Bakit 'Di Na Lang Totohanin? (ALDUB-inspired)

Five

"Thanks for the offer, but as you can see, I have a shitload of stuff I need to finish before I can call it a day," she gestured at the amount of paperwork littering her usually uncluttered desk.

"Where did all those come from?" I don't recall seeing assistants' desks this cluttered with proofs and other paperwork before.

"Not too sure, but I can give you three guesses and the first two don't count."

I don't think I need a genius to figure out what Maine was referring to. I rounded her desk and dropped my stuff on the floor by her desk. I went and grabbed the same chair I used earlier when I ate lunch with her and pulled it around so I was sitting on the same side of the desk as her.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"What do you think I'm doing?"

"You don't have to stay because I'm staying."

"Yes, I do," I insisted. "Diba meron tayong usapan?" I was referring to her text earlier asking me to swing by her place so we could talk.

"I didn't forget. I was going to text you to reschedule a later time."

"No need to do that. I can help you deal with this disaster pile of yours then be on our way," I offered.

"None of these proofs are yours so no need to help out," she pointed out, probably she was thinking that would dissuade me.

Wrong.

"I know none of those proofs are mine, but still I'm lending you a hand para mas mapabilis ang gawa mo."

"Salamat sa offer, pero hindi mo naman talaga ito trabaho," she insisted.

"I know it's not, but I think I'm mostly to blame for it."

"Vivianne is out to get me, isn't she?"

I dropped on the seat I rolled to her desk area and let out a long sigh. "Vivianne needs to grow up," I muttered. Seriously, that woman needs to get her shit together and realize we are all adults here now.

"She needs to learn to accept rejection gracefully," Maine muttered and turned her back to me. At least she stopped shooing me away. She got busy looking at the stacks of proofs on her desk before grabbing a handful and inabot niya iyon sa akin over her shoulder. "Might as well make yourself useful then and help me," she said then looked over her shoulder to give me instructions on what she wanted done with the pile she handed over.

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Maine's POV

IN AS MUCH AS I HATE TO ADMIT IT, I was really thankful for Alden's help with the proofs that landed all on my desk since after lunch today. I knew that stunt he pulled after lunch would get me into trouble with Vivianne and her posse; she got back at me for enjoying another 'lunch date' with Alden by telling all the assistants to leave the other reps' proofs with me to handle.

"Is that the last of them?" tanong ni Alden after he finished sorting the last stack of proofs I handed him. He started a nice proofs pile on the floor behind me, each pile was designated for each of the reps whose proofs I was all of a sudden looking after.

"Uh-hm," I nodded and glanced at his neat pile on the floor. He asked me for some sticky notepads earlier and used them to write each rep's name and post it on the wall, beneath the sticky note was a pile for each rep's name. "Nice filing system you got going there. Grab those stickies off the wall and place them on the top proof envelope before putting them in a single pile, would you please?"