Begin Again

Chapter 7

He was brushing his teeth when she walked into the bathroom. Clark rasied an eyebrow as Leah rubbed her eyes sleepily beside him. There wasn't a clock nearby but he knew that this was far earlier than the time she usually woke up. She put toothpaste on her own toothbrush and started brushing beside him.

Clark spit out his mouthful of toothpaste. "You're up early."

Leah held up a finger and then spit out her own toothpaste, quickly rinsing her mouth with water. "Oo, kailangan eh. May problema sa Pop! Cream Soda campaign namin kaya kailangan kong pumasok ng maaga. Tapos ka na dito? Magbibihis ako."

"Wait, you're going now?" Clark asked.

"Oo. Yung team hindi umuwi. Magdamag na sila nasa opisina kaya kailangan ko na pumunta."

"Leah, it's barey five o'clock. Madilim pa sa labas at wala kang taxi na masasakyan."

"Tatawag ako ng Uber."

"Leah," he protested. "Delikado."

"Eh, ano gagawin ko?"

"Wait until a more reasonable hour."

She shook her head in irritation. "Hindi pwede. Emergency nga diba?

"Fine," Clark walked past her and out of the bathroom. "Get dressed. I'll take you."

"Ha? Teka, huwag na..." A hard look from Clark made the protest die on her lips. "Oo na, magbibihis na." She shut the door to the bathroom and Clark pulled out his own clothes from the closet.

Thirty minutes later they were pulling up in front of Leah's office building.

"Thank you Clark!" Leah hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt and shouldered her bag. "Sobrang thank you! Nakakahiya, naabala ko pa trabaho mo."

Clark lifted a thermos from the center divider and handed it to her. "Here. You didn't have breakfast so I made you some coffee."

Leah looked from the thermos to his face and back again, speechless. She sat there in shocked silence for so long that Clark finally shook the thermos in front of her face. She quickly took it from him.

"Thank you." She smiled shyly.

"Eat something okay?"

Leah nodded, still looking stunned.

"Leah?" Clark said after she had just been sitting there staring at him for almost a minute. "Don't you have to go?"

She snapped out of her trance. "Ah oo! Thank you, Clark."

She opened the car door and Clark waited until she was inside of the building to drive away from the curb. He shook his head and couldn't help smiling to himself as he drove.

~

Leah rubbed her forehead and stared at her computer screen, which was becoming nothing but a blur in front of. By her count it has been 18 hours since she was woken up and called into the office. 18 hours of meetings, phone calls, and last minute auditions because their actors (a quite famous young love team) had suddenly been dropped from the commercial because the girl couldn't stop crying and making a scene when she found out that her partner (and apparently unrequited love) had slept with one of her close friends after having too many drinks. Needless to say, Pop! had kicked the pair out of their endorsement, leaving Art Mart without actors for a commercial set to start filming in two days. Now Leah had a bad migraine and she didn't even think she had the energy to go home. Her eyes were closing and she was ready to fall asleep on her desk. She was just mustering up the energy to walk to the couch in her office when her intercom buzzed.