Her Achilles' Heel

2

Raja

Isang malawak na nakangiting Lauren ang sumalubong sa akin ngayon.

"Raja my friend!"

I laughed at her antics, and we both hugged each other.

"How's L.A.?" She asked when we untangled ourselves away from one another.

"Same. Traffic, hot, and still one of the most visited cities." I responded.

"How are you?"

Then she turned to me, we even stopped walking because of how she was standing in front of me.

"Hanep men! Ang boring ng bakasyon ko. Nandito lang sa San Mariano, staycation nangyari eh."

I chuckled and I gave her my pasalubong.

"As promised size 8."

"Woah! Raja you're the best!" She was so excited and took the bag from me.

I gave her the new released sneakers from Adidas. Well, I'm glad she liked it.

"You're welcome." I sheepishly smiled.

We continued walking towards our building. And as expected, there's a lot of stares and greetings towards me.

Sumagot din naman ako.

"Dude, it's like you're the only person they missed instead of their deadlines."

"Ha ha ha very funny Laur."

"Nagkita na ba kayo?" Bigla niyang tanong, which reminds me of my gift.

I got it in my bag. I didn't brought it to her when we saw each other. It made me smile just by the thought of my pasalubong.

"Yeah, when we landed. But today, haven't seen her shadow."

"Oh okay."

Lauren and I went our separate ways for our class. Since it's the start of the second semester of my fourth year, our professor just told us what to expect and the do's and donts in our internship.

Lucky for me, Ma readied our own company for me to be an intern. But I don't really get special treatments.

Since the real world is more harsher than you think. It's not an easy A for me while I intern at the Strife Corp. I still have to work for a new idea to build a new tech.

When all was said and done, lunch time came and I went towards the cafeteria.

Papalabas palang ako ng building namin, nang makita ko ang isang grupo ng mga babae. Pinagwalang bahala ko na sana pero, mukhang ako yata ang pakay.

Someone came forward and greeted me, causing me to stop.

"Hi Raja, uhm pwede bang makisabay sa'yo papuntang caf?"

I don't see no harm about that.

"Sure." I smiled and that made her blush.

I even heard her friends squealed. I just brush it off, I have no idea what was that about.

"Uhm kumusta pala bakasyon mo?" She asked shyly. From her uniform, I think she's a nursing student. We don't wear uniforms unless your department needs you to.

She's asking about my vacation, I wish I could answer her about the truth. But she's a civilian, so no. Hard pass.

"It was okay."

"Uhm. Ito nga pala oh, binili ko galing Cebu for you." She handed me a blue box and I opened it, revealing an expensive bracelet.

We're near at the cafeteria and I heard Lauren called me.