Champorado

23

Claire huffs and waves him away. "Shoo, ako na dito."

Gelo smiles at her. "Come to my office after."

Jiya nods at him, and he leaves.

Claire sits her down sa couch and gives her a small iced coffee. "Like Gelo said, brief rundown of tasks lang tayo for today. Essentially, I arrange all the manuscripts coming in from our recruitment team and screen them bago ma-pass kay Gelo. I also keep track of his schedule—mga meetings niya with his higher-ups, conferences, or meetings with authors. I sit in with them din, so you might come, too. Gelo values our opinions since tayo rin ang nagbabasa ng manuscripts. You know what kind of books Theo & Brom publishes naman, right?"

Jiya nods eagerly, fingers shaking in excitement sa hawak niya sa coffee.

"Great!" Claire says with a smile. "Also, I help him a lot sa editing process, and we keep track of our marketing sa mga books especially kapag launching na. Keeping up?"

Jiya nods.

"We'll be dividing our tasks, so sobrang thank you kasi ngayon lang ako nagkaroon ng katulong." She sighs heavily and shakes her head. "Maarte kasi si Gelo sa mga taong nakaka-work niya, so let's do our best to make his job a little easier, alright?"

She smiles and nods again. "Yes po."

"Please—no po," she laughs. "I'm only a few years older than you, okay? Let's stick with first name basis, since gano'n din kay Gelo. Ah, also, I know sobrang gwapo niya, but don't let his looks fool you or charm you into working overtime. Mahilig siyang mag-stay after work hours and I stay with him sometimes kasi nagui-guilty ako, but mostly because nakakainis, ang gwapo ng itsura niya masyado. Dapat 'di masyadong ma-stress. Kaya don't do it—'wag kang papahulog sa mukha niya, Jiya."

She laughs and shakes her head. "Okay, noted po—noted."

Claire shows her their Excel sheets and the manuscripts she's working on right now, giving her a feel of what she'll be doing pagdating niya sa office after finals. After that, she hugs her and says, "I'm so excited to work with you, Jiya! I'll see you soon, okay? Dala kang decorations for your desk, you'll be here a while."

Jiya feels happy pagkaalis niya because she's so glad Claire is so friendly and welcoming. Sobrang appreciated niya na good working environment na agad ang salubong sa kanya.

Gelo looks up from his laptop on his desk when she knocks and steps inside hesitantly.

He smiles at her and asks her to take a seat. "Sorry, masyado ka bang dinaldal ni Claire?"

"No," she says with a smile, shaking her head. "I'm really glad. Mas lalo pa yata akong na-excite now that I know what I'll be working on."

His smile widens as he watches her face. "Good. HR has your bank details na, you have daily allowance here as well." He stands and leads her outside, opening the door for her. "That's essentially it, but do you wanna grab something to eat for lunch? The food's good sa baba."

Ayaw niyang maging abala kay Gelo especially since he looks like he has a lot of work, so she shakes her head and smile sin gratitude. "That's fine, thank you. I'll get going, may sundo naman ako. Thank you so much, and I'll see you soon."

"Okay," he says, grinning. "Ingat ka pauwi. I'm glad you're here now, Jiya."

Jiya nods back at him, and she smiles at the employees she passes by downstairs who wave at her in goodbye.

Nag-lunch sila ni Migo sa isang Korean restaurant, and Jiya tells him all about her day. Nakikinig lang siya na pinapanood si Jiya, nasa fist ang chin, nakangiti.