INCOMING TROUBLE.

ASIDE from the gushing of the waves and the rustling of dry leaves around, a deafening silence fell between me and Kade as we walked along beside the infinity pool heading to the parking space.

Kade stayed with us for several minutes after we finished eating. Manang, even I, advised him to rest first.

After a few minutes, Kade told us he had to go. He said he had something important to go to.

I was the one who volunteered to go with him where he parked his car. I'm obliged to do it since he's a very unexpected visitor and it's perfect timing that my schedule is clear today.

I also paused from walking when Kade, who's taking the lead, paused and turned to me.

"Thank you for the lunch. Your workers are great, especially your cook. Their food is delicious."

I raised an eyebrow. "Of course. Do you think I will get them if they don't cook well?"

I heard Kade's soft laugh. "Do you know you're the second woman to answer me rudely like that?"

I bit my lower lip. I felt ashamed of what I just blurted.

"Hey! Why did you suddenly become quiet? Don't worry, I'm not offended."

I looked up at him when I felt his gentle tap on my shoulder.

"But kidding aside...their cooking is delicious. If only I could borrow them and bring them to my house for a few days—"

"I'm sorry, but you can't, Mr. Montalvo. They're my employees, not yours." I stared at him blankly, but he just grinned.

"Chill...I know it. I'm not really serious about what I've just said. They're yours since they are your employees. By the way, thank you for being hospitable."

I took back my cold stare and smiled slyly. "Y-You're welcome. I'm sorry that if what we prepared was simple, we didn't expect that—"

"No, it's okay. You don't need to be sorry. In fact, I should be the one who should apologize because I almost interrupted and even joined in your team lunch." Kade sincerely smiled at me. "Thank you for inviting me to your team lunch. I admired the foods you're offering here, they're fresh and great."

"You're welcome. You can always visit here if you want. We usually offer Filipino cuisine, especially seafood. But if you prefer international cuisines, we have two restaurants here offering those foods." I smiled back at him, but Kade's attention was already on the vast sea.

"I'll be coming back to this place for sure. This is a great place." Kade uttered with eyes filled with amusement as he fixed his gaze on the crystal-like sea dazzling under the scorching sun.

I followed his gaze and smiled.

"Yeah. A place for people who want a serene escape." I muttered, listening to the gushing of waves as it drenches onto the golden sand.

Kade slowed his pace. I did the same. The blazing sun might toast our skin—his tanned skin and my fair one if they weren't shedding under the row of palm trees beside the infinity pool.

"I always hear about this place from my friends. They say a lot of compliments to this resort. They even say that this is one of the best beach resorts I can find here in Santi Tierra. And you know what? They're right! Casa de Gallego is breathtakingly...beautiful."

I froze in my tracks, not because of what Kade said but when our eyes met after he faced me. 

"Thank you..." I could barely hear myself because of the loud pounding in my chest.

I'm used to receiving compliments from other people, but why did what he said seem different to me? I didn't want to assume, but was that last word really intended for me?

My mind is arguing.

A strong wind blew between us. Meanwhile, I watched Kade brushing up a few stray hairs that's blocking his forehead until his cell phone rang. He took it out from the pocket of his black bomber jacket. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the screen.

"Excuse me."

Kade quickly moved away from me to answer the call. I just followed him with my gaze.

"What do you mean...today? Damn! Are you really serious?"

I just watched Kade's back while he's talking with the person on the other line.

"As in now? I thought you'd be home in a week?" Kade shifted his position. He's now facing me— making me see his furrowed brows.

"Okay...okay...just give me an hour, I'll be there...I'm going...I'll just call you when I'm there."

As if the surroundings slowly slowed down when my eyes settled on Kade—watching how his adam's apple moved up and down, the clenching of jaw and the movement of his lips every time he opened his mouth.

I held onto my chest after I felt it thumping hard. I firmly shook my head. "What the hell are you doing, Clarity?" I asked one side of my brain while slapping my cheeks lightly. 

"If you weren't attractive, I'd probably think you were crazy."

I jolted back to my senses when I heard his baritone voice. However, I almost screamed when I noticed our faces were only a few inches away from each other.

I immediately stepped back.

"May I know what was going through your mind while you were watching me earlier?"

I felt my cheeks burning. "I-I'm not looking at you—"

"Then why are you stuttering, hmm?"

If I hadn't bowed down, I would have seen Kade grin even more after he folded his arms in front of me.

"The way you stare at me earlier, it's like you're trying to melt me with your gaze, Ms. Gallego."

I knew Kade was grinning at me from ear to ear, so I just swallowed hard. I couldn't raise my head and look up at him because I'm certain my whole face was as red as a ripe tomato.

"You're cute..."

I heard his soft laugh, as if he's really having fun teasing me.

