Chapter 6 Taking the Next Step
“Is it done?” Simpleng message na natanggap ni Andy from Sam.
Napabuntong hininga na lng sya at itinabi ang cellphone. After the incident sa office, she filed for one week leave citing personal matter sa suggestion na rin ng kaibigan. Sam suggested that I consider leaving the company na agad kong tinanggihan. That would be a petty reaction right?
But Sam argued that it’s not petty. The fact that they are willing to steal someone else’s work and claim it as theirs warrant a strong reaction.
“It’s a freaking crime Andy!” Nanggagalaiting sabi nito sa kanya pagkatapos nyang ikwento ang nangyari.
“Just how low that fucking bastard can go. He’s gonna regret it!” She added while pacing sa harap ni Andy.
Sa totoo lang sumagi na rin sa isip nya ito. The only reason that she’s not doing it, at least not yet, is because she’s not sure if she can find another job na gusto nya. Naishare na rin nya yung reason ng hesitation nya kay Sam at nangako naman itong tutulungan sya.
“You’re a very talented person hon. Your work being part of that contest proves that it’s worth being shown to the world. There are far better and bigger companies who will be willing take you in.” She confidently said.
“I don’t know Sam. What if my experiences are not yet enough para makakuha ulit ng trabaho?”
“I know for sure that it will not happen. And don’t worry. I have gained enough contacts to know some people who are looking for new digital artist. Worst that can happen is you becoming a freelancer. Which is not bad at all.”
Nangako naman syang pag iisipan ito and until now, nagdadalawang isip pa rin sya. Na open up na rin nya ang nangyari sa parents nya. They have the same reaction and may kasama pang pagbabanta ng pagdedemanda. Inassure naman nya ang mga magulang that she’s carefully thinking her next steps. Kumalma naman ang mga ito at nangakong susuportahan kung anuman ang maging desisyon nya sa bandang huli.
“Hay, why is this so hard? I’m confuse on what to do.” Sa loob loob nya. “As much as I want to brush it off and forget about it, I can’t help but be bothered sa ginawa nya. Aaargh!!!” Frustrated sabay dapa takip ng unan sa mukha.
Maya maya lamang tumayo sya at kinuha yung isang external drive nya. She opened it up and go through her files there. Immediately, she was bombarded by her old works. Ranging from her College days na projects, to her demo reels pati na rin ang kanyang mga freelance works nung nag uumpisa pa lamang. Habang isa isang nyang tinitingnan ito, unti unti tumataas ang confidence nya sa sarili.
“I guess Sam’s right. I am good with what I do.” She told herself. With that, she started typing her resignation letter effectively immediately. After all, they don’t seem to need her anymore. Sinend nya agad ang letter sa kanyang manager saying that she’s leaving for personal reason. Pagkasend ng email, kinuha nya ang cellphone at nagsend ng maikling reply sa kaibigan.
“It is done!” May pagka madramang sagot nya.
“Perfect. Suit up, susunduin kita. We need to celebrate your freedom and the start of your road to success.” Mabilis na reply ni Sam.
Napangiti na lng si Andy sa nabasa. She’s happy that she have Sam in her life. Nakaramdam din sya ng excitement habang hinihintay ang pagsundo ni Sam.
After 30 minutes, narinig na nya yung kotse ni Sam. Dali dali naman syang lumabas at sumakay sa harapan. Agad syang niyakap nito pagkasara ng pintuan.
“I’m so happy that you did it! You deserve so much more that what they are giving you.” Sincere na sabi ni Sam.
Andy is so touched sa sinabi ng kaibigan as she embraced her back. Hinawakan naman ni Sam ang pisngi nya at tiningnan ito ng seryoso.
“Don’t worry hon, we’re gonna find you something that’s gonna treat you right. But tonight, we party!” Nakangising sabi nito sa kanya.
Natawa na lang sya dito.
“Thanks Sam. I wouldn’t have find the courage to do this without you.”
