His Wrath

Chapter 2: We’re going somewhere

Nathalie’s POV

I still can't process what just happened.I got called at the CEO’s office for a reason na for sure bad news. Kinakabahan man ay di na ako nagsayang pa ng oras at dali-dali na akong umakyat sa top floor.

Nadaanan ko pa si Francine sa pwesto niya na busy kahit pa malapit na ang off-hours. Sekretarya ka ba naman ng CEO? madami talagang gawain yan. She must have received a handsome compensation kaya nakatagal siya ng ganyan. Kahit sobrang hirap makisabay kay David sa trabaho you won’t complain because the pay will keep you motivated.

Kumatok muna ako ng tatlong beses bago binuksan ang pintuan ng office niya. Mind your manners talaga kapag nandito ka sa lungga niya dahil mabubugahan ka ng apoy kapag nagkataon. When I open the door, syempre unang sumalubong sa akin ay ang amoy ng office niya na kaamoy ng pabango niya.

My eyes can’t possibly unnoticed such a beautiful human being kaya pagbukas pa lamang ng pintuan ay nakita ko na agad siya. As I walk towards him, napansin kong nakalukot ang mga makakapal niyang kilay habang binabasa ang isang folder na naglalaman ng mga papeles.

Looking around his office at one glance, you’ll know that he is an occupied person with lots of loads on his shoulders. From his floor, to his desk and his shelves nagkakapalan ang mga naka-bind na papel probably from different subsidiaries of Bercorp. Bukod kasi sa main businesses nila, they also hold numbers of subsidiary companies here. Mga kumpanyang kontrolado nila kagaya na lang ng mga hotel, restaurants and malls.Looking at how great he is at what he is doing makes me fall deeper with him.

Nang makalapit ako sa may office table niya at akmang babatiin ko na siya ay bigla na lamang siyang nagsalita and for pete’s sake! that took me off-guard.

"You know what you did wrong, right?" kumalabog nang malakas ang puso ko noong marinig ko ang sinabi niya. 'You know what you did wrong, right?' paktay! may kasalanan nga ako.

"Pardon sir?" I asked. Di ko kasi talaga alam saan ang tinutukoy niyang mali ko. I did what I have to do and added his remarks from our meeting in my presentation. I'm sure I really did my best. Todo effort ako noh kaya confident ako sa harap niya at ng committee kanina.

"Want me to say that for you?" nawawalan na siya ng pasensiya Nathalie! do something about it!

"If it’s about the budget proposal a while ago, I am confident that I didn't make any mistake. I made sure that every important information was included, conveyed correctly and concise Sir," mahaba kong paliwanag. I am standing in front of him while he's staring right through my soul with those dark intimidating orbs.

Sobrang lakas ng t***k ng puso ko at namumutil na ang pawis ko kahit naka-aircon naman ang office niya. Seriously, I’ve been the financial manager for nearly 2 years now yet I still act like this whenever such situation happens. I manage to act compose and confident in front of him kahit na ba sobrang nanlalambot na ang tuhod at nanlalamig na ang mga kamay ko.

"Is that what you can only think of?" did I just added a fuel to the flame? Mama! uuwi nako TT.

"Yes, Sir I am-" I was about to give another wave of explanation when he stopped me through signaling a halt in his hand.

“Ms. Garcia I’m not talking about the proposal a while ago,” he paused, “I am pertaining to the losses we incurred last month.”

Oh! yun ba? hala! nakalimutan ko ang tungkol doon. I’ve been busy lately sa mga meeting namin regarding budget proposal for this coming quarter. It was one of my pending tasks after the proposal actually. Hindi ko inaasahan na ganon niya kabalis mache-check ang report last month. Kaya ko sinabing mabilis is because as far as I remember that report was faxed to me yesterday.

“I already checked the report sir and informed K Distributor, our car parts supplier to explain what had happened,” I waited for his response but he remained silent for a while. It was my mistake not informing him beforehand na may problema sa financial report that needs my immediate analysis and solution. Tinitignan ko ang ekspresyon ng mukha niya but I didn’t see any hint of emotion from it.

“Any news from them?” he asked. “The last time I checked, wala pa rin po sir,” I replied. It was a long paused again from him but this time it seems like he was too engrossed with his thought. Calculating things I supposed.

As he was quietly weighing things on his head, I had the chance to examine his looks. This must be my lucky day! I’ve got to see him so many times today and longer than I have expected.

He was still wearing the white button-up shirt without the black suit he wore on the conference meeting. Biyaya talaga sa mata ang taong to mukhang mabait kapag tahimik. He began tapping his fingers on the table and I noticed that they are slender and too pretty for a man. Di makatarungan na mas maganda pa ang mga kamay niya kaysa sa akin. The tapping of his finger halted and I stopped looking at them. When I raise my gazed to him he was looking intently at me, I was stunned on my feet and I stuttered when I spoke.

“A-anything I c-can help, uhm, sir?” but instead of answering me he just smirked. Goodness! mamamatay na ba ako bukas? bakit binuhos niyo lahat ng biyaya ngayon? yun ang pinaka makalaglag pangang smirk sa lahat nang nakita ko sa buong buhay ko. It was neither creepy nor terrifying but it was a smirk of being amused, mukha siguro akong tanga kanina habang sinusundan ang pagtaas baba ng mga daliri niya.

I was still in the middle of confusion when he reached the black telephone on his desk, pressed a number and placed the phone on his left ear as he waited someone to pick it up. It was not long when the other line answered.

“Call the legal team, file a case against K Distributor, terminate their contract.” I got muted by what I heard. Di na talaga ako masasanay kay David, he is indeed calculative sa lahat ng bagay and his decision isn’t impulsive too. That K Distributor is really a piece of work and we got a lot of complain from the customers of Bertareli Automobiles. Majority of them saying that delivery is too slow. It was not the first time that they did this. We incurred a lot of unnecessary expenses and machine downtime because of them.

Bertareli Automobiles, like Toyota uses Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing system, wherein production only starts once someone demands a car and since cars are only manufactured when on demand, purchasing of materials to be used also follows the same manner. We order materials to suppliers only when there’s a need. That is why it is vital to have suppliers to coordinate with us.

Best luck to K Distributors, because the least thing that you’ll ever do is to piss a Bertareli off. I stopped thinking about K Distributors when David said the words that made my whole being shaken.

"Tomorrow after work, be ready, we’re going somewhere."