Once Upon A Sailor

Prologue

Prologue

I stared at the papers scattered all over the table. Good thing there wasn't any spilled water on them, because I could swear to God that I would go wild if even a piece were ruined.

The door in front of me opened, and one of my coworkers, Alexandria, came in. She was humming a beautiful melody when walking in, but stopped and looked at me when she saw me.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Do I look okay?" I retorted, still staring at the scattered papers. "Who was the last person to leave the office last night?"

"I don't know. I went up early."

I clicked my tongue and began fixing the mess. I should start reminding them one by one to keep our office clean. Had they forgotten how important these papers were to our current research?

"Wouldn't you mind if I'd have Isla here for tomorrow?" I heard Alex ask.

"As long as she's not going to spill her milk all over the place," I replied.

Alexandria smiled and gently pulled herself away from the doorframe. She walked toward me and started helping me collect the papers.

"She said she wanted to see you," she mumbled between us. "She misses you."

I sighed and looked at her. "I miss your kid too, Alex. But you know how important this thing is for me and for us."

She stared at me. And then I saw that same spark in her eyes when we first met.

Alex once told me that I had the kindest face of a lady. She loved my soft features; that was why she wanted to always look at me when she was pregnant with Isla. She told me she wanted her child to have the same features as me: doe eyes, a small nose, and heart-shaped lips. And when the kid came out, she did copy some of my features, especially my eyes. They were so bright and so wide. Thank God she didn't forget to copy the color of her father's eyes. Ocean blue eyes.

"I understand," she replied, understanding the seriousness of my tone. "But I will still bring her here tomorrow, in case you forgot to cool down a bit." She smiled brightly. "I bought her a new set of toys."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Please don't tell me it's another bag of Legos."

She chuckled. "No, of course. I'm not going to repeat the same mistake again; don't worry. Joe made sure I wouldn't." She winked.

I released another sigh before proceeding to carefully put all the collected papers inside the box. These papers weren't complete yet. We need to counter-check them twice—thrice, if needed. So if there was even one page missing, then this whole freaking research would definitely be the death of us.

After cleaning, I made a brief round inside the office just to check if there were any other messes that could pose a hazard to our work. When I was satisfied, I inclined the doorway to Alex, who was waiting for me to finish, and then we both went out. I locked the door and checked it twice before turning to face my friend, slash workmate.

"So?" I tilted my head to the side. "Why are you down here again?"

She blinked at me, her face flushed with color. "Right." She cleared her throat and glanced at the staircase on our right. "I heard Joe and Mrs. Cuesta talking this morning. Mrs. Cuesta wanted us to relocate."

My brows furrowed. "Relocate to where?"

Alexandria gave me a look that told me to breathe because I might suffocate after hearing what she would have to say.

"To the Philippines."

We stared at each other. I didn't say anything, and my friend kept quiet as I tried to process the words that left her mouth a few seconds ago.