Meaning Moments

Today, something shocking happened. I discovered that there was such a thing as a gentleman in Singapore. Don't blame me for that statement. In the Philippines, when you ride the train, it goes without saying that men will not take a seat if there is a lady standing. In all the months that I had spent riding the trains and buses here, young and able-bodied men raced to take the seats before me. I had therefore assumed that the entire country was devoid of chivalry. Until today.

It was a normal day in my new office, where I was barely a month old, and I gave a little sigh of frustration when I realized that to resolve an issue, I needed to get a binder from one of the cabinets. How manual can you get? As it was located up high, I had to grab one of the neon-colored plastic chairs from the pantry and stand up on it so that I could get at the binder.

Just then, my colleague Nino saw what I was doing, and scolded me. "The chair could be rickety and you can fall down, you know." I just laughed and said that I was okay, really. Then I took the binder to my area and did what needed to be done with it. When I went back to the cabinet to return it, he saw me approaching and immediately rose and took the binder from me and returned it to its place so that I did not have to “put myself in danger.”

I was still in a state of semi-disbelief and amazement when I told my friends about this little incident over lunch at our favorite Italian place. We liked going there because the food was tasty authentic Italian fare and the service was good, maybe even too good. There was one particular waiter who was always over-eager when he served us, acting as though there was a customer service exam that he had to ace. On our first visit, he had insisted on changing our plates after each course even though we said he didn't need to, explaining that, "This is not a fast food restaurant."

"Wow. Maybe he likes you!" Sophie speculated through her last mouthful of Margherita pizza. She was talking about Nino, not the waiter.

"Nah, he's probably just that way. Nice and friendly," I replied dismissively. "Besides, he's not the only nice one. Scott saved me from another issue this morning, too." Scott was the guy who handled my current role before, the one who was transitioning it to me. "It was quite funny, actually. When I first mentioned the issue to him, he told me to ask William about the resolution because William was the 'superman of AP.' I told him, 'You mean that title doesn't belong to you?' Then when Scott actually resolved the issue, I emailed him, 'Thanks Batman.' So now that's what I call him."

"OMG! You said that? And who are you, Catwoman?" Jane shrieked. The waiter chose that moment to cart off our empty plates and ask if we wanted him to serve the dessert that came with our executive set meal orders. We all nodded, biting back our grins.

"You have so many boys, Lily!" Andrea commented, shaking her head in awe. She was talking about Nino and Scott, still not the waiter.

"No, you don't understand, we're just being friendly," I protested. But as I dug into my panna cotta and proclaimed it delicious, I wondered if they had a point but kept that thought to myself.

@};--

A few days later, Nino was sitting at the table beside me as we worked out an issue that had cropped up. I was handling Accounts Payable while he was from Treasury. We constantly had to work together because he supplied the cash for the payments. For this week, though, he noticed that our due payments were a lot more inflated than usual and we were analyzing why. I finally figured out the root cause of the problem and explained how we were going to fix it. Just then, one of our guy office colleagues walked past, and Nino pointed to me and said, “she’s making me lose sleep!” Then he looked at me, laughed and said, “Kidding.” I know he meant our issue but could it have been a double entendre?

I was still mulling over what had happened when I got an email from HR. It was an announcement of all the August birthday celebrants. Scott's name was on the list.

Lily:
Aha! When is your birthday?
Scott:
Same as Malaysia National Day. The whole country is celebrating this VIP.
Lily:
August 31. Month end! Tsktsktsk.
Scott:
Yeah. Luckily I am not the journal folk in AP operations, else it will always be sad birthdays. "What's your plan for birthday?" "Submitting last minute journals.”
Lily:
Hahahaha. So how old will you be? Or is that a big secret?
Scott:
Nothing secret. I will be.. let's see.. 27.
Lily:
Wow, that means you're exactly seven days older than me!
Scott:
Seriously?
Lily:
Yes! Maybe our horoscope says: "The Virgos born in this year are destined to work for Accounts Payable."
Scott:
Hahahaha.

What an amazing coincidence huh? Or is it just a coincidence? Once again I told the girls about this over my second plateful of buffet lunch at a Filipino restaurant in Lucky Plaza. I was so happy that for 10 bucks, we could have unlimited helpings of delicious adobo, crispy pata, and my favorite kilawing tanguige, among ten other dishes laid out at a long table. Water, coffee, too sweet iced tea and fruit cocktail for dessert was also available at an adjacent table.

"I never knew that Scott knew how to joke. He's always so serious and silent whenever I see him," said Sophie, who was in the same department with me and had worked with him longer than I had. "He's only like this with you. OMG he likes you!"

"Seriously guys, he is just reciprocating my sense of humor," I protested amidst their squeals of delight. “Anyway, he's been so nice to me that I'm thinking of giving him a gift for his birthday. What do you think is a good gift for a guy?”

“Are you sure you want to do that? He might misinterpret it to mean that you like him,” Andrea said, pointing with the fork she had just used to spear a black squid. “Unless you do and that's what you want.”

