(Seph's POV)
"Kuya Seph, Mom and I miss you so much. Stefan, Stef, and Stephanie miss you too. When are you coming home to us?"
I squeezed my eyes shut upon hearing the sad voice of my youngest brother, Stephen. A wave of sadness washed over my heart; I missed them all so much.
I took a deep breath and forced a smile as if they could see it. "Don't worry, Stephen. Kuya will come home once things get a bit easier. I won't say exactly when, but I promise, I'm coming home."
I waited for his reply, but it was replaced by a sob. I wiped my palm across my face in frustration and grief.
"Kuya! Sorry, Stephen started crying again, but Stephanie is comforting him now," my sister Stef said, taking over the line.
"It's okay," I said weakly. "How is Mom doing?"
"Well, she's still confined in the hospital, but don't worry, Kuya! The doctor said her condition is improving. She just really needs to avoid overexertion so she doesn't have another attack."
I nodded to myself and wiped the sweat from my cheek. I breathed a small sigh of relief; at least some of my worries had been eased.
"Applicant number 53!" a female employee announced as she stepped out of the elevator.
I said goodbye to my sister and hung up. I stood up immediately and headed toward the woman since my number had been called. I couldn't help but sigh from the nerves as I followed her.
I've been looking for a job here in Manila for months; I have to get accepted here. I need a real job with a salary high enough to support my family, especially with the hospital bills piling up before the end of the month.
If I don't get hired today, I might as well go back to the province and work as a porter or a construction worker.
"Why did you decide to apply here?" the woman suddenly asked as we entered the elevator. I scratched the back of my neck.
"Oh, I just really, really need a job."
"Really? So, you don't have a background as a secretary?"
"N-none." I swallowed hard but quickly forced a smile. "But I'm capable of doing a lot of things and I know a bit about everything. If there's something I don't know yet, I'm a fast learner."
She blinked at me. "Really? So you basically just applied just to... have a job?"
"Yes."
She nodded hesitantly, looking as if she had just received bad news. I couldn't help but wonder why.
I was truly desperate. I'm a college graduate, so I expected that finding work in Manila would be easy, but I was wrong. Every place I applied to rejected me for the shallowest reason.
Because I was a "probinsyano."
So, I decided this would be my last attempt. If this fails, I'm going home to work there. At least I'll be with my family.
She stepped out of the elevator first and led me to a large door. It was made of thick glass, but the texture was frosted and rough, making it impossible to see inside.
"This is her office," she said with a smile, gesturing to the door.
"Thank you very much."
She gave me a thumbs-up and a wink.
"Good luck! I hope you... accept the boss," she said, saluting me before turning and walking away.
I stood there with my mouth slightly open, confused as I watched her leave.
Shouldn't it be... the boss who accepts me?
I shook my head. "She probably just misspoke."
I closed my eyes for a few seconds to calm my racing heart.
"Okay, here goes." I swallowed and tapped my chest. "I can do this."
After a few seconds of psyching myself up, I grabbed the handles of the double doors and pushed them open. I walked in with my head down, but when I finally looked up, I froze in my tracks from shock.
I expected an ordinary office with a desk, a sofa, and the kind of decor I'd seen in movies, but this? This was more like a bedroom. The furnishings were lavish—from the widescreen TV to the refrigerator in the corner—but what really caught my eye was the massive bed in the center of the room, which looked incredibly soft even at a glance.
I started second-guessing whether I had walked into the right room.
"Take your seat and make yourself feel at home," a voice said, making me turn.
Something caught in my throat when I saw the owner of that voice. I swallowed repeatedly. I definitely didn't expect this.
A beautiful woman wearing nothing but a robe. Her fair skin was slightly flushed, and she looked incredibly smooth, without a single blemish. Her orange hair cascaded in waves down to her waist, and even if I wanted to, I couldn't tear my eyes away.
