SERENDIPITOUS LOVE

CHAPTER 6: His Presence

February 8. 2016. Monday. As Jacqui woke up early in the morning, another breakfast delivery from Belle's Café arrived. The breakfast delivery contained other of her favorites; Pain au chocolat (which came in a box of 4), and latte macchiato (which came hot and served in a 16 oz paper coffee cup).

When Maynard saw that a food service attendant from Belle's Café had a food delivery that morning, he did not bother anymore to bring her the breakfast that he had prepared for her. His sister, Madison, mentioned to him one time that Jacqui liked the bibingka recipe of their mother, who had already passed away. He knew how to cook it, so he tried making some of it that morning. But he had a change of heart giving it to Jacqui because compared to Belle Tan, a well-known chef in the country, he was nobody.

She had no doubt anymore that it was from Jac. So she messaged him – Good morning. Thanks for another breakfast delivery. I love them as usual. But it made me think. It seems to me that you know the food I usually prefer eating for breakfast.

It took a while for Jac to reply. Jacqui was already done with her breakfast and was already about to take a shower when she heard her smartphone ringing.

She saw that the incoming video call was from Jac.

As she pressed the answer button, Jac spoke, about to enter his car already – Bonjour, mademoiselle. Please pardon me for my late response. I was in the shower when you messaged me and then I had to rush to dress up. I have to leave early for a series of business trips to Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Macau, and Shanghai for Zenith Technology. We are about to leave for the airport already. Anyway, I am glad you like them.

She responded –Yeah, I do like them. So, when will you be back?

He replied – I will be back on the 12th.

She asked then – So will you be able to attend my Pre-Valentine's Day Runway Show?

He told – I will try my best to attend it. I have missed a lot of your company events already. I will try not to miss it this time around.

She told him – Okay. Well, I am already about to take a shower. Have a safe trip then.

He responded – Yeah, I will try my best to have a safe trip as usual. I will not interrupt you with what you are doing anymore. Bye for now.

She ended the call with – Yes, bye.

As usual, when Jacqui went to JADE Company building, the personnel at the reception desk informed her of the flowers that she had received from her admirers and well wishers that morning. She liked roses but she felt that they were already overrated if sent to woo a lady. Almost everyday, she got to receive a bouquet of roses in different colors. Most of them were red, pink and white. But her actual favorite rose color is lavender or, as others say, light purple. Nobody had sent her that color of roses yet. One of the receptionists had already given her the note cards that came with the flowers.

That day, there was a flower arrangement that stood out and caught her attention. Her birth flower is a chrysanthemum, which generally symbolizes longevity, fidelity, joy and optimism. Someone had sent her a pot of red chrysanthemums, not cut flowers. Red chrysanthemums symbolize love and deep passion. Chrysanthemums are air-purifying plants. They remove ammonia, benzene and formaldehyde from indoor air. They are her favorites. The balcony of her apartment in Paris as well as the balcony of her condo unit were filled with red chrysanthemums and other air-purifying plants. Although in France, one must refrain from giving French people chrysanthemums because to them they are the flower of the dead.

She then asked the receptionist, "Who sent the potted red chrysanthemum?"

The receptionist answered, "They are from Mr. Jac Tan, ma'am."

Jacqui immediately looked for the notecard from Jac. She often received congratulatory flowers from him in the past. They were usually an arrangement of different colored gerbera, daisies or orchids. She saw the usual envelope that he used in sending her a congratulatory and apology note. Written on his note card –

Mademoiselle Jacqui Avila,

Une bonne journée à toi. I hope you liked the breakfast I sent as well as these red chrysanthemums. I will not be around for a few days. Just the mere thought of not seeing you in a day makes me miss you already. I will try to come back as soon as I can.

Missing you,

Monsieur Jac Tan

Jacqui then told the receptionist, "Please bring the potted red chrysanthemums to my office. Then, as usual, distribute the other flowers in the other departments for embellishment purposes."

As she made her rounds of the entire building, visiting first their flagship store located on the ground floor of the building, she sent a message to Jac – Merci beaucoup pour le chrysanthème. I love red chrysanthemums the most, but it seems that you already know that. I really wonder why.

