1 Hydrogen (1)

Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe.

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"Bitch! Congratulations!" Her friend, Dianne screamed at her ear.

She laughed, "Thanks, babe."

"Totally knew you would get that promotion."

Reinne worked her ass off with overtimes just to be promoted as the Chief Chemist of the brewery. She is now working on her final thesis for her Doctorate. Being a chemistry graduate and to be away from her family was no joke considering that she has never been away from home this long.

"I knew too," she laughed while hanging her laboratory gown on her chair.

"So when will you visit us again?" Her best friend whined. "It's been five years already."

"Maybe after my Doctorate, Yan."

She heard her scoff at the other line. "Last you said after you get that promotion and now after your doctorate? Let’s set something straight, Ivy. Are you hiding from me or do you even plan of going home?"

I laugh with her questions. "Yan, I'm not hiding from you and yes, I still have a plan to go home."

"Are you avoiding somebody?"

She nearly laughed at her friend's imagination, "No."

"Then why won't you come home?" Her friend asked her again. "You keep on making excuses."

"Because I can't," she sighed. "I want to go home too, Deanne, but you know I can't. And I'm not making excuses."

"Hush!" Deanne exclaimed, “But be here on my wedding day. This bride needs her maid of honor."

"Wait, you’re getting married?!" She screamed on the phone. "When? How? Why? With whom? Not to offend you or anything but who is brave enough to put up with your shit?"

"Hold on. One at a time," Rienne heard her friend laugh. "Well, you know him and-"

"Shit. No way," she cut her off, "Keith?"

"Yes!" Deanne squealed.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She felt offended that her friend didn't tell her about her ongoing engagement.

"Well, maybe because of your past with the name Keith?" She thought about Deanne's answer and she understood where she's coming from.

"Shush. That was college, Yan. I felt betrayed," She faked a pained voice, "I am your best friend."

"Be my maid of honor?" She could sense her friend winning. "Please...pretty, pretty, pretty please."

"Not so fast, Missy! I'm not through with you just yet!"

"Aw, come on. Please let it go and be my maid-of-honor?"

"No-"

"Miss Lacson?" She looked up from her phone to see her secretary standing by the door.

"Yan, hold on for a second," she said on the line before facing her secretary. "What is it, Drew?"

"You have a meeting with the other PHOs in less than thirty minutes," he reminded her. "The new CEO will be there, too."

"It must be big, since the new CEO will be there," she nodded. "Give me a second."

Drew nodded in understanding before leaving her office.

"Yan, you still there?" She brought the phone back to her ear.

"Yeah, I heard everything."

"I'm so sorry," she said while grabbing her lab coat.

"It's fine. It's way past midnight already, anyway. I should head to bed."

"Yeah," she closed her door with one hand. "I’ll call you again later. Maybe we can video chat via Facebook?"

"Yeah. That's a date. Bye, bitch."

"Bye." She passed by Drew's table and gestured him to follow her. "Bring your notebooks, pencil, phone or whatever."

"Why?" He asked while they waited for the elevator.

"I have a feeling that something different would happen," she said as the elevator ascended.

"You want me to record everything?"

She sent him a smile. "Precisely."

"I have a bad feeling about this," she heard him murmur.

Me too, bud, She thought. Me too.

The travel to the top floor took five minutes with the constant pit stop per floor. The corners of the elevator started to close in on her and making her chest squeeze. Damn, she thought, I should have taken the stairs. But considering the floors to tackle, the elevator was the easiest solution when you were already a few minutes late for a meeting.

"Miss Lacson, we are five minutes late already," Drew said as they headed to the conference room.

"So?" She fixed her shoulder length hair while gesturing for Drew to open the door for her.

"Just saying," he said before entering the room with her as she shrugged on her coat.

All eyes bore on her as she fixed herself. "Sorry, gentlemen, for being late. There was just a little problem in the lab." She said as she made her way to the available chair.

"Then you should have notified someone."

She turned to her left and saw a handsome stranger. The word handsome did him no justice. His pale, stormy eyes bore to her as if trying to get a reaction out of her. And of course he did, the way he looked at her made her squirm and hide underneath the table.

"I'm sorry," she gathered her being. "Who are you?"

She heard murmurs around her. What is going on? She glanced at the person on her right and saw that it was the Finance head.

"Kev, what is going on?" She whispered while glancing at the man sitting at the chair where the CEO should be.

"That's the new CEO."

"Ah... What?"

"Are you going to gossip or let the presentation continue?" His loud voice made them stop talking and he turned to her. "And I want to talk to you after this."

Something in his voice made her shut up and nod without a question. The rest of the department head stared at her transfixed. She always had the last say in everything.

"S-sir sho-should I continue?" The Production chief asked.

The stranger nodded and she focused on the graph on the board. After few boring slides, she saw something that captured her attention.

"As you can see in the graph, the sales are increasing comparing to the graph last month."

What the fuck? She stared at the graph. There was no increase. The stranger stared blankly at the graph as the Production head stepped aside.

"Wait," she spoke up. She saw the Production head glance in his friend’s direction for help. " You said there was an increase this month, am I right?"

Mr. Reymond nodded, waiting for her attack. "Well, then look at your graph again," she gestured to the presentation. "As the head of your department, are you satisfied with this kind of graph?"