I followed her with my gaze until she lay down on the bed. She grabbed a remote to turn down the TV volume before turning to me. She arched an eyebrow, almost as if challenging me.
"What are you doing? I thought you were here to apply?"
I snapped out of it and nodded quickly. "A-ah, y-yes. Sorry, Ma'am."
I opened the folder containing my papers, but in my nervousness, they slipped and scattered across the floor. I scrambled to pick them up.
"Pretty clumsy, huh?"
I stood up straight, blushing with embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry."
"That's fine." She wasn't looking at me; she was inspecting her nails, but she gestured toward me. "What's your name again?"
"Seph Lazaro—"
"Small, medium, large, or XL?" she interrupted, leaving me stunned.
Did I mishear her, or did she ask a question I didn't understand? I was lost.
Noticing I didn't know how to answer, she rolled her eyes and stood up, walking toward me. When we were face-to-face, she stared at me for a moment before slowly circling me as if inspecting a piece of merchandise. A strange spark of electricity shot through me when her finger brushed my shoulder as she circled.
"Tell me your size."
"A-uhm... XL?" I guessed, averting my gaze.
I felt her pause behind me.
"XL? You sure?" I nodded. "Hmm... You're more like an XXL," she whispered, too low for me to hear.
I gasped when she suddenly hooked her arms around my neck from behind and pressed her body against mine. A jolt went through my system as her thigh brushed against me, accompanied by her enticing scent and the warmth of her chest.
I couldn't move; I was like a statue. When one of her hands untied the knot of her robe, I went cold. I swallowed hard as the fabric slid off her smooth shoulders and pooled on the floor.
"Do you like what you see?" she whispered softly in my ear, her soft palm caressing my neck and jaw. "You'll love it more if you help me take this off," she added, referring to the red lingerie that was all she had left on.
I took a deep breath to steady myself. "I-is this part of the interview?"
"Hmm..." I squeezed my eyes shut as her lips brushed my cheek while her hands moved to my polo shirt and began unbuttoning it. "Why don't we continue this interview on my bed?"
"M-Ma'am?"
She ignored me and gripped my necktie, pulling me slightly closer. "Your friend here…" she said, reaching down and grabbing my private area, making my eyes bulge. "Needs my friendly massage."
Swallowing hard, I forced myself to pull away. I took her hands with my trembling ones and lifted them away. I looked her straight in the eye, seeing her look of surprise.
I closed my eyes and let out a long, deep sigh before leaning down to pick up her robe. I shook it off and draped it over her shoulders, closing it to cover her body.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but my job is more important to me than these kinds of things." Biting my lip, I re-buttoned my polo and placed my folder on the side table. "I think I'll just come back when you're ready to talk to me properly."
I gave a slight bow before turning my back and walking out.
(Third Person's POV)
A woman kicked the office door open. She was disheveled and clearly coming in from the heat, and she slammed her hand angrily on the desk that bore the CEO's nameplate.
"What the hell is it this time, Vero?!" she screamed in a terrifying voice, but Veronica unconcernedly swiveled her chair around to face her.
"Oh?"
The newcomer glared at her, her face flushed with rage. "Oh?! Is that all you have to say?!"
"What the fuck, bitch? You're so noisy. Like, your voice is so painful to the ears," Veronica said in an affected, bratty tone.
The woman rolled her eyes, but she was cut short when her friend suddenly yanked her hair, making her shriek.
"Let go of me! You bitch, have you gone crazy?!" she snapped, pulling her hair back.
"Crazy? Who? Me?" She pointed to herself and laughed sarcastically. "You! You're the one who's lost it!"
"OMG! My hair! Get off! I will kill you!"
"Fine! What do you want now that you had to call me?!"
Veronica stopped struggling, a look of confusion crossing her face before she scratched her head as if remembering something. Chryseis let go and stared at her, waiting for an explanation.
"Oh, about that." She sighed and leaned back in her swivel chair. "Can you please tell the rest of the applicants outside to leave? The hiring is closed." She turned her chair back around.
