There Was You (Completed)

17 - And The Winner Is...

There's something palpable in the air as their smiling eyes met across the room, both unable to look away as if a spell was cast.

No one dared to speak and disturb the moment except for Ate Kai opening door. She looked from one to the other. Maine was quick to look down while Richard, after saying hi to the intruder, returned his gaze on the blushing girl in front of him.

A/N: Intruder talaga? Pop quiz, ano ginagawa sa panira ng moment? Galing ng timing mo teh!

"Ateng, nakita ko yon. Huwag nang itago. Kayong dalawa, sino may sabing dito ang meeting? Andoon na si Ma'am Ruby at si architect, ano to date?"

Maine looked at her with alarm. "O practice lang, baka himatayin ka teh. Basta sabi ko sa 'yo panalo yung kandidato ko. Tingin pa lang winner na!"

Richard was already frowning when Maine glanced at him, obviously not getting the conversation. "Don't mind her, she doesn't mean anything."

"Yes, don't mind me, mind her, chos! Ang sweet! Ano pang ginagawa n'yo? Go!"

There's now a new awareness on Maine's side as they walked to the other building to join the others. She now notices how his eyes would crinkle when he smiles or laugh, how his dimple would still be prominent whatever the expression on his face.

She took note of little things like how it's very natural for him to open doors for others, how he's at full attention while listening when others are speaking, how he's very attentive to details, how he doesn't monopolize conversation but encourage others to voice out their opinion.

A/N: Like how, haw, haw de carabao. Naku, iba na 'yan Ms. Maine. Wala na, tapos na boksing!

The sad part though was she was not able to talk to him again after the tour because he got an emergency call from the office.

Call it a break or a blessing in disguise. It's a good thing because she needs the time to sort this new discovery and really think what she's going to do about it. Mahirap nang magkamali.

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Richard's emergency as it turned out, is a meeting with Eric as they discussed their review findings. Printed plans are scattered on the conference room table, along with papers showing computations.

"Baka naman nagkakamali ka lang? O baka typo lang sa yung sa kanila."

A/N: Typo ba kamo? Pasensiya na at kailangang umusad ang kuwento sa kabilang ibayo. Promise po, relevant to.

"Andiyan lahat sa drawings Eric, binawasan ng 0.5" lahat ng portions ng kalsada na paliko. At dahil maraming winding part sa highway na yan, the total is substantial."

"Look bro, this is your first time reviewing a roadwork, what if it's designed that way? Itanong muna natin."

"I know, kaya nagcompare ako ng ibang designs, whatever I can get sa network drive natin and public records. It's not supposed to be that way."

"Then what are you implying Richard?"

"Eric, theory ko lang, puwedeng mali. Topgrade materials ang gagamitin sa project na 'to. Nung tiningnan ko yung bill of materials, it's as if walang discrepancy yung estimates, kumpleto.

"I don't like where this is going, bro."

"Nakita mo yung estimates Eric. The portions with discrepancy that I'm talking about totals roughly to 5km out of the 100km. Not much but if you compute, that's a cool php25M of extra materials na hindi gagamitin or hindi bibilhin. Where will the materials or the money go? Hindi ko alam kung meron pa, structural drawings lang ang pina-review sa 'tin."