit lubhang naiilang ako tuwing tinitignan niya ako nang ganito. Kusang nagsisitayuan ang balahibo ko sa leeg. He creeps me out.
"And what can I do for you, sir?"
Napalunok siya sa aking tanong. Niluwagan niya rin ang kanyang necktie. Hindi pa rin siya umaalis sa kanyang kinatatayuan ngayon kaya napaarko ang aking kilay.
"A lot, Ms. Quirino."
"Pardon?"
"I'm sorry. I was being silly." He chuckles. "Anyway, I just want to check you out. How are you? I mean, how's your overall experience here in this company?"
"I think... that task is for the internal research team from HR Department."
"I'm the CEO, and all tasks here are my task."
Tiniklop ko na ang aking binabasang document at hinarap siya nang lubusan.
"I don't expect anything less from this company, and so, yes, my overall experience here is good. The employees' salaries are high and we also receive various benefits and incentives. Plus, the climate of the company is nice. This is a great workplace."
Napalunok ako nang marahan siyang lumapit sa harapan ng desk ko at itinukod niya ang kanyang dalawang kamay dito. My goodness! This is insane! I'm getting uncomfortable with our proximity. Ano ba talaga ang pakay niya rito? Tahimik akong nagtatrabaho kanina at bigla na lang siyang susulpot. Hindi ko inaasahang masusundan agad ang pagkikita namin kahapon.
"Ms. Quirino, how much salary you make per month?"
"38, 143 pesos, sir."
Yes, that's my monthly base salary. Actually, considering that VS is an international company operating in dollars, my salary is still below average. But this is already the best that I could have.
"I can make it even higher. How about I give you 2, 300 dollars base? That's approximately 99, 000 pesos."
Dahil naguguluhan ako sa aming pag-uusap ngayon ay hindi ko maiwasang mapatanong.
"Ano pong ibig sabihin niyo, sir?"
"Be my personal assistant."
"What?!" Hindi ko mapigilang mapataas ng boses dahil sa pagkabigla.
Sabay kaming napalingon sa pintuan nang marahan itong bumukas. Napaayos naman agad ng tindig si Sir Villasuarez nang makitang si Ma'am Arkanson ang pumasok.
"Buendavid? What brought you here? Is there something you want to discuss with me privately?" bungad niya sa amin.
Napatikhim ako nang bahagya. "Ma'am Arkanson, Sir Villasuarez just arrived here. I think he has something important to discuss with you. So, I guess, I have to excuse myself now."
Nang napatango si Ma'am Arkanson ay wala na akong sinayang na segundo at mabilis nang lumabas ng opisna. Nang makalabas na ako ay napasandal ako sa pader.
Why does he want me to be his personal assistant suddenly? Does he have any idea that I applied to be his secretary before, only to get turned down really hard by him? And now he's the one offering a deal?
No matter how tempting his deal can be, I will not bite it. I'm already fine with being Ma'am Arkanson's secretary. And besides, I don't want to be near him. He's screaming dominance and it's too much for me to handle.
Buendavid
I groaned when Ms. Quirino left the office. Darn it! Why do I feel like she's avoiding me? But anyway, I also came here to talk with Ms. Arkanson. I was just lucky na natiyempuhan kong nag-iisa lang dito kanina ang kanyang secretary.
Ever since I saw her yesterday, there's a certain pinch in my system that forbids me to stop thinking about her. This feeling is really new to me, and because I have a working mind, I always want to explore new things.
It's already very common for me to meet and socialize with beautiful ladies throughout the globe. In fact, I have issues about them most of the time brought by the media. But those are all false. And no matter how misleading could they be, it doesn't matter to me at all. I don't mind getting known by the public base on what they see and hear on media. I know myself better than anyone else, and that's what matters most.
But Ms. Quirino is more than just a beauty. More than that, I can feel her sadness. And that fact alone is freaking the hell out of me.
Being a protégé of my father, I grew up discarding sympathy to others except for those who need it. And by that, I mean my family and trusted friends and colleagues only. I never sympathize with strangers, especially not when I have no idea what to be sympathized for.
But Ms. Quirino is different. She is a whole new thing to me.
"I guess you want to talk about Mr. McCarter." I just nodded at her. Ms. Arkanson is the company's CFO since my father's term. In fact, she was the one beside me most of the time when I was just still exploring and studying our company. She's like an older sister to me.
Inabot ko ang folder na ibinigay niya sa akin at agad itong binasa. I can't hide my annoyance upon reading the content.
"So, the news are legit after all."
"Exactly. The EastSky Holdings sold their 1% share to Mr. McCarter's son, Arthur. He now holds 3.50% shares. And summing up their shares, it's 10.55 % already. That's quite a large number."
"Why don't we know about this? I thought your team is monitoring the stock market."
"EastSky didn't put their share for sale in the stock market. Judging from how the event commenced, Mr. McCarter already had personal arrangement with the EastSky."
Ilang taon na naming minamanmanan si Mr. Albert McCarter at ang kanyang anak na si Arthur. Albert is the former CEO of Globalco Trades, a huge international company. With a net worth of 38 Billion dollars... he's one of the richest persons in the world. He's also one of our highest investors, and he eventually became a VS director seven years ago. I can tell that he's relly fond of VS. But his interest is getting suspicious and intriguing. He's buying shares secretly from our shareholders.
"One percent, right? That's 14 million shares, worth approximately 13 Billion dollars. How did he afford to buy it instantly? We both know that he doesn't have much liquidated wealth."
"I let my team dig the event, and they found out that he sold 5% of his shares in Globalco Trades prior to this, maybe that's where he gets the money to buy the EastSky's share. The moment he put his stocks for sale on the stock market, it was bought instantly by a private company, the B&B Holdings and Enterprise."
I closed the folder. This isn't good. Hindi ko alam kung ano ba talaga ang binabalak niya, nila. But knowing who bought Mr. Albert's share on their company, I'm more than relieved.
"Don't mind reporting this to my dad, ako na ang personal na magsasabi sa kanya. Now, I also want to talk about someone interesting."
"Who is it?"
"It's about Ms. Beleza Quirino, your current secretary."
BINABASA MO ANG
Beauty and the Beast Boss : Bitter Sweet and Strange
Lãng mạn"Birds with broken wings still sing." Ms. Beleza Quirino becomes the personal assistant of the beast boss, CEO Buendavid Montefuerte Villasuarez IV. With so many disappointments and failure in life, Beleza became a bird with broken wings. And so, sh...
