Twenty-four years later
“Goodbye, Ms. Vera!” Vera’s students bid their goodbye after hearing the bell ring, indicating that it’s the wrap-up of their day, “See you tomorrow! Take care!” They shouted in unison; she taught her students after an incident happened to her former student.
The whole class could not bid their goodbyes, and these students felt so bad about it, so in return, Vera taught them to greet them every morning and bid goodbye before going home.
“Take care on your way home, kids,” Vera reminded the children before they actually left the room; she was left alone; she was always the last person to leave the classroom; Vera was used to it since she is a teacher of children, she always has to make sure that whoever comes first to their room will be safe.
After fixing her things, she made sure the windows were all closed, the faucet from their mini bathroom was shut, and there was no trash; she went out of the classroom and headed outside the campus.
It was a bit silent since most of the students had already gone home, the sun was already setting, birds were everywhere, flocking to the classroom’s roof, and most cleaners were almost done with their cleanings.
High school buildings have still classes ongoing, and most of them finished around six in the evening; most students have extracurricular activities, like sports, hanging out with friends, or music lessons. Some of the students still have private lessons.
Especially those students planning to take an entrance exam to college universities have to double their job in studying, so there will be a high chance of passing the exam.
“Going home?” Avida said when she saw Vera, “We have our teacher’s day program tomorrow; you know that you have to come, right?”
Vera chuckled, “Count me out. I don’t do that shit; you know I’m not a fan of those cheesy events. Besides, I have some errands to do by tomorrow,”
“Come on, Vera,” Avida kept on asking Vera to come since Vera had never gone to any kind of teacher’s event since the day, she started working with them.
Avida was Vera’s first colleague and friend at the said school, she seemed nice, but she once tried to ruin Vera’s name for the whole school just because Vera was performing well than her. She didn’t want anyone of her colleagues to surpass what she could do.
“Nah, got to go,” she said before she hailed a taxi, “To Fluffy,” she was pertaining to her favorite coffee shop; she wanted to end her day with a coffee. The moment she arrived at the café; she was welcomed by the smell of coffee beans. This warm air will make you feel calm, not to mention the soothing background music, there are few people than usual since it’s summer, and most of the people are in the ice cream parlor, but not her, she’ll be sure to drinking coffee, even if she’s in hell.
“Oh, Hi, Ms. Vera!” Vera’s favorite barista greeted her, “The usual?” Vera nodded and gave her a wink before sitting on the hair stool chair, “So, how was school?”
“Pretty fine, but the salary? Pretty bad,” they both laugh at her snide remark, “I’m planning to apply somewhere, planning to take corporate workloads, for a change,”
“Well, that—” she halted when a man approached her, “Yes, sir, what can I get for you?”
“I’ll have the banana coconut coffee,” the man said, then handed Alisha his card, “It’s to go,” Alisha nodded and started doing Zachary’s order.
Vera fished her phone from her pocket when she felt its vibration; Sydney, her best friend’s calling ID, showed up, “What’s up?”
“You’re not answering since yesterday. Does that mean you’re breaking up with me?” Vera burst out in laughter upon hearing what Sydney said, “Don’t break my heart, please, cause if you do, I’ll break yours, literally,”
Vera tried to stop herself from laughing so hard, “All right, I’m not breaking up with you, dumbass,”
“Good, now where’s my gelato? I’m sure you didn’t forget that, right?”
Vera’s eyes grew to widen; she totally forgot it, “Uhm, yeah, about that, there’s no gelato here; I’m actually at the shop,”
“Ohh, I see,” she felt another vibration of her phone, “I sent you a photo, go look,”
“Okay,” she opened the photo she had just received, and Vera couldn’t help but continue laughing; it was Sydney, in front of the gelato shop, where Vera should be buying what she promised to buy, “Look, I’m sorry, I totally forgot,” Alisha put down a coffee cup, “I’ll call you when I got home, my coffee’s done,” Vera didn’t even wait for Sydney to answer, she just ends the call and grabs the cup.
“Wait,” the man earlier stopped her, “I think, that’s my coffee,”
Vera’s brow creased, “But I think this is mine, I came first, so obviously, I’ll be the first to get the order?”
“No, that’s mine, I have to go, so I’ll take that,” he was about the grab the cup, but she avoided his hand, and the man’s face immediately filled with annoyance. “What the hell do you want?”
“This is mine, so, I think I have to go first-“Vera was interrupted by Alisha, “Yes?” she answered.
“What are you doing there? Here’s your usual,” Alisha said, then winked at her before attending the comers.
Vera felt like all her blood gushing from her heart, her hands immediately sweat, and felt her face heated out of so much embarrassment, she slowly handed the cup to the man, “I’m sorry, sir.” She said and bowed a little to him as a sign of her apology, “I’m really sorry,”
The man didn’t answer and grabbed the coffee and instantly left the shop, while she was still embarrassed about what she did to the stranger, but the fact that there was no way they would be meeting again calmed her down.
The next day, instead of attending the annual teacher’s day program, she prepared herself to go around to look for corporate work that was suitable for her; she had all the list Vera plans to go, with a curriculum vitae on her bag, and some cash, she started her day.
ZACHARY BLACK
“And that’s all the financial report for the month of March, Mr. President,” Jason, the financial manager, proudly said after he finished his report.
“Is that so?” Zachary, the president of the company, said, “You’re missing something with that little report of yours,”
“What is it, sir? Jason frowned, wondering where and what he missed, “What did I miss?” He had no idea that Zachary already knew what he did behind Zachary’s back because Jason made sure he always left no trace, but that was his biggest mistake.
“This,” he dropped a piece of paper in front of the panel, “That paper contains the information that will ruin not just your name but your whole family, so if you will not drop the act and beat around the bush, I guess, you didn’t care,”
Jason ran instantly when he realized he was fucked up; he grabbed the paper and saw all his under-the-table transactions. From photos of him coming in from a bank, setting down in a VIP room, doing secret business with another corrupt politician, and the latest, him, stealing the company’s money worth one hundred million, everyone gasped and murmured their own opinion about the truth they just heard.
“Sir, no, this is a frame-up; I came to them to—- to help you grow your company by looking for investors and clients!” He replied.
“As far as I remember, your job was to supervise the financial of the employees, and if my memories serve me right, looking for investors is not part of your job description, and if you really know me, you would not do that, you know how investors make their own way to have at least a minute with me, so I don’t have to walk around and look for some fucking investors,”
“Sir, I can—I can explain,” he pleaded.
Zachary stood up from his swivel chair and put his pocket inside his black slack, “I have given you enough time to stop with your schemes, but you didn’t, so,” he fixed his necktie and buttoned his suit, “I’m expecting your resignation letter before I go home tonight,”
With that, he storms out of the room, where his secretary, Julian, is waiting for him, holding a folder containing the person who will replace Jason.
“Good morning, Mr. President,” Julian greeted him; Zachary just nodded, still walking to her office, “I have here the qualified person who can replace Jason’s position,” he said, then handed the folder to Zachary.
Zachary’s brow creased, and his lips curled up when he saw a familiar face, “Interesting,” he muttered as Zachary read the curriculum vitae; Zachary didn’t know if he should laugh or just think that it was a plain coincidence.
“Shall I continue processing her?” Julian asked and handed Zachary a pen he always uses when signing for new hire employees.
Vera Luna Everleigh
“Yes, hire her as soon as possible, let her start on Monday,”