"Good morning sir", JA greeted formally.
"Yes, good morning, please take your seat", he responded.
She found out that the school director was a young man in his late 20's. He was a good-looking man with thick eyebrows and sympathetic brown eyes, a straight nose, and a chiseled jawline, wearing a white plain long sleeves and black slacks.
He was sitting on his swivel chair and as soon as JA entered the office, he looked at her with a sweet smile on his lips.
His face was quite familiar to her that she couldn't figure out where did she meet this man. He was staring at her from head to toe which made her feel nervous.
"Miss Jannah Arianne Arcelo right?", he asked.
He took a good look at her resume and then slightly smiled.
"How are you related to Mr. Jareed Andre Arcelo of JJ tech?", he asked again.
JA was thinking on what to answer because as much as she could, she doesn't want to bring the name of her family when applying for a job. She doesn't like the idea that they would hire her because she is an Arcelo. That would be unfair to other applicants.
She cleared her throat.
"Well, he is my brother sir", she said in a soft voice.
He just nodded his head still focusing on her resume.
'Why do you want to apply here when in fact, you have a reputable job in your company?", he asked intently.
She looked at him because she couldn't believe that he knew something about her. She started explaining how she loves to teach kids and how she wanted to do psychological counseling. She also mentioned about living a life outside the business industry.
The director still glaring at her, no words spoken but just giving her an intensive look.
"I am impressed with your school records Miss Jannah. It's totally excellent", he said smiling at me. He stood up and shook her hand.
"Congratulations Miss Jannah, you're hired. You can start your work tomorrow. But kindly see the HR department and look for Mrs. Santos before you leave for her to give you your class assignment.", he uttered.
"Thank you so much sir", she responded happily.
She felt so glad that she wanted to jump and scream out loud.
"Finally!"
She was about to leave the director's office when he spoke.
"My name is Lester Mendoza. Your brother is my younger brother's best friend."
"Oh really, you are Nikko's brother sir?", she asked in great surprise.
He just nodded and smiled at her.
"But it's not the reason why you were hired Miss Jannah, or shall I call you JA?
I see the potential in you. You deserve this job.", he explained.
"Thank you so much sir", she responded as she headed her way to the exit.
"Please don't call me sir, just Lester. Would that be, okay?" he uttered.
She just smiled and stepped out of the office.
"How could I not call him "sir", he is the school's director and I'll be working here starting tomorrow", she murmured.
She just shrugged her shoulder and went out of her way to the HR department.
A woman approached her with a genuine smile. That was Mrs. Santos, the head of the HR department and the one who called her earlier.
"Miss Jannah, please come inside", she said.
JA followed her as she stepped inside the office. She gave me the list of the kids. She'll be dealing with. All of them have depression and anxiety disorders. She suddenly got pity for these kids.
She'll be handling a heterogeneous class section A, with 10 kids of different ages. And her schedule falls every afternoon 3-5 pm, MWF.
She was in deep thoughts when Mrs. Santos called her attention.
"Do you have questions Miss Jannah?"
"No ma'am, thank you. I'll go ahead", she responded.
She smiled at her.
"Congratulations Miss Jannah. Welcome to Bannister Academy", she uttered.
"Thank you ma'am"
She stepped out of the office and went her way to the elevator.
She headed to the parking lot and got inside her car. She could not anymore hold her excitement and she screamed out loud.
Yes!, yes!!!
Clasping both her hands on the car's steering wheel.
She was thinking of dropping by at JJ tech to personally hand in her letter of resignation.
But oh!
She remembered she left it at home, while being in a hurry to come for the interview. She had to write another one as soon as she reach there.
The school was just a half kilometer away from the JJ tech and it only took 30 minutes of driving except if there would be heavy traffic. Gladly, she was not caught by EDSA peak hours.
Inside the building.
"Good morning ma'am", employees greeted her as she stepped inside.
"Good morning", she responded.
She took the elevator going to the third floor.
She met Nikko as she was heading towards her brother's office.
"Good morning Miss JA", he greeted.
"Good morning, Nikko. Is Mr. Jareed in the office?", she asked.
