Chapter 3

"YOU have a meeting with the investors later at nine am sir—" panimula ng sekretarya n'ya pagkarating n'ya kinaumagahan sa opisina n'ya.

"and another meeting with Mr. Lopez later at eleven am—" nakikinig lang si Edward sa sekretarya n'ya habang naglalakad sila papasok sa elevator.

"by lunch, you have a very important lunch meeting with the CEO of Lim Enterprises—" everyone is scared of him, ni walang may planong sumabay sakanya sa elevator except nalang sa sekretarya n'yang kailangan n'ya.

"at one-thirty pm, you will visit the site to check the cars dahil sabi n'yo po gusto n'yong masiguro na magaganda at tama ang kalidad ng mga ito before we will distribute it sa mga nag order around the world—" pinatigil ito ni Edward sa pagsasalita na ikinagulat nito.

"how many orders do we have for the day? how many cars should be done today and needed to be distributed around the world by tomorrow?" he asks her at narinig talaga ni Edward kung paano ito lumunok sa takot but Edward couldn't care less. He wanted it that way, he wants his employees to be scared of him because in that case, it would be easy to train them and to be respected by them. Specially since being not respected is the most hated thing he could experience from someone.

"more than one thousand car, sir." anito pa.

"be specific." ani ni Edward and his secret immediately look at her iPad para tingnan kung ilang order ang aabutin nila today.

"one thousand eight hundrer car, sir." tugon nito and Edward just nod at saka bumukas na ang elevator.

When he arrived at the hall papunta sa office n'ya, sobrang payapa nito na para bang walang nagta-trabaho pero meron actually, may mga empleyado siyang tahimik na nagta-trabaho dahil ayaw ni Edward ng maingay. Yes, ganon siya kahigpit sa mga empleyado n'ya.

"sir, do you still need anything before i go back to my table?" tanong ng sekretarya n'ya sakanya.

Umiling-iling si Edward dito. "no more, I'll just call you if i need anything." tugon n'ya dito at saka ito tumango at lumakad na papuntang table nito na nasa labas lang ng opisina ni Edward.

Edward is the most strict and was label as the evil CEO among all the young CEO's around the country. And he's not bothered by those. He knows himself and he knows that he's really like that.

He will have a rough and busy day today. He has lots of things to do and he was headed to the conference room for a meeting but someone called him.

"hello." aniya pa sa kabilang linya and he frowned when the person in the other line laugh at him at ng tiningnan nya kung sino ang tumawag, napabuntong hininga nalang si Edward. "Anthony, ano na naman iyon?" aniya pa dito.

"trip ko talagang tawagan ka kapag nasa opisina ka. Gustong-gusto ko kasing marinig yung boses ng ibang personalidad mo." anito na animo'y nang-aasar.

He's different when he's with his friends. He's jolly, loves to make a joke, and he laughs a lot but when he's at work specifically in his office, he acts differently. He's strict and as his employees and other people say, evil. He's the cruel one when it comes to taking leads. He wants everything to be perfect and he wants his employee to be responsible and has a respect to him. When your nice, you tend to get taken advantage on. When your nice, they will feel that their assigned works can be done later even if the due is now. When your nice, they won't respect you and the work they are in. He knows na hindi lahat ng tao ganyan pero wala siyang tiwala sa mga ito.

"shut up, you just miss me." balik pang-aasar n'ya dito sa seryosong tono ng boses.

"of course, i do. Sino ba namang hindi kung ganitong boses maririnig ko tuwing tatawag ako at nasa opisina ka at nagtatrabaho para sa future nating dalawa." Anthony is really into it. He's really into teasing him.

napatawa si Edward dito dahilan para mapatitig sakanya ang sekretarya n'ya. "pag ako nakaganti sa'yo, sisiguraduhin ko talagang ita-takwil ka ng girlfriend mo." aniya pa na ikinatawa naman ni Anthony sa kabilang linya.

"Emily's with me, actually. And she's full support on me teasing you real bad kasi gusto n'ya rin marinig paano ang sobrang seryoso na si Edward kapag nasa opisina." napailing-iling nalang si Edward sa sinabi nito.

"bagay nga kayo, tigilan n'yo na ako. May trabaho pa akong gagawin." aniya pa dito.

"fine pero we have a meeting tonight sa bar ko. Don't forget about it." tugon ng kaibigan.

"meeting about what?" tanong n'ya sa kaibigan bago n'ya i-baba ang tawag.

"Gideon needs our help, we need to plan something about it. Kung ako lang ang masusunod dito, kaya ko naman at ng mga tao ko pero since gusto n'yo ngang tumulong, let's have a meeting later." ani ng kaibigan.

Tumango-tango si Edward dito na akala mo naman nakikita ni Anthony. "sige, I'll be there." aniya pa saka binaba ang tawag.

Matapos ang tawag na iyon, naglakad na siya ulit papasok sa conference room. The moment he enters the conference room, tumahimik na ang lahat ng tao doon at hinintay na siyang makaupo.

The meeting started and Edward was just listening to the person who is reporting in front of them.

"are you sure that we're able to reach the number of orders? lalo na ngayong araw na we have more than a thousand orders." Edward stare at the person who asked that.

"we have plenty of workers at may malaki tayong factory and plenty of factory to make cars so i don't see any reason for us to not be able to sustain the orders that we have." sagot naman ni Edward dito.

"but how about the quality?" concern pa ni Mr. Lee na isa sa investors ng kompanya n'ya.

