Behind Every Man (COMPLETED)

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Hey..." sabi ni Archie nang sagutin niya iyong tawag ko.

"Hi," I replied. "How's the first day?"

The previous mayor tried to question the result of the election, but I wasn't worried about that. Hindi kami nandaya. I mean, if there's a need for that, I would not be totally opposed to rigging the election. But rigging the election meant spending money... And I was preparing for a bigger battle.

People really just voted for Archie. The sooner he accepted that, the better it would be for him. He just looked pathetic. Ayaw na rin naman ng mga tao sa kanya rito. His family's been in power for decades at walang pagbabago na nangyayari sa lugar na 'to. People wanted change—and that's why I chose Archie. He's young and full of promise. He just needed the right person beside him to make it all work.

And it worked.

He's the mayor now.

"It's going well," he replied.

"That's good to hear," sabi ko sa kanya.

I wanted to be with him today. First day in office? That's exhilarating. Mas gusto ko na maging mayor muna siya para alam niya kung paano iyong executive. Presidency is an executive work, so being a mayor should be a nice training ground. Sa susunod ay congress na dahil kailangan na mas marami ang makakilala sa kanya. Right now, the goal is to collect cookie points. There's no room for error—not when I know that in the future, si Maven ang possible na makalaban namin. I mean, hopefully not. Hindi naman malabo. Maven's as unpredictable as one could get. It would only take one name for him to flip his world around.

"Did you receive the flowers?" he asked.

"What—" I said and then paused when I remembered. "Oh, right. Thank you for that."

Sandali siyang natahimik.

"Did you do any work today?" I asked because I wanted to know what happened today. I could ask him later, but I wanted to hear it from him now. I would rather be there with him, but I still had a business to run. I just needed to finalize some details, but I would be passing the management to someone else. Ako na lang ang magbibigay ng final approval, pero iba na ang magpapalakad. I was more interested in politics, anyways. This business' just a way to keep me busy. Being idle will drive me insane.

"Not any real work," he replied.

"So, what did you do?"

"Mostly people introducing themselves to me," he said. "I'd known some of these people for years."

"Be careful. Most of them just wants something from you."

"I know," he replied. "Did you not like the flowers?"

"I did," I said. "So, just meet and greet today?"

"Yes," sabi niya. "I still needed to decide who I will replace or retain, apparently."

"Right... We need to be think about that carefully. We don't want the wrong people in certain positions."

I remember hearing my Abuela tell me that the key to a successful administration is having the right people by your side. She said that she didn't have to like these people, but if they're the right person for the job, then personal feelings have to be set aside. It's just work, she'd always say.

But at the same time, you have to make sure that these people know where their loyalty is.

One mistake and they're out—that's the rule. So that they know how to always stay in line.