Chapter 8

“GIDEON, who’s that?” asked the lady with long and curly hair.

Lyzza was able to successfully hide herself behind a huge shelf filled with display bags, only a few steps away from her daughter. She kept throwing glimpses to the scene in front of her while her heart races as a result of the nervousness she’s feeling.

“What’s your name, baby girl?” she heard Gideon asking her daughter.

“I’m Summer. Why didn’t you know my name? You are my dad.”

“Daddy? Gideon, you have a child?”

Gideon’s face was left with nothing but confusion as he stood right in front of Summer who was urrently looking up to face her dad.

“No—I don’t know.”

“Oh my…” The girl went on to face Summer and smiled. “Hi, baby. What’s your name?”

“I’m Summer. What about you? We have the same eyes just like daddy.” She smirked.

“Oh my God! Yes, we really do. You’re doomed, Gideon,” she jokingly teased her brother who couldn’t even move and think clearly. “Where’s your mom, baby Summer?”

Summer’s eyes went huge, she just remembered her mom. “She’s in the bookstore.” Then, she held Gideon’s hand. “Daddy, let’s go. I’ll tell mommy that I found you.”

Lyzza tried to hide herself even better to the point that she almost wished to let the ground eat her alive.

‘Attention to all shoppers. We have a missing three-year-old little girl. She’s wearing an all-pink outfit and was last seen at the bookstore located in second floor. Please bring her to the public information office in the first floor near the exit. Her mother is waiting for her. Thank you.’

The voice aired within the entire building, blasting from each speakers located in every corners of the mall.

The siblings realized that Summer might be the kid being referred to in the announcement so Gideon immediately went on to carry the child. Her sister rushed to the cashier to pay the item she bought and went outside.

She couldn’t stand straight due to the extreme tiny shakes her legs are giving. In that very moment, she just also realized how badly she stops herself from breathing.

“Ma’am, are you going to purchase something?” the saleslady asked her.

She almost jumped out of shock. “N-No,” she responded shyly and quickly left the place she was hiding at in order to get away from the uncomfortable stares of the lady as if she was planning to do something against the law.

Her steps were fast, one step after the other, on her way to the escalator going down. The thought of getting her daughter back just sank into her mind.

As her distance from the public information office went smaller and smaller, her heart kept racing, faster and faster. Was she ready to accept the consequences the moment Gideon knew the truth about his daughter? Was she ready for the confrontation?

She had no idea. All that she knows is how nervous she is right now and her mind couldn’t think straight. Destiny might love playing games with her, she thought.

“Mommy,” Summer’s high-pitched voice echoed as she successfully got inside the public information office.

The little girl is sitting in a mono block chair and waves at her. All the negative thoughts circling through her mind disappeared the moment she saw her daughter right in front of her. She quickly ran to the child’s direction and threw her in a tight hug.

“Mommy, I saw daddy. He’s with his sister. He hugged me tightly, just like this.” Her tiny arms surrounded her body, demonstrating how the hug felt like. “He was big and strong. He carried me with his one arm only.” Her smiles turn into a smirk when she looked up to face her. “But her left with the beautiful girl.”

The lady managing the information office told her that Gideon and the girl he was with left Summer and asked them to look after the kid instead since they just had an emergency. Whatever the emergency might be, the lady has no idea. All that she knows is that the two is in a hurry.

She could feel the dreariness in Summer’s energy as they find their way home. The little girl got upset when she asked her mom to find her daddy and she didn’t respond. Everything is just too complicated. She’s not yet ready to face the confrontation that might happen in the future nor let Gideon know the truth about their daughter.

In fact, there really is nothing that she should be afraid of. If in case Gideon already had a family of his own, she won’t even bother to fit herself in. She could take care of her daughter on her own, asking for Gideon’s help in sustaining her needs won’t be even one of the options. It’s not like she intended to hide Summer. She couldn’t find him right after that night. And to top it all off, it’s just one night.

If Gideon wanted to meet Summer in the future, she would let him. But she would not allow him to take her daughter away from her.

She carried Summer carefully when the taxi pulled over right in front of their house. The little girl fell asleep while they were on the way. The sadness and disappointment is still visible in her face.

“Allow me, Ate. I’ll carry her inside,” Caius stated the minute they got in. He got up from his position and carried Summer.

Thank you. I’ll just place this in the kitchen, our food for later. Is mom home already?”

“Not yet, Lyz,” he answered while having his way up the stairs. He stopped for a moment as he reached the top. “I’ll just take over the store later. I’m almost done with our project. You can stay here.”

“Okay.” She prepared their lunch. Their mother usually eats her meals at the store. Sunday is her rest day. If her mother is being stubborn and wants to work even on Sundays, she never hesitates to ask Caius to close the store which really makes her mom scold her.

The possible earnings might get wasted, her mother always says as an excuse. That’s why they are taking turns in taking over the store along with Caius. She’s not sure, but she thinks her mom’s still not over what happened four years ago and would still like to take the blame.

