Chapter 2
1664 Words
'Is it true? Or is it just a dream?' Dara asked herself when she woke up. She stretched her arms and yawned. It was ten minutes to five in the morning. Her usual waking up time.
But unlike the many mornings for four years and seven months, Dara was not moving to prepare herself for office work. She allowed herself to daydream for a few minutes.
'Today is my very first payday! I'll send Mama and the kids some goodies and, of course, money!'
Dara had been an encoder in the Ackers Company for years. Four years, to be exact. She considered herself lucky when she passed the tests.
She had been a freelance typist before and earned so little. The money was just enough to make ends meet but she sent a paltry amount to her family every month.
That was before...
Dara took out her cellphone and texted her foster mother.
'Mama, I will send money today. I have a new job. It pays well. Love, Dara.' Her eyes were dreamy as she typed the short message. She could imagine their stunned reaction when they received the money.
'You'll be surprised, Mama Nena!' Dara thought with a smile. She would send the bulk of her first salary to them. She just separated the amount for daily allowance and a small savings for her bank account.
Nena Stone was a widow when Dara entered her solitary life.
"I found you on my doorstep. You were sleeping prettily but when you smelled milk, you opened your large blue-violet eyes. Oh, you look like an angel!" Nena often gushed when she reminisced the exact moment of their first meeting.
In Dara's private opinion, the true angel was Mama Nena. When she was ten years old, a baby boy was left in front of their door. They named him Nono.
Six years later, a neighbor went to work in another country. She left her children to Mama Nena. After a few months, they heard she died at the hands of cruel employers.
"Nena, I can't take care of Linda's children. Raise them yourself!" Delfin went to their house a week after.
"They are your children! You can't just leave them here!" Mama Nena protested.
"No! They are not mine!" Delfin denied. He was screaming hysterically.
Mama Nena slapped him. "Keep quiet!" she scolded him. "The children might hear you!"
"Nena, I'm telling the truth! I'm barren! Hu! hu! hu!"
"Okay, okay! Sign a paper that you relinquish all your responsibilities for the children!"
Delfin signed and left.
"Mama, how can we feed them now? We have very little money?" Dara remembered asking her Mama Nena.
"We will get by, Dara. We will get by..." Mama Nena always murmured.
Dara and Nono helped their Mama Nena. They collected plastic bottles and cartons all over the neighborhood. They sold them in bulk.
Mama Nena was right. They got by... but their house and their clothes suffered. The house had peeling paint and leaking roof. They had not bought new clothes.
"Finish your studies, Dara. Education is the best weapon against poverty!"
Mama Nena's dream was to become a public teacher but lack of funds forced her to stop studying.
Mama Nena, Nono, and the children all helped to send Dara to school. She repaid their sacrifices by studying hard. She always topped the class and graduated with honors.
"Thank you, Dara, for fulfilling my dream!" Mama Nena kissed both her cheeks on her graduation day.
Dara took a vocational course only but they all felt the pain. She vowed to bring her foster family up above poverty level. She was too idealistic to believe that it would be easy...
Dara embarked to the city. She heard many bad things about the place.
"Dara, always wear this undergarments under your uniform. They are for your safety!" Mama Nena offered the hand-sewn underclothes.
The under-wears were bulky as usual. When Dara wore them, her body appeared shapeless. The company-provided uniform looked shabby and frumpy on her.
Dara did not mind. She was always clean and neat. She washed her hair at night. In the morning, she went to work with her usual bun. She put facial powder on her smooth skin.
"You must wear these eyeglasses while outside, Dara. You have startling eyes, my dear child!" Mama Nena had given Dara colored reading glasses. They had low grade so they would not make her head ache.
Dara came to the office at exactly the same time every day, thirty minutes before everyone arrived. She made it a habit in four years. No late night. No swerving ever.
Unknown to her, this consistent behavior was noticed by someone with a higher position in the company.
"Hire her to be my personal assistant! Pronto!"
The officer at the HR Department moved hurriedly. He summoned Dara to his office.
Dara was told to fill up a new application form. She was curious and nervous but complied quietly.
"Please read the contract before signing!"
Dara was left with the contract. The officer went back to his office.
Her large eyes widened when she saw the huge increase in her salary. She had scanned the list of duties but came back again to the figure.
