The Experiment 2: The Journey

Christmas Ball

RJ and Dei walked to the balroom entrance of the bank-turned-event place in Downtown Manhattan, that TrendBuzz had rented for their company Christmas party. This year's event gathered not only the employees on the main headquarters but also the ones from their offices in other US states too - San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago - and for that, they needed a bigger venue.

He helped her shrug off her coat and handed it to the coat check girl before leading Dei to the ballroom with his arm firmly planted around her waist. He introduced her to almost everyone they met, too proud to let every single person in the party know that the beautiful woman beside him was his wife.

"Dei! It's nice to see you again," Mark's voice boomed as he greeted her. He was standing by the buffet table, assisting his wife in getting some helpings of the delectable cuisines that their caterer had provided. "I was half expecting you to transfer to the main HQ with RJ, but I heard you landed a job at Hearst?"

"I did, yes," Dei answered pleasantly as she shook his hand and his wife's.

"Well, if you ever get tired of the stiffness there, please know that you are always welcome to come back," he said, smiling at her. "A creative brain like yours is something we'd be happy to have back in our pool, but of course I wish you all the luck in Hearst."

"Thank you, Mark," she answered. "So far things are going great and are still interesting, but I will keep your offer in mind."

RJ glanced at the entrance when he heard a familiar voice grumpily complaining about the heavy snow outside, and he looked at Dei who was now deep in conversation with Mark's wife.

"Babe, turn around. My surprise has just arrived," he whispered, while giving Mark's wife an apologetic smile.

Dei looked up at him questioningly and then turned around.

"Matt!" she exclaimed happily when she saw her former boss standing by the ballroom entrance, grumpily brushing snow off his hair.

Matt's face brightened at once when he saw them. "DEIJAY!!!!" he practically screamed, making almost all heads in the ballroom turn. Matt rolled his eyes at everyone and took long strides toward RJ and Dei with his nose turned up in the air. He ran to them when he was just a meter away and let out a suppressed shriek. "Oh my god, Dei, you look absolutely gorgeous, girl!" he said, hugging Dei tightly. "And you, RJ, wow. Marriage looks so good on you both."

Dei laughed, completely forgetting about Mark and his wife. "Thanks, Matt. And you look so great yourself!" she exclaimed.

"I know, dah-ling," he replied, flipping his imaginary long hair.

"I missed you so much!" she said, squeezing his hands. "When did you get here?"

"This morning, and what a welcome New York has given me," he said, rolling his eyes as he pulled her to a nearby table. RJ stayed behind to get some food. "I have been waddling in snow since I got here."

"Well, you'll definitely miss the warm weather in the Philippines," she said, smiling. "Congratulations on the promotion, by the way."

"Thank you! But enough about me. How are you? Did you know your followers are still bugging me about you guys! That's why we couldn't take your page down, it's still getting much traffic after all these months. Your fans are still watching your old videos and looking at your pictures, it's amazing!" he said, smiling as RJ placed a plate of food in front of him. "Thanks, Jay."