Lying, Cheating Hearts (Completed)

Chapter 1

I don’t know why I'm walking towards him, why I’m meeting him. Well aside from a work-related reason, I’m curious how he is now.

Should I be doing this? Kung tutuusin pwede kong iutos ‘to. Pero sa loob-loob ko, parang, I have to and I don’t know why.

Medyo kinakabahan ako. Bakit kaya? Eh, it’s been years.

My hands are clammy, I’m sweating a bit. Iniwan ko na nga sa office yung coat ko. Pero baka pinagpapawisan ako kasi naglakad ako 5 blocks from the office to Megamall? Ang traffic naman kasi. Useless if mag-drive pa ako. At sandali lang naman ‘to. Naka white short sleeves polo ako and pencil skirt, hindi naman mainit ito ah. Malamig din naman dito sa Megamall. Tissue, I need tissue. Sweaty na ang kili-kili ko.

When I knew that he responded well when one of our Headhunters called him for a job for one of our clients, meaning he would like to be endorsed and apply for our client’s vacancy, napangiti ako. Nacurious ako. Kumusta na kaya sya?

Our Headhunter, Lisa, the one who called him, even mentioned my name to establish connection, to build rapport with him. I told Lisa to call him as I saw him on LinkedIn, as he is one of my connections on the professional networking site. I absentmindedly added him as a connection a few months back. Wala lang.

Lisa was looking for a Vendor Manager for one of our esteemed clients. When I saw my search on LinkedIn, I saw his name, and I saw that he is a Vendor Manager for a Telco Company. Pasok sya sa requirement ni Lisa. Pwede syang maplace ni Lisa sa client namin. And that would mean revenue for us, commission namin ni Lisa at addition sa target ko.  

I am an Operations Manager of a Headhunting firm - VioSearch. We get clients and we recruit for our clients. Wala lang naman saking ipasa sya kay Lisa for her consideration. We like to please our clients with lots of endorsements. So hopefully he could be one. At mas maganda nga if maplace namin sya sa kliyente namin.

Ronald Ralph Villanueva and I were schoolmates in high school, college and we used to work together. He was two years older than me pero magkadikit ng batch. I studied a year earlier than my peers. So he’s 29 now and I’m 27.

I told Lisa our school and old work connection para mapabilis ang process, para tawagan agad sya ni Lisa. She did. And he is for endorsement na nga hence this meeting at Megamall.

I drew a deep breath when I saw him. I planned my smile on the way and I didn’t know why I did plan to smile or how I will be when I see him, pero I did.

Pero it got lost, natraffic ang utak ko nung nakita ko sya. I automatically smiled… a different, awkward, happy-to-see him smile.

“Hi Aileen!” Tayo nya at bati nya. Hmmm, he was early and still really tall. He bowed down to kiss my cheeks. Ay, bat ang bango nya?

Napasinghap ako. He looked really good. You can describe how he looks, pero smile pa lang nya natunaw ka na. Solb ka na.

We were at a restaurant in Megamall, sa Atrium side na overlooking Ortigas – St. Francis Square, J.Vargas Ave. and San Miguel Complex, and though he tried to look casual with a blue button down shirt and khakis, he stood out from the few who were eating at that restaurant. He was beaming. You can see that the years that have passed have been good to him.