She did not expect to receive a quick reply from him anymore. She assumed that he was probably still on the plane. But she did receive a quick response from him through a voice message – De rein, mademoiselle. Anyway, the plane is about to land already. I will try to message or call you later when I have the time. Bonne journée! Prends soin! Tu me manques!

She liked it a lot whenever he spoke in French. His French accent was making him much more attractive to her. That had put her in a very good mood during the entire time of her morning rounds in the different areas and departments of JADE Company.

When Jacqui was already done with her morning rounds along with her executive assistant and Alyanna, she went through the notecards that came with the flowers one by one. Then she suddenly came across one coming from the brother of her sister-in-law.

In her mind – Jac was right about Kuya Maynard having a romantic interest in me. What must I do? Shall I tell Madi about this? But then I really don't have any romantic feelings for anyone but Jac. How can I reject Kuya Maynard in such a way that it will not affect my relationship with Madi? I will set aside this for a while. I have got a lot more important things to do.

She had already sorted all the note cards so she gave Alyanna the ones that needed an appreciation return card as well as the ones from her suitors which would be replied with some sort of, a subtle rejection apology card. But she kept the ones from Jac and Madi's brother. She then told her executive assistant to give her all the documents that she needed to review.

By lunch time, she did not even notice that it was already break time until a lunch meal delivery came from Belle's Cuisine, a chain of restaurants established by Belle, which had a branch near her office. She did not even notice that her executive assistant and secretaries had already left for their lunch break. Alyanna left earlier because she had to go to her school campus for a meeting with their class adviser.

Then at the same time, she also received a message from Jac telling her – Do not forget to eat, mademoiselle. I ordered lunch for you. It will be there anytime now. I already took the liberty of ordering Kung Pao Chicken and Ma Po Tofu for you because someone tipped me that you love them. Belle does not only specialize in French cuisine, she also knew other cuisines, like Chinese with our paternal grandparents both half-Chinese, half-Filipino. Qǐng xiǎngyòng!

She replied with – Guess, I already know who is your source of my favorite foods. The lunch you ordered is already here, packed and delivered in a rattan basket. Don't forget to have lunch as well. Merci beaucoup, monsieur.

She even took a photo of what he ordered for her and sent it to him. Then there was no reply anymore. She assumed that perhaps he was busy again.

In her mind – He is really making his presence in my life known even if he is in another country. So this is how serious he is in courting me. It really makes me feel good inside. Even if I have got short hair, I feel that my hair is up to my feet in length. But then I miss him already. I feel so special when I am with him. He even cooked dinner for me last night and toured me around his modern villa house except from the bedroom upstairs. He showed me his underground workshop, his robot combat arena, his robot car race circuit, and his personal fitness and martial arts gym at home. He is sharing with me personal stuff about himself. According to him, the construction of his private residence started in January 2015 and it was completed before he left for his business trip in France in early June 2015. The architect was Daniel Cardenas and his wife, Leila, was the lead interior designer. So it meant that Anna Reyes was not able to see it anymore, unless Leila assigned her to take part in the interior design of the house. But I doubt it. The lady rejected Jac so she might have avoided working for him. I am really curious about her. But I am not that thick-skinned to ask Leila about her. If we will meet someday, then so be it. Good thing she had rejected Jac or else he might not have recalled his admiration of me when we met again last June. I can also sense that he was indeed over her, because he just talked about her in a very casual manner. But then what about Kuya Maynard? What shall I do about him? Perhaps I should just ignore it, and pretend that I did not receive the roses and the note card. I really do not know how to deal with this matter. Does Madi even know about this? I doubt it. She might have already told me in advance and built her brother up on me. But she did not, so perhaps she indeed did not know about this. This would be very awkward. I do not even know how I will behave in front of Kuya Maynard once we meet again. I have just always treated him like an older brother. I was just 15 during my first year at Law and he was already 22 or 23 back then. He is almost as old as my twin brothers. But how can I avoid him? We live in the same building and on the same floor. I love how things are going on between me and Jac. Why did Kuya Maynard have to enter the scene? Oh, this situation is really giving me a headache! What should I do? Send him that subtle rejection reply card like I usually asked one of my secretaries to do with my other admirers and suitors or should I not? Should I tell Madi about this or not? Should I tell Jac about it and ask him what to do? I don't think so. We might already be dating exclusively, but we are still not in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. And we have only dated once for now, because we are both busy with work. So we just decided to do the dating thing on weekends. Gosh! This is so difficult to deal with! I really don't know what to do. I usually ask Madi's opinion regarding boy matters but then her brother is involved. So I do not feel that it is appropriate to tell her about this. If I asked Mom about her opinion, for sure she would tell Dad about it. Dad has been so protective of me lately. He is even our private investigator at the firm to check on the background of every admirer that has tried to pursue me ever since I returned here in the country. I don't know what his reaction would be to Kuya Maynard having a romantic interest in me. Dad even questioned me when I asked Kuya Maynard to do all the legal matters of my company and not Kuya Jon or Kuya Jer. I just thought back then that Kuya Jon was already very busy. Kuya Maynard also handled the accounting matters of the company back then, so I also asked him for his legal assistance to help his starting law office. According to the note card, he began to like me in law school. I was still a minor back then, so he didn't pursue me. He also felt the need to establish himself first, so he will be worthy of me knowing that I came from a rich upper-class family in the State of Sorocon. I preferred that he didn't decide to pursue me at all.