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“Well, what do you think?”. Lexie asks Ralf. Kakatapos lng nilang panoorin ang demo reel ng isang applicant na inendorse sa kanila ng kakilala ng kapatid nyang si Carlos.
Nagtatakang tiningnan naman ni Lexie ito nang hindi pa rin sumasagot at nakakunot noong tinapik nya ang kamay ng kaibigan.
“Hey, you ok?”
“Yeah, yeah..the name really sounds familiar to me. Do you have her CV?”
Lexie pulled out her email and checked the background of the applicant.
“Let’s see, full name is Andrea Evangelista, former Junior Graphic Artist of Veejay Creatives. Started as an intern, absorbed by the company after graduation and have worked there for 3 years. A graduate of graphic designs…hmmm… I see that she attended high school in Negros. An old family friend perhaps? Very cute too.” She teasingly said habang hinarap nya dito ang laptop para makita ang kanyang binabasa.
Ralf just looked at the picture in silence with a blank face. Maya maya umiling na lng ito.
“Anyway, I think that was a solid demo. Let’s have her scheduled for an interview, when you think you’ll be available to do it?”
“Are you gonna join me with the interview?”
“Nah, I you’re way better than me on that aspect but based on her works, she seems fit sa role na kelangan natin.” Ralf simply said.
“Ok, I’ll ask HR to schedule her for an interview this week and I’ll let you know.” Lexie answered as she sent an email to HR.
“Now that’s all settled, let’s discuss our digital marketing team. Looks line we are gaining a lot of inquiry from medium to large scale companies. Since we opened, we accepted contracts on a per project basis but now, most of them are coming back for longer terms.” Ralf started as he presented the report he received from their head of Marketing department.
“That’s good news then. Are there any additional services they’ll be needing?”
“Nothing in particular, but I’m hoping if you can help sa pagbuo ng packaged plan for them so they’ll have options.”
“Like a bundle deal?”
“Yep, like that. Rather than have a customized one, it’s better that we have something ready for them to choose and they can just opt to add some services na hindi kasama dun sa mapipili nila.”
“Sure, when do you need it”
“Can you still squeeze it this week? I want to present it first to our clients before doing a full promotion for that.”
“Ok, send me the names of our clients. I want to take a look first what we have done for them so far before I come up with the list of group services. Anything else we need to cover today?”
“That’s it for today.” Nakangiting sagot nya kay Lexie sabay sandal sa kanyang upuan.
“Ok, then I’ll go ahead as I need to go back to my office. I still have a couple of documents to review.” Lexie answered as she started gathering her things. Pagkatapos ay tumayo na ito at nagpaalam sa kaibigan.
Pagkalabas ni Lexie, tahimik lamang na nakaupo si Ralf. He may have lied to her friend earlier when he mentioned that he can’t remember “her”. Probably because he was so surprised that their lives are about to cross again.
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12 years ago.
“Okay, listen up everyone, in 10 minutes we will start the opening ceremony of this year’s summer camp. So start settling down on your seats and we will start promptly.” Anunsyo ng summer camp leader.
Isa sa mga participant ng summer camp na yun is the 13 year old Andy. Her parents urged her to join to broaden her horizon and start exploring her options. According to her parents, it’s one way of discovering her goals in a creative and fun way.
At the end of the orientation, they were grouped into 5 at may naka assigned na camp counsellor for each group. The camp counsellor will be supervising them sa iba’t ibang activities na gagawin nila the whole duration ng camp. They were each given a folder kung saan nakalagay ang schedule of activities nila, she got excited seeing that most of the activities are somewhat aligned sa mga gusto rin nya.
It was the third day of the camp and this is the day Andy’s been waiting for. Today, they are scheduled to have a workshop on computer graphics. She’s always been a fan of animated movies and have developed affinity in computer graphics because of that.
“Hello everyone, my name is Ralf and I am your facilitator for today.” That got Andy’s attention.