The woman's jaw dropped. She stood with one hand on her hip and the other clutching her hair as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Are you fucking serious, Vero? You called me because of those damn applicants of yours?" Furious, she marched to the swivel chair and started choking Veronica, who was screaming and trying to pry the hands off her neck. "How dare you! I got on my 'Baby Theus' chopper just to get to you, you idiot! I was in such a rush because you said it was an emergency—all the way from Palawan to Manila!"
"Y-you have your chopper, bitch!" Veronica tried to struggle, but when her friend gripped harder, she yanked her friend's hair in retaliation. "You're so dramatic!"
"Vero?! Really?! I'm the dramatic one?!"
"G-g-get off m-me! Y-you bitch!"
"I'll kill you!"
"I'll k-kill you too!"
"What are you two doing?!" a panicked voice screamed.
A third woman had just arrived. She had a gentler face and was dressed more simply in a pink blouse, jeans, and white sneakers, but her beauty was still evident. she immediately ran over to break up the fight.
"Stop it!" Vasselisa pleaded.
"No! I'm gonna fucking kill that shit!" Chryseis yelled.
"Fuck you! I'll kill you first before you can even kill me!" Veronica screamed back.
"What's all this chaos, you ugly creatures?!"
That voice made all three of them stop. They turned in disgust to see a woman in a tank top and jersey shorts, carrying a basketball. She was sweaty and panting, clearly just coming from a game.
She sat straight down on the sofa and propped both feet up on the table before unceremoniously kicking off her shoes. Noticing none of her friends were speaking, she looked at them, puzzled.
"Oh, what?"
Veronica's face contorted as she caught a whiff of her friend's feet. "Clean my carpet and sofa before you leave, Charlotte."
"Yeah, and kindly please throw away your shoes and walk barefoot on your way home because those things are just disgusting," Chryseis added, covering her nose, with Vasselisa nodding in agreement.
"I'm just here to check on our rich friend who's so rich she's having a hard time finding a secretary." Charlotte rolled her eyes and looked at Veronica. "So? Did you find one? Is it a babe? Sexy? Pretty? Introduce me immediately."
"Are you a lesbo too?"
"Nah." Charlotte shrugged. "I'll set her up with Jhayrein."
Veronica rolled her eyes before standing up and placing a folder on the table where Charlotte's feet were resting. Her friends immediately crowded around, scrambling to see the contents of the folder while Veronica watched them.
After a few seconds, they all looked at her simultaneously, their jaws dropping and eyes wide.
"A MAN?!" they screamed in unison.
"Yep," she said. Charlotte threw the folder back onto the table and scowled.
"Vero, seriously? Haven't you learned your lesson?" She massaged her temples in frustration. "The last time you hired a male secretary, it wasn't just your company that was in deep shit—it was you too!"
Veronica shook her head and confidently crossed her arms, which only served to emphasize her chest in her current attire.
"I don't think he's like the other guys out there," she countered.
"Vero, come on."
"Bitches, listen. I ran some tests on him that no man could resist, and he passed."
"And the test was...?" Chryseis asked, trailing off. Veronica answered with a smirk.
"Seducing and flirting."
Chryseis and Vasselisa let out a simultaneous "Ahh," sounding completely disappointed. Meanwhile, Charlotte just buried her face in her hands.
"He's different. I can feel it."
"Oh, come on!"
"What? He's cute, honest, and a purely dignified person! Like, there's this aura that says he's a good boy. You know? The bright aura thingy?" Veronica defended, but Charlotte's expression only darkened.
"Really? And you're actually proud of this?"
"Yeah, why not?" She arched an eyebrow at them before sitting back down in her swivel chair. "If only you knew how amazing his response was."
For some reason, the memory of her antics and the way the man reacted flashed through her mind. She couldn't help but smirk as a mischievous idea began to form.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn't even notice her friends shaking their heads in disbelief.