["PLAY THE KING" IS ACT TWO OF THE "PLAY" SERIES. PLEASE READ "PLAY THE QUEEN" FIRST.]
It's been four months since Priam Torres, the once unpopular president of the Elysian University Student Council, assumed office. Thanks to his chief-of-staff Cas...
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CASTIEL
MY HANDS could not stop shaking. My knees could stop not trembling. My body was in such shock that any attempt to calm it down was futile. I put my palms together and squeezed my eyes shut.
Priam, please be okay. Please, live!
The last time that I felt this way was about a year ago, when my sister Cassidy was rushed to the hospital after being hit by Alaric the Prick's car. Priam was with me back then, praying and hoping for good news from the doctors. Now, I was alone here, praying for his dear life as he clung to it.
Thanks to the presence of medics at the campus fair, Priam received immediate medical attention. May naka-standby na ambulansya sa labas kaya agad siyang pinasok doon at dinala sa ospital. We were fortunate to have coordinated with Clark Medical Center for this event. Kung hindi 'yon na-arrange ni Lavinia, baka hindi na umabot si Priam sa ospital.
Hindi ko alam kung sadyang mapagbiro ang tadhana o nataon na coincidence ito. Dinala si Priam sa kaparehong ospital kung saan naka-admit si Cassidy. Both were lying unconscious in their beds. Both uncertain whether they would open their eyes again or not.
I lowered my head and pulled at my hair in frustration. This is my fault... This is all my fault! I was so consumed with the present that I almost forgot the people that we had to trample over in the past. Now, the past had caught up with the present to bite me in the ass! Brandon did not stab Priam randomly. He stabbed him out of rage, out of vengeance for what happened to someone close to him. Back then, we found a way to disqualify his runningmate Candice Delavin in the last election, which made her severely depressed. She even tried to take her own life. That's why Brandon kept screaming "Para kay Candice" while swinging his knife at the president.
I took off my eyeglasses and buried my face in my palms. My goodness, what have I done? What have I brought upon ourselves? I would not mind if he attacked me instead of Priam. Yes, Priam benefited the most from Candice's disqualification, but I was the one who initiated it. Yes, Priam had knowledge of my plan, but I was the one who insisted on executing it.
For months, I had been hiding in the shadows, trying the manipulate events in our favor. I thought that was a good thing—being unseen, being invisible to the eyes of the public. But I did not expect that I was unconsciously putting a target on someone else's back.
If something were to happen to Priam... If he would not open his eyes again... I had no one to blame but myself. If I had been careful... If I had not been too reckless... Valeria would not have had to resign. I would not have been vice president. Fabienne would not have hated me. Priam would not have been attacked.
What is it? I felt the moisture on my palms. Inilayo ko ang aking mga kamay at napansin ang mga tumulong luha roon. I touched my cheeks and felt the tears streaming down from my eyes. I wiped them away with my bare hands, but the tears persisted.