“Today, I’m gonna teach you the basic of computer animation. But since limited lang ang computers ntin, you need to work as a group. Because at the end of our session, you will be creating your own short animated film.” Patuloy ng facilitator nila. Excited na nakinig si Andy sa lahat ng tinuturo nito at mag nag enjoy pa sya when they were given a chance na mag hands on. At the end of the session, nag usap usap na silang magkakagrupo to conceptualize ng magiging film nila. Since sya ang mabilis nakaintindi ng mga tinuro sa knila, sya ang napiling mag handle ng graphics ng group. Masaya naman nyang tinanggap ang assigned task. For the next 3 days, she tirelessly created yung graphics ng kanilang film. Since wala naman ibang may interest na magbabad sa computer, halos na monopolize nya ang computer na naka assign sa kanila.
It was the night before the presentation ng film nila. Andy’s doing a last minute check ng project nila when all of a sudden biglang nag hang ang computer na ginagamit. Dahil sa tagal nito, nag force restart na lng sya. When she tried opening opening yung file nila nag prompt ito ng error. It’s stating that it’s corrupted. Bigla syang kinabahan sa nakita.
“No no no!” Natatarantang sambit nya sa sarili. Ilang beses nyang tinanggal at binalik ang USB para icheck ulit but still getting the same error. She started crying when she realized na nasira nga ang file nila and it will take her days to redo everything. She’s been sitting there crying her eyes out for several minutes when she heard someone speak.
“Hey, everything ok?” Pag tingin nya, it was their facilitator Ralf.
Bigla naman nag aalala ito ng makita syang umiiyak.
“Andy right?” Marahang tanong nito. Tumango lamang sya.
“Ok, tell me what’s wrong and why are you crying?”
“Yung file namin”. Humihikbing sagot nya. “Nasira sya, na corrupt yung film namin and wala akong back up nagawa. Wala na kong time na gawin ulit, bukas na yung presentation and wala kaming mapapakita.” Umiiyak na sagot nya.
“Let me check ok?” Umupo ito sa tabi nya at nagsimulang tingnan ang kanilang file. Maya maya lamang umiling na ito.
“It seems na corrupted talaga yung file.” Malungkot na sabi nito sa kanya. Napaiyak na lng sya lalo sa narinig.
“Wait, did you use this computer sa pag edit ng film nyo?” Biglang tanong nito. Tumango lamang sya bilang sagot.
Agad naman nitong binuksan ang iba ibang files ng computer.
“What are you doing?” Curious na tanong ni Andy.
“Hold on, I’m trying something here. What’s the filename that you used while working sa project nyo?”
“Uhmmm Summer Camp Project“
Napatawa na lng si Ralf sa narinig. Then suddenly his eyes went bright sa nakitang isang file folder. Binuksan nya ito at sinimulang i-play.
Nanlaki naman ang mata ni Andy nang magsimulang mag play ang film na ginawa nya.
“How did you do that?” Amazed na tanong nya.
“Secret… ” Ralf teasingly answered. Kinuha nito ang USB at finormat. Pagkatapos ay sinave dun ang file na na-retrieve at gumawa ng back up just to be sure. Inabot nya ito kay Andy at pinatay ang computer.
“There you go.” Masayang sabi ni Ralf.
“Oh my God! Thank you thank you.” Andy tearfully said as she protectively holds yung USB na inabot sa kanya.
“You’re my hero.”
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Napangiti na lng si Ralf sa naalala. He can never forget those eyes. At a young age, her eyes always show how determined she is pag nagco-concentrate sa ginagawa. During the camp week, napansin na nya ang galing ng batang si Andy. And knowing na may chance siyang makita ulit ito, he feels a little excited to meet her again. Based sa demo reel na napanood nya, hindi sya nagkamali na magiging successful ito sa graphics industry. He can’t wait to welcome her sa team nya and work with her.
He was startled nang kumatok sa pinto si Sally.
“Sir, dumating na po yung mga order nating bagong video equipment. They are waiting for you dun sa AV room to test them.”
“Thanks Sally. I’ll be there.”
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