“No and no,” I said, popping the nth morsel of kilawin into my mouth. “But I still want to do something to show my gratitude, regardless.”

“Why not give him some figurines of Batman and Catwoman?” Jane suggested laughingly. “Just don't be surprised if he suddenly tendered his resignation stating 'fear of crazed stalker' as his reason for leaving.”

We all laughed at that, then I made the mistake of telling them about Nino's comment, which resulted to more squeals. I was inundated with "You make him lose sleep!" wisecracks all the way back to the office.

When I got back to my workstation, I had an instant message from Nino. He had questions about our issue again. I replied as best as I could when suddenly he said:

Nino:
Do you like Tony Roma’s?

My heart stopped for a split second. Was he going to ask me out?

Lily:
Yeah.

After I typed my reply, I waited with bated breath for his.

Nino:
Lemme forward a coupon to you. You, Sophie and Jane.
Lily:
Wow thanks!
Nino:
3 mouseketeers.
Lily:
Hahahaha. You actually have a name for us??

I don't know why I was disappointed. I mean, I don't like him, do I? Anyway, the reason why he only referred to Sophie and Jane was because only those two were our office colleagues. He didn't know Andrea, who worked for a different company in the same building. We went on to discuss other matters. When he said something funny about Scott, I couldn't resist telling on him.

Lily:
I didn’t know that you were this company’s Brad Pitt.
Scott:
Huh?
Lily:
According to Nino.
Scott:
What did he say?
Lily:
Nino: Time to send sexy guys like Scott to the boss.
Lily: Sexy Scotty. Hmmm… has a nice ring to it
Nino: Yes exactly. He's the Brad Pitt of this company.
Scott:
Take it with a pinch of salt. We talk rubbish to each other to see which one of us drop into the rubbish bin first.
Lily:
Hahaha. Okay, noted. Do not believe everything that Nino says.
Scott:
Yeah, he hates me. And he is depressing me. But we still bug each other.
Lily:
He hates you?
Scott:
Yeah, he always walks to me and says he hates me.
Lily:
Well so far he hasn’t told me he hates me. He just told someone that I am making him lose sleep because of the payment issues.
Scott:
Ahh, seems like he has found new target to channel his hate.
Lily:
I guess treasury and AP are meant to hate each other. It’s their destiny.

But a saying goes, "the more you hate, the more you love." Is it applicable to this situation? I'm talking about Nino and me. Not Nino and Scott.

@};--

A weekend had passed and this morning, Nino stood beside my area and said “Good morning, I need the cash flow,” with a smile. A smile? This was weird because the cash flow was due last Friday and normally he would have been on my case about being late. Was it my perception that changed or had he really changed the way he dealt with me?

A couple of hours later, I was done with the cash flow and we were discussing it on chat.

Nino:
Take care of signage.
Lily:
Hold on.. in the amount below, should it be negative as well?
Nino:
Of course my dear. Outgoing payment.

My dear. He called me "my dear."

This was what we called a "meaning moment," a moment you have with someone that seems to mean that this someone likes you. Or at least, that's the meaning you would like to put into it.

I had to tell Sophie about this. Nino was the one who transitioned her role to her and she knew him better than I did.

Lily:
Is he really like that?
Sophie:
OMG. This is it!
Lily:
Maybe he's also like that with you
Sophie:
He's definitely not like that with me! Only with you, I swear!

A girl can dream, right?

@};--

Sophie and I didn't have lunch with Jane and Andrea that day because our floor in the office had lunch to send off Elana, who had recently resigned. We had a buffet lunch at a hotel and I had my fill of steamed crabs and conversations with people I had never talked to before. I was surprised to see how quiet Scott was at lunch. I knew him as a wise-cracking guy whom I always exchanged jokes with, not this shy person who did not say much. Now I knew where Sophie was coming from when she said he was only like that with me.

On our way home, we started wondering why none of the Treasury guys had joined us. “Maybe Treasury doesn't like you,” we teased Mitch, who had organized the whole thing.

Mitch pretended to look hurt and said, “So Treasury doesn't like Tax,” referring to his role. “Or maybe Treasury doesn’t like Indirects,” he surmised, referring to the role of Elana, whose send off party this was.

“Treasury doesn’t like a lot of people then. Maybe treasury does not like me too,” I put in.

Elana smiled and shook her head, saying, “No, I think he likes you a lot.”

@};--

Later that night, I grabbed a quick bite – three pieces of siew mai – from the local coffee shop. While skipping meals caused ulcers for some people, it caused migraine for me.

On my way inside the office, I ran into Nino at the door. “Stop smoking,” he told me out of nowhere. “It's seriously bad for your health.”

“I don't!” I said in incredulity. He looked as if he didn't believe me. What was up with him anyway? Since when was he concerned? Because if he really was, he ought to say those things to Sophie and Jane. Or perhaps he knew that they did and assumed that I did, too. A “tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are” kind of thing.