I finally looked up at him.

Kade wiggled his eyebrows when our eyes met. "I'm sorry. I forgot you're a sensitive person. I promise, I won't ever do it again. I won't make you cry again."

I nibbled my lower lip and stared at him blankly. Frivolous man really makes my blood boil because I don't want to be played with. I don't want people to not take me seriously, but not until this man came into the scene. I'm letting my guard down for this person. Is he an exemption?

"By the way, I need to go. My sister called, asking me to pick her up at the airport. Don't come with me to the parking lot. Go back inside. It's sweltering here outside. I'm leaving." Kade gave me a genuine smile as he stepped back. 

"Okay...be careful." I said in a low voice.

"Thanks for the lunch! Till next time!" Kade gave me a quick two-finger salute.

I just nodded. I didn't realize that I'm smiling as I watched him walk away.

"This man is weird." I said to myself.

I sat on a deck near until my smile faded. I remembered something.

As the salty air struck my face, that memory from my past came flooding back into my mind.

"Tell the truth, Calleiah! Who is it?!"

"I'm r-really sorry, Jiro. I really don't know—"

"Damn you, Calleiah! Stop lying! Who is that man?!"

I felt his hard palm land on my cheek. A moment later, his hand went up to my hair.

I winced in pain when he pulled my hair at the back of my head.

A devilish smile came out of his mouth as he forced me to meet his eyes. "You're a motherfucker cheater!"

I whimpered when a hard object hit my back after he forcibly pushed me—

"Ms. Clari! Are you all right?!"

It's Janna's voice that jolted me back to the present.

"What happened, Ms. Clari? Why are you crying?" Janna stared at me with both a worried and confused look as she stood in front of me.

I quickly wiped my tears and tried to smile. "It's nothing, Janna. I just remembered something."

I didn't realize that I'm crying while I'm gazing off into nowhere. I cleared my throat to get rid of the tremors in my voice.

"I'm sorry if I bothered you. It's just Manang and the others are looking for you on the veranda."

"You go ahead. I'll go up there in a few." I turned to Janna, who seemed to hesitate about leaving, but eventually nodded at me after a few seconds. Janna turned her back on me and marched back to the hotel.

Meanwhile, I quickly stood up and flattened my pencil skirt that got wrinkled from sitting.

* * *

"JUST stop the car here."

I got out of the car after Manong stopped the car in front of the hotel. 

"It's a good thing, you caught up, Ms. Clari. Mrs. Gallon already started the orientation." I was greeted by my secretary who's wearing dark blue corporate attire while holding a memo pad and a cellphone in her hand.

I shortly turned to the man who drove for me to the restaurant where I had a meeting with a client. "Thank you. Please park the car in the parking space." 

Manong nodded at me before closing the car's door and drove away.

"Where are they?"  I turned back to Janna while rolling up the sleeves of my buttoned shirt. It's a beige polo-shirt that I tucked in my high-waisted and knee-length black pencil skirt. 

I chose to wear three-inch black suede pumps and picked my favorite nude Gucci leather shoulder bag where a macbook, some folders and some stuff can fit.

"They're already at the convention center on the second floor." Janna was about to take my bag but I refused.

"No need. I'll carry it. Let's go." I declared.

I entered the hotel first while Janna followed me. I just nodded at the staff who greeted me as we walked into the reception area.

"Good morning, Ms. Clari." It's Dean when we passed the reception desk.

"Morning too..." I replied, glancing at my wristwatch.

"Ms. Clari...about what you—"

I cut him off. "We'll talk about that later, Dean. I just need to go to Mrs. Gallon first. I'll get back to you later after the orientation."

Dean bowed his head. "Okay, Ms. Clari."

Dean is the front office manager here in the resort. He's my colleague back in college. I'm also the one of the reasons why Dean got into the resort. I backed him up because I strongly believed that he is perfectly fit for the position. Some thought we had a romantic relationship, but they're wrong. He's gay and he likes men, too.

"How was the delivery of the plants?" I asked my secretary as we stood in front of the elevator, waiting for its door to open.

"The plants have been delivered, Ma'am. Manang and Silas were the ones with Ms. Jinni, who went there."

I nodded, "Okay. Just give me the list of those sold plants so we can start replacing them."

"Yes, Ms. Clari. I'll just get the list from Silas once they're back."

The elevator opened. A woman appeared right before us.

My eyes suddenly squinted when I noticed what the woman was wearing. Her literally crimson aura hurt my eyes!

"Hi," the woman grinned with her blood-red lips.

I slightly raised an eyebrow when she even removed her wide-brimmed hat, revealing her dark auburn hair.

"Hello." I replied, raking my eyes from the latter's two-piece swimsuit underneath her lace cover down to her gladiator sandals.

