Of Kings and Aces

Azure Eyes

I will not go to the office at eight. I don’t care what that bear says, I’m staying at this coffee shop ‘til nine and think about Azure Eyes.

I gave her a proper name because “blue-eyed girl” is commonplace and she was anything but. She was unique, even the color and clarity of her eyes were.

That was the original plan, however, Bart found me hiding in one corner and accidentally told Jaxx. Damn snitch. My doom would have been imminent if I didn’t go to my office soon, so I begrudgingly stood up and exited the booth, saying a wistful goodbye to my quiet time with Azure Eyes before nine. As I was trudging my way back, my phone rang and I knew who the caller was without looking.

“You’re an ass, you know,” he said too calmly, it was suspicious. If the guy were indeed waiting for me in the office for the past thirty minutes, Jaxx would have already blown his top over my ill behavior. But he wasn’t so I’m thinking the guy called in sick or was suddenly unavailable.

“Yeah? So sue me,” I bluffed. And true enough, Jacob was suddenly unavailable because the new client demanded to see him immediately to discuss their concerns. My insightful friend threw the new project at our newly-hired computer engineer so he had to deal with that flirtatious woman first thing in the morning. I kind of pitied him; he didn’t sign up for this kind of work but then it was part and parcel of his project.

The first presentation for a very long day of presentations and proposals was about to start when I arrived at the boardroom. The staff greeted me politely as I took a seat at the head of the table opposite the monitor. There was a stack of folders on my left side, each neatly labeled on the side and on the front. It reminded me of the professors who had to sit and read theses from students who hardly knew what they were doing but had to do it anyway to pass the subject. The difference was that I was either going to make or lose money with each proposal I approved or rejected.

In between presentations, and yes, even during the presentations, I’ve been texting Rachel to ask her about Azure Eyes but she doesn’t remember seeing a blonde bombshell in Camachile Sky that night. She mentioned that there were a couple of foreigners but no woman with dusty blond hair and dark blue eyes. No one stood out like that. Cara said the same thing. The only other person with me at the hospital was Bart because Seb was not allowed to stand near me within a kilometer radius, and Chino was helping Seb fulfill that restraining order.

Later on that evening, I found myself once again settled on the couch in the Green Room, this time with empty boxes of Chinese take-out. Despite another reminder from Noelle, I had a beer to soothe my headache. Cara did say it was risky but it was okay to have a beer or two. She was the licensed doctor so I would naturally follow the expert opinion on the matter, especially one that allowed me to do as I please.

After the last email was sent, I contemplated on what time I would head home, whether I would head home or just sleep in here again because I wasn’t done reading the rest of the projects. I was too busy thinking I didn’t notice I had already fallen asleep and dreamed of Azure Eyes.

The annoying sound of the phone ringing woke me up in the middle of the night, revealing an unknown number. Thinking it might be a mistake, I rejected the call. However, the same caller ID was flashing on my screen not long after so I just picked it up to get it over with. It took me a while to process what the guy on the other end was saying because one, I was too groggy and irritated. Two, he was speaking with a British accent. Three, I didn’t know anyone who spoke English with a British accent personally.

“Hello? Mr. Acebedo, are you there?” he repeated his question.

“Sorry, who is this?” I shut my eyes as if it would help me put the puzzle pieces together. He sighed before speaking again.

“It’s Jacob Kingston. Your new employee,” he said tiredly. When I didn’t reply, he gave more details to help jog my memory. “Your new IT employee. Jaxx – Mr. Jackson hired me and I’ve been working for your company since yesterday, but we haven’t officially met yet. I was supposed to be at your office this morning but the new client needed to meet me. My apologies.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, my mind’s still a jumble. What can I help you with at..” I checked my watch and was surprised to see the time. That just made me even more pissed at the guy.“…one in the morning?”

“Yeah, about that. I’ll have someone explain things to you because I have no idea where I am and I don’t have any identification on me,” he sounded embarrassed and apologetic. I clenched my jaw at the s**t that was to come.

Two days in Manila and this guy gets lost. In the middle of the night, might I add. What a miscreant. I groaned.

“Good evening, is this Mr. Bradley Acebedo?” the man on the other line had a stern, rough voice. He sounded older, maybe around forty.

“Yes, sir. Whom am I speaking with?”

“This is Senior Police Officer Reginaldo from the Quezon City Police District. We have a man here that claims to be your employee.”

 God damn this i***t. I sighed deeply before answering.

 “Yes, sir, that would be Jacob Kingston. How can I help? What is he doing in a police precinct?”