On the other hand, Maynard knew that the roses he sent to Jacqui had been included in the flowers that were distributed to the different departments of her company for embellishment purposes. He had just arrived outside Jacqui's building as she instructed the receptionist to bring the potted red chrysanthemum into her office and distribute the rest of the flowers for embellishment purposes. He just wanted to see if she had received the red roses that he sent before he went to his place of work, which was just a few blocks from her building.

In his mind – Who sent the red chrysanthemum to her? Why did she tell the receptionist to bring it to her office? What is even so special about that flower? Even its symbolism has to do with death in some European countries, like Belgium, Italy, France and Austria. But then she has chrysanthemums of different colors on her balcony even if they don't bloom very often. Did she not like roses? Most ladies like to receive red roses. Did she even read the note card that I sent? Perhaps she just ignored it the way she had ignored all the flowers sent to her except for that potted red chrysanthemum plant. I thought I already knew a lot of things about you, Jacqui. But it seems that I barely know you. You even pursued a degree in fashion design and an MBA in Fashion Business just to be able to establish JADE Company. You have not been practicing law much even if you are a bar topnotcher. You prepare all the legal documents of your company with your legal secretary and then course through everything to your family's law firm for all the notarization. You only hired me as your accountant and lawyer when you were still in Paris. If Manang Alma had not met that accident, then you would not even call me for legal help. You have always been too focused on work, but then it had already been two nights in a row that I had seen you with Jac Tan. You allowed him to kiss your hand, then you even kissed him on his cheek. What is going on between the two of you? Are the two of you already in a romantic relationship? How did it even start? I have not even seen him attending the important events of your company since you opened it up last July. But then his sister was there along with his family every once in a while. Madi mentioned to me in the past that the Avilas and the Tans had been family friends way back so long in the past, with her father-in-law not even alive yet. Have the tow of you already met in the past? Jac Tan used to live here in Pinnacle Tower before. But he moved out sometime in 2015. And I moved in around May 2015 when I already heard that Jacqui would already be returning for good. Papa had already passed away. So I did not have to support any one any more. Mama had died ahead of Papa while Madi was already married and earning her own money. I was able to buy that unit with my savings. I purchased it to be much closer to Jacqui but then it did not happen. She did not commission my account and legal services anymore the moment she returned from Paris. She had also been so focused on her work that she had no time anymore to entertain suitors. But why is she suddenly that close to Jac Tan? His mother is French. Did they meet in France at some point during her stay there? That billionaire as well as his brother are known to be jet setting from one country to another for their work at JI Pinnacle Corporation. He even has his own business endeavors apart from his involvement in the family business empire. He is also a member of the Filipinas' Elite Billionaires' Club. The Avilas might be from the upper class but they are not as rich as the Tans. The Avilas also do not look at one's social status when it comes to their marriages. Both Jer and Jon married someone from the lower middle class. How did Jac and Jacqui become close then? And why is there only an exchange of kisses? Such a kiss was not just a friendly gesture. What is really going on between the two of them? There was not even any news about it, considering that they are both famous business personalities. Jac Tan is considered one of the most eligible bachelors in the country. A lot of female celebrities have a crush on him. Jacqui is equally famous as well. A lot of men in the upper class are trying to pursue her, with no success.