Hate The Game (COMPLETED)

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

The petition has been filed and the documents were compiled. Shanelle and I had been rehearsing the 'story' para sa collusion hearing mamaya kasama iyong prosecutor. I had read the documents over and over again. I had a huge migraine nang tinatapos kong isulat iyong petition. But Samuel agreed to this—he wanted this, Yago said so. I was just executing everything. This was the job.

"You and Yago should give scriptwriting a try," sabi ni Shanelle. "This is... way too believable. If I didn't know about this, I'd believe that all these were true."

I remained silent. Sigurado ako na malalaman ng mga magulang ni Samuel. Ano kaya ang mararamdaman nila kapag narinig nila lahat ng sasabihin ko tungkol sa anak nila? I haven't gotten the chance to meet them before... and I hated that this was the circumstance under which I'd meet them... pero mas ayaw ko na masaktan sila dahil sa mga sasabihin ko. Samuel told me before what a religious family he has. He told me stories about how his mother tried her best to raise them as good Catholics. How she's arguably the kindest person he knew.

God, how it would break her heart to hear the stories about the kind son she thought she has.

Kung pwede lang sanang sabihin sa kanila na hindi totoo lahat ng maririnig nila... but we couldn't risk that. The prosecutors are good. They'd know if something's up. At sa dami ng kaso sa Pilipinas, at the first sign of collusion, they'd recommend dismissal. Ayoko ng dagdagan pa ang kasalanan ko kung susuhulan namin sila. That way, I'd really be risking it all for this case.

"Not surprising, though," sabi niya.

"What?"

She shrugged. "Ganito naman talaga, 'di ba? Because if the government won't make it easy for the people, then the people would just have to make do," she said like it was a matter of fact. Tama naman siya. You can't force people to stay in an unhappy relationship. Kahit pa pahirapan sa annulment, kung gusto nila, gagawan ng paraan. Walang impossible sa taong desperado.

Katulad namin.

Sabay kaming bumaba ni Shanelle. Pagdating namin sa loob, nakita namin na nandoon na iyong Assistant Prosecutor. This was new. Usually ay naghihintay kami dahil madalas ay naiipit sila sa hearing.

"You're good?" I asked Shanelle.

She nodded. "Same, same," she simply replied. She knew she needed to stick to the same script dahil iyon lang naman ang paulit-ulit na itatanong sa kanya. Bumisita sa opisina niya nung isang araw iyong DSWD na assigned sa case niya. Iyon iyong gumawa ng collusion report na pinasa sa fiscal. Shanelle told me she just answered the questions as expected. Dahil nga ganito ang trabaho namin ni Yago, alam na namin kung ano ang usual na itatanong—una ay tungkol sa mga bata pero wala namang anak sina Shanelle, pangalawa ay iyong sa relasyon na nila—kung kailan nagsimula, kailan nagkaproblema. Shanelle said that she stuck with the script given... so there should be no problem.

Sana.

I wanted this to be over as soon as possible.

"Good morning," bati sa amin nung Assitant Prosec.

"Good morning," sagot namin ni Shanelle.

May inilabas siya na folder. Iyon iyong report sa naging interview kay Shanelle nung isang araw. "Walang anak?"

"No kids," sagot ni Shanelle.

"Both lawyers?"

"Yes," sagot ni Shanelle. "I practice mainly criminal law," sabi niya. "Samuel is currently working on insurance cases."

"Paano kayo nagkakilala? Same school?"

Umiling si Shanelle. "No, I graduated from Brent. He graduated from SCA," sabi ni Shanelle. "We met in a common friend's party. He was in a relationship then."