Before I Do

Chapter 6: If a sexy actress gets married...

If you're in a long-term relationship, can you really stop other men from getting turned on and getting an erection? If an actress gets married, can she stop men from masturbating to her photo in a sexy magazine?

I have a very weird way of rationalizing things. For instance, take what happened at the office this morning. I told my officemates that the guy they saw me embracing along Ayala Avenue was a cousin I had not seen in a long while. And since a lot of people think I have Chinese blood, they believed my story.

The lie became my official press release, one I first told during our beauty queen's press conference at this swanky hotel in Makati.

Comic Stealer, as I call him now, is the tall and neat-looking type. He has almond-shaped eyes, fair complexion, a too-long-to-be-a-crew-cut hair style and one of those rimless eyeglasses that make some men look a little more, err, mature than they really are. It's been a few days since the pink parade in Makati. But the details are still fresh in my mind.

Tonight, I find myself at Shangri-La Plaza, one of the first few swanky malls in Manila where the old rich used to go. I am too early for my scheduled meet-up with Rose. We made quick plans to meet for some tapas before she flies to Malaysia for a writing fellowship. I walk to Starbucks for a quick caffeine fix. And then I hear a voice too familiar and annoying to be real. "Wow, I can't believe it's you again. Are you stalking me?" the voice says.

I turn around and see the familiar rimless glasses, the same smug face, and the equally smug smile. "Third time's the charm!" he adds and opens his arms to a mock embrace.

I want to cause a scene, a real nasty one that will embarrass the daylights out of this guy so he will leave me alone. But Starbucks is a solemn place for a java addict like me. So I ignore him and calmly order my coffee in peace. I decide to get take out instead and stand as far away from the Comic Stealer as I can manage.

I had expected him to order coffee, but he doesn't. He walks to the shelf of designer mugs and studies them with exaggerated curiosity.

"One brewed coffee for Kit!" the barista yells my name. I make my bid for freedom when I hear Comic Stealer yell, "Hey Kit, wait!" Praying that this would be a ridicule-free conversation, I turn around and face him, "What?!"

"Why are you always angry?" he asks when he caught up with me. Okay, I am not expecting that kind of response. "You need anger management," he says in a very casual way.

Oh boy.

"You don't know me," I start. "And I don't know you, so please leave me alone. Comic stealer!"

He smiles. Another unexpected reaction. "Okay, okay," he wipes perspiration from his forehead. "So now I know your name. Hi! I'm Will."

I give my standard bitch response—one raised an eyebrow. I feel like my response is not adequate so I add, "So what?"

"Okay, sorry about your comic," he says. "I'll replace it, yeah?"

I raise another eyebrow.

"Okay, here's what we can do. Let's go to the bookstore now and you can pick any Archie comic book you like. I'll buy it for you," he adds.

I don't know what exactly mellowed me down and prompted me to go to the bookstore with him. But I do know exactly what to get. When I walk to him to the cashier holding a collector's item comic book worth PHP700, I know he knows that his scheme just backfired.

I also figure that it's okay to give him my surname now. After all, he did replace my Double Digest Archie comic book with something seven times more expensive. And I yelled at him, quite a few times in the span of about a week. But he remained cool, to the point of being funny, even. I figure he's not bad after all and that between the two of us, I am the most dangerous one.

He asks me to stay for coffee but I decline. Rose's phone call cut our conversation short. I wave goodbye and head straight to this German pub where Rose and I order sausages. We talk about my fortunate accident.

"So, is he cute?" she asks.

"A bit," I reply.

Johnny arrives an hour later. Naturally, he orders the expensive beer and of course, he insists on paying for everything.

To be continued...

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