Of (Heart)Beats and Bylines [Completed]

Chapter 3

A/N: Fiction.  Any similarities are just coincidences. :)

"Excellent job, Maine."  Andy complimented me when I turned over my work at the end of the day.

I wrote two articles today plus I looked for another resource person on this ongoing news that I have been covering.  The one where this Faulker guy has been so diligent.  Tomorrow, I'll interview Mr. Barrera on the status of their infrastructure projects. I thought it was better to go straight to him than rely on his assistants or press releases.

Mr. Barrera is the Corporate Communications Head of AB Investments, a private company that won the bid to develop a government property into a mixed-use commercial area.

I reviewed the questions for tomorrow's interview.  I got everything covered.  "Hey Sam.  See you at 10 in the morning tomorrow okay?  We have to be at ABI at 11."  Sam is the photographer assigned to me by the department.  I thought of bringing her along in case we needed to see the development site. Or in case they have an updated scale model. Just in case.

"Oo naman. See you. Bye." Sam said as we ended the call.

Samantha is not just my photographer-buddy but she has also become my close friend.  She's the one who knows about my frustrations in the office and is also my eyes-and-ears on what's going on in the four corners of the Chronicle's world.  She also knows about my super mega secret crush on John, our IT equipment supplier here in the office.  

"Halos one year mo na kilala yan, up to now di mo pa rin nakakausap ng beyond hi and hello."  Sam uttered shaking her head.  "E crush lang naman e.  Wala kasi ako makita na tulad nya. Gwapo na, matalino pa. At saka mature na," I answered, basing my impressions on his online resume that I stumbled upon (okay, okay reasearched on is more like it).

Oops, he just walked by.  Haaay.  I gave a small smile as he glanced down at my desk.  I let out a dreamy sigh as I picked up my things to go home and get ready for tomorrow's interview.

~~~~~

"So, Mr. Barrera.  Thank you for that interview," I said as I smiled and shook his hand.

"No problem, Ms. Mendoza. I'm a fan of your work. I've been in the PR industry for a long time and I can see you're gonna go far in this profession."

"Ay, thank you po sir." I said with a hint of giddiness.  "Matagal tagal pa po siguro ako mangungulit sa inyo, as I'll be covering the progress of this project."

As we parted ways, my phone rang.  It was my editor.  "Hi Maine.  Latest figure ba yung budget ng Manila Road Project dun sa article mo today?"

"Why?" I asked nervously.

"Everbody else put 350 million but there was this one article that said 480."

"Let me check.  I'll get back to you in a few minutes."

I was still in the lobby of the ABI office when I hurriedly dialed some numbers.  After a few calls, I confirmed that it was indeed the latter. I dialed Andy and admitted that 480 was the most updated budget.  "Who got it right?"

"The Post."

Ugh.  Let me guess...

"Faulker guy...?  Was it his article?"

"Yep."

Groan.