ANG SUPER TIGANG KONG BOSS [THAT MANYAKIS CEO SERIES 2] SPG 🔞

CHAPTER 6

Tahimik ang gabi.

Ako lang at ang malamig kong electric fan sa kwarto. Hindi ako makatulog.

I’ve read Draemon’s investment proposal thrice—una out of curiosity, pangalawa para intindihin, at pangatlo… just to convince myself that it was really business. Na hindi siya nagpunta sa kumpanya dahil sa akin.

Pero sino bang niloloko ko?

Bakit niya ako sinusulyapan habang nagpi-present?

Bakit siya pa mismo ang nagdala ng kape sa mesa ko nung lunch?

At bakit hindi ako makatingin kay Mr. Ismael buong araw?

I stared at the ceiling, hands resting on my stomach, and whispered, “Bakit ngayon pa dumating si Draemon?”

It felt unfair. Like life was teasing me. Sa dami ng lalaki sa mundo, bakit yung investor pa? Yung alam ang panata ko. Yung alam na gusto ko si Sir Ismael. Yung… hindi ko alam kung tuksong mabait o panganib sa puso.

Kinabukasan, as usual, ay maaga ako sa office dahil the early bird gets the worms, diba?

I avoided the executive floor all morning. Tumambay ako sa pantry para mag-ayos ng files, pero in reality, nagtatago lang ako sa katotohanan.

Then, of course, fate had other plans.

“May I join you?” came that familiar voice behind me.

I looked up, and there was Draemon again. Light gray suit, top button open, and a sly look in his eyes na parang laging may sikreto.

“Sure,” I said, trying to sound casual. “It’s not like I own the microwave.”

He laughed lightly and leaned against the counter. “You look… distracted.”

“Just busy.”

“Busy avoiding me?”

Damn. Bullseye.

I put down the paper cup and crossed my arms. “I don’t know what you want from me, Draemon. Hindi ako trophy. Hindi rin ako challenge.”

“Good,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. “Because I don’t chase trophies. And I don’t play games.”

“Tapos bakit mo ako sinusundan?”

He looked at me for a moment, then answered calmly. “Because you’re real. And I think you’ve spent too long chasing someone who only looks at you when it’s convenient.”

Boom. That hurt more than I expected.

“Hindi mo siya kilala,” I said softly.

“Maybe,” he replied. “But you do. And I see how you shrink when he’s around.”

“I don’t—”

“You shine, Pinky,” he interrupted, his voice low but steady. “But not when you're begging for crumbs from someone too frozen to notice.”

I opened my mouth to argue but nothing came out.

He stepped closer, not touching me, but close enough for his scent—musk and spice—to pull me in. “I’m not asking you to forget your panata. I just want to know… if you're brave enough to admit that maybe, it's time to want something new.” Then he walked towards the conference room. Oo nga pala, may another meeting na naman kaya hindi ko alam kung ano ang mangyayari.

Well, Draemon is so direct. He never hid the fact that he wanted me to try new things. Minsan nakakainis, at minsan naman ay hinahanap ko ang nga compliments niya. It satisfies me.

Well, meeting ulit with the executives. Sir Ismael presided, as usual. Stoic. Sharp. Distant.

Draemon was seated across the table, glancing at me every now and then, but quiet.

For once, I noticed something different in Mr. Ismael.

When Draemon spoke about the rollout plan for the branded events, Sir Ismael's jaw clenched. Nang ibinanggit ni Draemon na ako ang magiging liason officer for the marketing collabs, napatingin si Sir sa akin, mabilis lang, pero matalim.

Jealousy? Siguro? Imposible. Right?

After the meeting, I gathered my papers, ready to escape.

“Miss Miranda,” Sir Ismael called.

I froze. “Yes, sir?”

“In my office.”

Oh God.

Pumasok ako sa loob, ang puso ko parang drum na minamadali ng drummer sa fiesta.

Sir Ismael didn’t look up. “How well do you know the new investor?”

I blinked. “I… we met before. Once. At a club.”

He finally looked at me, eyes narrowing. “Is he bothering you?”

“What? No. He’s… professional.”

“Be careful,” he said. “People like him don’t invest without expecting something in return.”

My brows furrowed. “And you think I can’t handle myself?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“But it’s what you mean, right?”

Silence.

I stepped forward, pulse racing. “You never said anything when I gave everything to this job. You never noticed me, Sir. Now that someone else does… bigla kang nagmamalasakit?”

He looked at me, jaw tight, but still expressionless.

“I just don’t want distractions in the office.”

Right. Distractions. That’s what I am to him.

I turned on my heel. “Then maybe you should’ve told me that before I made a panata for a man who only sees me as noise.”

And I walked out.

As I walked out of Mr. Ismael’s office, my heels clicking against the marble floor, I kept my chin up kahit medyo nanginginig pa ang tuhod ko. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the confrontation or the look in his eyes—cold, unreadable, but something deeper was buried there. Or maybe ako lang ang umaasang may "deeper."

Pagliko ko sa hallway, biglang may humarang sa akin. Callie Torres. The manager. The fiancée. The woman with stilettos sharp enough to kill, and eyes that could slice my pride into ribbons.

Naka-cross arms siya, wearing that ever-so-prim, ever-so-perfectly-irritating smirk.

“Well, well. From the office of my fiancé again?” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

I exhaled slowly, putting on my professional smile. “Yes. I was just giving him the post-meeting reports. You know, secretary duties?”

She stepped closer. “Or maybe you're confusing ‘secretary’ with seductress.”

I blinked. Tangina. Ito na naman tayo.

“Miss Torres,” I said, as calmly as I could, “I think you’re reading too much into a simple conversation.”

“Am I?” she c****d a brow. “You’ve been parading around in your tight skirts and red lipstick like you don’t know what you’re doing. But let me make something clear…”

She leaned in, her perfume cloying, her smile fake as hell.

“If you think you can flirt your way into his heart, think again. Back off, Pinky. Before I make your life very, very difficult.”

I stood there, swallowing the lump in my throat. For a moment, I wanted to fight back. To tell her I wasn’t just some side character in her love story.

But instead… I just nodded.

“Are you done?” I hypothetically asked, biting back the hurt.

And I walked past her.

Each step away from her, from him, from that suffocating world of pretending I had a chance—felt heavier than the last.

Maybe I should stop. Maybe that panata wasn’t meant to be fulfilled.

But somewhere deep down, in a corner of my stubborn heart, I wasn’t so sure.

Pagkarating ko sa bahay, I stared at the small altar on my shelf. The folded panata paper is still there. Untouched.

I sat down and whispered, “Is it still worth it,”

Naiiyak ako, but I held it in.

Mr. Ismael was the man I believed in. The man I admired. The man I swore I’d fight for.

Pero sa bawat paglapit ko, mas lalo akong nawawala.

Then there's Draemon. Complicated. Bold. Not perfect. But… he sees me.

And I don’t know what scares me more: the fact that Draemon might be serious about me… or that I’m starting to believe I deserve someone like him.