Like Nobody's Watching

TWO

TWO

“Y

ou’re kidding me, right?”

Audrey drummed her fingers over her evaluation sheet and glowered at her boss, Luigi Blanco, who sat across the table. “You know exactly why my performance has been dismal these past few months,” she muttered between gritted teeth. “You handed me difficult clients but took away my creative team. You replaced them with interns I’ve had to train half the time—”

—and you had to break my heart on top of everything too.

“Aji, calm down.”

She drew her fingers into her palm and slammed her fist on the table. “And how do you expect me to do that? You basically just told me my days in this company are numbered. Just because my past three months were less than stellar.”

Luigi tugged at the cuffs of the blue dress shirt he wore under his coat and leaned forward, a posture Audrey knew only too well. He would be clasping his hands together next, thumbs meeting and parting and meeting again in a calculated rhythm. Then, he would give her that look. The one that made her feel stupid. The one he used on her whenever he insisted that she was wrong and he was right.

“Look, Aji.” The hand clasp, the movement of his thumbs, the look. All on cue. “It’s nothing personal. The quality of your output has taken a nosedive—”

“Because you took my team away!”

A sigh. A pinch to the bridge of his nose. Luigi’s body language was so predictable, and Audrey hated herself for knowing this much.

“I’m not happy about this either. But frankly speaking, I expected a lot from you and you’ve disappointed me. You practically founded Same Feather Media with me and Ayo and Crissy. You should’ve been able to adjust. We’ve been doing this for years, Aji. Years!”

Audrey wanted to laugh. This was classic Luigi Blanco, foisting responsibility on everyone but himself. That she never realized this—among other things—was her tragedy.

She stared at the note scrawled at the bottom of her evaluation sheet and gritted her teeth. Sure, breathing the same air as Luigi felt stifling now, so unlike the time his presence was enough to calm her, but there were more pressing matters to concern herself with. Like employment.

She could not afford to lose this job. At least not in the next six months.

“Are we done?” she asked, cutting his admonishment short. Him speaking of her inadequacy just made her want to strangle him with his tie. “I have a storyboard meeting in an hour.”

Luigi paused and flashed her a photo-ready smile she immediately wanted to wipe off his face with a stapler. How is he allowed to look this good while I’m feeling like absolute s**t? Fire rose in Audrey’s throat.

“Right. Abracadabra Coffee,” he said, eyes darting to his ringing phone. Audrey couldn’t help but notice how his manufactured smile became instantly affectionate. His voice was still flat, though. “I hope you deliver this time, Aji. I’m rooting for you.”

She scoffed. “I find that hard to believe.”

At the storyboard meeting, the way actor Pio Alvez looked at her reminded Audrey of an enthusiastic puppy. His eyes gleamed with a light of joy and fascination, his wide smile hopeful. If Pio had a tail, she’d bet it would be wagging like crazy.

Pio Alvez can’t be that excited about this project, can he?

“Your brand name exudes magic, and we want that magic to jump off the screen with a choose-your-own-adventure style web series set in a magical café.” Audrey nodded at Marj, prompting the mousy intern seated at the back of the room to play a proof of concept—a short, interactive film she produced with her old creative team years back, but never finished.

Her audience of five—three client representatives (including Albert Tanchangco, Abracadabra’s brand manager), Pio Alvez, and his handler, Cleo Gascon—seemed receptive, but Audrey knew not to count her chickens before they hatched.

Find your calm, she recited in her head, fighting the urge to fiddle with the pen in her hand. Her attention gravitated to Pio’s side of the room and saw him watching the screen with interest.

Audrey returned to the center of the room as soon as the video ended. “We’re calling this web series ‘Six Magical First Dates.’ That’s one mini episode for each of the six variants you are launching. At the beginning of each episode, Mr. Alvez here will be playing a charming barista who serves whichever Abracadabra Coffee variant a viewer will choose.

“At the same time, Mr. Alvez will also be ‘The Date.’ We will be setting up various date scenarios and dressing Mr. Alvez in styles that match a certain coffee variant’s ‘personality.’ For example, a sleek, black-tie concept for Classic Black Magic, casual and preppy for AlohoMocha, and a sporty look for Abracadabra Slim.”