‘Lyz, the program director forwarded me the result from Vesarius Airlines.’ Quincy Mae texted her in which she responded with a simple ‘okay’.

Quincy Mae’s announcement in their group chat popped out in her notification tab. She swiped it off and did not even bother to look at the results her friend is telling her. What for?

It’s just a waste of time, she knows her name isn’t on the list. The CEO did not even bother to give her a chance to get interviewed, right?

She deeply sighed as she looks through the documents that needs to be completed for the two remaining airline companies she had as an option. All the students who didn’t get to be accepted by Vesarius Airlines will fall under these two remaining companies.

She actually has no problem taking her on-the-job training in these two companies at all. She just thinks that not being able to get accepted by Vesarius Airlines is a miss. A bright future awaits her if she gets into that company and job offers will fall in line as soon as she graduates. Students are also provided with allowance once they get inside to train and rumor has it that incentives are being given to the student who had the best performance.

After she finished sorting all the documents into one folder, she laid beside Summer. She hugged and kissed the little kid.

“I don’t even care now if your daddy meets you, Baby. You’ve always wanted to be with him, right? It’s fine for me. As long as he won’t hurt you. Hurting you because he had a family of his own is one reason I won’t let slide, but taking you away from me is another.”

She drifted into her sleep beside her daughter.

Her yawns are taking over the place as she steps down the stairs of their house. They had no classes for today since it’s already their ‘on-the-job training days’. Fourth-year students couldn’t be seen in their university, for sure. Especially these days since some of their classmates are about to start their training at Vesarius Airlines. As for those who didn’t get accepted, they need to submit their resumes to the other two companies they had as options.

Summer isn’t there already since the kid went on first to go to school. Cauis went with her so she’s the only one left in their house.

She sipped a cup of coffee while waiting for her phone to turn on after she turned it off yesterday due to the nonstop notifications blasting her messaging app.

When her phone finally turned on, notifications got in again nonstop. But what stood out the most are the ones that came from Quincy Mae’s.

She had 10 missed calls and almost 12 text messages.

She curiously opened them. She literally spit her coffee out of shock the moment she read the message.

Sent: 8:17 pm

‘Congrats, ‘Te. Desurve!’

Sent: 9:02 pm

‘We’ll leave early tomorrow. Don’t be late. Give Baby a goodbye kiss for me too.’

Sent: 8:30 am

‘Ate Lyz, where are you?’

She nervously swallowed and got frozen in her seat after she read Quincy Mae’s messages. She couldn’t even comprehend everything at first so she scrolled through the other messages.

Sent: 8:45 am

‘Professor Helen is grilling me again. She’s might be menopausal already. It’s always me who gets to take her anger.’

Sent: 9:03 am

‘We already left. I told Professor Helen you are having a stomachache that’s why you’re not able to come to our first day in Vesarius Airlines. Don’t worry, I’ll take a lot of selfies and I’ll send them to you.’

She quickly rose up to her seat and panicked while scrolling through the messages in their group chat in order to find Quincy Mae’s text last night.

“Sh*t!” she gasped the moment she saw her name written at the top corner in the list of passers.

She went on to finish her coffee and without having any second-thoughts, she rushed to her room and grabbed a set of clothes and a towel. She even had some trouble getting them due to the panic and tension she’s feeling.

It’s almost half past ten in the morning, she’s extremely late on her first day at Vesarius Airlines. Don’t worry, she thought. She’ll just show up in the room and get some back up from Quincy Mae.

It was her fastest five minute shower and getting dressed. Without even bothering to choose what she needs to wear on her first day, she just grabbed any high heels that she could find in the shoe rack and almost stumbled on her way outside their house.

‘This secretary looks dumb. She kept going back and forth in order to ask us if there are still some interns who arrived.’

Her fingers typed in a message as fast as they could, sending Quincy Mae a reply, letting her know that she’ll come and nail the excuse that she’ll give the professor.

When the jeep she’s riding stopped in front of a road leading to Vesarius Airlines, she rushed her way down to get out.

“So it’s you, Ma’am,” one of the lady guards greeted her when she finally reached the compound’s enormous gate.

“Y-Yes,” running out of breath, she responded while showing her student ID. “I’m an intern, just got in late.”

“You can go in, Ma’am. Sir Cleo already told me about you.”

“Huh?” Confused, she wanted to know who Cleo was.

She got puzzled because she thought the security in the place might be strict. The place is also surrounded with CCTV cameras and security guards can also be seen not far from the three guarding the main gate.

However, she chose to ignore what the lady guard said. Maybe the president of their block made some arrangements to get her inside.

The people who couldn’t even get their eyes off their work immediately stole her attention the minute she got inside the building. Only some of them were able to give her a gaze, thinking about where she came from in order to come in this late hour. As someone who’s new to the company and an intern, she had the nerves to come in late, she thought.

“Yes?” the lady at the reception area smiled and asked her.

“Hi! I am one of the interns. Can I ask where are the others?”

