Sarah was busy finishing a power point presentation for her boss, Mr. Juaquin Cuenca Sr. when he entered her office. Her boss sat at the chair across her and nonchalantly said “I am loaning you for three months to my best friend’s son.
She lifted her head from the computer and looked at his boss. “Am, I for loan?” Mr. Cuenca? She asked cynically while she lifted her eyebrow at him which earned her a snort from her boss and supposedly father-in-law.
Her boss circled behind her chair and ran a hand on her back as if telling her to calm down. “My dear My dear, don’t worry he is engaged to be married with "The Iza Calzado", which means you are safe with him.” Her boss teasingly told her.
Let us make this clear, Senior, she usually call her boss this as an inside joke between them. “You will be loaning me with the well known Mr. Bad Boy of business? Why does his company going down that he can’t afford hiring his own executive assistant?” She asked him while directing a pointed look at his direction.
Senior, went back to his sit and faced her again. “His Assistant went AWOL suddenly and he is in need of a replacement ASAP that he can’t afford to interview new ones at this point. So I suggested loaning you first until he found someone suitable for the position.” Her boss casually explained to her.
Sarah can’t believe her boss did that; she was in no way working with his ex boyfriend’s/fiancé best friend. Does Jake know about this? She asked her boss referring to his son and ex fiancé.
“My son has no hold on you already, my dear Sarah. He has no right to react badly.” He told her firmly.
“Well, I guess I don’t have any say on this. It seems that you are already decided. So, when would I start with Mr. Bad Boy?
Tomorrow morning, he will be expecting you at his office before 8 am. Kate, your assistant will fill in with your work here, so don’t worry about me and the office. We are in good hands. He then stood up and headed out of her office.
“Why do I have to work with Jake’s best friend?” She asked herself loudly. She and Gerald did not see eye to eye ever since she became Jake’s girlfriend. She does not know why his blood boils in her presence.
She and Jake used to quarrel because of him. Jake usually tells her to adjust with Gerald’s attitude towards her as he is his best friend. God knows she tried her best to be casually friendly with him but they seem to end-up pissing off each other, more.
Well, she and Jake are done; she does not need to be nice with his best friend even though she is now working for him. She will deal with him professionally and after her time is up working with "The Gerald Anderson, COO and Sole Hire of one of the giants in the Retail Industry- Anderson Marketing Corporation. She will make sure that she will walk away from him without looking back.
“Easy and Simple!” She told herself and continued with the report she was finishing.
The next day she was on her way to the office of the COO of AMC when she was sidetracked by one of her and Jake’s friend and the Marketing Director of AMC, Melissa.
“Sars, what are you doing here? Don’t tell me you left Cuenca Group of Companies and transferred here?” She exclaimed to her.
“No, Mel, I am just on loan, The Big Boss of AMC lost his Executive Assistant and yours truly was tasked by Senior to replace her until Mr. Bad Boy got a replacement.” She sarcastically uttered to her friend.
They were about to enter the elevator when Mel, shrieked to her dismay. “Oh My God, Sars, does that mean that you will be working closely with The Gerald Anderson Jr.?”
“Shh Mel, calm down, unfortunately yes, I have to deal with him, professionally, against my will, though.” She answered her friend and gave her a smirk.
Melissa wished her good luck and went out the elevator as soon as the elevator deposited her to her floor. Sarah was left inside anxiously waiting for the elevator to reach the top floor.
She knocked at his door, and peeked in it. He was apparently talking to someone over the phone when he saw her. He gestured her to come in by waving his hand. She entered his office and slowly walked towards his table. She was waiting for him to finish his phone conversation when he mouthed for her to sit down.
She sat uncomfortably across him and waited for him to finish. He still looks the same. She thought to herself. He still has the warm brown eyes that can melt any woman he will be looking at, and even through the suit he was wearing it was still quite evident that his body was lean and well sculpted.
“Hmm, Guwapo nga, masungit naman at arrogante.” She silently whispered to herself. But amidst her negative feelings towards him, she still feels the same electricity she feels whenever she sees him.
“Kaya nga ayaw ko sana makatrabaho si Mr. Bad Boy dahil makita ko lang siya pumuputok na ang mga nerve endings ko sa inis.” She mumbled to herself. What she didn’t realized was the devil incarnate already ended up his phone call and was literally looking at her with a annoying grin plastered on his face.
“Ohhh Ms. Geronimo, you still hasn’t changed a bit you still looked at me like I am the handsomest guy in the world.” He said to her while wearing his signature arrogant look.
