Hi! I'm Jan Andrei Medrano, people would call me Jam for short. A little bit about me, I'm 23 years old. Matangkad at 5'10", nasa twink side, maputi, and a huge nerd. I wear thick-rimmed glasses, I have mopey hair that reaches my eyes, always nakatingin sa floor or sa ground while walking so as to not catch any attention. When wala sa office, I always wear my earphones para walang kumausap sakin as a socially awkward person.

Currently working in an office here in BGC. Actually kakahire ko lang last week. So trainee pa lang ako together with 4 others. They are Spring, Aurum, Eunice, and Alice. Yes, ako lang ang lalaki samin. I don't know if yun yung naging reason why ako yung naassign na liaison ng department namin to other departments. One of my boss joked nga na mas mabilis ako makakadeliver ng documents or whatnots because mahahaba biyas ko. I have no choice but to accept because I need the job kahit na di talaga ako sanay to interact with people.

I became close with both Spring and Aurum, while Alice usually eats lunch with us or sabay pauwi but di ko alam pero always may distance between us, figuratively. I get extra shy around her. Eunice also comes with us sa lunch and pauwi pero di ko masabing close kami, but we are friends. Also, di naman tago sa kanila na I like men. We have our crushes sa office. Ako si Sir JP sa ibang department, si Spring kay Sir Benedictine na kateam namin, si Aurum kay Sir Dreif na kateam din namin, si Eunice kay Sir Vincentsa same department kay Sir JP, and si Alice kay Sir Ezer na same department namin pero ibang team. Funny enough, close yung crush nila Spring, Aurum, and Alice kasi same team and batch sila before.
---

The time na we became regular employees came, the team organized a welcome dinner for the 5 of us to officially welcome us. It was nearby our office lang naman kaya madaming nakapunta. Syempre, all 5 of us need sumama kasi the party was for us. As we were walking, tamang usap lang ako with the girls. They were pretty excited kasi kasama sila Sir Benedictine, Sir Dreif, and even Sir Ezer. Kami naman ni Eunice nagbibiruan na heartbroken gawa ng wala yung office crushes namin. Siguro we were around 15 people non. When we arrived sa samgyup place, na no choice kami but to sit with other people kasi sabi ng boss na maghiwa hiwalay kami to meet other people. So napunta ako sa table nila Sir Benedictine and Sir Dreif and isa pang kateam namin na babae. Sila yung kumakausap saken and I was polite enough naman to answer. They offered me beer pero tumanggi ako which they understood. Sila yung bangka ng usapan kahit na para akong nahotseat.

"So may girlfriend ka na ba?" Tanong ni Sir Dreif.

"Nako wala po, Sir." Sabi ko naman.

"Nako sabing wag ka na mag-sir eh. Di yan uso dito. Eh boyfriend?" Pilyong tanong ni Sir Be- ni Benedictine.

"Hoy loko kayo wag nyo pinagtitripan si Jam." Sabi nung isang kasama namin.

"Wala naman nang issue yun ah." Tanggol ni Dreif.

"Okay lang po. Pero to answer your question po, wala din po. Hehe single since birth po ako." Mahina ko namang sagot. Wala din namang issue saken yung mga ganong tanong kahit medjo nakakahiya.

"So may crush ka na ba sa office?" Follow-up ni Benedictine.

"Taga-department natin? Kateam naten?" Pangungulit ni Dreif.

"Hindi po. Hehe." Sagot ko naman.

"Ano bang mga tipo mo? Huhulaan namen." Si Dreif na ayaw akong tigilan.

"Hmm. Mukhang mabait po, mukhang aalagaan ako, ganon po." Sagot kong medjo nahihiya.

"Aalagaan? Sa laki mong yan? Ano ba gusto mo, nanay o tatay?" Sabi ni Dreif sabay tawa silang tatlo.

"So kung ibang department tas ganyang hulmahan ng mukha, aba may hula na ako." Sabi ni Sir Benedictine. "Si JP yan no?" Bulong neto sakin na ako lang nakakarinig.

"Uy Ben sino yon?" Di ako nakasagot kaya nangulit si Dreif kay Benedictine kung sino yung binulong nya.

"Ay sikreto na namin yon ni Jam." Tatawa-tawang sagot naman ni Benedictine.

Kung ano-ano ano pa napagusapan namin habang ako ay nagluluto ng samgyup namin. Hanggang sa nagbigay ng speech ang boss namin at pinatayo din kami para magbigay ng konting message.

"Cute yung si Eunice. Reto mo naman ako." Sabi ni Benedictine sakin after magbigay ng message ni Eunice.

