“Dante, please! Don’t even come near me! You stink!” shouted Sheila as she covered her nose with her expensive handkerchief. They were in the middle of the field. Dante, wearing his apron full of scales and stained with fish blood, was holding a small cake.
“Sheila, it’s our birthday today,” Dante said sadly. “I saved up for it. Wait a minute, let’s eat.”
“Cain?! “What do you think of that?” asked Sheila. “Danny, I’m tired. I’m tired of having a boyfriend who smells like a market! My friends, the smell of their boyfriends, work in the office. You? “Is it just a fish farmer?”
“Sheila, this is very nice. Someday, I will grow as well.”
“Someday? You’re just dreaming!” Sheila grabbed the cake and tossed it in the bathtub of tilapia. “We’re done. I don’t want to. I’m going to find a man who can keep me alive without smelling like a!”
Sheila turned away from Dante. The young man was left staring at fellow shopkeepers, in tears, as he picked up the wasted cake among the fish.
Five years have passed. Sheila’s life didn’t go well. Her boyfriend who was replaced as an “office worker” cheated on her and left her in debt. She is currently looking for a job as a secretary.
He was interviewed by Blue Ocean Global Exports, Asia’s largest seafood company. When he entered the building, he was amazed—the floor was marble, the air conditioning was very cold, and the whole environment smelled of lavender.
“Ma’am Sheila?” the receptionist called. “The CEO is in the conference room. You will be the next one for the final interview.”
Sheila adjusted her blouse. “I’ve got to get it. Its owner’s property is safe.”
He opened the door to the conference room. At the end of the long table, a man turned his back, looking out the window overlooking Manila Bay. He was wearing an Armani suit.
“Good morning, Sir. I am Sheila, applying for—”
The CEO nodded slowly. Sheila’s eyes widened. The folder he was holding was dropped. He turned pale, as if his face had run out of blood. The man in front of him—handsome, clean, fragrant, smooth-skinned—was none other than Dante.
“D-Dante?” bulong nor Sheila.
Dante smiled, but it wasn’t a smile of love but a businessman’s smile. “Mrs. Sheila, have a seat,” he said formally.
“Dante! “You’re right!” said Sheila’s tone suddenly. “Seriously! It’s Your Treasure! I’m so proud of you! I know you can do it!”
“Really?” asked Dante, raising an eyebrow. “The last thing I remember, you threw my cake in the fish bath and said I had no future.”
“Dude, we’re still young! “I’m just so excited!” she exclaimed as she grabbed Dante’s hand. “We can go back to the past. I am single now. If you’re the boss, you might be able to… Shall we do it again?”
Dante slowly removed his hand. He stood up and walked over to Sheila. She nodded to Sheila, then herself. “Am I going to be fine, Sheila?”
“Yes! It’s super scented! “That smells so good!” replied Sheila, shaking her head.
Dante laughed softly. “Do you know why I’m so right now?” He looked Sheila in the eye. “Because of the pain you have caused me at the time, that’s what motivated me. That ‘smell of perfume’ you hate—’that’s the smell of money that made me rich. I have grown the business. I have exported to Japan, Europe, and the US.”
Dante returned to his seat. “I accepted you for the interview to show you that you were wrong. But I won’t accept you for the job, and especially not for my life.”
“Why, Dante?” asked Sheila crying.
“Because this company is for people who know how to appreciate even small fish. Not for people who just come back when they’re in the middle of a whale.” Dante hit the intercom. “Security, please escort the applicant out.”
As Sheila was being escorted out, she was screaming in the elevator downstairs. It was then that she realized that the real “stinker” wasn’t Dante’s job at the time, but her snobbish attitude—which had caused her to lose the biggest jackpot of her life.