Kim made friends easily in the office. She is easy to get along with and no problem with her work.  She is motivated and a team player.  She is young among her colleagues but she is well respected when it comes to work.  After a month of working with the firm, she is well known by her sense of humor, wit and bubbly attitude.  Maja, a friend that considers her as a best friend at work knows all the gossip.  She told Kim, “Hey, the new boss will be starting tomorrow”.  “So, that means nothing to me, Kim said”. “He is cute, handsome and very attractive, Maja continued”.  “Aren’t you at least a bit curious, Kim?”

 Kim: “Why should I, I come here to work, not to mingle”.

Maja: “Sure you are!”  I heard you only had one boyfriend when you were in high school

Kim: And?! What are you insinuating?

Maja: Nothing, I’m just letting you know you’re not getting younger, and you have to go out there and find someone.

Kim: I will find when I’m ready.  Right now, I have to focus on work and…

Maja: and what Kim? You have no family here in Manila, all of them in Cebu.  All your siblings are all married and successful and here you are, still single, not dating and where in the world are you going with your life?

Kim: I’m happy where I am. Do not need a man to make me happy.  I’m just fortunate that my family is well off and I have a good job, healthy and happy being single. 

Maja: Really?!  I envy you.

Kim:  Its almost time for us to go, let us have dinner, I feel like having shomai.

Maja: okay, tera lets. Besides, we have to be in early tomorrow since the new boss will be introduced. Remember we have a meeting in the conference room and breakfast will be served.

 Kim never really thought about the new boss, now she wondered if he will be nice as the old boss.  Everyday, she still meets and sees the guy at the bus stop.   He will occasionally glance at her but never did make an effort to talk to her.  However, this day was different.

  "Excuse me, do you know what time it is?" He asked me with a light husky voice that gave me goose bumps.
"Umm... Yeah." I said looking at my watch, clearly nervous.
"It’s about 7.05 a.m."
"Thank you." He replied and smiled, displaying his beautiful smile.
He looked confused after that as his mind seemed to be debating on whether to go or to stay.
"Do you mind if I wait for the bus with you?" He asked me.
Blood rushed to my cheeks and I was reminded of how I hated my light-coloured skin which makes my blushing very noticeable.

 We talked for what seemed like ages as he told me about his life and I told him about mine. He seemed to laugh a lot when I talked about myself. My life was quite funny and dorky while his was classic and elegant.  “By the way, my name is Gerald”.  “I’m Kim, Kim Chiu”. “Nice to meet you, Kim Chiu, Gerald smiled”.    

Gerald: Today is my first day at the job. I’m nervous and anxiety is creeping in.

Kim: Wow! that must be exciting.

Gerald: I guess you can say that, I’m not too keen of being introduced by a lot of people.

Kim: I’m sure you will do fine.  Think of it this way, pretend it’s your birthday today and all eyes on you because you are about to blow your candles.  Nothing to it, you’ll do fine.

Gerald: I never thought of that way, I will remember that.

Kim: My stop is almost there, where do you work?  We stop at the same place and often wondered where you go?

Gerald: I meet up with my friends at a near Starbucks.

Kim: I see. Here we are. Good luck on your first day, oh and happy birthday…and she winked at him

Gerald: Thanks Kim, hope to see you tomorrow

Kim: Okay, good luck!

 When she got to 20^th floor of her office, her co-workers were bunch of busy bodies and anxious about meeting their new boss. “Hey Maja, what’s going on?”  “It looks like we are in a cafeteria, so loud in here”.  “Hey frend, just excited about the new boss, that’s all”.