The lady instructed her to go to the second floor of the building. She saw Quincy Mae waving at her from the door. She shyly looked down when her block mates looked at her direction. It’s a good thing that today’s just the orientation and an introduction about their tasks and positions.

They will also join some of the local flights.

She saw CEO Vesarius’ secretary come in back and forth numerous times. She did not leave a word. She just took a glance at them while talking on the phone with someone, or sometimes typed a text message, and then leave.

She already got her flight schedule when Ms. Helen, who did the orientation, told them to go home. Ms. Helen is one of the senior flight attendants of the said airline company. She’s nice and always smiles. She also good at giving instructions. They never had some trouble understanding what needs to be done once they got in the actual field tomorrow.

“Lyz, are you coming with us or you’ll just take the public transportation?” asked Quincy Mae while walking towards the exit of the building.

“I’ll just take public transportation. Aren’t you coming home too?”

“If I could choose not to, I won’t.” she rolled her eyes.

“You should go home and if things get bad, you can go back to your apartment or you could also stay with me in our house.”

When she nodded, she quickly said her goodbyes. Quincy was born into a rich family so she had someone to drive her home every time she gets back to her parents’ house.

She tried to examine the high heels that she’s wearing as she finds her way back to the compound’s main building. The shoes she’s wearing now is extremely old. The last time she used these shoes were almost a year ago and the heels were worn already.

“Ay!” she screamed and literally jumped out of shock when a car honks at her.

She massaged her chest because of shock and looked at the car in front of her. She didn’t even bother to react further and just stepped back instead. She has no idea who drives the car, it’s better to be careful.

She waited for the car to move forward but it just stayed in the same position. She looked around her in order to examine the route she’ll go after and tried to looked for her classmates walking not too far from her, just in case the person inside the car decided to do something harmful.

When the car stayed there for a few more seconds, she went on and walked again. That’s when the man inside the card gets out from his vehicle.

She got frozen when she saw the look from his eyes. His deep brown eyes looked at her and she couldn’t help but to feel awkward all of a sudden. She had no idea which one is awkward, is it because of his looks that could pass through her soul, or is it because they had a night that couldn’t be forgotten even though four years had passed.

She pinched her hand before walking towards Gideon. She stood in front of him and gave him a tiny smile.

“Thank you for giving me a chance to work in here, Sir,” she stated and looked down a little.

She is now taking all the vulgar words that came into her mind.

“How’s your first day?” he said with a clear and firm voice. So intimidating!

“It’s okay, Sir. We will—“

“I told you to cut the honorifics.”

“It would make me disres—“

“Who cares?” For the second time, the man cut him off again. “You should only care to the things I’m saying, Ms. Pacammara.”

“But, Sir..”

“I’m your boss. I don’t want to hear your honorifics when you’re talking to me.”

She had no idea where this man is going with his statements so she just responded with a nod. She’s definitely sure that she won’t always see him. With her scheduled flights on the following days, she won’t be able to see this man.

“Sure,” she responded even though the feeling is strange for her. “I’ll get going now. Thank you again, Sir.”

He didn’t respond and just looked at her. When she realized that the man have nothing more to say, she gave him another tiny smile and decided to step further from him.

“Ay!” she screamed when her shoes finally broke.

Her hand unconsciously grabbed Gideon’s necktie. Because of the shock, Gideon isn’t ready with what happened and she pulled him down.

It’s a good thing that he had fast reflexes and he was able to get his balance and touched the car’s door. She looked like a monkey holding on to his necktie in order to avoid her face being slammed into the ground.

He slightly bended while she was gripping her necktie, almost dragging him to the floor.

She panicked and let go of his necktie immediately with her eyes wide open while getting up to stand.

“I’m sorry, Sir. Sorry, I didn’t mean to do it.” she quickly stated as she looks down.

“Next time, you should be careful.”

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry.”

The man didn’t respond and just gave her a nod instead and stared at her. Her eyes went to her feet and to the shoes that she’ll surely throw away once she gets home.

“Does it hurt?”

She quickly shook her head and hid her left foot behind her right foot. Of course, it hurts! She might’ve gotten a sprain out of it.

She just doesn’t want Gideon to see it. She already looked dumb in front of him, does she really want to add more embarrassment?

“No, Sir.” She bit her lower lip to avoid herself from smirking. She secretly gave a quick glance to her broken shoes lying on the floor.

“I said cut the honorifics.” Why is this man extremely dominant? And why isn’t he leaving yet?

Can he just leave her alone? She really wants to go home. She still needs to badmouth her shoes once she gets there.

“No, Sir.”

The man just nodded and got inside his car. She felt the urge to celebrate when she saw him find his seat and closed the door.

His tinted window rolled down. “Move aside.”

She started to take some steps, avoiding herself to smirk.

“Ouch!” her mouth didn’t go silent as planned as the pain came in.

Gideon’s car door opened again. Before she was about to get a glance at him, the man already carried her in his arms and put her inside the car without even saying a word.