Tumuwid ng upo si Edward at tiningnan sila isa-isa lalo na ang ginoo. "Mr. Lee, for five years, my company has been supplying the best quality of cars around the world kaya nga in demand sila, hence, we wouldn't have this huge amount of order everyday from different countries. So you don't have to worry or question about their quality kasi kung papalpak man, dalawa lang ang ibig sabihin nun, may binayaran sa loob ng kompanya ko para sirain ang mga sasakyang gawa namin or may isang tangang nagkamali and needed to be fired immediately." tugon n'ya pa dito.

Edward owns the biggest auto company in the country. The car that his company makes and sells are in demand around the world because

of it's unique and beautiful quality. It's advance compared to the cars that is used by some people today.

"My company has been great since day one and no one should question everything about it nor have a doubt about the cars we supply." he said so calm yet so scary, even the way he stare at the people inside the conference room, they gulped upon seeing and hearing his voice.

After more than one hour, the meeting ended and later he attended another meeting.

Edward's schedule was pack up within the day and after he visited the site to check all the work that has been done, dumeretso na siya sa bar ni Anthony. He thought that he needed a drink after a long tiring day of work.

"look who's here, our very own evil businessman friend." Anthony loves teasing him with that title that people outside and inside the business industry gave him, except his friends. Sa negosyo kasi ibang tao siya pero kapag kaharap n'ya mga kaibigan n'ya para siyang bully na bata na masayahin at palabiro.

"I'm tired, give me a kiss." aniya kay Anthony at nag pout pa ng lips n'ya to give him a sign to kiss him pero sa loob n'ya, natatawa na siya lalo na sa naging reaksiyon ni Anthony, idagdag mo pa ang tawanan ng mga kaibigan nila pero si Anthony ay binatukan lang siya sabay nandiri sakanya.

"kadiri ka, tumigil ka nga." anito na ikinatawa lang ni Edward.

"alam n'yo bang tumawag yan kanina sa opisina dahil namiss n'ya ako? biruin mo yun?" sabay hagikhik ni Edward.

"namiss nga kita, namiss kitang asarin lalo na kapag nasa opisina ka. Alam n'yo bang pagsagot n'yan sa tawag kanina, sobrang strict ng boses na akala mo kapag nagkamali ka ipa-patay ka kaagad." pagku-kwento pa nito sa mga kaibigan n'ya.

"yeah and you're ruining my image sa opisina." sagot n'ya naman dito. Inakbayan siya ni Anthony.

"why? napangiti ba kita habang magkausap tayo kanina?" biro pa nitong tanong.

"yes and I almost laugh at you pero andoo yung sekretarya ko kaya ngumiti nalang ako. It was her first time seeing me smile kaya akala na nun na girlfriend kita. Text ko nga si Emily para sabihin na akin kana simula pa kanina." sakay n'ya pa sa pang-aasar ni Anthony.

"ulol, hindi maniniwala girlfriend ko sayo. Psychology yun, baka isipin n'ya lang na baliw ka at i-diagnose ka ng maraming sakit sa utak." anito na ikinatawa ng lahat.

"ba't ikaw malaya paring nakakagala ngayon? diba dapat mag diagnose din siya sayo ng sakit sa utak kasi kung baliw ako, mas baliw ka." hirit n'ya pa dito. "sinong tangang tatawag sa opisina para sabihing namiss ako." tatawa-tawa n'ya pang ani.

"ba't kami Anthony, hindi mo ba kami namiss?" pang-aasar pa ng isa nilang kaibigan dito.

"tigilan n'yo ako, inaasar ko lang yan si Edward kasi alam kong hindi yan ngingiti kapag nasa opisina n'ya pero biruin n'yong napangiti ko pala. Iba na talaga alindog ko, pati lalaki babaliko." sagot naman ni Anthony sa lahat na nagpatawa ulit sa lahat.

"hindi nga nagkagusto sayo si Luke na bakla pa yan tapos ako babaliko sayo?" patuloy lang sila sa bangayan nila.

"hoy, Edward. Hindi man ako nagkagusto diyan kay Anthony, baka ikaw pwede. Magkaiba tayo ng taste at type so baka siya type mo." singit naman ni Luke na nakikisabay narin sa asaran.

"Alam n'yo, hindi ako bakla. Tsaka ang gwapo ko namang bakla." sabay-sabay nawalan ng gana ang mga kaibigan n'ya sa sinabi n'ya kaya sinamaan n'ya ang mga ito ng tingin.

"ang sasama n'yo sa'kin, hindi kayo invited sa birthday ko." parang bata n'yang ani.

"sa susunod na taon pa birthday mo!" sabay bato sakanya ng pulutan nila.

"malapit na, ilang buwan nalang ay next year na kaya hindi kayo invited." aniya pa na ikinatawa nalang ng lahat. Sa ingay ng music, naririnig talaga nila ang isa't-isa kapag asaran na ang pag-uusapan.

"Ba't n'yo ba pinagtutulungan si Edward? Pagod na pagod yan ngayon oh, kailangan ng babae at alak n'yan." sabay tawang pang-aasar ni Gideon sakanya.

"stop teasing me..." aniya pa na kunwari ay galit na pero. "nasaan na ba yung mga babae at maraming alak na sinasabi n'yo? Gusto ko ng magpahinga sakanila." dagdag n'ya na kinantiyawan naman ng mga kaibigan n'ya.

Aside from being the evil businessman, sakanilang magbabarkada, si Edward din ang nangunguna when it comes to being a playboy. Kung totousin, pangalawa lang si Anthony sakanya. He loves the company of girls specially in bed and some people may call him an asshole for that but he doesn't care about their opinion as long as he's enjoying.

as long as hindi n'ya pa nakikita ang matagal n'ya ng hinahanap.