The officer checked the contract she had signed. He gave her one copy.
"You shall be Personal Assistant to the CEO, Miss Stone! Come with me. I will show you your new office!" he announced to her sternly.
"What--?" she exclaimed huskily. Her soft voice was ignored. He went to the door.
Dara followed him to the elevator quickly. Her flat black shoes were silent as she walked on the shiny corridor. They were both speechless during the ride up to the top floor.
"Here's the reception. Your new office is beyond those glass walls."
Through the thick glass, Dara could see her new workplace. It was spacious. A large office desk made of black glass and a black swivel chair resided one corner of the expansive room. A state-of-the-art computer rested on the desk. A battery of telephones inhabited a side table.
Dara was overwhelmed. "Sir, what is my first assignment?"
The officer cleared his voice first before he spoke. "The CEO is currently out of the country, Miss Stone. You must navigate here alone. No one is giving you an orientation here!"
"Oh." Dara was nervous but determined. "Okay, sir!"
Dara investigated everything when she was alone. She opened all the filing cabinets and drawers. The files were all in shambles so she started working on classifying them.
'Mr. Gavreel Ackers. That's the name of my boss. But where is he?' Dara asked herself the umpteenth time as she worked steadily.
Every morning, Dara found folders on her desk but nothing of her new boss. She filed the folders alphabetically.
When Dara finished this task, she found other chores. She cleaned the computer before switching it on. She disinfected the telephones which remained silent from day one.
One morning, Dara found a folder with a note.
'Study this!'
Dara stared at the handwriting. The line underneath the two words was like a s***h. She imagined a sword.
And it slashed her neck!
Dara shivered. 'Stop imagining things!' she chided herself.
She read the folder. It consisted of information about the company's profile and personnel heads.
'There are two heads for the company! Gav Ackers is the active one--and the younger one. He is the grandson of Gavreel Ackers Senior. Hmm...' Dara scratched the bridge of her pert nose. 'I wonder... who is my new boss? Mr. Gav or Mr. Gavreel?'
A knock on the glass door startled her. A middle-aged woman was standing outside.
"Good afternoon, Miss Stone! I'm Mrs. Till, the company messenger!" She was wearing a blue over-all uniform. She had a messenger's bag hanging on her shoulder. "I brought your bag and stuffs you left behind at the typing pool."
"Oh! Thank you! I totally forgot about them!" Dara accepted the bag and the pens. There were no important things inside the bag but memories. Mama Nena and the kids cleaned the second-hand bag for her. The pens were farewell gifts from her foster family.
"Sorry! It took me a month to trace you. You never visited the canteen!" Mrs. Till seemed scolding Dara.
"Oh, I have a lunchbox. I eat here," Dara replied evenly.
"You have a solitary meal here? Every day? Tsk! That's unhealthy!" Mrs. Till grumbled to herself while taking out the folders from her bag. "Bye, Miss Stone!"
Dara's attention was caught by the pay envelope. There was a note inside--with a menacing message!
'Marry me or you lose your job! Resign here and you'll never get hired again by other companies!'
"What is this?" she exclaimed while getting pale. She was shaking with a shocked reaction.
The telephones blinked and rang simultaneously. They had been silent since Dara started working here. Their shrill ringing broke the silence.
"H-hello?" Dara picked up the nearest device.
"What's your answer?" asked the garrulous voice.
"W-what?"
"Will you marry or not?"
"M-marry who?"
"Yes or no! If no, your job shall be terminated!"
Her throat was dried and she could not speak.
"If yes, your family shall receive all my support!"
"What do you mean?" she whispered hoarsely.
"Filomena Stone shall receive a monthly allowance!" The amount he stated made Dara's eyes widened. "The children shall go to school. The house shall be renovated."
"W-why are you--?" Dara could not finish the question because he cut in.
"What's your answer? Yes or no?"
All the problems would be wiped out if she replied, "Yes!" Dara uttered the word with closed eyes.
"Good!" The line went dead.
Dara looked at the receiver on her hand. She was gripping it. She had to pluck her fingers to release the handle. Her heart was beating wildly.
Did she say yes? Dara asked herself dazedly.
'Yes,' she answered herself numbly. 'But who will you marry? That... old man...?'
- Writer