JA used to call her brother Mr. Jareed if she's at work for formality's sake.
Nikko responded and told her that her brother has a female visitor in the office.
JA furrowed her brows and started overthinking. She requested Nikko to ask her brother if it's okay to get inside.
She was seated on the sofa at the company's receiving area while waiting for her brother's response.
After a few minutes, a woman went out of the office. She was so sexy in her off-shoulder deep-cut cleavage fitted dress above the knee. She was wearing a quilted bag that makes her look sophisticated and wearing closed-toe high heels that makes her taller to look at.
JA was glad the woman was not able to recognize her presence. So, she hurriedly went inside.
"Hi sweetie, I didn't expect you would come here. You look so pretty today", her brother said and hugged her.
JA just smirked at him.
He looked at her quite confused why having a serious face. He grabbed her hand and they both sat on the sofa bed.
"Hey, what's wrong?", he asked.
"I supposed to give my letter of resignation to you, but I left it at home because I was in hurry. I had gone to a job interview at Bannister Academy just thirty minutes ago", JA said.
"Oh really?"
"And?", he asked, looking at her intently waiting for her response.
"They hired me. I'll start working tomorrow and I'm dealing with ten kids who have psychological problems.", JA said without looking at her brother.
"Hey, why so serious? You are supposed to be happy because they hired you. This is your dream sweetie, right? And I'm so happy for you. So why do you look so sad?", he asked.
JA did not respond. She was thinking about the woman her brother was talking to a while ago. And why did the woman seem so happy when she went out of the office.
"Sweetie, c'mon look at me, what's wrong?"
"Who's that woman? she looked so happy when she went out. And why Nikko said, she is your visitor? Is she your girlfriend?", she asked glaring at him with an intent look.
Jareed looked at her while wearing a soft partly suppressed laugh.
"Hey, are you like that because you're thinking that woman is my girlfriend?", he asked.
Her brother pulled her a hug and caressed her back.
"Sweetie, you're always acting like a kid. Why so possessive of me, hmm?", he softly uttered.
"I told you already, I'll ask first your approval if I want to get into a relationship. That woman came here for business matters only and I don't want to elaborate it because I know you're not interested in business ", he explained.
"I'm sorry boo, I don't want to lose you. I already lost dad, and mom is not here with us. You're the only one left for me", she lowered her gaze and started getting emotional.
Jareed took a deep sigh and clasped her shoulder. He lifted her chin for her to look at him.
"Sweetie, listen. Getting into a relationship doesn't mean, leaving you. I promise. And if you're thinking you will become my less priority once I enter into a relationship, then you're wrong because I won't do that"
"Do you understand sweetie?" he asked.
She nodded and smiled at him. Actually, she got what he meant to say. It's just that she couldn't control herself being possessive to him.
"Are you okay now?", he asked.
She did not respond but she just gave him a warm embrace.
"Thank you boo for always understanding me, for taking care of me even if I am stubborn sometimes. Thank you for pampering me, for always extending your patience to me, even if sometimes it's already too much."
"I love you boo. I can't imagine my life without you", JA started sobbing.
Jareed gently pulled her away and cupped her face. He wiped her tears with his thumb.
"Enough sweetie, you know it hurts me when I see you crying"
She did not respond but she clearly understood what her brother meant to say. Only that she could not herself to act like a kid.
"I love you so much sweetie. Always remember that", he said
"I love you so much boo"
She smiled at him.
"Thank you boo"
And they hugged each other.
Suddenly they remembered their famous lines, something they used to tell each other since they were young. They held each other's hands and said together.
"If it happens that we are not siblings, we'll marry each other and live happily ever after"
Then they chuckled.
After some time, she excused herself to go out for a while to work on her resignation letter. She went inside her office which was just right next to her brother's office. She seated there on the swivel chair facing the desktop and started typing. She paused for a while and looked around.
She would surely miss this place.
She took a deep sigh while touching her nameplate on the desk.
Jannah Arianne Arcelo, Human Resource Executive.
She was a little bit teary-eyed thinking about leaving this place very soon.
"Well, good luck to whoever will occupy this office."