Mister Villain

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Gusto ko siya" the lovely Marian Rivera whispered to him "Keep this one."

The amazing actress and his date hit it off quite spectacularly the very first time they spoke to each other.

Hindi niya alam kung dahil ba ngayon lang siya nagdala nang date sa particular gathering na to (the most important event of the year for all of them) na hindi kapatid niya kaya ganun na lang ang pagkatuwa nang batikang aktres o dahil sa sadyang mabait lang ang primetime queen sa kahit na sinong makasalamuha nito kaya agad napalagay ang loob kay Maine.

But it had happened.

So RJ Faulkerson just nodded and smiled at her comment, not saying anything because he could not think of any possible response – the second time that night that he was speechless.

In his head, emergency signals were firing up in panic at this turn of events, remembering that the first time he was at a lost for words sa gabing ito was when his car arrived in the office and finding, as he opened the door to the backseat, a goddess in blue waiting for him.

Alam niya na dapat e mas naging kontrolado niya ang emosyon niya nun.

But he was too astonished.

He would hazard a guess that by her smirk, he must have had his mouth hanging open at the vision she presented.

He eventually berated himself for his display of weakness and thought of comebacks to start the night off with a win but it was only on their arrival at the venue that he was able to recover.

Sa loob nang sasakyan na yun e si Maine Mendoza ang nanalo.

Galit siya dito pero hindi niya ikakaila that the author had that kind of beauty that became even lovelier the longer you looked.

Lalake siya and a conossieur of beauty, yun ang isa sa mga unang bagay na mapapansin niya talaga.

And he had seen her angry, almost near collapse, and peacefully asleep but when he saw her the first time tonight, she looked... confident and highly amused? Amused with a smirk that was like that of the Mona Lisa's.

As though she knew a secret he didn't and that secret was that behind the ponytails and lack of visible make-up during their day-to-day dealings, she looked like a supermodel glammed up.

In perspective, he would not go as far as to say she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen but she was the one who looked most "alive", most "present", most "in the moment" everytime they saw each other.

Hindi alam ni RJ kung dahil ba yun sa kinang na meron sa mata nito, or sa bagsak nang buhok nito na noon niya lang napagtanto e medyo kakulay pala nang kape, o di kaya e sa ngisi nito na kahit kelan e hindi pa niya nakikita.

But there she was – Venus awakening and there he was – a stammering fool in a Shakesperean comedy.

He had even planned on her wearing blue because it was a color that was hard to stand out in.

White, black, red, and green were colors that highlighted every woman's assets and beauty in formal wear but rarely does blue do that.

She proved him wrong though as she looked like sapphire on fire.

Everyone who was going to see her tonight was going to ask who she was and was going to go bonkers over her.

Hindi yun ang gusto niya pero he found himself appearing quite pleased everytime someone complimented her or him for his choice of date tonight.

Still, pinagagalitan niya ang sarili.

And it was all so confusing and uncomfortable that he was sure it was already out on display on his features.

Not surprisingly, she finally called him out on it.

"Hindi ba sabi mo importante tong gabing to?" Maine asked when she returned from the ladies room "Kitang kita ko na nakasimangot ka from right across the hall."

He shrugged. "Hindi simangot yung nakita mo. Inis yun."

"Inis?"

"Next time, be a little more careful in your choice of clothing ha? Everyone's ogling you they can't focus on me when I talk to them."

Tumaas ang kilay nito.

"My choice of clothing? You said blue!"

"I did say blue. I didn't say though it should be cut that low. Lahat nang nakausap ko kanina while we were working the floor, I had to talk to again just to make sure they caught what I said."

It was partly true though but RJ knew he wasn't angry about that.

He had dates before to gatherings like this that wore far less than she did.

But he was angry at himself and she was there and looking so goddamn beautiful, lalo lang siyang nagagalit dahil sa mga reaksyon nang isip at katawan niya.

It didn't help one bit that she smiled through all his pent-up rage.

"Well, don't invite me as your date next time."

He raised an eyebrow. Could that possibly be the reason she came looking ready to do collateral damage?

"Kaya ka ba dumating looking like that? For me to stop whatever it is I want to do?"

Maine looked away from him as if to say "Go figure."

His jaw steeled in fury because he liked her fighting him. AND he reminded himself he wasn't allowed to feel that for her.

"Pwede kang magandahan pero di mo pwedeng hayaan na maapektuhan ka dun sa ganda!" he reminded himself.

Minsan naiinis siya dahil sa lalake siya – ang bilis malansi nang katawan niya sa magandang mukha at pigura.

And normally if RJ didn't like a girl and he reacted to her the way he was reacting to Maine now, it didn't faze him. He could differentiate between the urges of his body and the way his heart thundered for the real thing.

But knowing who Maine was and who he was, he decided now that it wasn't right to feel attracted to her in any sense even if he acknowledge her beauty.

That could mess up his goal.

He should hate her.

He should hate ALL of her.

He should.

He really really should.

She gave him a sideways glance as though saying "Two points: Maine Mendoza, Zero: RJ Faulkerson".

He raised a brow and found her smirking deeper.

If this was a normal date, he would relish in smudging her lipstick by kissing her senseless.

But it wasn't.

And again, "RJ TUMIGIL KA KAKAISIP NANG KUNG ANO ANO!" he scolded himself.

Tumigil ka kakaisip na mukhang malambot yung labi niya, mukhang kayang hawakan nang kamay mo ang leeg niya and massage her down to her shoulders, that her frame would fit right against yours, that her height is perfect and you can mess her hair up...

"TIGIL RJ! TIGIL! TIGIL! TIGIL!" he almost shouted.

He looked away from her and brought his concentration back to what was happening in the podium – someone was speaking (he had forgotten who because of internal mental battle). RJ straighted up in his seat and let the drone of the speaker's voice distract him.

Maine seemed to have decided she would do the same thing and angled her body to pay attention to the speaker.

There was a flash of her leg that RJ caught from his periphery.

Napa-mura siya sa loob loob niya.

He was sure he'd need a cold shower tonight.