5: Cunning Plan

My dinner was cut short because of an SOS from Mr. Elizalde, one of my prominent PR clients.

Instead of driving my sedan, I opted to use my black SUV. I feel safe when I'm driving that at night.

Upon arrival at the firm, I proceeded to my conference room. There, I saw my petite and simple-looking team member, Cindy, comforting a rotund and imposing yet distressed looking Mr. Elizalde. He's also accompanied by one of his bodyguards.

"How can I help you, Ric? You seem very disturbed," I asked Mr. Elizalde as I sat on the table, looking at him as he sits across me.
"What went wrong?! I have worked so hard for this, I'm sure of grabbing a seat in the next elections. People start to love me and give me that much-needed support. Then, this situation popped up of nowhere!!!" Mr. Elizalde exclaimed in anxiety.
"What situation are you referring to, Ric?" I inquired Mr. Elizalde for I assume that he might be referring to another issue rather than the alleged sex scandal of his daughter.

Then he gestured to his bodyguard to hand over his cellphone showing a video file. I then watched the clip of a young couple, which confirmed what Tristan mentioned during dinner.

"What's this video that you've just shown to me?" I innocently asked.
"That's a footage of my daughter fucking her boyfriend!" Mr. Elizalde cried out. "I'm distraught that this single act of my daughter would lead to the downfall of my reputation that I have been building up for years!!!"

Mr. Elizalde is right. We actually worked hard in trying to build up his public image. As one of my business partners, he wanted to enter public office to expand his corporate interests, particularly in real estate. So, what we did is established a sustainable foundation to showcase his philanthropic work, engaged him in key public and social events, linked him with several politicians to lobby for several projects and laws that will lean towards the interests of his businesses (in exchange for personal favors and profit-shares), and subtle campaigns in the form of frequent media exposure and articles that would link him to any issue in a positive light.

This scandalous video of his daughter might overturn all our efforts into building up his public persona. This might reflect that he's a bad father, resulting to poor feedback from various sectors. Another is that people would look at him as someone who can't even manage his dirty laundry. What's worse is that this change of perception against him would also affect his business interests.

I must do something to control the damage this video has done to my client.

