First Love Never Dies- A Samtin Story

Chapter 1

Toni Gonzaga woke up in an alarming clock beside her. She moaned. The bright light from her lamp hurt her flickering eyes. She leaned on the bed with her elbows, and thrust her body forward to sit. Her shoulders dropped and her eyes was still having a hard time to open. She pulled her messy hair into a quick bun and headed to get a towel from her closet. She walked like a drunk person to the bathroom just beside her bedroom. Half-awake, she hit her head on the door. She turned the door knob and found out that it was locked.

"Oi! Catherine! Bilisan mo nga diyan! I'm late for work!" She yelled.

Catherine was preoccupied with singing that Toni knew she didn't hear her. She decided to wait on the floor to get some more minutes of sleep.

Before she could even start dreaming, Catherine, her sister, shook her, bringing her soul back to her groggy body. She raised to her feet and entered the bathroom.

She placed the towel beside the sink and took off her clothes before she walked in the shower. The warm water awakened her.

"Ate! I have to go. See you tomorrow!" Catherine called out to her before heading off to work.

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She grabbed some toasted bread from the plate at the centre of their dining table and cookies from the cupboard before hopping into the car. She never had time to eat proper breakfast. She slightly jerked off from her seat as the phone in her pocket vibrated. It was a text message from Paul.

"Have a nice day, Tin! I'll see you tonight. I love you."

"I love you too," she replied; the corner of her lips formed a wide grin.

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The car suddenly screeched into a stop as the brake lights of the car ahead of them flickered. Toni looked further ahead and saw a gleaming chain of cars lined up as the traffic came to a complete stop. Traffic jam. She gulped.

"Kung kelan late, saka naman sobrang traffic. Hayyy."

She had no choice but to switch her attention into finding something interesting to look at. She lifted her eyes to the soaring skyscrapers. They dwarfed the low-rises as they vied for space on the skyline. The place was crowded with people, businesses, posh malls and houses. The smoke from a million of cars filled the atmosphere. It painted the sky grey. The streets were jam packed with pedestrians. The cars were aggressively blowing their horns as they wanted to escape from the terrible traffic. The impatient people inside our neighbouring vehicles started to complain. Their eyebrows moved closer and closer together. The noise of the vibrant and busy city made her ears explode. Her nose began to crease up as the stuffy air enveloped the van. She struggled for air as the blistering heat of the sun was getting unbearable. It was hot and humid. Her clothes were drenched in extreme perspiration. She opened the window and gaped for air. She shifted around and saw a group of cars joined the queue.

"Toni! Toni Gonzaga!" the woman in her late twenties shouted from the vehicle beside them.

Toni waved her hands and greeted her with a smile. She still wasn't used to people calling her name in every corners of the street. She was known as the ultimate multimedia star of the country, but she remained grounded and humble.

She reached for the bag resting beside her, and pulled out her script. That was the only thing she could think of that's worth doing while the traffic was still in a complete stop. Her phone vibrated once again. But that time, it wasn't Paul. It was her director.

"Where are you na? The show's starting in 30 minutes."

She had never been late to any of her shows before. The day before was too tiring for her. Well, not really, since she only had a meeting with the producers of the new teleserye that she would be doing. with Sam Milby. She couldn't sleep last night because she was thinking about him. Yes, they were good friends now, but then again, she hadn't forgotten what he did to her. She released a soft sigh, before flicking to the next page of her script.

She didn't realise that the car was already moving. It barely crawled the last time she remember. They rocketed to the abs cbn building. Toni dashed to her dressing room, and continued on memorising her script. While her eyes concentrated on the script, someone poked her at her shoulders. She lifted her head up and was surprised to see Sam.

"What are you doing here?" Celestine asked in sudden wonder.

"Visiting you," he answered while bending to plant a kiss on her cheek.

Toni awkwardly turned her head away and demanded, "Bakit nga?"

"Dinadalaw nga kita," he smiled, placing his hand over the backrest of her chair, turning her chair to face him.

"Ewan ko sayo!" She said, twisting her chair back to its original position.

"Well, the truth is. I did a photoshoot at the studio next door so I decided to come and visit you here," he divulged, talking to her through the mirror.

"Ahh," she nodded.

"I need to go. I'll be seeing you tomorrow then, for our first shooting day," he said his goodbye, and left a gentle kiss on her cheek.

She was relieved as Sam walked out the room because her neck was turning red creeping up to her face.

"Kita ko yon! May pa-kiss kiss pa talagang nalalaman si Papa Sam. Kilig ka naman," her make-up artist teased her.

"Hindi noh! We're good friends. He's just too excited for our reunion project."

"Ayy, guilty! Oh sige na nga, oo na lang. Sige na, magsstart na yung show," she told her while giving final touches to her glowing face and her silky dark copper coloured hair.

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Right after the show, she went to meet with Paul.

Everyone was staring at her as she walked in the restaurant. They were even holding up their phones to take a picture of her. Some even walked towards her to have a picture taken with her. She found Paul surrounded by a group of ladies who wanted to take a picture of him. Being her boyfriend, Paul was also driven into the spotlight. She frowned and gently pushed her way through the crowd.

She pulled Paul by the arm and dragged him out of the restaurant.

"We should go somewhere else," she frowned.

"Yeah, definitely. Let's go."

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Luckily, they found an abandoned restaurant.

"Hayy, buti naman. Makakakain na din tayo," she said while Paul pulled the chair for her.

"Yeah. I'm starving," Paul agreed and sat opposite her.

"Toni, I'll be out of town for weeks," he informed her.

"Work?" she asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, I can't be with you on your birthday. But I promise, once I get back, we'll celebrate. Like hard out celebration, okay?" Paul said while placing his hand over hers, assuring her of his promise.

"Of course, Paul. I understand," Toni smiled and squeezed Paul's hand.

"So, should we order?"

"Yeah. Go ahead."

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While they were enjoying the dinner, Paul asked Toni about her new project.

"How did your meeting go yesterday?" He asked while trying to slice the beef on his plate.

"Ok lang. I'll be doing a new teleserye, and tomorrow's our first day of shooting," she replied before she swallowed another bite.

"Really? That's good then. HIndi mo ako masyado mamimiss because you'll be so busy," he chuckled.

"Syempre, mamimiss kita noh! Ikaw talaga!" She giggled.

"So what is it about? Who are you working with?"

"Well, it's a romantic comedy teleserye with Sam Milby."

Paul pretended to choke and grabbed the glass of water in front of him. He emptied it in one breath.