Mister Villain

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

Being physically exhausted is nothing new.

Maine dived into her bed right after the hot shower she took and was tempted to call for the hotel's masseuse, if only she was not confused between being tired, being sleepy, and being hungry.

Maraming choices kanina over dinner pero because she was too tired to even chew, all she had eaten was pasta. Pero syempre iba pa rin ang pagkain nang kanin. It hasn't been two hours since dinner and she'd already heard her stomach grumble.

She reached for the menu on her bedside table and thought of what she'd order for room service.

She zeroed in on kalderetang baka and right after being told over the phone that she would need to wait for 30 minutes before food arrived, her cellphone rang.

She saw it was Gab.

"MAINE!!!!!!!" the other woman screamed into the handset.

"Grabe Gab! Nawala ang antok ko sa ginawa mo!" she responded, horrified, and thinking how her right ear will recover.

"Talaga ba?" Gab didn't even seem fazed "Good! Good! At least makakapag-usap tayo nang matagal-tagal!"

Maine groaned. "Kung alam ko na tatawag ka, dapat pala um-order na din ako nang kape."

Her friend chuckled. "Hindi mo kailangan nang pampagising. Sisigaw lang ako, every now and then, in the course of our conversation, and you would wake up. Believe me!"

She wished she could be taught the Faulkerson way of negotiating things.

It was so difficult to say no to any one of them.

"Buti napatawag ka?"

"I read the book and I loved it! Ruru has read the book! Mommy has read the book! Daddy is reading the book now! Lahat kami tuwang-tuwa! ANG GALING GALING MO!!!"

That made her smile. "Hindi mo ba ako binobola?"

The smile on Gab was evident from her voice too. "Ano ka ba! Ano mapapala ko na bolahin kita? Sinulat mo na yung libro ko e."

"Loka loka ka talaga, Gab. Pero I am happy you liked it. I was a little worried."

"You write as honestly and as raw as you could, Maine. I could not have asked for more."

Naalala niya bigla ang kuya nito. In all that has happened around them, she knew that RJ and her needed to clarify things about her writing of the book.

He has apologized for the methods he used in trying to stop her from writing the book and for manipulating her emotions but they are yet to talk on how he really feels about her continuing in writing the second book after admitting that he had read the first book and it had ripped his heart into shreds.

"A-ang kuya mo ba nabasa niya yung libro?" she found herself asking.

"Hindi mo pa ba pinapabasa sa kanya?!?"

"Hindi" she answered.

In the aftermath of the hurricane that had taken place between the two of them, it seems that the most important thing in the world was yet to be discussed, and Maine knew na hindi pwedeng magtagal na ganun ang sitwasyon.

She was sure that RJ liked her.

Magsimula nang magka-ayos sila at umamin ito sa kanya e wala itong ibang ginawa kundi siguraduhin na alam niya ang fact na yun.

Still, that could not be an assurance that he was going to be calm about her decision to continue writing the book.

Inisip naman niya kung dapat ba e itinigil niya ang pagsulat nito pagkatapos nang usapan nila pero nung mas makita pa niya ang ibang side nang personality ni RJ, it became important for her to really show that he had been misunderstood, that he was actually a guy who just loved somebody too much but got the short end of the stick and that hurt.