Chapter 2: Irresistible

He blurted it out loud enough bringing Annie out of her room.

“Herbert?” Herbie turned around to find that it was Annie who called. He looked down on the picture in his hand then looked up at Annie. Oh, yes, it is Annie! his head screaming.

And what about Annie? She was equally surprised, baffled, shocked. Annie’s eyes grew big when she confirmed that it was really him.

Mandy came out of her room opposite her sister’s, looked at Annie and Herbie back and forth and asked - “You know each other?”

“He’s our neighbor?” Annie asked turning her attention to Mandy.

“Yes, why?…. Is there a problem?” Mandy asking her sister. When she didn’t get an answer, she looked at Herbie, who suddenly stuttered as he said his goodbye that sounded like - “Mandy, Annie, nice to meet you two… I’ll see you around.”

When the door shut after him…

“What was that all about, Mandy?”

“Me?… What was THAT all about, Annie?… I mean, do you know him?”

“Oh my God, Mandy, he was the ex-boyfriend I was telling you about back in college!”

“Herbie?”

“Yes! Herbert, remember!”

“Oh yeah, Herbert - Herbie!… He’s cute!” Mandy teasing her sister.

“Stop it! You know how I feel about him!”

“That was like a million years ago! You’re still mad?”

“Oh, I don’t know. It’s just that I never expected to see him. We have never bumped into each other in a long long time and this is not exactly how I imagined our next meeting will be.”

“Don’t worry, Anne, you look gorgeous as always!” Mandy told her as she fetched another of her boxes from the living room to her bedroom.

Meanwhile, Herbie got back to his apartment dumbfounded. A little earlier, he was thinking about how excited he would be from then on to come home and now, with Annie as his neighbor, he just didn’t know anymore.

Annie still looked beautiful and her confidence? Maybe a hundred times more since he last saw her when she won the school pageant back in college.

“How can I not remember about her sister?” She would always tell him about Amanda… Amanda - Mandy, Mandy - Amanda! He got it. He regretted that he didn’t pay attention to Annie’s stories about her sister. All that he remembered was Annie was only two years older.

But she looked nothing like her sister. “I mean, they’re both pretty.” But one could hardly find any resemblance. Mandy’s hair was really really dark, Annie’s was a bit on the blonde side, or maybe it was the hair coloring.

He went to bed finding it hard to get some sleep. His thoughts kept coming back to that amazing hour with Mandy and the shock that followed seeing Annie again.

He felt a bit of animosity between Annie and him and he wondered whether that feeling of hostility that Annie had for him would rub off on Mandy. He shrugged his shoulders and decided that he already lost a potential friendship, relationship -whatever - without even trying.

Such attitude that he had with girls was the exact opposite of the attitude he had about his job. That was one thing he was very confident about. Before this job at Superb Semicon, he had two previous other jobs that had something to do with computer programming, too. He would be two years at Superb Semicon by August and he had been promoted three times already. The last came after he submitted a resignation letter. He didn’t resign, the offer was just too hard to resist - a huge pay raise, subsidized lodging, flexible work hours, travels, and the title - General Manager at only 26 years old.

And no, it’s not arrogance. He was just bored with the job and thought that he could probably pursue other fields while he’s still young. But he ended up staying. As it turned out, the job got more challenging as he moved up the ladder.

He woke up the following morning really early. The plan was to get out of the building before any of the sisters found him.

He walked past 1204 with a suitcase in one hand, the other hand loosening the tie that he had tied up a little tight. He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button that would close its door -

“Hey, can you hold the door?” a voice shouting from the halls.

Herbie pushed the button open and heard running footsteps.  It was Mandy!

“Thanks!” she said still panting.

“You’re a nurse?” Herbie asked seeing her in her white uniform.

“Yeah!.. I look ugly in white, right?”

“Wh-what?” He stuttered not knowing what to say.

“Don’t answer… I don’t want you to lie.” she said smiling.

They walked out of the elevator and out of the building together. They stood by the bus stop for a few minutes until Mandy decided she would just walk five blocks to the hospital where she worked.

There were three hospitals where she was heading, two private hospitals and a government hospital. Stop it, Herbie! Why does that information even matter? he said to himself.

“Hey, I’ll see you later?” she said without waiting for his answer.

Mandy actually had a point. Traffic was horrible that day maybe because of the never-ending road repairs in that area and to think that it was only six in the morning!