"Cindy, do we have any ballpark figure to the extent this video has reached online?" I asked my team member.
"I did, sir. Actually, while we are waiting for you, Mr. Elizalde has shown me this clip and I had time to check on the scope this clip has reached," Cindy elucidated. "Unfortunately, this went viral, reaching various social media platforms and adult websites. If I would to estimate its reach, it would be around 1.2 to 1.8 million users, and this is just within 24 hours. This would even grow exponentially because it became a trending topic, with hashtags #rina #rinaxxx #montrosescandal #juicyrina among others. These were the top 4 hashtags at Twitter during the past 24 hours."
"This has spread too far and too fast. We also cannot refute that the lady in the video is not Rina. Her face is clearly seen here, in addition to her name frequently mentioned by her partner while moaning," I remarked while seriously thinking of a way to control the damage made to Mr. Elizalde's reputation.
"Please, Ken! Do something about this!" Mr. Elizalde shouted as his worried stance changed to anger and frustration.
Then I calmly expounded my plan, "Since it's all out in the open, what we can do now is appeal to the people. We shall draft a statement where Rina will admit that her actions were careless and irresponsible. However, we must point out that she was just being human, prone to making mistakes due to being young and curious with what life has to offer her. She can state that she did that out of her passionate love for her boyfriend. She will apologize sincerely and appeal to the masses to still treat her with respect and give her a second chance to life. That would be the idea of the statement, which we will post in all of her social media accounts."
Cindy also added, "Sir, if I may suggest that we also do our Viral Squad Strategy for this statement. This was proven to be effective in our other clients' affairs. So aside from posting her statement to her social media accounts, we will be adding new hashtags such as #respectRina #loveRina #Rinacceptance, etc. These posts and hashtags will be shared by a multitude of accounts that we will generate through our advanced software to ensure that it reaches a larger group of people, eventually toppling the viral negative posts. These accounts may be used in the future to promote your various publicity campaigns and activities, making it like an instant fan base that we can control and sway public opinion for your benefit."
"Aren't those troll accounts? That might do me more harm than good," Mr. Elizalde said as he was doubtful with the plan.
"Don't worry, Ric. Our computer-generated accounts are secure and they won't be identified as trolls. We ensured that particular protocols are in place to make them look legitimate. This is also used by my other clients who are now in public office. If you're not comfortable with that idea, we can also ask my clients, who are also social media influencers, to spread these hashtags to their respective spheres of influence," I guaranteed my worrying client. "In a nutshell, we will bombard the social media platforms with posts showing support and expressing sentiments towards Rina. Eventually, her issue will just fizzle out."
"Shall we also reach out to other media platforms such as print and TV?" Cindy asked.
"No! Putting the issue on those channels will just add fuel to the fire," I refuted. "It's best that we exert our efforts in social media, and the issue will eventually ebb."
"But what about the source of the video? How can we stop its circulation?" Mr. Elizalde asked as he is starting to be calm during this tense moment.
"I can ask the help of our investigator friends to probe on the origin of this leakage. In the meantime, what I can suggest is that we blame the leakage to her boyfriend," I explained further.
"That way, the ire of the public would shift from your daughter to her lover. This would give time for our investigators to focus on tracing the leak. If this leakage was proven to be not attributed to the boyfriend, then he will be absolved and public opinion towards him will shift for the better. I don't think he will mind this arrangement, since he is also part of the scandal."
"Now things are getting clear now! Thank you for finding ways to get me out of this mess!" Mr. Elizalde joyfully remarked as he hugged me real tight for coming up with this cunning plan.
"Don't worry about anything, Ric. I will do what I can to ensure that you get your seat during elections." I confidently assured him. "I will be discussing this with the team tomorrow on how we shall operationalize this plan. This issue will be gone without you noticing it."

This statement of assurance gave Mr. Elizalde some peace of mind and he left after our meeting. While Cindy proceeded to the toilet, I heard again this muttering sound. This time, it's getting clearer.

"Whiiiissh...grhansshhht..."

Afterwards, I asked Cindy to drop by my office to discuss about other matters.

"Thank you for being my most reliable team member in this firm, Cindy. You have done wonders in helping me get our clients out of sticky situations," I praised my trusty staff.
"It's always a pleasure to be working under your leadership, Sir," Cindy confidently replied. "I'm always here to be at your service."
"That reminds me, do you have any updates regarding the one we're looking for?" I asked while looking seriously at her.
"No updates yet, Sir. In all honesty, it's really difficult to look for someone who has no public records available. It's like we're hunting for some ghost," Cindy feedbacked. 
"I know that person is still around. I guess we just have to dig deeper. Actually, I have another person that I want you to look for," I requested while grabbing a piece of paper in my desk, which I gave to her.

The paper contains a scanned photo of Bok in our yearbook, which I always looked at every night.

"Sir, may I know his name?" Cindy inquired.
"His name is Richard Jimenez Ibarra, a track-and-field athlete of Montrose School. I haven't seen or heard from him since we both graduated in high school in 1997. Maybe he's easier to find compared to the other. Let me know his whereabouts and what happened to him after he graduated. I want to see him," I disclosed.
"I will provide you with updates regarding this. I'm sure they are very important to you, for you go to great lengths just to find them. See you tomorrow, Sir," Cindy emphatically replied and proceeded to her desk.

After Cindy left my workspace, my phone rang. I thought it was Mr. Elizalde with his follow-up questions, but it turns out to be my wife.

