Champorado

33

"You are." That's the truth.

"But it also pains me because I see how you freeze up and flinch. You always freeze up when I talk to you about a mistake. You wait for me to shout and to tell you you're a disappointment, did you know that?"

No. No, she did not.

"I don't need to be coddled with how you speak," Jiya tells him. Is this why he's always calm and soft-spoken?

"I don't coddle you," Gelo says. "I just don't want to scare you. And you flinched earlier. No'ng pumasok si John."

Hindi napansin ni Jiya. Maybe she's reminded of how her parents used to slam her door open and stalk toward her.

"You held on to my shirt, did you know?"

Jiya blinks at him. "Huh?"

"Sa likod ko." Gelo doesn't look away from her. "When he started yelling and pointing fingers. You clutched my shirt with your hands."

She didn't know this, either.

"You also flinch when something is being thrown your direction. The other day downstairs, Hannah tossed Nadia her stress ball. You were in between them, and you gripped your wrist."

Kaya ba he enforced a 'hand things in hand and not by air' rule? She found it ridiculous last week, and when she asked, he said, "Office isn't a playground for things to be thrown around."

Jiya tries for a smile. "Are you this observant of your other employees, sir?"

"Just the one I love, I believe." He stands up and stretches. "If you're really grateful, there's cheese and wine in my office after work. Ah, and to your utter surprise—friends. Bibisita sila. That would be equivalent enough to the yelling I had to endure."

That's how Jiya finds herself shaking hands with his friendly friends after work.

"Jiya, right?" the blonde girl, Amelia, asks brightly, handing her a glass. "Gelo's been going on and on about you, I always thought you were imaginary."

"Akala ko rin imaginary kayo."

It makes everyone laugh. Gelo rolls his eyes, standing behind her chair. "I hope this drastically changes your perception of the loser boss you always call me."

"Brave," Alexa chuckles, shaking her hand with a genuine smile. "I'm so glad to finally meet you."

His other friends say the same. They're all in rich and branded clothing, but they don't suffocate the air with their expensive perfumes and perfect postures.

Harold, the charming one with curly hair, even makes a show of tossing cherries in the air and into his mouth. Si Jiya ang kinakabahan kapag napupunta sa suit niya.

They ask about her school, how working with Gelo is, and they tell her stories of their college days and the days after that—and Jiya notices how relaxed Gelo is around his friends, how he laughs freely and loudly, how his ears turn red when they tell her a story of when he got ghosted by a girl in college.

Jiya feels the arm resting on the back of her chair, the accidental knee brushes, the soft laugh in her ear when he leans over her to grab a piece of cheese on a toothpick and holds it in front of her mouth, but she takes it in her hand instead. "You look drunk," he whispers.

She's not. She just feels hot from the wine, but she doesn't feel dizzy or lightheaded. She's just having fun. "I feel tired." She chews the cheese slowly.

"I'll take you home. Don't worry, I didn't drink."

Jiya says goodbye, and they all hang around the door before she leaves with Gelo because they keep hugging her and telling her to come back. "Don't trash my office," Gelo says, grabbing his keys.