บท 3: An Unfortunate Encounter
Cyd met Carl Lim, the newly hired junior associate, on the way back to her room. Carl used to work in the firm as a paralegal while he reviewed for the bar examinations. Then he took a year off from work, went back to the UK, enrolled for the review, and took the bar. He was offered the position of Junior Associate after he passed with flying colors.
In the office, they were professional colleagues, but after work, they were binge-buddies who frequented buffets and malls for sale events. On occasions that Caren was able to join them, the threesome would call it a day by midnight at the earliest.
Cyd whispered as she passed by Carl, "Can you believe that I, too, will need to assist Mr. Wonderful when he reports for work on Monday, next week!"
"Sweet! The more, the merrier!" Carl guffawed. "Jenny, Lily, and now you? This is becoming more interesting every day, don't you think?"
"No! Especially after my name cropped up! Good thing that it's already Friday as I don't think I could survive another one of Kevin's famous surprises."
"Don't say anything yet, or you may find your weekend suddenly compromised. You might be called again to attend an urgent signing of documents; who knows?" Carl said, laughed, and cheerily went on to the meeting room to meet his client, avoiding Cyd's glare at his retreating figure.
The next day, after dropping by the office to finish a document, Cyd decided to have lunch in one of the Japanese restaurants near their office. It was a tiny but quaint place with a food conveyor that she found convenient, serving authentic Japanese makis and sushi. She wanted to call Carl and invite him to join her for lunch, but she was already hearing rambling sounds coming from her stomach and did not want to wait anymore. So, she discarded the idea and decided to have lunch alone. She got out of her car and started walking toward the restaurant, fumbled into putting her car keys in her bag, and looking inside her purse for her cell phone. She was still busy with her bag and was about to pull open the door when it swung right at her face without warning.
Cyd let out a cry as she dropped to the ground. Her hand immediately went up to her face, and she felt a small dent in her forehead. "Great!" She thought. "Are these stars that I am seeing around me or am I really that hungry?"
"Are you all right?" A man's voice broke her thoughts. He then knelt before her and helped her gently to her feet.
A woman's voice followed, "Of course not, she does not look okay…"
Cyd looked up and saw this beautiful couple before her. The woman was quite striking, although she appeared to be in her late 30s or early 40s, and the man was a towering figure with broad shoulders, who looked younger than his woman companion. Both of them seemed very concerned about her.
"I was not looking; I’m sorry… are you okay?" The man continued.
Still reeling from the brunt of the glass door on her face, she tried to brush her pain aside and smiled.
"No, it was my fault. I was looking at my bag when I pulled the door open. Please, I’m fine, just a little embarrassed, but I'll recover." She forced another smile. If only the images around her would stop moving.
"Are you sure?" The woman asked hesitantly.
Cyd straightened herself and, with all the dignity she was able to muster, tried to reassure them.
"Really, I’m okay, please do not worry about me but…" she hesitated a bit and continued, "… but just in case I would need some medical attention, then I will need to get in touch with you. I’m working in a law firm, one of the best there is, so will have excellent legal representation." She did not mean to, but the last phrase ended a bit smugly, a bit too smugly.
"O-oh, but my hu-"
Before the lady could finish, the man held the lady’s arm and stopped her from talking further. The man then smiled. "Yes, please let us know if there is anything we can do for you. I will give you my phone number so you can call us if we need to compensate you for any medical expenses regarding this. Let’s leave the lawyers out of this, okay?"
"Ha! Scared of lawyers, are you?" Cyd thought. Loudly, she said, "Yes, let me just have your number, and we can all just be on our merry way."
The man wrote his phone number on a piece of paper, handed it to Cyd, asked again if she was okay, smiled at her before he and the lovely woman walked away together.
As Cyd walked inside the restaurant, she found herself asking the questions, "Donny and Marie? Bonnie and Clyde? Demi and Ashton?" Embarrassed, she started shaking her head. It was not her business to know. Full stop.
-----
On Monday morning, Cyd arrived at the office a few minutes before seven. It was a habit that she has gotten used to, coming to work earlier than most and staying until everyone has gone back for the day. Her colleagues and even one senior partner teased Cyd about her working time preference, but they all secretly envied Kevin and wondered how she ended up working for him.
However, this particular day, Cyd braced herself for the busy manic Monday schedule, including the new Senior Associate reporting for his first day at work. The bump on her forehead had gotten dark, now looking like a nasty bruise so conspicuous that even makeup concealers failed to hide it.
She then found herself touching it with her fingers to make sure that it has not gotten bigger.
It was little after 9 am when Cyd heard noises in the hall, prompting her to stand up from her desk. She straightened her blouse and skirt, gave herself a quick look in the mirror, and nodded in approval. She took in a deep breath, exhaled, and muttered to herself, "Showtime."
She was about to meet the new lawyer, but he was already standing down by the hallway with two other partners, welcoming him to the firm. Cyd was rechecking her bump when she saw him and suddenly stopped dead on her tracks.
Ben Lee, the new Senior Associate, was the man she met by accident, literally, over the weekend. The man who was responsible for the bruise on her forehead. The man she subtly threatened to sue if the need arises—the man who would be her new boss, sort of.
At that moment, Ben caught her eye as he saw her touching the bruise on her forehead. She noticed that the corner of his lips almost lifted into a smile, but he stopped himself. And for a full five seconds, their eyes locked together, then he looked away and continued his conversation with the other partners.
Cyd grimaced, slowly put her hand down to her side, and bit her lower lip as she mumbled, "Oops…"
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