400 Days After Fina

Day 420

"Fantastic!" I clap my hands together and smile at everyone. My plan has succeeded. "Then we'll have the initial ads run with ma'am Maria to gain traction and then we'll slowly introduce Melissa to the succeeding projects."

They nodded and smile widely. I continue on with the final details of the marketing campaign when there was a knock on the door and Kate smiled apologetically at us.

"I'm sorry to interrupt. Ma'am Jellane, may emergency call po kayo."

"Excuse me, I'll be back after a few minutes. Francine, continue for me, please." I say to our clients and follow Kate out of the meeting room.

I'm half pissed that Kate would interrupt a big meeting but she did mention it's an emergency. I hope it's not from Jaime because his definition of an emergency is a girl rejecting him for a dude that is way below our league. And right now, I'm not in the mood to coach Jaime's fragile ego from shattering.

"Angel Mercadejas daw po," Kate hands the phone receiver to me.

I pinch my nose bridge as I place the receiver on my ear. I hope this really is an emergency because my headache is dancing on the edge of my pain tolerance.

"Hello, Jellane Ramos speaking."

"Jellane?!" Angel's voice sounds frantic and there's a loud honking in the background as if she's calling by the side of a major road.

"Hey, anong nangyari? Bakit napatawag ka?"

"Jellane, na-holdup ako. Kinuha niya yung cellphone ko saka wallet. Hindi ko alam kung paano ako makakauwi. Nakikitawag lang ako dito."

"Ha? Teka, nasaan ka ba?"

"Nasa Manila na ako. Kararating ko lang. Tulungan mo ako, please?"

I bit my lip and let out a deep breath. "Okay, sige. Nasaan ka?"

"Umm, di pa ako nakakalayo sa bus terminal. May sari-sari store dito na may landline, nakitawag lang ako."

"Anong bus terminal? Saan yan?"

"Teka," I hear her ask someone about her location. "Buendia daw. Malapit sa Gil Puyat LRT station."

"Okay, sige. Nasa office pa ako and di ako sure sa traffic pero bumalik ka na muna sa bus terminal. Dun ka muna sa mga upuan dun maghintay, okay? Mas safe ka dun."

"Okay."

"Nasaktan ka ba?"

"Hindi."

"Good. I'll be there soon, okay? Wag ka aalis. Hintayin mo ako."

"Okay, okay."

"Tumabi ka sa guard. Wag ka aalis jan."

"Opo."

"Sige na. Aalis na ako dito. Hintayin mo ako."

"Sige."

I drop the call and let out another sigh. Kate looks at me worriedly.

"Pakidala yung mga plan sa meeting room." I tell her. "Idistribute mo na."

Kate nods and as soon as she's out of sight, I take another deep breath. I casually touch the side of my head that was hit a couple of weeks ago and feel the small healing cut on my scalp. It hasn't hurt since the incident but I've been wary of every headache that I get in case it's an effect of the hit.

The cut does not hurt and my headache isn't around that particular area so I'm sure my headache is from working. Maybe I should have listened to my doctor and waited another more week before going back to the office. But since I'm already here, I have to face my clients.