Dinner

“I can’t believe it!”

Margaret looked at Fatima. They are back at the latter’s office, talking again about the new mall branch they were putting up.

“He’s really coming?”

From what Margaret can decipher, it means Fatima is talking about the get-together she said earlier, making her shuffle almost all her scheduled meetings the whole week on that time slot.

“Like... he’s really coming?”

Fatima looked at Margaret, like she is the one who can answer her question. The assistant just stared at her boss since she doesn’t even know what she is talking about right now.

“This is not true!” Fatima looked at her cell phone again. “How can he face Astrid just like that? And her fiancé?”

Margaret just continued working on her laptop. She is used to seeing her boss lose her concentration about important matters and divert to nonsensical things. Well maybe, what she is immersing herself right now is something important since it involves her friends.

Fatima looked at Margaret. “Can you face your ex and his fiancée, and have dinner with them?”

It took a moment before Margaret could answer. Partly because of surprise, partly because she tried to visualize the situation presented to her. In the end, she wasn’t able to answer.

“Well, I never had an ex, so I don’t really know.”

“Right. You never had a boyfriend.”

Should she be offended? Margaret is quite used to hearing about her nonexistent love life, and this is not the first time that came from her boss.

Fatima looked at her cell phone again. “Iñigo...! Darn that envious moron!”

Margaret winced at her boss’ cursing. How bad could that Iñigo be to make her virtuous boss speak ill about him?

“He really could not stop making his cousin miserable, huh? He would even want to hurt his feelings by making him meet his ex and her fiancé?”

Margaret became curious at what Fatima is saying. “Are you talking about the prince of Xeglington, Ma’am?”

Fatima looked at her. “Yeah, the prince is the fiancé of Astrid, who is the ex-girlfriend of Auguste. I was sure Auguste will not attend this get-together dinner because of how painful their breakup was to him. But now, I just read here on our GC that Auguste is coming.”

“Was he the one you were referring to when you said you get along with only one of your friends?”

“Yes, it’s Auguste. We have known each other since elementary, then Astrid became our classmate in high school. Since then they were so in love with each other. I really thought they would end up together, but Astrid went to the US for her masters and suddenly, she broke up with him. Auguste was really devastated.”

Margaret felt bad about that guy named Auguste. “What was the cause of the breakup?”

“They said it was the long distance. I don’t know,” Fatima said. “All I know is Auguste was really crushed. It took a while before he recovered. I guess making him the COO of the Ortega Group helped a little, like refocusing his mind to work instead of Astrid.”

Margaret remembered what Fatima said last Friday. “Was he the one who was made into a CEO?”

“Yes. You see, his life is okay now. It took a while, but he was able to recover completely. He was even able to hang out with a random Cinderella in a bar. Then this happened. Just how bad could timing be for this friend of mine?”

Maybe that’s the reason why something bad happened to that Auguste again. It's because his life has become too perfect it needs a balancing act.

“I really want to come now. I want to be there for Auguste. I'm not sure how this happened, how Iñigo made him come. But I am sure this will be difficult for him.”

“You could come, Ma’am, if the dinner will not start until seven. The company’s dinner will start at 6PM. You can just leave early then and join your friends’ get-together.”

Fatima contemplated for a moment. “You’re right. I will just tell them to schedule it at 7PM then.”

Margaret smiled.

“You’re really my savior.” Fatima started typing on their group chat, telling them about her request.

To which her friends agreed. The call time was 7PM, and everyone will attend including the crown prince of Xeglington. Then, the dinner of the UrbanShop employees, the mall where Margaret is working, will start at 6PM. Fatima will just leave early to attend her friends’ get-together.

The dinner of the UrbanShop employees was held at Roberto’s inside the mall. All the employees are there, excluding those that are still on duty. Their dinner will just be given to them, and they could take turns eating.

Margaret is at the table with her boss, Fatima, and the other managers and supervisors. Her friends are on another table, but she needs to be beside her boss so she cannot join them. Food was served at six-thirty, although Fatima needed to leave fifteen minutes before 7PM.

“I have to attend a get-together with my friends,” she just explained to her employees.

It must have been 5 minutes already since Fatima left, when one of the managers noticed a cell phone on the side of the plate she used a while ago.

“Isn’t this Ms. Fatima’s phone?” the manager asked.

Margaret recognized the phone as her boss’ mobile phone. She took it from the manager.

“Thanks, Sir. I would just give this to her.”

“I guess she left that when she booked a ride at Call-A-Taxi. Maybe she forgot to put it on her bag,” another manager said.

Margaret remembered that Fatima has no car today because hers was taken to the casa for maintenance check. That means she doesn’t have a ride home.

“I think I need to give this phone to her now,” Margaret said. “She doesn’t have a car, and she needs this to book a cab at Call-A-Taxi.”

“But you’re not yet done eating,” said one manager.

“That’s right,” said another one. “Just give that to her later.”

“Or maybe, her friends could just bring her home,” said the former.

That is true. There are a lot of ways Fatima could go home. For sure her friends will not allow her to go home by herself. But Margaret still could not stop feeling worried.

“No, I’ve already eaten enough,” she said to the others. “I just really need to give this phone to her. Her husband might call her, and he might get worried if he found out he cannot talk to his wife.”

“But do you know where she went?” one manager asked.

Margaret tried to remember where Fatima is meeting her friends. “Yes, Ma’am. It’s in Cusina ni Ikay.”

After saying her goodbyes to her colleagues, Margaret went out of the mall and hailed a cab for her to follow Fatima in Cusina ni Ikay.