first day

Writing Challenge, Day 5


Trying to set the first time Bryan saw Sim, the potential love interest.


I realized that this is really starting to become a teeny bit autobiographical. Hehe.



* * *

Sim was from a later batch--aptly named Papa Batch, after the phonetic alphabet (Bryan was from Nancy, which, as some of his batchmates would joke, was also well-suited for him). Bryan had just "went live"--a term used by the operations managers for agents handling calls--when the entire Papa Batch first stepped into the chaos that is the Makati Office. The Papas were fresh from their HR and soft-skills training from the company's more mellow Ortigas branch the week before, so it was not surprising for Bryan to see the shocked yet bemused expressions of at least seven trainees as they watched the action on the floor and listened over the din of technical terms like POP3 and Start button. Been there, done that, He'd thought.

Sim was standing near the front of the pack, and he was among the seven whom Bryan noticed. It was not because of the shocked expression though. There was something about the guy that made Bryan notice, and it's not just because of Sim's blue long-sleeved shirt and black slacks, both of which stuck like sore thumb in a sea of maongs and bright t-shirts.

"He's got nice eyes," Perry, Bryan's batchmate and seatmate, commented, following the direction of his gaze. "Very smiley."

"Parang YM emoticon lang?" Bryan joked.

"Tangerks. You know what I mean," Perry replied as she dropped the call she was supposed to be handling. And Bryan did; despite the initial shock, the boy in long-sleeves has the cutest deep-set eyes that seem to smile even at the slightest twicth.

And from the looks of it, the boy's eye twitching is something akin to a seizure about to happen. Bryan wondered if the boy was about to collapse. An image of him giving Mr. Long-sleeves mouth-to-mouth appeared in his mind.

"He's very tisoy, too," Perry continued, dropping another call.

"Or Chinoy," Bryan suggested.

"His name sticker says Sim. I wonder what it stands for?"

"Ewan. Basta pwedeng-pwede syang i-Woohoo."