Until You

A family affair

"A contract? Are you serious?"

"You said you wanted to work here, and this is part of that." Charlie handed Sid a pen. "All the terms are there; please review and sign if you agree."

Eyebrows still raised, Sid took the pen from her, fingertips brushing slightly against hers. "You had time to do this last night?" he asked, flipping through the pages.

"That's what you call templates. Also, I need this so I can get you access to NomCom's employee facilities."

"Nice."

"And also, to cover my back."

Sid paused from signing to look at her, his pierced eyebrow quirking again. "I'm not going to sue you."

"I didn't say you will." She, however, would like to sue him for how he was looking at her right now. "And it's for your own rights, too."

"Fine, fine." Sid signed the last page, then handed the contract back to her with a flourish. "So, what next?"

Fay handed him the pink apron he wore yesterday with a big smile. "Welcome to the team, Kuya Sid!"

From Sir to Kuya, that quick, unbelievable—as if Fay hadn't been afraid of meeting him in person earlier this week. Charlie put the signed contract away in the drawer under the computer. "Time to work. You were on smoothie duty yesterday, right? Let's get you on the wraps today."

Sid was a fast learner. Despite the slight learning curve, he quickly figured out what to do and seemed more than happy to listen to instructions. Sid had been simply helpful yesterday; today, he was determined to contribute. And because he was now one of Charlie's employees, she was also just as committed to treating him the same way.

That said, Charlie wasn't going to deny that she liked seeing Sid in her kitchen. It wasn't often that she could work with her "ideal guy." He moved with a humble kind of confidence: humble in the way that he was never afraid to ask things or asking Charlie or Fay to check if she was doing it right, and confident in the way he carried himself when he worked, but never overbearing that it felt like he was invading their space.

Sid was annoyingly endearing, too. In the morning, while she was teaching him how to make their wraps, Charlie noticed that his smile started from his eyes, slowly spreading through the rest of his face. Then there was the way his lips would form a little pout when he asked her questions, which was usually followed by a proud little nose scrunch whenever he did something right. It was so cute that Charlie didn't know if she wanted to scream, pinch his cheeks, give him a long hug, or do all the above. Nakakagigil.

She still couldn't help but wonder, though, why he didn't remember her. So, at random times during the morning, Charlie would bring up something from their chats—because despite it disappearing when his profile went away, she could remember most of them, apparently. While Sid did react, she noticed that some of them weren't exactly what she recalled him saying. And there was no recognition whatsoever about their shared history.

Charlie was still thinking about this after the NomCom lunch rush ended on Sunday, a full day and a half after Sid started working for her. Fay had gone on her break while Sid was by the reading nook tree at the center of the food park, on a phone call for his real full-time work. She couldn't help but notice how even the way he stood from a distance was different from all the other guys she knew. Why, oh why did he have to ghost her?

"Charlie!"

A familiar voice broke through her thoughts, and her shoulders tensed immediately. Only one person—well, three people, actually—gave her this physical reaction, especially when she heard it here at work.