Tumikhim muna ako bago umayos ng tayo. Pasimple kong pinununasan ang pawis ko sa nuo, halos sumabog na ang puso ko sa matinding kaba, habang nararamdaman pa din ang tingin ni Tope, sa'kin. I don't want him to feel that I'm nervous and uncomfortable.
Lumunok ako pinipigilan ang paghinga ng malalim kahit galing ako sa matinding pagtakbo kanina. Para akong sinasakal habang pinipigilan ang malakas na paghinga. Matinding pagod ang naramdaman ko kanina noong papunta ako dito... Ngayon hindi ko na alam kung ano ang nararamdaman ko.
I didn't expect he was here. I thaught the engineers Cyril talking about is the other engineers from Prince company. Akala ko wala siya dito... Hindi ko inaasahan na nan dito siya. Sa haba ng panahon na hindi ko siya na kita at ngayon na nan dito na siya sa harap ko. Alam kong malaki na talaga ang pinagbago niya.
"I'm very sorry, I'm late..." Pinipigilan kong maghabol ng hininga mula sa nakakapagod na pagtakbo.
"Yes! You are very late! We're not here to waste our time,"
Aksidente akong napatingin sa direksyon ni Tope, dahil sa pagsasalita niya. Gulat akong nakatingin sa kaniya. I saw the coldness of his eyes when I met him.
"The call time is 9:30 but it's already 11am, almost lunch break..." He sarcastically said, "Do you think you are important?"
"No,... Sir," I bit my lower lip.
Napayuko ako sa sinabi ni Tope nang bahagya. Pakiramdam ko ay napahiya ako dahil sa nadinig ko ang bulungan kagad ng mga tao dito sa loob.
"Your team was waiting for you... Dapat kanina pa na tapos ang meeting na ito at nakapili na, but Engineer Cyrus asked if we can still wait you... Cuz the presentation project of your team is in your hand...." One of the board member said.
"This project is important... And we are looking for the engineer who are in control of their time and responsible," he said again.
"I-I'm so sorry..."
"We don't need your sorry here," he hissed.
Tuluyan muli akong napatingin sa kaniya. He don't have any expression. The only thing I saw him is he's really dissapointed and at the same time he was mad.
"I didn't expect I will be late, Sir...Cause I'm in travel when I came here," I politely said, "I forgot this meeting, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to wait you here."
"So you are busy for other businesses when you came here... So meaning to say, you don't really want this project, Engineer Craig?" Sabi ni Dominic, he was smiling at me.
Agad akong tumingin sa kaniya.
"I'm not saying I don't need this project, I'm just busy with important matter... It's private just you to know," hindi ko mapigilang sagot dahil naiirita ako sa ngiti niya.
"How imortant is that para pag antayin kami ng ganito? You have boyfriend? Girlfriend?"
Medyo nagulat ako sa tanong ni Tope, hindi ko alam na pati iyan iisipin at itatanong niya.
"N-No, Sir... I don't have boyfriend or girlfriend,"
He sighed heavily. Umayos siya ng upo at inayos ang kanyang necktie. Their eyes on me right now. I felt more nervous.
"Start your presentation project 'cause it's very late, we have many things to do." He said.
Huminga ako ng malalim at saka inayos ang laptop ko. Nanginginig ang kamay ko ng i-saksak ko ang flash drive ko sa aking laptop. One of my team helped me to distribute the copies of my presentation project. Binigyan niya nang tagisa-isang copy ang mga ito ng mga larawan na naisip ko sa project.