"Uy ako ang type ko yung si Aurum. Cute cute very bite size." May gigil pang sabi ni Dreif. Muntik pa ako kiligin kasi same nilang crush ang isa't isa.

"Hoy bata pa yang mga yan." Saway naman ng isa naming kasama.

"Baket 25 pa lang naman ako, 24 si Dreif? Ilang taon na ba sila, Jam?"

"Alam ko po 24 silang dalawa." Sagot ko naman.

"Hmm. Pwede pwede." Malokong tinginan ng dalawa.

Nagpatuloy pa kami hanggang sa halos magsara na yung samgyup place. Naghiwa hiwalay na din kami ng daan pauwi, kasama ko ulit yung apat.

"Alam mo ba crush ka ni Sir Dreif?" Sabi ko kay Aurum.

"Hoyyy! Napansin ko nga kung makatingin, nascared ako konti." Sabay tawa ni Aurum.

"Eh si Sir Benedictine? Chinika ba sayo sinong crush nya?" Pangungulit ni Spring.

"Huy alam nyo ba pinagsabihan na ako jan sa Sir Sir Ma'am Ma'am naten, pang boss lang daw yon. Hahaha." Singit ni Alice.

"Uy ako din nga pala. Di daw uso yon. Nasanay lang siguro tayo." Sabi ko naman. Sinadya ko talagang iwasan yung tanong ni Spring tungkol sa crush ni Benedictine, and thankfully di na din nya pinursue.

We parted ways that night na happy and looking forward to a good stay in our office.
---

The days went by and seryoso pala talaga si Kuya Ben to pursue Eunice. He insisted na I call him Kuya Ben, baka his way of telling me to be comfortable with him habang nililigawan nga nya si Eunice. And infairness, he was sincere and consistent with it kaya I can't help but root for him din. Legit din yung pagpapagoodshot ko sa kanya kay Eunice.

"Beh, diba close naman kayo ni Benedictine? Baka naman pwedeng sabihan mo na, uhm, pano ba to? Di ko kasi sya type. Like wala namang masamang tinapay sa kanya or what pero di ko lang talaga type. Gets mo ba?" One day nabanggit sakin ni Eunice while we are eating lunch sa cafeteria. I can't help but feel sad about it. But what can we do?

"Uhm, sure sige unti-untiin ko sya." Sabi ko naman.

"Thank you ha. Besides, nanliligaw din kasi si Sir Vincent saken. Eh diba crush ko yon?" Sabi nito habang humahagikhik.

"Hoyy! Baka pwede mo naman ako ireto kay Sir JP hahaha." Biro ko naman para madissipate yung tension kanina. Naglokohan pa kami bago dumating yung iba naming kasama at kumain na nga kami.
---

I didn't have the heart to tell Kuya Ben about Sir Vincent and Eunice. Kaya one day, nabigla na lang ako ng kausapin ako ni Kuya Ben on the hallway while I was delivering some docs to other departments.

"Magjowa na pala sila Sir Vincent saka Eunice. You know about this?" Malungkot nyang saad.

"Hala, wala naman po sya sinabi." Sa takot ko eh nagdeny na lang ako. "Alam nyo naman po si Eunice. Madalang magsalita."
"Yeah, I guess." Tugon nyang walang sigla. "Inom tayo later?" Aya nya.

"Ehh--" Tatanggi pa lang sana ako nang may pumutol sa sasabihin ko.

"Huyy anong inom? Sama ako." Singit ni Dreif. We became a bit of a trio, with me looking like a very unwilling youngest brother na hinihili hila lang mga kuya neto.

"Sige tara, libre ko na." At lumakad na to palayo. Nagtataka namang tumingin sakin si Dreif. I just shrugged my shoulders and continued with my work.

Kinagabihan, wala akong choice but to come with them. Doon naglabas ng lungkot si Kuya Ben samin ni Dreif. He really was serious about Eunice and we know it naman but we can't really blame Eunice or Sir Vincent about it. Dinaan na lang namin sa inom and ktv ang lungkot ni Kuya Ben. We were supportive of him kasi it's what he needed that time.

After that night, akala ko titigilan na ako ni Kuya Ben kasi kumbaga I've done my part already. And for me, I felt that the friendship was one sided o kaya transactional. Di rin naman ako naattach sa friendship kaya nabigla ako na minsan dadalaw to sa desk ko para mangulit o kaya sasabayan akong maglakad papuntang ibang department habang nakikipagkwentuhan. Kuya Ben have many friends despite his maangas na personality, kapag di mo sya kilala, nak...