I cringed my nose as those things carried the same color—crimson!

"You seemed bothered glancing at me."  She snickered, taking off her gold aviator.  "Sorry to hurt your eyes, miss."

"Sorry, miss but my secretary and I are in a hurry. We need to catch up in a meeting... so if you're going out, you can step out now because we also need to use the elevator..." I briefly roamed my eyes at every corner of the lift before fixing my cold stare on the woman.

"Aww...I'm really sorry for causing you a delay..." The woman stepped outside the elevator. Swaying her crimson tote bag while walking as if the marbled floor of the reception area is her runway.

With pursed lips, I just followed the woman with my gaze. 

"Ma'am, let's go."  Janna called my attention.

"I just saw her here at the resort. Is that woman our new guest?"  I entered the elevator first. 

Janna followed me.  "She's one of our new guests. It was Sir Dean who assisted her while she's checking in at the reception desk earlier."

I pursed my lips and took my phone inside my bag. I checked if Raki messaged me. 

It's been a week since I scolded Raki for what he did last time.

"It's good that you're home, I've been waiting for you."

"Sister..." Surprised, Raki paused when she saw me sitting in the living room.

I stood up and stared at Raki darkly. "I'm not forbidding you from hanging out with your friends or taking part in your school activities, but you should at least care to ask permission properly before you go and not when you're already there."

Raki's lips twitched as she looked down. "I-I'm sorry.  It was too late when my friend told me about it and you're already asleep at that time, so I decided to just tell you the next day but you went to the resort earlier than what I expected."

"You should've called me or at least Janna if I was busy at that time."

Raki gave me an apologetic face. "I'm really sorry, Sister Clari. I-It won't happen again." Raki came closer to me and leaned her head on my shoulder.

I sighed when I felt the warm liquid dripped there. Then I heard Raki's sobs. "Don't be angry, sister. I'm sorry, I'll never do it again... please."

* * *

     "WE'RE about to finish orientation. It's good that you made it. We thought you wouldn't make it."

Mrs. Gallon, in her dark-blue corporate attire, strode towards us, slightly loosening her small scarf on her neck.

"I'm sorry for arriving late. There's something I had to check before returning here at the resort." I smiled as Mrs. Gallon approached me.

Mrs. Gallon shook her head. "It's totally fine, Ms. Clari. You just came in time. Ms. Kalliope is about to finish distributing their uniforms and schedules. Come introduce yourself to our new employees."

Mrs. Gallon took the lead. I and Janna just followed her.

"Good morning, Ms. Clari." It was Ms. Kalliope after I handed the microphone to Mrs. Gallon as the latter climbed onto the platform.

The light from the projector behind hit Mrs. Gallon's face as I faced the new employees and started her brief speech.

"Before our orientation ends, I would like to introduce you to the General Manager and the CEO of Gallego Resort. It is important that you get to know her because you will always bump into her here in the resort." Mrs. Gallon glanced at me while me and Janna were standing on one corner near the side of the platform.

"Ma'am Clari." She smiled at me, inviting me to join her in the middle of the platform.

I stepped up onto the platform and approached Mrs. Gallons who handed me the microphone before stepping down to the side.

I looked out at our new employees seated in their right places who were no less than forty. They're all giving me both a curious and astonished look.

I cleared my throat and smiled casually. "Good morning, everyone. Thank you for attending this morning's orientation. I'm the General manager and President here in Casa del Gallego. You can call me Ma'am Clari or Ms. Clari. You will always see me here at the resort since my office is here. You'll also see my younger sister here sometimes, her name is Raki. By the way, I just want you all to know that I am strict when it comes to work. I will approach you immediately if I see you're doing something wrong. I'm sure you've already heard it from Mrs. Gallon. That's all. I know our HR Manager has told you all things you needed to know. Good luck to all of you. We'll see each other on Monday. I'm looking forward to working with you guys as a new staff member here."

I left a final smile on everyone before I went down. Mrs. Gallon followed me after.

"Mrs. Gallon, please make sure their requirements are complete so we won't have a problem, especially with payroll and benefits." I demanded.

Peak season is already starting since summer vacation will come up next month. Our rooms were almost fully-booked and many more tourists were still inquiring, both local and foreign, so we had to add staff in advance to train.

"Don't worry, Ms. Clari. We'll make sure their requirements are in place before they start on Monday." Mrs. Gallon assured.

I nodded. "Good to hear. I'm going back to the office. If there's a problem, just inform Janna or you can call me directly on the intercom."

"Okay, Ms. Clari." Mrs. Gallon replied.

"Okay. I'm going." I started walking out of the convention center. Janna immediately followed me.