He walked in and went round to everyone’s workstation to offer Famous Amos cookies. While other people, like my seatmate William, did this sort of thing all the time, this was the first time that I had seen Nino do so. When he got to me, he asked me to grab a big handful, which I did. I thanked him and added, “I don't smoke!”

Just then, Scott passed by and talked to him in their local language. As Nino turned to leave, he told me, “Scott wants to ask you to a movie.”

I chuckled, knowing that this was a joke, and playfully turned to Scott, who was wearing the expression of someone who had just been pranked, and asked him, “Why don’t you ask me directly? Why do you have to go through Nino?”

Scott smiled and said, “I think that’s Nino's roundabout way of asking you out.”

Is there a roundabout way of saying yes?

@};--

Later that night, I was already at home when I got a text message from Sophie. She said that Nino had given her the last of the cookies and she had declined but he had said “share with Lily, I know she likes these too.” Then I remembered how the day before, I had gotten so excited talking about Royce chocolates to our colleague Latika, and he was laughing at my reaction and I had explained that I loved sweets. Sweets, just like him.

@};--

It's the next day. This morning when I got to the office, I saw Nino climbing out of a cab. We went up in the same elevator. What a great way to start the day. He kept on teasing me to Scott and about smoking. I kept on denying both allegations.

“Everyone knows that when a guy teases you to another guy, it means he likes you,” was Andrea's take on the story during lunch. Jane had brought us to a Ramen Restaurant which supposedly served the tastiest tasty egg she had ever tasted.

“Andrea's right. He obviously likes you,” Sophie agreed. “He has changed lately. He's now a happier and friendlier person. He used to just talk to his guy friends and only acknowledge me depending on my mood. But now it’s like, he has this I-don’t-care-what-your-mood-is-as-long-as-I’m-happy-I’ll-say-hello glow about him.” She slurped some broth off her spoon. “And it’s all because of you.”

“I don't think we should be so hasty to jump to that conclusion,” I argued, chewing on a piece of egg. Jane was right about the egg. It was very sumptuous, and so was the broth and the meat.

“OMG! You'll have a lovelife with Nino. Or Scott. You have so many boys!” Jane said through a forkful of noodles. “Damn! I've been in the company for one whole year and you beat me to that!”

“Don't be silly, nothing's even happening yet for it to be called a love life!” I protested with a laugh. I was so busy talking that I had barely touched my food. Meanwhile, Andrea, who usually ate the least food, had eaten the most ramen.

“That's already considered as one! It's the recession now!” Jane cackled.

The first thing I did when I got back to my desk was send off my email greeting to the birthday boy, Scott.

The Philippines is celebrating National Heroes Day today.
I’m celebrating along with them because it’s my hero’s birthday today.
Happy Birthday Batman!
Just wanted to say thanks for being a good.. err.. mentor.
For being patient and accommodating and nice,
and for coming to my rescue on all sorts of odds and ends,
especially when fires needed to be put out.
You’ve truly been a hero.
I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor.
Or a better friend.
The world is a better place because of people like you,
And that is why the anniversary of the day you are born
Is as much our celebration as yours.
Enjoy your day.

Minutes later, I got a response.

Thanks for all the kind words. I am not sure I deserve them.
This is my next role. Wish me luck.

And he had attached a picture of the joker. What a joker, indeed.

@};--

That evening, I got so busy with work that I forgot to nip out for a quick dinner. I only remembered when I started to feel a headache coming on. Uh-oh. Just then, my instant messenger blinked. It was Nino, with a question about work. Sigh. Before I could answer him, though, he said:

Nino:
Do you want a Subway dinner?
Lily:
Sure. How did you know I was hungry?
Nino:
You have my mobile, right? Just text me your order, I need to go now.

Well that was unexpected. I sent off my order for a turkey and cheese on wheat bread with red wine vinaigrette and everything on it except olives. When he came back to the office to give it to me, I asked him how much I owed him. He said it was free of charge because he was refunding it in his expense claim for overtime. The word "touched" cannot even begin to describe the way I felt.

When I told Sophie about this, she said she had seen Nino and Scott together outside the building when she had gone out for a cigarette break. So that's who he was with.

Late that night when I left the office, Nino and Scott were right behind me. We went down in the same elevator. What a great way to end the day.

@};--

The next day, we sought out the far flung Canele for lunch. It started out well. I enjoyed the beef stew with wine and the pasta and we had fun dissecting the numerous layers of the chocolate cake that we ordered for dessert. We were busy laughing at what the waiter had done with the single cup of hot chocolate that we ordered for sharing - he had thoughtfully split it into four small cups for us, isn't that awfully sweet of him? - when I happened to glance outside and saw Nino and Scott. My heart jumped in one moment and went crashing downhill the next. Nino's head was bent close to Scott's; their fingers, intertwined.

I need a half day off.


♫ It's just my imagination running away with me... ♫