Leticia Legarda’s project
Beginning:
Leticia Legarda woke up to the sound of an alarm, which was now becoming a routine since she started working for one of the most prestigious tech company in Singapore. She always dreamed of becoming a CEO since she was young. Over the years, she had beat many obstacles to become one of the leading CEOs in Singapore. She even remembered being called by the president to discuss some of the critical issues affecting the tech industry in the region. She stared at the beautiful finishing of her apartment ceiling that had one of the best drawings she had asked to be designed. As she stared at the ceiling, her thoughts drifted away to her early life. She thought of her tough life experiences. Leticia came from a remote village of Barangay Lajala, which is on Uson Island. Her thoughts veered to the times her family struggled with extreme poverty and even a time when their homes were swept away following a strong typhoon. As these thoughts reeled her mind, she felt an urge to cry as these were harrowing experiences to her. She remembered how a hurricane had even killed her parents in the region and how these had affected her very much during her early years. They had then moved to live with their uncle, who was working for an international transportation company. However, life was not easy for her and her sister given that they constantly missed school and were often forced to go and work in the farms to earn some money. They were smuggled to Singapore to work as a house maid. However, her employers were so kind to her that they took her to study in one of the public schools. Her thoughts were suddenly stopped when she had a knock on her door. Her sister whom she was living with, was knocking on the door and was reminding that she was getting late. Leticia woke up suddenly as she remembered that she had an important presentation that she had to make to one of the investors. She also had to take her sister to school, who was schooling a few kilometers from where she worked. She had to prepare fast since it was getting late and her boss was always strict on timings.
Middle:
Over the years, Leticia had gained widespread experience in the field of technology. Her services were needed almost everywhere around the world given that the world is turning to be a technology-driven society. She could travel almost thrice a week and all her expenses were always paid by the company. Along the way, she had interacted with various people that were crucial in building her career and others giving her the necessary support. Leticia knew that she was an asset to the company. She was even one of the board members of the company and this gave her some sense of pride within herself. Her boss had even proposed to her that she become an assistant to him given her nature of hard work. Her life was basically where she had always dreamt of all along the years. She had gained so much attention in the company that even when she walked along the corridors of the company, everyone would stop to greet her. One day, Leticia was called by her boss to have a meeting with some guy that had a program aimed at revolutionizing the company operations. Although it seemed like a normal meeting, Leticia never felt that this was going to down on history as one of the most defining moments of her life. Leticia had informed the secretary that she needed to schedule a meeting with the guy on the next day. She had even suggested to her that she schedules the meeting at the Cups and Canvas Café in downtown. During the next day, Leticia dressed in a more casual way went to the Cups and Canvas Café and was there just before the scheduled meeting time. She called on the waiter to bring her a cup of cappuccino, which was her favorite coffee. As she sat there, she kept wondering what kind of person she was expected to meet given that her boss had personally requested her to hold this meeting. Time passed by and it was already 30 minutes late to the meeting. She was becoming impatient and kept tapping her feet on the floor. Suddenly she had a voice from behind. “Good Afternoon Madam”, a deep male voice sounded from behind. She turned and look towards where the voice was coming from and there stood a guy who was in her early-30s. He did not seem to that much stylish and expensive as he wore simple and inexpensive clothes. She stood and responded to him: “Good afternoon Sir, please have a seat.”
“What is your name sir?”
“Ooh, its Adrian Lee Madam”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Adrian”
“Sure, you can call me that madam… eeh…. Leticia Lergada”
“Correct, what are you taking?’
“I can take what you are taking Madam,” Adrian replied.
Leticia called the waiter to bring what she had and the two went ahead to discuss what brought the to the meeting. As Adrian went ahead to explain what about the project details of his report, Leticia was so impressed that she wished that the program was hers. However, she instead expressed concern about the project and instead told the guy that the program was not good. As Adrian excused himself to take a phone call, Leticia decided to copy the program files from Adrian’s computer. This was so much against work ethics and it broke all the values that Leticia believed in. Nonetheless, a sense of jealousy overcame her and she decided to steal the program from the guy. As she left the café, one thought only came to mind and that is to resign in the company she was working for and go and start her own company as she always dreamt. She was going to use this project she just stole and build on it given that it had a huge potential for attracting investors. When she got back to the company, she told her secretary to draft a letter of resignation effective immediately. This shocked not only the secretary but also the entire organization. She was at the bring of being the top person in the company, which was an envy for many in the region. However, this did not deter her as she was now focused on only one thing and that was building her own company and become so rich as she had wanted for a long time.
End:
As the years passed, Leticia build on the stolen project that managed to attract various investors across the country. She had put behind the thought that her company was solemnly build on lies and that she had done something bad by stealing Adrian’s project. She was now the CEO of her own company, which had grown exponentially over the past five years. In fact, she was now referred to by many investors and even acted as a consultant to most firms that were coming up in Singapore. Her client base had grown far and wide and she was now making as much money as she had wanted in her life. One day, Leticia had to make a presentation to two investors who were interested in the project that was being conducted by the company. They had called Leticia’s office and had requested a meeting with the company CEO. As was the custom, Leticia prepared for presentations to his potential investors. During that day, she wore a smooth pink dress that gave her a “killer” look to any man that was around her. Although she was successful, she was still not married. She confidently sashayed inside the conference room with a tempting smile. She was so beautiful and confident, which made any man become interested in her. However, when she entered the room, she was stricken by surprise when she saw the man seated on the left. He was a well-dressed and handsome guy. This was the guy she had stolen the program from. When she realized that this was Adrian, her smile slowly faded away and even lost words to say. Having realized that, Adrian introduced himself smiling at the reaction from Leticia. This was a really bad day for her in office. She did not even wait for any formal introductions and instead run out of the room. Adrian explained to his partner (who was a police officer) what had happened about 5 years ago. Leticia ended losing the project she had build on over the years and eventually lost her company. It was a great lesson to her and she ended up regretting everything.