“My heart suddenly raced abnormally. It’s hard to be straightforward sometimes, it can be dangerous. I was about to respond when my phone suddenly rang. It was right beside me, so I quickly answered to see who it was.“Hello?” It was noisy on the other line, people were shouting.[Wiiiiitccch! Where are you?! Why didn’t you come to work? Oh my gosh! Did you run away? I thought you didn’t have a boyfriend?”]I chuckled at what he said, it was Jaycee being Jaycee, such a flirt. It made me forget the nervousness I felt earlier.“I’m okay, I’ll tell you when we see each other. Why is it so noisy?”[“The girls are excited. There’s a new guy in the other department, they say he’s handsome.”]I don’t remember hearing about a new guy. I’ll probably ask about it when I get to the office.“Okay, see you later. I might take a half day off.” I replied, just to get away from the situation and prepare to go to work.[“Okay, take care, okay? Love you! Mwa!”]I smiled at what he said, he’s so cute wh
Flashback“Shit! I told you to come with us, damn it!” said the man I didn’t know. We were behind the school, my vision blurred from the tears that had been flowing. I was scared, I didn’t have any serious enemies to be kidnapped like this.“W-wait, w-why me? I-I don’t know anything!” I tried to say, even though they were already holding me and I was about to be put into the car.“We need you! Just you, we’re sure that asshole will kneel before us if we have you! So come with us if you don’t want to get hurt!” shouted the man in front of me. He was my classmate when I was a freshman, why was he involved in this?I felt a strong punch to my stomach before I completely lost the strength to fight back. Even though my mind didn’t want to, my body wasn’t moving to escape their tight grip on me. I think my tears weren’t even dried yet, but I was already sobbing as they finally pushed me into the van that had been parked on the side. They sandwiched me.“Have you called that asshole yet? I’m
Four years ago “The rain is really strong, is there a typhoon?” I stopped writing in my notes and looked out the window, the rain was indeed strong. With all the things we’re doing, I don’t know anymore what the weather is like these days. It’s Friday afternoon, almost five o’clock, but it’s very cold and dark, this will be the last month of the first semester of the second year, time flies, there’s more work to be done. “I don’t know, we have so much to do, I haven’t watched the news for days.” I answered and wrote again. “Did you finish the draft for our research? We need to finish that so we can submit it.” I reminded her, I’m almost done with the notes I’ll use for reviewing later, it’s our finals next week, then completion of requirements. “Yes, I’m almost done, I’ll send it to you tonight, you can just edit it, Jem and the others have finished their part.” I just nodded in response, because I’m really busy with my notes. “How’s my baby doing?” She asked absentmindedly, looki
The meeting ended quickly, we just finalized the location for the team building, the budget to allocate, the number of days, and the food to bring. We also included games and who would be in each group. Since it’s a team building, we drew lots to determine the groups, and the people in your group will also be your group during the outing, and guess what, you’re with— “Hey, lucky you! You’re with hunk Jaxon, don’t drool, or I’ll sue you!” I rolled my eyes at my friend’s comment, she’s really something. I sighed and looked again at the paper I’m holding, why is life like this? The ones you want to avoid are the ones closest to you, it’s really annoying. I don’t want to remember everything, but why does it have to be like this? Why us? We’re not just in the same group, we’re also sharing a tent, Wtf? I just went back to my table and organized my things, I have no intention of working overtime today, I just want to rest, I feel really bad, my head hurts, I’ve been sleep-deprived for d
“Is everyone here?” President asked us, he also joined our team building today, “Okay, let’s do the head count.” He said, and we started the headcount.There are forty-three of us in total, from three departments, the meeting place is in front of the company, and the meeting time is three o’clock, luckily almost no one was late, except me of course, it seems like it’s my hobby to be late, I just can’t seem to be at ease if I’m not late for any of my appointments. I just laughed at what I said, I really seem crazy with what I’m doing.We chose Zambales for our team building, I’m not very familiar with it even when I used to live here in Zambales, I was mostly just at home and school, I wasn’t in the mood to go out, it was rare, because I don’t usually go this far, so I’m somehow excited. I’ll be able to rest too.I put on my sunglasses before we got out of the van, our trip took about four hours from the company to here, and it wasn’t really that tiring, we rented a van that knows the
“Okay, I guess everyone’s full now? Especially you, Elara?” Everyone laughed at what Pres said, I just smirked and bowed my head. I ate the most, I was the first and last to go out to the field, it’s delicious, and I was hungry, I didn’t have breakfast so I made up for it, oh well. “For today, we will be having our first activity, just a warm-up, so don’t worry, for those who are competitive, you can make up for it tomorrow, for now, let’s just chill, so by pair—oh, do we have a pair of new recruits already? Speedy, huh.” Everyone laughed so I looked back to find him because I was facing the front, I almost fell when I saw him behind me, grinning like a fool and leaning on me. “Okay, I got distracted by this handsome guy, the first game will be ‘drawing.’ Okay, okay, before you complain, hold on.” Everyone laughed again, Pres really likes to chat. “Okay, this game will be played by pairs, in this game, you will be needing a whiteboard or a blank flip chart page.” He handed each of
“Hey, they said it’s time to eat, let’s go out.” Alex pulled me, Jaycee was with him, both of them had big grins on their faces, so I just rolled my eyes at them. After the game earlier, we agreed to go around, but I didn’t really go around, I just took pictures of the places we passed by. “What was that earlier, huh? Mr. Handsome was giving you kisses!” Alex teased, so I elbowed him. “Ouch!! That hurts, you witch!” He shouted and pulled my hair. “I love you, Ahhhhhhhh!!! Creepy!! Your panties are wet!” JC teased, even though I was annoyed, I still laughed, JC was always like this, no filter, embarrassing, someone might hear us while we’re walking. “But seriously, why are you avoiding each other when it’s obvious that you have a past? Are you playing hard to get? Do you think you’re pretty?” He said and playfully pulled my hair, so I slapped him and pushed him away, “Ouch, you’re so mean! Don’t tell me you think you’re prettier than me!” This guy won’t stop. “So, what’s the catch?” T
I stepped back to distance myself from him. I didn’t know what to say, contemplating whether to just leave or continue the conversation. I turned away and started walking, but he didn’t follow or speak. It seemed like he was used to me doing this, which made me feel even more guilty. I couldn’t move further, so I stopped and faced him. He was still leaning against the wall where he was earlier.“Um, do you want to take a walk?” I didn’t know what else to say! “But wait, hey!” He suddenly pulled me out.I didn’t know where he was taking me, but knowing Jaxon, he wouldn’t put me in danger, so I just let him lead me. We stopped near the shore, almost at the edge. He guided me to sit on a high rock. I smiled because I could clearly see the sea and the moon from here. It was incredibly beautiful and relaxing. Scenes like this never get old for me; I could stare at them every night, and it would be fine by me.“Why did we come here?” I asked. Weren’t we supposed to take a walk?“After the g