262 Unspoken Agreement

“Did you see a ghost or something, Karina?” Jeremy asked me teasingly.

“No. Why?” I replied.

historical

“Your face is as white as a sheet. Please tell me that you found something useful..” he said hopefully.

“I did..I think..” I mumbled.

“Really? Show me..” he urged excitedly.

“I took some notes. I’ll show you tomorrow..” I mumbled.

“Why can’t you show me now? Are you in a hurry to head back?” he asked with clear disappointment.

“Yeah, I need to head back. Sorry..” I replied.

“What did you find exactly?” he asked as his eyes narrowed at me suspiciously.

.....

He wouldn’t truly understand it even if I tried to explain it to him. I smiled a little regretfully at Jeremy before deciding to give him a simplified answer instead.

“A marketing plan..” I replied quite truthfully.

Jeremy’s head cocked to the side as he shot me a truly confused look and I didn’t blame him for reacting that way. I wished that I could explain what I found to him, but my mind couldn’t focus on work any longer at that moment.

“I’ll come to work early tomorrow, and I’ll explain everything to you then. Umm..don’t sleep late tonight, I’ll get some ideas sorted and ready for presentation in tomorrow’s meeting, ok?” I told him as I stuffed things into my bag.

Jeremy watched silently as I prepared to leave. I gave him a soft pat on his shoulder as I walked past him to reassure him that I’ve got this. He didn’t stop me from leaving and when the door to our office room closed behind me, I looked down to find that my hands were trembling visibly.

What did I just see?

..

Focus. Focus. Focus.

I sat alone at the table in my apartment with my laptop opened as I studied the notes that I took when I was in the archive. As per the rules, I wasn’t allowed to take any documents out of the archive so the best that I could do was jot down notes that would help me later on. I read and re-read the notes as I told myself to focus on the task at hand. The marketing team meeting was coming up tomorrow morning, and just as I had promised Jeremy, I needed to have some ideas to share with the team.

After searching for a long time, I thought that I had found something that could work. The idea was from a marketing plan that was made a long time ago. It was old and some channels were out of date; however, I believed that the messaging and approach that was taken might work for Project Alpha as well. It may serve as a good starting point for Julianna and her team to adapt to the current marketing channels and methods that were currently popular.

Pushing my personal thoughts about the issue aside, I tried to focus on converting the notes that I had taken down into some solid ideas and suggestions that could be shared at the upcoming meeting. Since spending the night together at Ace’s place, I have seen less and less of him. There were days when he didn’t turn up to work at the office at all, and I told myself that he probably went to see his father.

I sighed for the countless time as I wondered how things were progressing on his end. The keyboard keys under my fingertips made tapping sound as I began typing away before my train of thought would escape me completely. I chose to believe that Ace was working hard because he probably was. In return, I had to put in the extra effort from my side as well.

In less than a month, this competition will come to an end, and we had to emerge as the winner. Then, when that happens, I’ll get to talk to Ace and ask him all the questions that kept on piling up in my head. Until that moment arrived, I told myself that I had to get my act together and make this commercial a success.

I can do this!

I yelled loudly inside my head as I got back to typing down the ideas that I had. My efforts seemed to be paying off and within two hours, I had around three ideas that were presentable. Honestly speaking, I only thought that one of them really stood a chance but that was way better than having nothing at all. I raised my arms up above my head and stretched in my seat before I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh of relief. Somehow, I’m going to make it through another day.

Suddenly, my phone stared vibrating on the table close to my laptop. One glace at the screen made me jump in excitement as I grabbed my phone to bring it closer to my face.

“Ace..” I called his name without suppressing my joy that he had given me a call.

It’s true that I could have given him a call; however, I was scared of disturbing him and had decided to wait for him to call me when he was free instead. It almost became an unspoken agreement between us that he would give me a call late in the evening. He did not promise me that he would, but he always did and I always ended up waiting for his call.

“Rina, how was your day?” he asked casually.

“It was great. We were busy but I think everything will go well..soon..” I replied.

My eyes glanced over at the ideas that I had down on my computer screen. If only one of these would make the cut, then there would be some progress and everything would go well.

“I see. Hang in there. I haven’t heard back from Julianna on the marketing aspect of things. I guess she’s waiting for you and Jeremy to come up with something interesting..” he said followed by a small laugh.

No pressure..at all there.

“I’m trying..” I replied vaguely without going into the details.

“I’m sure that you are. Don’t over work yourself and get enough sleep,” he advised.

–To be continued...