8 YEARS LATER

 

“Oh, Hi Ms. Son.” Bati ni Mina na secretary ni Seulgi kay Wendy

“Hi Mina, sabi naman sayo Wendy na lang di mo naman ako boss at hindi rin naman ako nagtatrabaho dito” Sabi ni Wendy “Si Seul, nasa office nya?”

 

Tumango si Mina at pumasok naman si Wendy sa office ni Seulgi.

 

“Hello bising-bisi na boss.” Bati ni Wendy kay Seul

Ngumiti naman si Seulgi “Hindi bat mas busy ka sa ating dalawa. Halos di na nga tayo nagkikita, kung saan-saang parte ka ng mundo nagpupunta. The popular and model screwer photographer Wendy Son.”

“ you.”

“Oh, now you want to me too?” Pang-aasar na tanong ni Seulgi

“No, you’re boring.” Sagot ni Wendy at bago pa man makasagot pabalik si Seulgi kumatok si Mina at pumasok sa office.

 

“Ito na po yung pinapagawa mo Ms. Kang.” Sabi ni Mina sabay abot ng folder kay Seulgi.

“Thank you, Mina.”

“Is there anything else Ms. Kang?”

“No, thank you again for this. I’ll leave early today, pwede ka na ring umuwi once I’m gone.”

“Goodluck on your date Ms. Kang.” Sabi ni Mina tapos lumabas na

 

Huminga ng malalim si Seulgi tapos sumandal sa upuan nya “Don’t even say it Wannie.”

“I’m not saying anything.” Depensa ni Wendy

“She kept telling me that she felt so guilty giving me the company too early that I am basically married into my job kaya wala akong time you know, to meet possible Mrs. Kang.” Kwento ni Seulgi “But I kept telling her na it’s not because of the job kaya single pa rin ako, it’s just…” Huminga ulit sya ng malalim “I haven’t met the right girl.”

“Well, technically you won’t meet anyone kung lagi ka lang nakakulong sa office no.” Sabi ni Wendy “It’s not like, Right girl will just walk into your office.”

“Oh God, you’re like mom. That’s exactly what she told me yesterday nung sinubukan kong tanggihan tong date na sinet-up nya.” Sabi ni Seulgi

“How I wish I could go on a date too.” Inggit na sabi ni Wendy

“Edi ikaw na lang pumunta sabihin mo nagkasakit ako, na over fatigue” Suggest ni Seulgi “Tutal naman model daw to sabi ni Mama, expertise mo or maybe you have slept with her before.” Sabi ni Seulgi sabay abot sa folder na binigay ni Mina sa kanya, na pinaresearch nya para naman magmuka naman syang may alam kung sino ba yung sinetup ng mama nya para sa kanya. “Her name is—“

Hinablot ni Wendy yung folder bago pa man mabasa at mabanggit ni Seulgi yung pangalan ng model.

“Kung makapagsalita ka naman, parang I slept with every model out there.” Sabi ni Wendy habang hawak yung folder.

“No, not everyone, of course.” Sabi ni Seulgi “Just every model you’ve work with.” Sabi nya sabay tawa ng malakas

Binato ni Wendy yung folder sa kanya “Ang sabi ko gusto ko makipagdate pero hindi sa kung sino lang.”

“Sino, si Boss Crush na naman?” Tanong ni Seulgi

Hindi sumagot si Wendy. Pero understood na yon.

“And you said it was just a crush, a tiny little crush”

“Crush lang nga kasi.”

“Crush lang nga kasi, pero tumigil sa pagiging pokpok” Pangaasar ni Seulgi “Alam mo minsan hindi ko alam kung matutuwa ba ako kasi tumigil ka ng maging pokpok simula nung maging crush mo yang boss mo o maaawa ba ako sayo kasi, Wannie isang taon na and you’re still on the same spot as you were a year ago.”

Huminga ng malalim si Wendy “Eh kasi nga diba, sobrang disaster nung unang meeting namin, kaya kailangan ko muna magipon ng good points.”

“Alam mo kung hindi lang nangyari yang disaster na yan, hindi na ako magugulat kung hindi ka nya kilala.”

“Well, everything will change after this job.” Masayang sabi ni Wendy “I will be out of town for another shoot and guess what? Kasama si Boss crush for the first time, ever since I signed my contract to the company ngayon lang sya sasama sa shoot na ako ang photographer.”

“O tapos?”

“Napakasupportive mo no?”

“You know I’d support you all the way, hell, I’d even go and celebrate with you tonight kung wala lang to.” Sabi ni Seulgi habang nakaturo sa folder “Pero, do you even have a plan kung paano ka magpapa good points kay boss crush? For sure, she’ll be monitoring your shoot for like thirty seconds and then poof to her hotel room and be with her laptop the whole day. Meron ka lang 30 seconds, anong plano mo para maimpress sya while you are in the middle of the shoot?”

“I don’t know.”

“Want my suggestion?”

Tumango si Wendy

Lumapit si Seulgi sa kanya at bumulong “Maghubad ka for sure kuhang kuha mo atensyon ni Boss crush.” Sabay tawa ng malakas

“Alam mo wala ka talagang kwenta.” Sabi ni Wendy “Buti na lang hindi kasing walang kwenta mo ang universe, it’s actually siding with me.”

“How exactly?”

“The model…”

“What? You’re gonna the model in front of Boss crush?” Pabirong tanong ni Seulgi

“You’re gross, Seul.”

