Emiliano Mancilla

Time passed by and surprisingly I could finish all the paperwork related to the visa, that by the way, motherfuckers they did know how to do business with their overpriced tariffs. Fortunately, I found the support I needed with the band, my parents and the refreshing fresh air of the new people I was meeting at the hostel, along with the ones I already knew. 

By that time I was hanging a lot with Nat, this vibrant English Yoga instructor who had always a captivating story to tell about her old days in either Brighton or Valencia, always reminding me that life wasn’t that complicated. 

I met Ronk, this Canadian with Jamaican roots who came to the city to find some inspiration for his photography, and ended up shooting a video clip and learning his way to see life. 

We got some great gigs with the band, and rehearsals were the greatest moments of my week, as we always either started or ended having a beer and talked about how our lives were going, where I could change my sorrow stories about Bonnie and Gabriella, into top notch comedy. Also, I remember the time after a gig, that I was kissing with this girl and she told me, “You are so sexy”, which was something one wants to hear when feeling down!

Work was still awfully demanding, but I found a way to handle it. I finally didn’t care about Gabriella and started vibing on my own, which allowed me to see Paloma, who I already liked, but didn’t have the opportunity to appreciate her beautiful smile, her warm eyes, her cute personality and oh my god, her astounding sense of humor. She was one of the most intelligent hard working people from the office, but as she was introvert, one had to make a discovering process in order to cherish her entirely. 

And as it always happens, when Gabriella wasn’t anymore in my thoughts, she approached me one pleasing sunny morning and told me. 

“I’m almost not seeing you”

And we ended up going on for dinner a week after, and it was so nice that we started being friends again.

I was enjoying every moment I was with my parents, my cat and my grandma, and I was finally feeling focused. 

One day, my passport arrived with my visa, which meant that things were now real and I needed to start telling everyone and plan the summer quickly, as I wanted to spend it in Chicago and California, so I could enjoy the culture that made the music I listened the most before going to London. 

Some people were excited, some thought I was crazy, at least it seemed interesting to them. Then the moment arrived where I had to do the most important thing, which was quitting the job. 

My first and second line manager had a positive reaction, but then I had to tell the CEO.

He was this posh smart guy who was always in touch with the employees and acted as a cold paternal figure, so cold that I felt him like a robot every time I witnessed his supportive traits. The greatest thing about him is that he could take a laugh, and he was cool enough to let me be me, or at least to not to care. I was famous in the office because of being eating an apple in the middle of a presentation to the directors (which was inadmissible in an international company, one of the director telling me “What the fuck are you doing?” which was pretty funny), the time I practiced parkour in the roof of the office, and when I activated an alarm in the headquarters in New York, by blocking the security cameras’ view with an ugly drawing of the office (just like in a action movie comedy), which I must say I found hilarious, and my coworkers found it too once they saw it was funny to the CEO. He was so good to us that we ended up trying to do our best as we would feel guilty if we disappointed him.

He was the less impressed of every person I had told, but was polite enough to wish me luck and tell me that people always found a way to make happen things they really want. His hermetic trait made me leave his office feeling like pawn with no importance, which maybe I was, from the moment he knew I wouldn’t be in the company anymore. 

One week before my last day at work I had the wonderful idea to remove my wisdom teeth, and along with my hamster face, I had the bad luck of having an infection a week after, which made the dentists feel worried, being that I was flying to Chicago the next day. They gave me some pills and wished me luck. I said goodbye to my friends from work and the hostel where I was staying. I couldn’t believe how nice they were to me, to be honest it’s a curse but a gift at the same time to think that you have no value and that you don’t mean a thing to others, as sometimes you get these kind of surprises. 

My parents took me for a last meal and then to the airport, I said goodbye to them, and got in the plane.