Cutting
Umaga na at buong gabi kami ni Arden dito sa court at hindi na nakauwi. Kailangan pa ba ng paliwanag? Napagod ako kagabi kaka-turo kay Arden. I'd been trying to get him to understand the basics, but it felt like I was running on empty. Every time I thought he was getting it, he'd mess up again. It was like we were stuck in an endless loop of repetition, and I was just... done. I didn't even want to think about how long we'd been at it.
I couldn't believe it took us this long to get nowhere. All I wanted was to go home, take a shower, and sleep for a good twelve hours. But no, here I was—still at the court, still dealing with Arden, who seemed to have mastered the art of making everything more complicated than it needed to be.
Habang patuloy ang pagdating ni Clay at ng iba, lahat sila may kanya-kanyang lakad. Clay came in looking like he hadn't been up for more than an hour, his usual easygoing self, while Leisha appeared with a big smile, her energy as lively as always. Nag-uusap na sila tungkol sa mga plano nila para sa araw na 'to, pero halos hindi ko maidilat ang mga mata ko, at sigurado akong mukha akong zombie. I couldn't believe we were still here.
"Ang aga niyo naman, Pres," sabi ni Leisha, malakas ang boses niya habang papalapit.
"Umuwi ga kayo?" tanong ni Yael, ang tono niya parang nag-aalala, pero alam ko naman na may kinalaman siya sa nangyari kagabi. He was probably just being sarcastic, but I wasn't in the mood to play along.
I shot him a look before I raised my middle finger at him, letting out a frustrated sigh.Hindi ko na kailangan pang sabihin. Gusto ko lang mapag-isa. Parang lahat ng nangyari kagabi, bawat awkward moment with Arden, and every misstep he took, was catching up to me. And now Yael—he just had to make it worse, didn't he?
He just laughed, like he always did, and shook his head. "Matigas ba ang ulo? Hayaan mo na, mahal mo naman," he said, teasing me in that annoyingly playful way.
I rolled my eyes, trying to hold back the frustration that was bubbling up inside me. "Mahal, my ass," I muttered, kicking him playfully to get him to stop.
Yael grinned, unfazed by my little outburst.
"Pres, start tayo," Clay called out as he adjusted the camera for the scene.
Talaga? Hindi ba nila napansin ang mukha ko? Yung eye bags ko? How could they not see how tired I was? After the entire night I spent teaching Arden, I could barely keep my eyes open, and here they were, ready to continue with the shoot like nothing happened.
T-ngina! Pagpahingahin niyo naman ako.
I glanced around at the crew, all of them busy setting up, focused on their tasks. Were they really going to keep going like this? Did no one notice how out of it I looked? I barely had the energy to keep my posture upright. I was running on fumes, and honestly, the last thing I wanted was to be in front of the camera right now.
I rubbed my eyes and tried to clear my head, but it didn't help. I could already feel the exhaustion weighing down on me. But what could I do? We had a deadline to meet, and I wasn't about to let the others down just because I was drained.
I forced a smile and nodded, trying my best to hide how tired I really felt. "Yeah, let's go," I said, hoping no one would notice the way my voice cracked slightly.
Pagkatapos nito, sisigurahin kong nakakatulog ako ng maayos. Yung walang makakagambala sa'kin.
Parang hindi napansin ni Clay. Siya na ang nagdidirekta sa mga tauhan, sinisigurado na ang lahat ay nasa lugar. I took a deep breath and stepped into position, trying to shake off the exhaustion. This was just another scene, another moment I had to push through. But in the back of my mind, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to go home and sleep for the next 12 hours.
