Challengers

25 : Sacrilegious Art

For the first time, ako ang unang nagising sa aming apat, although, technically, hindi lang talaga ako nakatulog nang maayos.

For some strange reason, I kept thinking about what happened yesterday.

Zion said his concept of love for his story was the one that blooms quietly. Hindi ko alam kung naiinggit ba ako o namamangha sa kanya. Or maybe both.

Since my story was loosely based on this program, the trope I used was forced proximity. My leads started off on a wrong foot and kind of disliked one another, but they were forced to cooperate with each other since they would often end up in the same team. It was kind of cliché but I wasn't really good at writing romantic novels anyway, so the setup was okay for me.

Minsan din iniisip ko kung paano nakakapagsulat ang romance writers ng scenes nang hindi nagc-cringe dahil hindi ko siya ma-imagine in real life.

Saglit naman akong na-distract nang gumalaw si Arin. Fortunately, hindi naman siya nagising.

Tuluyan na akong bumangon at dahan-dahang naglakad papunta sa porch para hindi ko sila magising. I settled on the chair and quietly watched the sun as it peeked through the morning clouds. Being a participant in this program forced me to wake up early, but at least I got to see the beautiful sunrise every time.

"Ah, hi Elix."

Turning around, I saw Yena and Lessy stepping onto their cabin's porch. Ngumiti ako sa kanila at kumaway. "Good morning."

I couldn't help but get a bit envious as they looked good in the morning. Sabagay, pareho naman pala silang morning person. Samantalang ako, mukhang pugad pa ng ibon ang buhok ko at halos hindi ko pa mamulat nang maayos ang mga mata ko.

"Kukuha kami ng kape, sama ka?" tanong ni Yena at agad naman akong tumango.

Sumabay ako sa kanila sa paglalakad at naabutan naming lumalabas na rin sa kani-kanilang cabins ang ibang writers. Marami pala talaga sa kanila ang morning person, o baka tulad ko ring hindi pa masyadong nakakatulog.

Nang makarating kami sa camp store ay nagtimpla kami ng tig-iisang baso ng kape at agad ding naglakad pabalik sa cabins namin pero saglit kaming napatigil nang makita naming naglalakad ang ilang staff papunta sa main pavilion.

"Ano kaya ang challenge ngayon?" tanong ni Lessy.

"Iniisip ko pa lang, napapagod na ako," komento naman ni Yena.

Dahil sa nangyari sa kanya kahapon ay for sure ayaw niyang taxing ang challenge ngayong araw. I felt the same, too. Doing physically demanding tasks was too much for a weakling like me.

Pagbalik namin sa cabin ay nasa labas na sina Roi at Arin. They were preparing for their morning run.

Yena could only shake her head as she watched the two do some warm-ups. "I could never."

"Grabe si Roi, kahit sina Brian at Lan, na-encourage niyang mag-exercise tuwing umaga," remarked Lessy.

Pansin ko nga na dumarami ang nag-e-exercise at tumatakbo sa umaga noong inaraw-araw nilang dalawa ang paggawa no'n. Arin would always ask me to join her in her morning run, but I would always refuse because my body couldn't handle that kind of exhaustion. Mas gusto ko pang dagdagan ang oras ng tulog ko kaysa magpapawis.

"Akala ko nawawala ka," greeted Arin while chuckling. "Hindi ako sanay na mas una kang nagising sa akin."

"Hindi lang ako nakatulog nang maayos."

"Na naman?"

I shrugged nonchalantly and placed my coffee on the table at the porch. "Matutulog na lang ako nang maaga mamaya."