Author's Note (Published under Cloak Pop Fiction)

Kabanata 9

UMALINGANGAW ang tunog ng textbook sa buong café matapos sampalin ni Adamas ang babae. Napatingin din ang ibang customers sa kanila nang tumilapon sa glass wall si Stacey. Subalit, kahit na kaunting pagsisisi ay walang makikita sa mukha ni Adamas. Nanatili ang galit niyang mga mata sa babae.

"Insolence! How dare you attempt on slapping my face? My Noa never wrote me to be slapped by anyone." Adamas tightened his grip on the textbook.

Hindi nakagalaw ang babae. Pulang-pula ang pisngi nitong sinampal niya. Nang pumasok na sa isipan nito ang ginawa niya, namuo ang mga luha sa gilid ng mga mata nito.

"That's right. Cry and be ashamed, human. You deserve it." He paced towards the woman and raised his hand up, ready to throw another slap. Hindi pa siya nakuntento sa ginawa kanina, lalo na't hindi niya pa nakikita ang pagbabago ng kulay ng emosyon nito. Gusto niya ulit itong saktan.

He wanted her to realize what she did wrong.

"A-Adamas . . ."

He gazed at Gonietta beside him. And the woman was  surrounded with the color of ash. She was nervous. Logan, on the other hand, remained on his seat with his head down. He was also nervous.

As he watched their emotions, displease filled his face.

"Don't stop me." He glared at Gonietta.

"Ayos lang naman kami. Hindi mo na kailangang--"

"Shut up, cowards!" Binagsak niya ang textbook sa lamesa kaya napaigtad sila. What she said made him more agitated. "What nonsense are you trying to spit in your mouth?!"

Hindi nakasagot si Gonietta.

"Why are you letting someone look at your dream so low? Do they not matter to you?!" Adamas screamed at her face. He then looked at Logan and kicked the table to get his attention. The moment he looked up, he immediately shouted at him. "What about you? Do they not matter to you?!"

Adamas tried to control his rage, but the small flame of hope from their emotion pushed him to lash out at them. How could they be so passionate but so little at the same time? How do they had such strong emotion but not towards something they yearned to have? Why were they keeping it?

"Why are you letting them dictate who you should become?!" he shouted at them once more, trying to wake up something inside them.

And he succeeded at letting Gonietta feel through his words.

But it was only the woman. 

"We're not letting them dictate us!" sigaw nito sa kaniya at sinamaan siya ng tingin. "If they did, noon pa sana kami tumigil!"

"Excuse me. Please, do not cause any ruckus inside the café."

Sabay silang napalingon ni Gonietta nang nilapitan sila ng isang staff.

Bago pa sila makasagot, tumayo si Logan at ito ang nagsalita. "I'm sorry. We'll leave now."

Kaagad silang hinila nito palabas ng cafe.

Habang naglalakad sila palabas, hindi niya inalis ang tingin kay Logan na nasa unahan niya. The color of his emotion never changed. It stayed like a stagnant dry color of gray. And it was quite different from Gonietta.

It was aggressive. Like it was trying to devour him.

What's going on with him?

"Hoy, Adamas! Kapag kami nireklamo ni Stacey, ikaw talaga ituturo ko!" Dinuro siya nito.

He looked at Gonietta. "Go on."

Katabi niya ang babae kaya bahagya niya itong tinulak papunta kay Logan. Sinadya niyang magtama ang braso ng dalawa upang mapalingon si Logan sa kaibigan.