He followed her with his eyes until she turned a corner. He caught himself smiling. It was hot, he would probably stand in a crowded bus, and a pile of work that needed to be accomplished were waiting for him in his office BUT he was smiling.

He was not wrong when he said he would be busy that day. On his desk were about ten post-it notes of tasks that he needed to attend to and accomplish before the day ended. He was not worried at all, the list was long alright, but not really that mind-boggling.

Around three in the afternoon, he was almost done with the list. Well, he really didn’t do all the tasks in the list, half of it, he delegated to his staff.

He stopped for a while and entertained thoughts, not work-related - thoughts about Annie’s animosity rubbing off on Mandy. He felt happy he was wrong about that. He thought that chance encounter with Mandy that morning was cordial and friendly. But no! I can’t be entertaining any kind of relationship with her! And yes, not even friendship!… ‘Cause it’s going to be weird. It’ll be too awkward.

It was past 7:00 in the evening when he reached his building. Ever since his promotion, he felt that his office buddies were avoiding him that they seldom invite him to join them for some drinks. Although that night, too, he was in no mood for that kind of fun.

The management team, on the other hand, was way older than he was. Most of them no longer enjoy night outs except for his boss, Bart Domingo, who was fond of going into Night Clubs to watch women perform. Sometimes, when he ran out of excuses, he would join him but most times, he would make it a point to be out of his sight.

He was not blaming Mr. Domingo, though. He was probably just keeping his mind off his expensive divorce.

There’s no divorce in the Philippines yet he is getting one. It was actually his wife who filed for that. Maybe it made sense since his wife and kids were already living in the United States for a few years now.

He was frightened at the thought that his fate might be similar to Mr. Domingo. The choices he was making so far was not so different from the choices that his boss made - prioritizing career, sabotaging relationships - he cringed at the picture.

A rushing Mandy was walking out of the building just as he was coming in. She was no longer in her nurse uniform.

“Mandy!” he called out to her. It was too late when he realized he should be avoiding her. That was the decision he made two times already and had broken twice, too.

“Where to?”

Mandy pulled Herbie to a corner. “You can’t tell Annie, okay? I told her I’m taking double shifts at the hospital.”

“Are you doing something illegal?”

“No!… Why would you even think that?”

“Oh, I don’t know… Well maybe because all legal things start with - ‘You can’t tell, Annie!’ “

“I have a part time job as a freelance photographer… I just got this call this afternoon to take photos for a fashion show tonight… I’m really just a replacement ‘cause the original choice got sick but I’m taking it!”

“Can I come?” Soon as it came out of his mouth he wanted to hide. He suddenly felt embarrassed.

“With me?… Sure!… We’ll just say you’re my assistant!”

Mandy’s gig finished a few minutes before midnight. He saw her talk with a lady that handed her an envelope. He didn’t know how much money that envelope had but he knew it was enough to make her smile like that.

That! - He didn’t know just how to describe that smile but it’s THAT! 

She insisted on having dinner before going home. She was so anxious about the job that she only felt hungry and tired after the show was done. And she paid, too. She felt she owed him at least that dinner for making her anxiety about the job less obvious.

They hailed a cab  and both sat at the back passenger seat.  

Eyes closed he said - “So that’s what that box of photographs was!”

“What?”  She lifted her head a little to look at him.

“I said, the box of photos in your apartment, those where photos you took?”

She rested her head on the backrest again, closed her eyes and replied - “Yeah!”

He turned his head to look at her when the cab stopped. They have reached their apartment exactly 15 minutes before one in the morning.

Herbie was still looking at the bills in his wallet when Mandy pulled a 500 peso bill from her pocket and handed it to the driver.

“I got this, Herbie!… Thank you.”

“Thanks, too. I’d be sleepy at work tomorrow, but I had fun!”

“Me, too!”

The lobby of their building was quiet and dark. Aside from the two of them, only the guard by the door and the night-shift receptionist were awake.

At the twelfth floor, the halls were also quiet and dim. There were eight rooms there but only five were occupied that it never really got too noisy or crowded whether it be at day or night.

It was really something to watch Mandy at work. She still seems hesitant and unsure about what she’s doing, as we all were when we’re new at the job! But he could tell that photography was really what she wanted to do. There was a stark difference in the way she looked as she was heading to the hospital earlier in the day, and the way she looked as she was heading to this gig so late in the evening.

He realized both of them had been up for almost 24 hours! But he didn’t mind. He didn’t mind if tomorrow will be an exact repetition of the events of the day before - starting and ending his day with irresistible, Mandy!