“And how can you tell that, Mr. Anderson?” She countered to him her voice intentionally bored.
Gerald just shook his big head at her. “Sarah Sarah Sarah, kaya siguro pinagaawayan niyo ako madalas ni Jake dati kasi nagseselos siya sa akin, dahil aminin mo guwapong guwapo ka sa akin noh.”
He then gave her an arrogant smile and looked at her waiting for her retort.
“I am here because of business, Mr. Gerald Anderson Jr. and not to be teased by you.” She annoyingly told him.
“If you will not proceed with business, I rather go and tell Senior that you don’t need an EA anymore.” She angrily added. She was about to stand up when he stopped her. “Okay, okay. Business it is.” He told her, obviously amazed by her outburst.
“As you know my EA apparently gone AWOL on me, and because I am dealing with a company crisis right now, I can’t afford to wait for a new one thus you being here.” He explained to her while looking deeply into her eyes.
“Okay, I know that. Senior explained it to me. So what can I help you with?” Sarah asked him, casually.
Some of our employees in our branch in Marikina decided to hold a protest regarding the contractualization program we are planning to implement for rank en file employees in our branches. They recently formed a union and asking demands from the management. I need you to do undercover work at our branches to make sure that no more employees would be enticed to join it. That is your main priority that I will be expecting a report from you weekly and the rest would be the typical EA task you do with Tito Juaquin. Your office is right behind that door which is adjoining mine. The IT department already set- up an email account for you and I already send you a list of things I needed from you for this week. The HR department already sent an e-mail memo telling the departments that you will be my temporary EA until the day we hired a new one. I’ll be extending hours because of the crisis, and I will be expecting the same from you. He said to her with his usual distinguished voice.
She was about to answer him when he added. “Any questions, Sarah?”
“None, I got it. I’ll be at my office if you need me.” She said in his usual professional undertone. She stood up and was about to open the door which will led to her office when he suddenly said. “How’s life treating you, Sarah…Uhm after the break up with Jake?” He asked her gently with a curious undertone in it.
That got Sarah, she turned her head to him and looked directly into his eyes. “It’s none of your business to asked about my personal life, Mr. Anderson, now if you will let me, I have to check the email you send me that way I can start to work on your expectations.” She pointedly told him as she turned her back from him and opened the door to her office, she entered it and shut the door behind her.
“How dare you ask that to me, you don’t have the right!” She hissed annoyingly at herself while starting the laptop computer on her table top.
Sarah had been working for Gerald for almost a month now, when it suddenly struck her that she had not thought of the Cuenca Group of Companies and Senior in a long while. She hates to admit but she was actually enjoying her stay here at AMC. It shocked her, but she now sees a different side of Gerald Anderson Jr. He maybe an arrogant beast around her but in business he is something else, he is a tough cookie to deal with and he is way too smart to outdo him in business, his competitors must load a lot of weapons against him, for them to be able to beat him. He is one hell of a businessman. Sarah found herself learning to respect and admire that side of him. He is a professional when it comes to business. It surprises her that he always first into the office- always there before she got there anyway.
Her newly found respect for him gave way for the smooth working relationship they have now. Ever since she worked for him the neutral hatred for each other seemed to come to an end or more probably declared a temporary ceasefire.
It was Monday Morning; she entered her office and was surprised as she saw him seated on the chair across her table obviously waiting for her.
Sarah went straight to her office chair and faced him. “Do you need something from me, Gerald? She asked wondering if she forgot a scheduled meeting with him this morning.
“Do we have a scheduled meeting this morning that I forgot?” She added.
Gerald was looking at her intently that her nerve endings were starting to pop out of her.
“No, we don’t have a scheduled meeting, I am here to request something from you.” He said to her, with a clear hesitation from his voice.
“If it is a business request, then fire away.” She said casually.
He hesitated for a while and said “I need you to act as Iza, and my fiancée, during my dinner meeting later with the Indian Investor, I am courting for almost two months now.”
Sarah suddenly widened her eyes at him. “You are losing me here, Mr. Anderson, why do I have to pretend to be Iza and be your fiancé. Is this pretending to be her included in my job description?” She asked him sardonically.
“Plus why do you need to bring a fiancé on a business meeting.” She added.
“One question at a time, Sarah. First Question, Iza is in Paris for a function. Second Question, because it is for business, it is within your responsibility to help the COO in whatever form of crisis . Last and not the least, Mr. Shrikanth’s daughter is interested on me and because I have business dealings with her father, I don’t want to send wrong signals thus the reason why I told her I am engaged.” Gerald lengthily explained to her.
