It was a beautiful Monday morning for Kimberly Chiu or “Kim” which people use to call her, a daughter of a rich businessman who owns the Sunrise Hotel , one of the prestigious Hotels in the Philippines,  as she was getting dress for work at her own bag boutique within the city streets, She wears a gorgeous mini floral dress,  a cute pink Charles & Keith flat shoes and a topshop peach colored cardigan, she then stood infront of the mirror after she placed on  a pair of  pearl earrings  to complete her look. Satisfied with what she’s weaing, Kim took her chanel chain shoulderbag with her and left her room locked.

“Good morning!” Kim greeted walking towards their 10 seat dining area where she saw her parents having breakfast.

“Good morning my pretty angel” Emma, her mom, greeted back sweetly and gave Kim a kiss on her forehead “Sit down and have breakfast” Emma just arrived last night  from her one week vacation with her amigas in Brazil and Kim was excited to see her because she was always close to her Mom ever since she was a little girl.

“So how’s Brazil, mom?”  Kim asked “we didn’t had a chance to talk kagabi eh, kasi sobrang napagod ka sa long flight mo”  Kim said as she sat down with her parents for a breakfast.

“Brazil’s beautiful anak, may pinanood kaming fire dance along the beach there, and they were amazing! I have pictures, I’ll show you later. sabi ko nga, dapat next time, tayo naman ang pumunta, the whole family, and you know what’s exciting? Shopping!” Emma said, Kim consistently listening to her mom’s kwento while she’s slicing a piece of tocino on her plate “Yung mga bargains doon, Fabulous! Kahit tiangge like yun, their items are puro designer ones! and very affordable”

“really? Wow. Vacation naman tayo dun minsan, diba dad? What do you think?”

“Anong vacation?” Albert, Kim’s dad questioned when he heard kim asked in the middle of him reading the newspaper “We can’t go on for a vacation, madaming trabaho sa hotel, can’t you see? (paused) E paano mo naman malalaman, lagi ka na lang nandiyan sa shop mo, Hindi naman kita maasahan eh”

“Albert” Emma spoke “Nagtatanong lang naman ang dalaga mo, tama na, okay” gently tapping his husbands, arm.

“Hindi yun Emma, This what gets me worried. Hindi na nga siya maasahan sa business puro pa pag babakasyon ang nasa isip ng anak mo” Albert said with his voice on high, he turns to look at Kim “Ikaw Kim, alam mo naman kahit ayoko na i-pursue mo yang designing career mo, e hindi ko ginawang pigilan ka, pero ang hinihiling ko lang, asikasuhin mo rin ang hotel dahil may mga business deals ako sa ibang bansa, tumatanda na ko at kailangan ko ng katulong sa negosyong to. Naiintindihan mo ba ako Kimberly?”

Kim nodded, speechless.

“Do you understand?” Albert asked again, looking closely to Kim waiting for an honest reponse.

Kim sighed “Yes, dad”

Albert set aside his newspaper and stood up. “I’ll see you then later at the hotel, I don’t care what time, I need to see you,  mag uumpisa ka ng matuto na kailangan mong gawin sa hotel” He kissed her wife on the cheek “I’ll better get going”. Albert left.

Sunrise hotel was the Chiu’s business for a long time, it was handed down by their great grandparents, and during the recent years, it was managed by Kim’s older sister, Camille, but when she married her long time boyfriend and they moved to Los Angeles in the U.S., Albert expected Kim to take over on handling the business so he’s teaching Kim how to handle everything  but lately he was getting a lot of failed expectations because Kim doesn’t take it seriously because her first love is designing, designing Bags. With her mom being Kim’s confidant and a supporter for whatever she wants to do, she provided the money for the making of her own boutique when she was still in college. and after graduating five months ago, she’s been very focus on her own designing business and she doesn’t want anything else but this.

At exactly 10 o’clock in the morning, Kim arrived at the boutique driving her own car,  she park her black Mazda 3 SUV just across the street.

“Good morning ma’am” everyone greeted her when she entered  the glass  door “Good morning” she greeted back with a plain smile, Kim headed to the boutique’s office where she found her best friend and her assistant on handling the shop, Maja , busy doing the designs in front of the computer , Kim placed her bag on top of the table, sat down and held a huge sigh

 “O? Bakit mah friend? “Ano nangyari sayo’t mukhang byerne santo nanaman yang mukha mo with matching buntong hininga ka pa diyan?” she asked, disturbed by Kim’s facial expression “Ay teka, let me guess, tungkol kay tito Albert nanaman yan, noh?”

Kim rolled her eyes “E ano pa nga ba mah friend? Lagi naman eh. Umagang umaga may nasasabi nanaman siya saakin, Alam mo yung ang ganda ng gising mo, plus today’s Monday then you’re expecting that the whole week will be hassle-free. Kaso wala eh, na binggo nanaman ako sa bahay”

“parang di ka naman nasanay ka tito mah friend, diba nga sabi ko sayo, one day ma rerealize din ni tito yung talagang gusto mo. Chill lang” Maja advised while still busy working “Sana nga mah friend, Hindi ko kasi siya masagot eh, feeling ko kasi mas magagalit siya saakin kung sagutin ko siya. Kaya ineexpect ko na lang na ma realize niya kung ano talaga gusto ko.” Kim said.

“Mangyayari din yan mah friend. O siya, tama na nga ang drama, siya nga pala, tumawag si Gerald saakin kanina” Maja stood up and sat down beside Kim, Gerald was Kim’s ex-boyfriend, they broke up a year ago and until now, Gerald’s been trying to win her back “Gerald?!” Kim reacted “Bakit daw? Diba nasa States siya?”

“Oo” Maja replied “E hindi ka daw niya ma contact, kasi diba nag palit ka ng number tapos hinihingi niya, Alam mo bilib din ako dun no, napaka pursigido, gusto niya talagang magkabalikan kayo ulit”

“Oo nga mah friend eh. Pero hindi ko kasi kaya, pag tapos ng lahat ng ginawa niya”

“oo yung pinagpalit ka sa tisay na mukhang bakulaw” Maja laughed so hard

“Sira ka talaga mah friend! tama na nga yan, dami pa nating clients.  pupunta pa kong hotel mamaya.” Kim said and started to pull a bunch of papers under her desk and started to work. Maja went back to what she’s doing while she just can’t stop giggling of what she remembered.