Page 36 of Chasing Mr. Prefect

“Pleased to meet you po.”

“Likewise, Lavinia. Shall we start?”

Yes,the brand representative I was talking to and Miss Co—shoot, I meantPatsy, because technically this one would be a Miss Co, too—looked alike and were actually siblings but the resemblance stopped there.

Miss Co was kalog and approachable while Miss Mikayla was strict, no-nonsense, and just a little bit scary. There was no warmth in her at all and she didn’t have to say a word to intimidate me.

My note-taking skills were put to the test as Mikayla laid out such a specific set of conditions that left little room to move creatively speaking. I had back-to-back pages of my notebook full of questions and notes I was to relay to our team officers next week. Even the colors I could use were limited. The attention to detail made my head spin and coupled with my nerves as well aslack of sleep, I could have just been embarrassing myself without knowing it. I just wanted it to be over.

Thirty minutes later, I had a signed contract (yay!) and a truckload of work to do. Mikayla shook my hand again, telling me that I was doing well and that she expected a lot from us.

I was tempted to brandish my notes and say “No shit, Sherlock” but ultimately settled for “Yes, we will deliver nothing but the best, as always,” blah blah blah, because that only meant that I had to do this properly.Or else.

I was so unbelievably tired when it finished. It was 6:10 p.m. before Mikayla started putting things back in her laptop bag and only then was I free to go.

We got out of the coffee shop together. I thought, for a bizarre moment, that I was so tired and sleep-deprived that I started seeing double. Miss Co, my prof, was waiting outside the door, wearing a similar hairdo, but she was smiling at me.

“Vinnie! Congrats!” she said, patting my shoulder.

I could only blink in response.

“She did great,” the other Miss Co said. “Anyway, please excuse us, Lavinia. We’re running late for another thing in Makati scheduled for 7 p.m. You take care.”

“Thank you, Miss Mikayla,” I hurriedly replied and then I only had time to wave at Miss Co before her older sister dragged her away. I then got on my way towards the main road but found a tall figure blocking the narrow passageway left between two parked cars.

My jaw dropped when I saw who it was.

“Cholo,” I said, blinking, expecting him to disappear. He still had his arms folded as he looked at me. “What are you doing here?”

“I gave Patsy a lift. You look pale. Why do you look like you saw a ghost?”

“Well, I am sleep-deprived and beyond exhausted, and half the things that happened yesterday and today do not seem real. For all I know, you could be a stranger or an apparition because last time I saw you, you wouldn’t even look at me. Or call me by my first name,” I said and the look on his face told me I was babbling. The exhaustion was loosening my tongue. I continued walking but he turned out to be solid.

Very solid, especially that chest.

“Okay, I’m not seeing things, then. Looks like it was just the guilt. Anyway. Sorry. Can I go home now?”

“I need to know about the meeting. How did that go?” he asked, looking exasperated.

“Oh.Oh!” I said, comprehension dawning on me. “Sorry. Here you go. Signed contract, approved materials, notes… No, no, I’m not giving you that, it’s mine, I need it. Meeting went fine. Things you need signed are duly signed. Demands, I mean, conditions for the video, I’ve noted them down. That’s for Seth and me to sort out.”

He looked over the printouts, checking each page, and then stuffed it all in a folder, looking satisfied. I dug into my bag while he was preoccupied.

“And this, too. I need to give you this.”

He looked up and saw the BA 161 blue book I was handing in his direction. Cholo slowly took it, looking at me like I was going to bite him.

“Okay na?” I asked.

“Anong score mo?”

“92.5,” I answered. Cholo frowned at his blue book.

“Okay. Let’s go,” he said oh-so-casually, tucking the blue book along with the printouts under his arm. He was wearing a crisp blue button-down shirt with a white collar and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

I gulped hard and willed myself to stop looking at his arms. “Go where?”

“Home, malamang,” he answered impatiently, gesturing towards the road. “I’m heading south today, anyway.”

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