CHAPTER 8

[LOVELY's Point of View]

Tumunog ang chime sa may pinto, means bumukas 'yun kaya napalingon kaming lahat. Pumasok si Miss Maggie na may dalang dalawang pizza box.

Okay its Miss Maggie, Lovely. Go back to your senses! The poise Love, the POISE!

I tightly closed my eyes and crossed my fingers while mumbling my ‘poise chant’. But when I opened my eyes, nawala rin lahat dahil sa kunot-noong tingin sa akin ng kupal na si Psalm. Naku! Nasa boiling point na talaga ang dugo ko! Kaya NEVERMIND! Wala na munang poise-poise! Kami-kami lang din naman ang nandito. Might as well I took this as a break.

"Ano ha?!" pabulong pero nanggigigil kong tanong sa kanya.

"Wala. Ang ano mo..." sagot n'ya naman at umiwas ng tingin.

"Oh, hi guys!" she greeted us at lumapit sa pwesto namin. "What are you doing? Bakit n'yo naman iniwan mag-isa du'n si... Pen."

Bahagyang kumunot ang noo n'ya when she noticed the book that I'm holding. I thought magagalit s'ya dahil nangialam kami ng gamit ng cafe. Well technically, si Pen lang naman talaga ang nangialam but nevermind, at least we learned the truth na rin. Miss Maggie suddenly smiled and shook her head.

"Mukhang nakikita ko na kung anong nakita n'ya sa inyo," she amusingly said at pumunta sa pwesto namin kanina. Naupo s'ya sa tabi ni Pen at inalok ito ng pizza. Isa-isa naman kaming sumunod at naupo rin.

"Ano po bang nakita n'ya na nakita n'yo din para po makita din namin 'yung nakita n'yo?"

I glared at Psalm. Nagsisimula na naman s'ya sa mga logical questions n'ya na napaka-nonsense naman.

"Curiosity," Miss Maggie said.

My brows furrowed. Curiosity? Nakitaan nila kami ng curiosity? How come?

Mukhang hindi lang ako ang naguluhan. My comrades seemed to be puzzled too, maybe asking the same question that I have.

"It looks like you did some kind of investigation, huh?" Biglang tanong ni Miss Maggie na parang nang-aasar, yet still smiling.

"Ah, hindi naman po. Tumitingin-tingin lang," sagot ni Psalm.

"Kasi may doubt sila Miss Maggie. Baka daw scam 'yung offer n'yo," I frankly said. Mas maganda na din siguro 'to para masagot na ang mga tanong nila at makapag-decide na kaming tanggapin 'yung trabaho. Yes, dapat tanggapin namin ang trabaho!

Bahagyang lumakas ang tawa ni Miss Maggie at napailing.

"Why? Because we're giving too much privilege to our staff?"

"Kinda," maikling sagot ni Sage.

"Kasi Miss Maggie, parang hindi naman daw po realistic 'yung pagbibigay n'yo ng mga incentive sa staff kung pagbabasehan ang posibleng kitain ng cafe. I mean, the cafe isn't that big." Ako na ang nagpaliwanag. I don't want Psalm to do the questioning, neither Sage. Masyado silang blatant and direct to the point. Baka ma-offend si Miss Maggie sa mga itatanong nila. While Pen? I don't think she'll talk.

"Good point," puri n'ya. "Actually, gusto ko sanang i-discuss 'to kapag tinanggap n'yo na ang trabaho but since natunugan n'yo na din naman, I think I should spill the beans now."

Muli s'yang naupo sa  pinuwestuhan n'ya kanina at masinsinan kaming tinignan.

"As you guys already mentioned, the cafe is quite small and can't easily support the needs and expenditures. But the cafe doesn't just serve drinks and meals inside it's walls. Aside from dine in's, tumatanggap din kami ng mga deliveries and caterings though, paminsan-minsan lang nagkakaroon ng catering services ang cafe."

Full attention ako sa pakikinig kay Miss Maggie. I don't want to miss any single detail. Gusto ko din naman kasing maging malinaw ang magiging trabaho namin dito. And if ever na magtanong na naman ang kontrabida boys, at least kaya ko ng ipagtanggol ang cafe. I mean, I really want this job. This is the exact thing that I need for my diversion.

