Eyebrows twitching trying to maintain a cool facade as she lightly taps her pen on the armrest, she knows she has to keep calm and not go berserk but damn this horrendous man before her. She would love to shove her pen up the man's ass being an asshole he is, no pun intended. She's done nothing wrong but this man keeps spouting words that make it look like she isn't doing her job properly. She isn't perfect but there's no way that she's gonna let things slide like this. Who is this man you say? His name is Edgar Dimagiba, a sly 54 year old man who is known as an undisputed womanizer. This stocky he-devil is her boss.

"Anya!? Are you listening to what I'm saying?,"asked the man with the weird-looking mustache. It's weird because let's be honest; Who in their right mind and in this day and age still grows a mustache?

"Of course, Sir. I'm well aware of our situation. But, I can't just do what you ask without the top management's approval. We all need to agree to this. Everyone must be present," says Anya calmly and politely. If God is up there looking down on the scene, He would be very proud of the way sweet little Anya make such a very professional expression with great effort that is. "How about I talk to the others and see that it will be brought up in the next meeting," Anya continued. Seeing Anya's resolve, Mr. Dimagiba sighed, stood up from the chair he was sitting in and went out of her office.

As soon as he closed the door behind him, Anya turned her seat around. Looking outside the window, she couldn't help herself from taking in a deep breath. Today was very exhausting, she thought. Not only did she have to finish her reports but she had the misfortune of having to deal with her boss. She couldn't help feeling the beginning of a slight pounding in her head.

Checking the time on her watch she saw it was already 5:00pm. Time to head out and go home. Her workplace is a bit far from the city and so she needs to grab a ride fast if she wants to go home in time for dinner.

The sun was already setting down by the time she was at the front gate of her office. She was about to hail a van when suddenly a red Toyota Hilux stopped in front of her. As the driver's window rolled down, she could see the smiling face of her friend and colleague Cale Edmund Reyes.

"Get in," says Cale with a cheeky grin.

Cale is a good-looking 29 year old man. Having fair skin and a deep set of almond eyes, he sure is an eyecatcher. He exudes a gentle and easy-going nature that makes people feel comfortable whenever he's around. Also, his dimples are a bonus feature giving him the appearance of a young and innocent cherub. He is two years older than her. They became friends on Anya's first day at the office four years ago, when she spilled coffee on his pants. She was running an errand back then trying to do things as fast as she can when the small accident happened. Fortunately this guy has the patience of a saint especially for new employees and so he merely laughed it off.

"I thought you were on leave today," says Anya curiously as she climbed in putting on the seatbelt.

"I was about to call the office since I was supposed to pick up my mom from the airport earlier but her flight got cancelled and so I decided to come to work," he replied.

It would be a 45minute drive and so Cale turned on the stereo with Boyce Avenue's rendition of Adele's "Easy on Me" blasting through the speakers. Anya started humming together with the song being played as Cale started driving. Then she remembered and suddenly blurted out, "Weren't you supposed to be celebrating your 2nd anniversary today with Adrian? You were even gonna introduce him to Aunt Agatha in person today, right?"

Cale's expression quickly turned sour. Anya then sensed something was amiss.

It was about a year ago, during Cale's birthday, that Anya met Adrian in person. Cale finally convinced his elusive boyfriend to meet up with her and a few of their close friends for a little dinner party. Adrian was the complete opposite of Cale. Where Cale seems cheerful and adorable, Adrian gives off an unapproachable and distant vibe. He doesn't talk much and seem a bit brooding. However, Anya noticed that the moment he saw Cale arrive back then, a small smile graced his lips. She knew then that he was very much in love with Cale as much as her friend was in love with him. She knows because when they were still at the beginning of their relationship, Cale couldn't stop talking about his beloved. It felt like she knew Adrian long before she met the actual person in the flesh.

Anya tried to speak but Cale was able to respond first.

"We broke up," he replied in a curt tone. His response gave off a silent warning not to press further.

Anya wanted to know what happened but she couldn't speak for fear that she would incur her friend's wrath. Even a saint's kindness has limits she thought. Gathering enough courage, she opted to speak carefully out of concern and a little bit of curiousity.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No," his eyes still focused on the road.

Anya couldn't help but heave a big sigh. She stared out the window thinking this would be a long drive while mentally cursing herself for asking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Time passed by quickly it seemed as Anya found herself being woken up by Cale tapping lightly on her shoulder telling her they arrived at her house. She didn't even notice that she fell asleep in the car. She got out quickly happy to know she could finally relax but then turned around to look at Cale who is still inside the car, "Do you wanna come in? I think I still have some spaghetti in the fridge."

"Some other time. I promised my sister I'll join her and her family for dinner," Cale politely declined.

"Be careful then. See you tomorrow," Anya replied to which Cale nodded.

Anya watched as the car sped away. Seeing her friend no more she was gonna walk toward the front steps of her house when something caught her eye. That something or rather someone was a man who was standing at the corner on the other side of the street two houses away from her own. He's wearing a green shirt and jeans. He's been silently staring at the house with a black steel gate.

Anya remembered a newlywed couple recently moved in that house two weeks ago. She couldn't forget those two because the first time they came in her neighborhood the couple visited the houses nearby, including hers, bringing freshly baked cookies to get to know their neighbors. The woman was 25 years old while her husband has the same age as Anya. The couple seemed very warm-hearted.

The man on the street looked normal and yet for some unknown reason, Anya felt something was a bit off about him. The other side of the street was dimly lit. She couldn't clearly see what the man's face look like. "Strange," she mutters to herself. Time seemed to have stopped for a moment as cold air blew in the chilly December evening. She tried pulling her coat tighter around her. Still, it didn't appease the uneasiness she felt at the pit of her stomach as it seems to have grown worse.

Suddenly, a car passed by honking loudly glaring its headlights on the street. Anya's trance was broken as she tried blinking her eyes. The moment she looked back at the strange man, no one was there to be seen.