Wait for the two last extras!
[September 12, 2008]“Two special young coconut ice for my cutest loyal customer.” Dahayu brought two of the cafe's signature drinks for Grace and Evan who returned there at the weekend. They immediately took one for each of them. "To be honest, I'm curious. Are you two an item?”Hearing that, each of them spontaneously reacted in surprise. Grace spit out the drink that was already in her mouth while Evan coughed."Oopsies. Why are you reacting that way?” Dahayu patted them both on the back. "How could you be startled by my question?" She chuckled amused."Of course. What makes you think so, though? We are best friends.” Grace who wasn't having a problem with her throat answered.Evan turned to Grace once his throat was better. “Well, I know why she thinks so of us. We’re very close," he said, thinking of the most likely reason. “Not to mention, we come here every week to watch the sunset. We’re like a couple."Dahayu nodded with her index finger pointing at Evan. “There he knows,” she
Dealing with moving and a few other things seemed to take a lot of time. It was only in February that the newlyweds had the opportunity to go on their honeymoon. But who would have thought that an unexpected pandemic would strike the entire earth in early 2020? Luckily, Evan and Grace were able to return to Indonesia just before the government closed the border.Rumors about the economic downturn of the tourism sector were already here and there. As hotel workers, Evan and Grace were very involved in addressing this issue. Especially after the hotel owner said that there should be layoffs in every branch of the hotel to maintain business continuity.Over the next few months, they had to work even harder. As a result, this newly married couple experienced challenges in getting a child. A pregnancy program was the best solution. However, on the other hand, they also had to consider the unfavorable situation, especially the hospitals which were crowded with people infected by the deadly v
[2007, April] “Hey, hey. Are you there?” This question continued to sound vague in Grace's ears. But her eyes were too heavy to open, her head too dizzy to be fully awake. “Please, save my Mom,” she said softly. It was raining heavily that afternoon. The sky looked so gloomy. The cars that were barely moving and filling the one-way street, were then completely motionless due to a traffic collision involving three motorcycle riders. While Grace and her mom helplessly lay down on the street, the guy who caused this fateful incident escaped. Having been in the same shoes once, Evan could care less about his expensive clothes being wet and dirty. He just wanted to help the casualties. As he was helped by a total stranger in the past and could get a second chance at life, he also wanted to pass that kindness on to others. “Help! Call an ambulance!” Evan shouted at everyone around him. He took off his backpack and put it under the girl's head as a pillow. “Please wait here.” Afterward,
No one could replace Evan in Grace's heart. Even though she didn't know how he had been, she still hoped that he would be okay. In fact, she continued to pray that their communication breakdown was not because something bad had happened and taken his life. Nevertheless, a man came into Grace’s life almost a year ago, giving her warmth and filling her emptiness. His name was Anthony, several years older than Grace, and was the owner of a grocery store in her neighborhood. He and his family only moved here a year and a half ago. The two met for the first time when Grace bought some groceries at his store. But there was no TV series scene where one could fall in love at a glance. Their closeness only started when they were appointed to organize the Independence Day celebration. Grace discovered that Anthony was a hard worker, the breadwinner of his family. Her father was sick and her mother was gone, and he had two younger sisters who were still pursuing studies and needed a lot of mon
In the mid-year holiday season, hotels in Bali were flooded with tourists, as usual. Grace's HR assistant position that she got after years of working there demanded that she always be busy. Even though she wasn't directly involved in handling the guests, she still had a lot more work to do than usual. Especially along with the hotel growth where new and qualified employees were needed. Grace's dexterity since her first year of work immediately caught the HRD manager's attention. Before getting the position as his assistant, she was always asked to join Mario in meetings with the General Manager. According to the schedule, a brief meeting to replace the GM position with the new person was to be held this morning at ten. The aim was to introduce managers, as well as their assistants. So Grace came to fetch Mario at his office. "You look different, seemingly more beautiful today," said Mario when he saw his assistant. Wearing a light blue blouse and a black knee-length skirt was noth
Not being given a chance to try doesn't mean losing. Grace didn't want to give up so easily. She might not be able to take the test to become an executive secretary to GM, but she had other ways.Grace managed to persuade many employees from various divisions to apply for the secretary position. This way Evan would feel overwhelmed doing it all by himself. Thus, he would need help from the HRD in order to sort out the candidates.Initially, Nita was the one asked to handle this task. Nonetheless, after convincing Mario that she could do better, Grace successfully replace her. Knowing all along what Grace was planning, Nita did not refuse at all.The registration time window was limited to one day. All the data of the applicants had been collected. According to the requirements proposed by Evan, Grace sorted the applicants. Quite a number of them had to be eliminated in the administrative selection stage.There were ten candidates out of eighty-seven applicants left. Grace was now walki
Of the ten candidates tested, only two met Evan's standards. One was a man and the other was a woman. Both of them excelled in administrative matters—one of the most important skills as a secretary, but they must be able to follow Evan’s work rhythm. As seen from the psychological test result, they both belonged to the type of workers who were predominantly melancholic, in other words, too careful.This situation was in contrast to Evan, the choleric type who was very agile; a good fit for a leader. He always did things quickly. He was never a slowpoke type.Grace wanted to take advantage of this to get the secretary position. She didn't want to stop fighting for it. Her brilliant brain gave her an idea. She decided to talk about the candidates' weaknesses with Evan.“Mr. Williams, are you sure the two selected people have the qualities that meet your standard? They are the exact opposite of you," said Grace, still standing in front of Evan's desk after handing out the final exam paper
Evan didn’t want to spend too much time on selecting the new executive secretary. Once the last two candidates passed the last test, he decided to choose the male one for possessing better credentials. This absolutely gave Grace no chance at all to thwart him.However, Grace was sure enough that she still had access to connect with her best friend, either as an executive secretary or not. After all, she was an assistant to the HRD manager who would always get involved in any meetings with the GM.That was another ordinary day. There was almost nothing different. Grace finished doing her job that day and was getting ready to leave for home.“Grace, are you really not going to hang out with us tonight? Oh, come on. It’s Friday night.” Nita was trying to persuade her colleague who always refused to have fun every single time.“It’s not that I don’t want to come, but I have a mom who works back at home. My mom’s small drink stall opens at four and closes at seven. At least, I can help her