 “He claims to have been mugged and lost all his belongings except for your calling card. Which is a good thing because I have no idea what to do with this guy. He has no phone, he doesn’t know the contact numbers of his friends, he doesn’t have money whatsoever!” he said irritably. I could just imagine the officer giving Jacob dagger looks. After a few more questions and answers, and several failed attempts to contact Jaxx, I was on my way to Quezon City to rescue a valuable employee I’ve never met.

 Still, I felt somewhat bad for the guy in spite of myself. If it happened to me, I probably would not have hesitated to call my employer out of desperation as well, even if it meant pissing him off in the middle of the night. However, I could not help but think he was doing something dumb to be jumped in Quezon City on a Tuesday night.

 Who went out on a Tuesday anyway? And why was he so far away from Makati? I thought Jaxx said he lived near the office so I doubt he was just on his way home from work. If he let a cab take him that far from the office, then he definitely isn’t as smart as he claims to be. Fifteen kilometers is not a short distance to miss.

 And the most pressing question was why was I even compelled to pick the guy up at this hour? I could have just let him rot in the cell overnight and have Jaxx pick him up in the morning.

 But no! I left the office to drive to Quezon City when the truck ban was not in operation. The roads were not busy with cars and buses anymore but there were quite a lot of trucks and container vans racing about almost killing me on multiple instances. I hated these reckless truck drivers with a passion. If only I had the superpower to make each of them fly out of the highway to clear the way!

Everything was quiet when I got to the precinct except for the faint laughter that was carried by the wind to the parking area. I made sure to park in a well-lit area and triple-checked that the doors were locked before making my way to the entrance. One can never be too confident in these areas even though it was right outside the Police Department.

 I was expecting to enter into a poorly lighted corridor or room, with a few busted, blinking fluorescent lights, a dingy cell filled with scalawags leering at sleepy, lousy, police officers, but I was fortunately and thankfully mistaken.

 Instead, the lobby was adequately illuminated, and the officers were anything but sleepy. There were about seven of them, one behind the reception desk, another behind the computer attempting to take a detainee’s statement while the person in question sat across the desk, laughing.  There was another detainee in handcuffs sitting across from another officer, still laughing. All of them were laughing and looking at one corner of the room to a foreigner who was cracking jokes and entertaining the rest of the policemen. Even though his back was towards me, I knew this was the employee I was looking for based on his voice, accent, and the pale skin of his arms. Plus he wore a Philadelphia Flyers cap backward. No one in this tropical country appreciates hockey hard enough to actually get a cap. We lived for basketball.

I stood for several moments more just listening to their conversation and I could not understand why everybody was getting along just fine, as if this was just another episode of Brooklyn nine-nine. Confused, that’s what I was. Thirty minutes ago, the Senior Police Officer Reginaldo was pissed but right now, no one in the room was anything close to being pissed.

“So imagine my surprise when this bloody fucker showed up in this same precinct with my wallet in hand!” he laughed and smacked detainee number three’s back a little too hard he almost fell over but the guy still laughed and shook his head in amusement.

“Thanks for not discarding my wallet, man. I need those ID’s and cards in there. You can have some of the money, just leave me a little so I can get some food for tomorrow.”

“Wow, thanks! Next time I’m betting on you so you’ll have your money back when you win,” the detainee said. They continued to discuss the events leading them to meet one another in the precinct while I stood and stared until one of the officers noticed my presence and called my attention.

“Excuse me, sir. Can I help you?”

“Yes, I’m here to collect, a, uh, someone. An employee. His name is Jacob Kingston,” I said tentatively. I wasn’t sure what I’d call him because we weren’t friends, nor were we even acquaintances. Heck, I haven’t even met the guy!

The chuckles and conversations stopped as Jacob spun his around to look at me. He jumped to his feet and made his way to me. His dimpled smile was wide with a mixture of relief and recognition. The sharp angle of his jaw had a faint stubble growing but there was also a bruise forming. But it was his eyes that knocked the air out of my lungs – sparkling, crystal blue between azure and cerulean. It was like staring into the waters of Boracay on a warm sunny day.

“I am so glad you’re here. Thank you so much. I’m Jacob. Very pleased to meet you,” he extended his hand for me to shake but I remained frozen. I could not believe what I was seeing. My eyes must be playing tricks on me. Or maybe it’s the alcohol reacting against the antibiotic that’s why I’m seeing the mesmerizing crystal blue eyes in front of me. His smile faltered when I didn’t respond. I, on the other hand, stood there gaping, eyes wide in disbelief.

Oh. Hell. No. This s**t cannot be real.

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