“Sino kaya mas kadiri sa ating dalawa, at least ako sa salita lang, ikaw ginagawa mo talaga.”

“In the past, okay.” Depensa ni Wendy “In the past.”

“Fine.” Sabi ni Seulgi “So anong meron sa model?”

“From what I’ve heard and my informant is 100% reliable, bestfriend daw ni Boss crush yung model kaya sya sasama so I’m sure she’ll monitor the shoot from the start to finish.” Paliwanag ni Wendy

“Yeah, to make sure that you won’t even get 5 ft. closer sa bestfriend. You might have stopped all those not so sacred thing you used to do in the past. But your reputation exceeds you my dear best friend.” Sabi ni Seulgi “And Boss crush is damn witness of it.”

“Exactly.” Sabi ni Wendy “Ibig sabihin lahat ng atensyon nya na sa akin. I can use that to my advantage and I definitely will.”

//

 

//

“Joy this is Wendy Son, Wendy this is Joy Park.” Pagpapakilala ni Irene sa model at sa photographer

“Hi” Bati ni Wendy sabay abot sa kamay

“Hi.” Bati pabalik ni Joy “So you are the Wendy Son.”

“I’m not sure about the ‘the’ but I hope it’s a good kind of the.” Pabirong sabi ni Wendy habang nakatitig kay Joy “Have we met, you look familiar?”

Ngumiti si Joy “Is this the part where we are going to get it on one of the rooms here?”

“Joy!” Saway ni Irene

“What?” Tanong ni Joy na parang normal yung tanong nya “I mean, I know for fact that you’ve slept with at least 5 models that I know that you’ve work with. Gusto ko lang malaman if this is how you do it, and when I say do, I mean, you screwing them.”

“Joy, let’s go.” Sabi ni Irene sabay hila kay Joy paalis “Yang bibig mo talaga.”

“What? It’s not like may mali sa sinabi ko.” Depensa ni Joy habang hila-hila pa rin sya ni Irene “She’—“

 

“She’s right.” Sabi ni Wendy, huminto naman sa paglakad sila Irene at tumingin sa kanya

“See.” Sabi ni Joy kay Irene, habang naglakad naman si Wendy palapit sa kanila.

“If we had met a year ago, I’d die trying just to sleep with you, you are without a question is smoking hot Ms. Park.” Sabi ni Wendy “Pero you’re a year late, I’ve got my eyes on someone already.”

Tumawa si Joy sa narinig “I heard a lot of things about you but being faithful and commitment in a relationship is definitely not one of them, no offense.”

“Non-taken.” Nakangiting sabi ni Wendy “I mean, totoo naman lahat ng sinabi mo but that was me before before she turned my whole world upside down.”

 

Natigilan naman si Joy na parang naubos na ang sasabihin habang si Irene ay di naman mapigiling mapatitig sa kanya.

 

“You didn’t expect that didn’t you?” Nakangiting tanong ni Wendy

“Not at all.” Sagot ni Joy “But I wouldn’t be surprised if isa lang yan sa mga pick-up lines mo, just to get in my pants.”

“Well, hindi naman kita masisi if that’s what you think, but believe it or not, I am not going to sleep with you, no offense.”

“Well that’s a first.” Sabi ni Joy “I’ve never met someone who straightly told my face that she doesn’t want to sleep with me, I feel offended.” Pabiro nyang sabi

 

Tumawa naman si Wendy “Anyway, back to the topic… hindi pa ba talaga tayo nagkita before?”

“You just said it earlier, if we had met before, you’d die trying to sleep with me.” Sagot ni Joy “And I’d surely remember you, or maybe not, since I quite rejected a lot of people, I don’t even remember their faces anymore. Maybe nagkita na tayo pero di gumana yang mga gasgas mong linyahan.”

“It works all the time, trust me.” Halos pagyayabang na sabi ni Wendy habang nakangiti

“Wow” na lang ang nasabi ni Joy sabay tingin kay Irene “Pwede ko bang kunin ang listahan ng lahat ng model na nakatrabaho nito, gusto ko lang iconfirm.”

“And you will not find that confirmation inside the company,” Sabi ni Wendy kay Joy tapos tumingin sya kay Irene “And just to be clear I did not mix business with pleasure with any of our clients Ms. Bae, in case you’re now considering firing me, never, I swear.”

“But you did mix that pleasure with one of my department head.” Seryosong sabi ni Irene habang nakatitig kay Wendy “You’re lucky at hindi ka pa nakasign ng kontrata sa company when I walked into you with Ms. Ahn on her desk or I would have fired you right there and then. You’re great at what you do, that I admit but you’re not irreplaceable Ms. Son.”

Hindi naman napigilang matawa ng malakas ni Joy “Burned! You are totally burned.” Pang-aasar ni Joy kay Wendy na natahimik sa sinabi ni Irene.

 

“Well…” Sabi ni Wendy na halatang nabigla sa narinig “I’ll do my best to not get replace.” Then huminga sya ng malalim “Anyway as I was saying earlier, you just really look familiar.” Habang nakatitig kay Joy “Yung mata mo… lalong lalo na yung mga mata mo.”

“Wag kang masyadong tumitig sa mga mata ko, baka mainlove ka.” Pabirong sabi ni Joy

 “Well, you’re too late Ms. Park. I don’t think you’ll be able to get my eyes on you no matter how long I stare.” Huminto si Wendy sa pagsasalita tapos ngumiti “I am lost inside someone’s eyes already.”