"How's your meeting with Ric, Love?" Lolit asked with a worrying tone.
"Everything's in order, Dove. We made a plan on how to minimize the damage this scandal has done with his hopes of getting elected. Tomorrow, I will meet with the team to discuss our plan in detail," I told her with assurance.
"Did you just used the SUV to get there? I told you before not to use that for there are news articles citing that model have mechanical and acceleration defects!" Lolit fearfully said.
"Don't worry about that, Dove. I've been using the vehicle for more than a year, and it's been running smoothly. I'll be home shortly," I positively responded. "We still have a date to plan. Speaking of which, I'm looking at my calendar, and I can cancel my dinner meeting next Friday for our date. How's that sound?"
"Sounds great, Love. I better prepare for that romantic date," my better half happily replied.
"Okay. Will have to arrange on where to go on our date. It will be a surprise. Hehe," I jokingly teased her. "I'm gonna drive soon. I love you!"
Upon hearing that, Lolit's tone changed again from being happy and excited to being tensed and troubled. "I rarely hear you say those words to me. You usually show your love in actions rather than words. Be home safely, Kenneth. I love you too!"

After our phone conversation, I heard again this whisper. Now, the words are getting clearer, but I still can't understand it...

"Whiiiissh...grhansshhtd..."

That eerie whisper made me decide to hurry back to my vehicle and drive home.

While driving, I felt this excitement when I asked Cindy to look for Bok. I'm very hopeful that I will meet him soon and talk to him after so many years. This made me reminisce again...

---

It was the School Fair, and Bok was grabbing my hand while leading me somewhere.

"Where are we going, Bok?" I curiously asked as we are going to the tallest building in the campus.
"Just wait and see, hehe," Bok playfully replied with that smile stuck on his face.

As we are climbing up the stairs and headed towards to fire exit access area, I wondered why we are going to that spot.

"I'm getting tired of climbing up the stairs, Bok. Where are we heading?" I grumbled.
"You, tired? I thought tired wasn't part of your vocabulary. Where we're going is a surprise," he teasingly answered.
"Because if you want someplace private, we could have just headed to the corner down the Music Hall," I suggestively blurted.

When I said that, he paused and stopped walking. Then he gave me this long stare and mouth opened.

"What are you talking about?" he said while looking puzzled.
"Uhmm...nothing. Hehe. Let's just walk," I awkwardly reacted as we continued walking.

Then we reached the roof deck of the hall. It has this magnificent view of the city skyline, especially during that time at night when lights of each building were switched on, mimicking stars in the sky. It's my first time to get to the roof deck and didn't expect this view.

As we headed towards the viewing section of the deck, there's this blue cooler, which Bok opened. Inside were cans of Cali Shandy covered with ice. Bok opened a can and offered me one while he got one for himself.

"Is this the surprise you are referring to?" I sarcastically asked.
"Nope, this is just part of it. You like your shandy?" Bok quickly replied while smiling at me sweetly.
"Why have shandy if we can have beer?" I wittingly remarked.
"Because shandy is the closest thing to beers. Don't want you getting drunk on me and throwing up in the roof deck," he smilingly reciprocated.

After that cheerful exchange, fireworks started to appear. I remembered suddenly that our School Fair usually ends with a spectacular show of fireworks. What's better is that we have an eye-level view of the pyrotechnics amidst the backdrop of the city skyline.

"That's the surprise I'm telling you. I wanted to share this spectacular view with someone special like you," Bok happily explained as he gently gave me a shoulder hug. "I just hope we are like those fireworks."
"Loud and short-lived?" I tauntingly asked. 
"No, silly. Bursting with emotions and full of color," he laughingly shot back.
"I thought you will also say, that we are like fireworks 'cos we usually end with a bang," I readily teased him, to which Bok just smiled while nodding his head in embarrassment.

And then we started leaning on each other as we both watch the grand display of sparks and lights in our private space on the roof deck, while having a refreshing can of ice-cold shandy. How I miss that moment with Bok. I hope I can relive those sweet times together.

---

Then, a soft voice talked to me and said...

"Wish granted."

At that moment, I'm back at my old self again, and realized I was driving. While trying to regain my senses, I suddenly see this pedestrian right in front of my car and I panicked as I try to avoid hitting that person.

The next thing is that everything went black. What has happened? Everything seemed to stop.

And then I heard again this clear and sexy voice...

"Wish Granted!"