“Teka lang, so yes your engaged pero hindi ako ang fiancé mo what if malaman nila na fake pala ang fiancé na pinakilala mo sa kanila?” Sarah asked him.
“They are not aware of the news here in the Philippines, Sarah, they won’t even realized na hindi ikaw si Iza.” He assured her. “If nandito naman si Iza, I won’t asked you to pretend, I just needed his investment badly, kaya If I need to do extreme measures, I'll do, just to get it.”
“I will pretend to be your fiancé, tapos I have to pretend pa na I am Iza.” Sarah annoyingly pointed at him and added. “Sobra na ata pinagagawa mo sa akin Mr. Anderson.” She told him, heatedly.
Sarah, I won’t ask if this investment is not important. I just have to set it straight with Srikanth’s daughter, if not, my dealings with her father might be affected.” He told her, his eyes pleading...
“Just this one time, Gerald, but make sure that things will not get out of hand or else will end up in a more deeper dilemma. And please bear in mind that I am doing this because of business and not to help you personally, ok?
“Ok, you can leave early this afternoon so that you can prepare, I’ll pick you up at your Condo by 7 pm. And thank you.” Gerald said to her as he stood up and headed for the door.
“Haisst , do I have a choice?” Sarah silently whispered to his retreating back….
As instructed by Gerald, Sarah left the office at around 3:30 pm and went straight to the mall to buy a dress for the dinner meeting with him. For one night she will pose as Iza Calzado, Model, Businesswoman, Philippine’s First Daughter and Fiancé of the “Gerald Anderson Jr.”. How can she be her? She told herself while trying to select the right dress for the pretend game.
She ended up choosing a little black dress with plain front and sexy low back with crisscross pattern. Simple but elegantly sexy, she thought. It fits her body like a glove when she tried it on at the shop’s dressing room. She then went to a shoe store and decided on a pair of Multi Colored slingback stiletto to pair with her LBD. After purchasing her outfit she went home to her condo to prepare for the evening ahead.
She arrive the condo after an hour and prepared a light salad for her snack. She then went for a shower and dressed. After the shower she styled her hair in a clean low ponytail and paired it with a light-simple but stunning make-up.
She was about to put on her shoes, when she heard the doorbell. She decided to put her shoes later on and went towards the door bare feet.
Gerald, stood there in front of her doorstep stunned, she is a gift of simple and pure beauty. He can’t help but uttered it to himself.
He looked from her face to her bare feet still reeling on why his best friend let this beautiful woman out of his grasp.
“Mr. Anderson, hello, bakit nakatulala ka diyan?” Sarah asked him a bored curiosity plastered on her face.
Bakit nagulat ka? Do I looked like The Iza Calzado? She added sarcastically.
“You looked wonderful, Sarah.” He finally said.
“Naku, Mr. Anderson, you are losing your touch, where is the arrogant man, I know?” Sarah said half teasing, half amazed with his reaction.
“I am not joking, you really look beautiful tonight.” Gerald said with a slight smile on his lips.
“Well, I have to dahil pagpangapin mo ba naman ako na Iza Cazaldo, eh parang anghel na bumaksak sa lupa yung fiancé mo noh.” She said matter of factly.
Gerald just shook his head and entered the condo.
“Upo ka muna, Gerald, I’ll just put on my shoes.” Sarah said hurriedly.
She then sat on the sofa and started to work on her shoes when Gerald walk towards her and kneeled in front of her. He picked up the right pair of her shoes and slid it at her right foot. He then lifted his head.
“I think we are ready, to go?” He whispered to her.
“Nope, Mr. Anderson, you seems too excited. I’ll just get my purse in my room first, please wait here.” She sternly said.
In the living room, Gerald was still controlling his emotions; he can’t hide the growing attraction anymore.” Admit it Gerald, you are attracted with her, the first time Jake introduced her to you.” He whispered to himself.
“She is off limits, Gerald, you don’t do love and your engaged.” He added.
Inside Sarah’s room, Sarah was controlling the burning awareness inside her. “He looks wonderful and ruggedly handsome in his grey suit.” She thought. “You are done with Love, and he is engaged with the First Daughter, for heaven sake, Sarah…” She whispered to herself while trying to erase her growing attraction to the best friend of her ex fiancé.
She then picked up her purse from her vanity table and went out to join the man who’s making her insides burn.
End of Chapter