Love at the Nth Time

The Linkage

Chapter 3

"We're fine. Ryan has already left for the military," she replied.

I watched her as she sipped her fresh orange juice while facing her phone. What a simple plain woman I was giving my time right now. Her fingernails were short too and not yet gone to a salon. Was her boyfriend conscious of her well-being?

"How many months have you been with him?"

"It's more than a year, how 'bout you? You're so pretty. I like your blonde hair." I looked away and played a bit on the straw of juice. It surprised me. She's a natural siren. Eyes darted at her and checked how she reacted as I uttered,

"Nope, I prefer women." She stopped for a second, gazed at me, and faced her phone again. "I see. I kinda feel like it too. Don't you have a girlfriend yet?" So, she was okay with it.

"Nah, I enjoy being single." My throat dried — the reason was suppressed.

"You're already 26, aren't you? Not yet planning to settle down?"

"No. Are you?" I looked at her and smiled.

"What, no. Not yet."

"Are you thinking of settling down with your current boyfriend?"

"No."

"Whoa, fast answer. Getting bored now?" She laughed. How charming; her cheeks turned wide when she laughed.

"No, Ryan is funny and mature at the same time, but I'm still too young to decide if he's the one, you know." Her laughter wasn't my type, yet I didn't find it unpleasant.

A slight smile on me never seemed to vanish. I muttered, "So dramatic in love."

"What are you saying? Win told me you have lived here for almost five years now. Haven't you ever been in a relationship with a foreigner before?" I looked at the clear sky across the open area, a bit of warmth coming from the mild wind. This lady appeared more interested in foreigners.

I slightly played with my hands while having a casual talk with her. "I was. Not my thing, so it never gets serious." Why was I telling this to her? I was getting carried away. I hadn't gotten tired of examining her, and she didn't mind me. Gazed at her as she stood up, after more than an hour of idling around, she said,

"We need to go back there. Your staff is looking for us."

"Don't wanna." I leaned in my chair and stared at her. Her eyebrows furrowed. I put my left hand under my chin as I stared at her thoughtfully. God, I ought to end this with her. I only need to sleep with her once, and I'd never wish to see her anymore.

"Do you wanna say something? It's like you want something." I smirked, a short breath came out. I scanned her face, down her jeans. She was an old-fashioned girl out there, so making the first move? I wasn't expecting any.

Eyes met hers. I questioned, "What if I wanna date you?"

Her eyes widened. "What?" I sat down properly and smiled at her, the usual one.

"I said. I wanna date you." She chuckled and laughed a lot. I glowered, because the laughter wasn't for flirting back; it was annoying.

"Was that funny?" I asked.

"Why would you? I don't get it. Why me, of all people? There are beautiful and sexy girls everywhere." She could easily change my mood in a snap, in an unexpected way. I scoffed in doubt.

"What's wrong with you? So you're rejecting me then? Is it because you are in a committed relationship already, or you're straight?" She stared at me. I did the same. Ah, I knew it. She had this aura of being like me.

I averted my thoughts, took out my phone from my suit, and forwarded a request message to Win about my whole month's schedule.

"Accept it. I will date you."

"Why?"

"Do I need reasons to date someone?"

"Of course, can you date just anybody you meet?" I chuckled a bit and snatched my juice again from our table, stirring the ice in it. I looked at her and drew a smug smile.

"You're unbelievable. Do I have to say it in your face that I'm kinda interested in you?" She smiled ambiguously, laughed, and altered at her phone.

"You're kidding." My face got warmer.

I couldn't say anything back to her. What was wrong with her? She's so weird. The way she reacted. Strange as I couldn't read her. Was she embarrassed? No, her bemused face and calm composure didn't match up. Did she think I was only playing with her? God, why should I waste my time with someone like her? I was already putting up signs that I was interested in her, and I couldn't understand how she responded to me all this time.

I put up my ego and ignored what I said about my interest in her. Thence, I didn't contact her or her older sister for weeks. If they wanted to ask me regarding the people I invited, I had Win as my messenger.

Women also preferred looks. They got attracted to one's appearance, and status was second. Reputation or looks vice versa that if had any of those, the higher chance of getting people drawn to a person, was expected. She was weird as this flavored beer. I couldn't even explain how it tasted. It was strange because I couldn't stop craving more to point out how to describe the final taste.

"I told you, you have a meeting today! You postponed it because you drank so much last night? Boss! Pull yourself together, please!" I groaned in irritation.

"Ugh, Win, shut up." I rubbed my forehead due to the headache I had earned last night. A naked Asian woman turned around on my bed, asleep.

"Give that to her, thank you," Win said. I glanced at the female staff who put the tea on my desk. Win looked at me endlessly. "Your dad's asking me about their business. You got your commission since most of his employees signed up, but you didn't even care at all. You're the upline of your employees, you know. Your dad's getting mad at you now." I sighed.

"Are you stupid? I'm not interested in their business in the first place."

"Then you should have said so in the beginning, you only wanna meet the sister!" He threw me a sofa pillow.

"Why are you so upset?!"

"I'm a Filipino, and I understand them. I respect their way of living!"

"Be the upline. I'm an extra. I don't care."

"Celine is worried and so worked up from what you did."

I gazed at him unworried. "What did I do?"

"The staff trusted you, thought you joined because you didn't wanna work like this and that. All the burden of those people keeps coming to her." My apprehension was implied incongruously, and it's enough to bother me.

*On call...Celine 00:02

"You called, at last." So she's expecting my call. Though I was the one waiting for her to call me, I didn't have all the free time in the world to anticipate.

"Where are you?" Seconds of silence before she responded,

"I'm with my office mates after work." I could hear loud noises in her background.

"So you still have time to hang out even with those people I gave you."

"Stupid, they're dependent and mature enough to understand the basic training! And they are Filipinos like me! They don't wanna be an employee forever or don't have any money to save at least when they retire!" She sounded drunk.

"If you don't wanna do the business, just let them know! They're looking up to you, but I can help them without you. Just let them know, you crazy rich kid!" I scoffed over her playing guilt-trip at me.

"Hah. Without me, you wouldn't have those."

"W-what is wrong with you..." I stopped twirling the pen in my hand and moved backward on my seat, disengaging myself from the unfinished outline of a dress. Her voice was shaking and weak. It troubled me.

"Hey, where are you?"

"Don't you care? You don't care anyway -beep-" s**t. She hung up on me! I dialed her number once more. I sighed heavily and dialed Win.

"What? I'm busy-"

"Call Celine, now," calmly commanded him. I gazed at the sketch in front of me. The left hand rested on the corner of the paper.

"What? Why don't you?"

"She hung up on me and not answering it anymore. Call her right now."

"Okay, okay." Damn it. Damn it. Win called me in for a few minutes.

"She's with her office mates, she said."

I stood up and grabbed my car key on the desk. "Know where she is!"

It would be useless to use her if something happened to her.