"And...?" Parang atat na atat naman 'tong si Sage.

"And most of all, the cafe accepts an extra service."

"Extra service?!" Sigaw naming lahat. What in the deepest hell does she meant by that? Don't tell me tama ang masamang kutob nila Psalm sa cafe na 'to?

"Not that kind of extra service na iniisip nyo, okay?" Natatawang sagot ni Miss Maggie, giving me relief. "Parang special assignment, ganun."

"Special assignment? Like what?" I asked. Oh merciful God, sana naman hindi 'to 'yung assignment na katulad sa school. I really, definitely hate that.

"Do you guys have dreams?" Miss Maggie asked out of nowhere.

"Of course you have," Mabilis n'yang pagsagot sa sarili n'yang tanong. But I guess, Pen wants to disagree with that. Bigla kasi s'yang napa-ubo.

"Ganito kasi 'yan, the owner has his own project called Dreamers. Ang aim n'ya is to help people to make their dreams come true. Noong una, that service is free but since nagi-insist ang mga client na magbayad, tinanggap n'ya na lang hanggang sa naging parte na ito ng services ng cafe,"

"Then, naisipan ng owner na kumuha ng staff na hindi lang tatao sa business n'ya kundi hahalili din sa project na ginagawa n'ya. And you're the hired staffs. So technically, gusto ng owner na gawin n'yo ang ginagawa n'ya. The owner wants you to make dreams come true." Mahabang paliwanag ni Miss Maggie that also led to a long, as in very long silence.

Honestly, I don't like long silence. It give me creeps. Pakiramdam ko kasi nasa sementeryo ako or something like that. But now, the silence that is engulfing us is so unusual. I often break the ice pero kakaiba ngayon. As in natameme ako. I can't even utter a word! Parang lahat kami nag-freeze nang maipaliwanag ni Miss Maggie ang iba pang ginagawa at purpose ng cafe.

To be honest, I only wanted to wear a cute cafe uniform, serve drinks and meals and have a chance to interact with cute guy customers kaya naisip kong mag-apply ng trabaho sa Dreams cafe. Parang naging bonus na lang sa akin ang sweldo at ang sinabing libreng bakasyon ni Miss Maggie. But thanks to Sage and Psalm's curious, doubtful and investigative minds, naging complicated ang situation namin sa pagtanggap ng offer dahil napilitan na ang manager na ilabas ang lahat. I mean, it blown me away big time!

"This is crazy," After an ages of silence nagsalita na si Sage, halos hindi din makapaniwala sa pinaliwanag ni Miss Maggie.

"I mean, why would you guys even do that?" Dagdag n'ya pa.

"Oo nga, Miss M. May saltik ba 'yung owner n'yo?"

Bingo! 'Yun din ang gusto kong itanong. Buti na lang na-voice out agad ni Psalm. Ayaw ko kasing ako mismo ang magtanong because somehow, I know it's kinda below the belt. Like, it's already affront.

Miss Maggie raised her stare na parang nag-iisip s'ya.

"Medyo," Sagot n'ya. "I won't deny the fact that the cafe's owner is a little, kinda, somehow, quite eccentric." She added, doing some kind of hand gestures dahil parang hindi n'ya makuha ang tamang term para i-discribe ang owner ng cafe.

"And mad," dugtong ni Sage. 

"Baliw," sabad ni Psalm.

"Abnormal," Halos masampal ko ang bibig ko nang dumulas ang dila ko. It was just supposed to be in my head! God, ba't ko nasabi?

"and a dreamer,"

Napalingon kaming lahat kay Pen. Not just because nagsalita s'ya but dahil na rin sa sinabi n'ya. Did she just said dreamer? Like dreamer na parang nananaginip lang or dreamer na as in nangangarap? I think it's the first one. The owner of this cafe is certainly daydreaming! Para s'yang nananaginip ng gising sa gusto n'yang gawin namin.

"Naisip ko lang..." Obvious na nag-aalangan si Pen na magsalita but I can see that she's trying. "Naisip ko lang na wala namang mali sa gusto n'yang mangyari. Ang ibig kong sabihin, ano namang masama kung tutulong tayo sa pagtupad ng pangarap ng iba?"