Storyboard slides were projected on the screen while Audrey fleshed out more details about the web series. At the end of the presentation, Audrey held her breath for her audience’s reaction.

“The concept is great, Ms. Alonzo!” Mr. Tanchangco said. “I think we may be a little in love with it. Shall we begin crunching numbers for this?”

Audrey breathed out slowly, all too suddenly feeling exhaustion and relief seeping from her bones. She nodded. “Of course, sir. Whenever you’re ready.”

The next few minutes quickly went by in a blur. It had been a while since Audrey landed a project this big, and she knew this was the break she needed to get her out of her slump. Just you wait, Lui. I’ll slap your face with a fricking—

“Hi.”

When did Pio Alvez get here? Wasn’t he sitting way over there just now? Why isn’t he leaving the room like everybody else?

“H-hi.” Audrey managed a polite smile before turning her attention to her things on the table. With trembling hands, she gathered them one by one, preparing to leave.

“You...don’t remember me, do you?”

His words were a jolt that caused her to drop her pen, and they both went to reach for it at the exact same time, shampoo commercial meet-cute style.

Unfortunately, the choreography for this meet-cute was off. So off that instead of a swoon-worthy moment, it ended with Audrey’s forehead crashing against the top of Pio’s head. She yelped.

“Oh no, I’m sorry! Are you okay?”

Close. Too close. Way too close. Audrey’s heart froze as Pio leaned in to check the offended spot on her forehead. A gentle brush of his fingers moved her longish bangs to the side, and at the slightest touch, she pulled her head back. The sudden movement compromised her balance, however, and with a dull thud, her ass met the wooden floor.

“Oh dear.” Pio seemed as flustered as she was when he held his hand out to her. He uttered apologies while pulling her to her feet, to which Audrey responded with a bunch of “It’s okays.”

It wasn’t. Parts of her throbbed like heck.

“You really don’t remember me?” The actor’s eyes were still hopeful when he asked again.

What was there to remember? Even if Pio Alvez had become a hot commodity among advertisers since starring in that afternoon teleserye two years ago, she had never worked with him. The closest she got to the actor was whenever her daily commute allowed her a glimpse of his billboards along C-5 Road and EDSA.

“You’re probably mistaking me for someone else.”

“You know what, I thought so too!” he said with a little laugh. “But I still remember your name, Audrey. We met in Ortigas last month. Taxi stand, Carbon Bar, red dress—any of these ring a bell?”

Something clicked in her head, and all of a sudden, scenes from that night flashed before her eyes.

“s**t. No.”

“Yes!” And there it was again, that happy smile that made Pio seem like a puppy waiting to be taken home. He held his hand out for a handshake. “Hi!”

“I’m not supposed to see you again.”

A pause. He drew his hand back and buried it in his jeans pocket, making Audrey want to kick herself for being so rude. But she was reeling, realizing she had divulged too much information to this man—what’s a girl to do?

Hello, earth—would you be so kind as to swallow me whole now? Thanks!

“Well…small world?”

She groaned.

“Audrey, listen. If you’re—”

They both turned their heads when the meeting room door swung open. Marj poked her head in, reminded Audrey of her four o’clock conference call, and slipped back out.

Thanks to the momentary distraction, Audrey was able to grab her things and flee. But just like a stray puppy, Pio followed her and blocked the door before she could reach for the knob.

“Audrey, I don’t understand why you’re avoiding me.”

“I’m embarrassed, okay? Happy?” she snapped. “Now let me through.”

“Why are you mad?” The look on Pio’s face shifted from happy to confused. “I was just really happy to see you again. I’d been worried about you since that night.”

“Worried why?”

“Because I didn’t have your number and I had no way of knowing if you got home safe?”

“Oh.”

She didn’t know what else to say, but he did. “Your concept sounded really fun. I’m looking forward to working with you, Audrey.”

This time, she took the hand he offered—warm, firm, and enormous around hers. The mesmerizing twinkle in his eyes took her back to that night a month ago. Babe, he had called her. I’m sorry. Let’s go home, he had said. At the time, the words didn’t quite sink in. Recalling it—and everything else—now made her heart skip a beat.

“T-thanks. Me too.”

“And if you’re worried about the things you said, don’t.” He flashed her a wink. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

This can’t be good.