I stopped in front of an open elevator and turned to Janna. "Take your lunch, Janna. I'll go back to the office. I'll have to bring food to the office. I'll just eat there."

Janna obediently nodded to me before going straight down the stairs while I entered the elevator and hit the floor where my office was.

I leaned on one side of the elevator and took off the pumps I'm wearing. I sighed. I felt relieved when I felt the elevator's cold floor.

Biting my lips, I gently massaged my foot. My feet are still adjusting to my new pumps.

The elevator beeped, indicating that I'm now on the right floor. Barefooted, I carried my pumps outside.

I threw myself on the couch after I entered my office. I laid down my pumps to the side.  I closed my eyes and gently massaged my temple that's starting to throb in pain.

My phone suddenly vibrated. Without a choice, I quickly got up and pulled it out from my skirt pocket.

My face lit up when I saw my Aunt Roma's number on the screen.  I answered the call immediately.

"Yes, Aunt Roma? What made you call?" I greeted enthusiastically. I'm smiling widely that I forgot my throbbing head for a moment.

Aunt Roma is my mom's younger sister. She's a jewelry designer based in New York along with Uncle Gavin—her husband who is also a businessman so that me and Raki rarely see them.

"Oh hi, niece! You sounded excited hearing my voice, huh?"

I chuckled. I'm certain Aunt Roma is also smiling on the other line.  "You can really read my mind even just by the tone of my voice, Aunt."

"Oh my, niece. You're admiring me too much. It's just a guess." Aunt Roma chuckled on the other line.

"I know it, Aunt. By the way...why did you call?" I stepped towards my desk, combing the tip of my hair through my fingers.

"I just want to say hello to you and of course, Raki.  How are you two doing there?" 

I sighed. "We're fine, Aunt. Come on, tell me what is it? I know you won't call if you don't have anything important to say."

"Oh, why isn't it important that I say hello to you?"

My brows knitted, "I know you're up to something, that's why you called. Come on, tell me." I insisted.

"I'm here at our mansion in La Versailles. We just arrived here. Your cousin is coming home from Paris, I'm staying here in the Philippines for good. Me and your Uncle Gavin are planning to throw a homecoming party for her."

My lips pursed at what I heard.

"Clari, are you still with me?" Aunt Roma called my attention as she noticed my sudden silence.

I sat on the swivel chair, turning it around to face the double-glazed window.  "Aunt...I'm really sorry but—"

"Please...niece. I wanted you to be there with Raki. Even if it's not for Star, just do it for me. I seldomly asked you a favor so please..." Aunt Roma persuaded me like she's making me feel guilty.

I gave in. I shut my eyes and swallowed. "Okay...we'll go. I will attend for you and Uncle Gavin—"

"Oh gosh! Thanks, niece! You made me feel relieved today. Let's go shopping for what you and Raki will wear."

I was about to speak when I heard the intercom beeped. I covered my phone's mouthpiece with my hand before I responded to the intercom.

"Hija, the food is already here."

"Alright. Bring it here inside, please." 

A few minutes later, the office door opened. It revealed Manang holding a tray.

I quickly put my phone down on the table and stood up to greet Manang.

"Thank you very much, Manang, even though you didn't have to do it yourself. You could've just asked a bellboy to do it." I took the tray from Manang, who's shaking her head lightly.

"They're still eating, so I just volunteered to bring it to you myself. I'm thinking maybe you're already starving. Besides, it's not a heavy task for me."

"How about you? Have you eaten yet?"

"I'm done," Manang smiled at me. "Oh well, I'm going down. Just eat already."

I nodded to Manang before she left the office. I returned to my desk and placed the tray on the side.

I incidentally glanced at my phone and my eyes widened. I almost forgot! I was talking to Aunt Roma earlier!

I rashly picked up my phone. "Hello, Aunt? Are you still there?"

"I'm still here, niece. It looks like you're busy at the resort? Will you be free later, then? Let's go shopping. I'll pick you up with Raki."

I shrugged. "Sorry, Aunt...but I'm taking care of a lot of things here at the resort. We're preparing since it's already peak season."

"Is that so? How about your sister?"

"Raki has a class today."

"It's a shame, then. Well...it's fine. We'll just go there tomorrow. Tomorrow's the weekend, so I assume the two of you will be free tomorrow. Besides...I missed going around to the Casa. I'm excited about going shopping with you and Raki. Can't also wait to play golf with you. This time, I swear...I will win." Aunt Roma exclaimed and giggled afterwards.

I smiled widely. "Let's see tomorrow, Aunt. I'll wait for you and don't forget to bring Uncle Gavin with you."

"Sure! Our lunch is ready. We're going to eat now, niece! See you and Raki tomorrow. Bye!" Aunt Roma said and ended the call.

I put my phone down on the side and turned to the food on the tray.