Alden sat at the corner booth he reserved for them, fidgeting with his thumbs. He barely heard from her since that call two weeks ago, but she confirmed for breakfast. Now, he was worried she won't show up.
"Hi!"
Brighter than Sunshine was the first thought that popped in his head as he looked at her, standing right in front of him, the early morning sunlight creating a halo around her. "Hi! Upo na. Let's order para hindi ka ma-late for class."
She looked thrilled. "Class. Kinikilig ako to be back."
"I wish I could take you to school, pero kailangan ko tumakbo sa Bulaga. Magre-rehearse for today's guesting."
She just smiled at him.
"Kung okay lang, pwede ba kitang sunduin sa Thursday?"
She frowned. "Don't you have rehearsals for SPS?"
"Meron, but I can fetch you after my shoot then drop you off then head to the rehearsals."
"Hmm, bahala na. Hindi ko pa din alam kung may mga gagawin after school and stuff." Her phone notifications went off and she frowned.
"Bakit?"
"Wala. Ms. Ferly wrote something about me na naman daw."
"Wag mo pansinin muna. Yung classes mo today nalang focus mo. Anyway, how have you been? Sila Nanay kamusta na?"
She beamed at him. "Hinahanap ka! Nagtatampo bakit hindi ka daw nagtetext." She chuckled. "Samantalang ako, kahit two weeks hindi magreply sa kanya ok lang siya. Actually, tingin ko miss na niya si Mama Ten."
"Grabe ka sa'kin. Pero sige, I'll try to visit her sa office minsan, ok lang ba sayo?"
"Oo naman."
Their gazes lingered at each other. It was Alden who broke the silence, "Eat some more. By the way, may gift ako sa'yo for your first day."
He handed her a bag, which she promptly opened. When she saw what was in it, she doubled over laughing.
In it were Alden Richards Sterling Notebooks.
***
Maine barely had time to catch up with him in the following weeks. Their communication was mostly through text messages.
It was during one break that she got wind of the rumors that were going around: Alden was caught with his latest leading lady and they had a leaked video that showed his fetishes.
"Ate Pat, ano 'tong nabalitaan ko?"
"Ano ba? Ang huli mo naman sa balita. Two days ago pa lumabas yang balitang yan."
"Ha? Kamusta si Rj?"
"Ayun, grabe yung press sa kanya lately. Nabasa mo na ba yung sinabi ni Ms. Ferly? Well, blind item pero obvious na si Alden."
Maine rushed to his rehearsals. "Rj!"
"Uy bakit ka nandito?" He smiled at her, truly happy to see her but exhaustion was evident on his face.
"I just heard about the chismis. How are you?"
"Okay naman. It's not too surprising because the PR team was really going for a romantic angle between me and my co-star but I guess it got out of hand. Sorry, Meng. I really tried to talk to them not to go with this, but management decided -"
"I know. Wala sa kamay mo yung decision na yan. I get it."
He looked relieved.
"I also read the article of Ms. Ferly. Rj, grabe naman yung sinabi niya about you? Don't you want to sue or something? She insinuated you had two girlfriends and regular threesomes?"
"Blind item, Maine. Wala akong masyadong magagawa diyan."
"It's surprising though that she wrote something negative about you eh mahal na mahal ka nun dati."
Alden shrugged. "Sabi ni Sam nagalit na because hindi na kami umaattend ng events niya. We declined thrice na yata."
"Ha?! Why?"
He looked at her. "May mga bagay na mas dapat pahalagahan." Before she could respond, he said, "Don't bother yourself with those things. Wag ka din mag-alala about me. Kaya ko sarili ko basta alam ko na yung mga taong important sa akin know what's real and what's not."
He played with her hair, "Since you're here, do you mind going for coffee downstairs? Kahit saglit lang?"
"Sige, tara. May na-discover akong new song paparinig ko sayo." As they headed down to the coffee shop, she turned to him. "Akala ko talaga yung scandal is that they discovered hindi ka talaga macho at nasira na yung image mo."
"Langya. Malapit na ako magka-abs 'no! Pag naging six pack na 'to, 'hu u?' ka sa akin."
"Hu u daw. Mamimiss ako ni Junjun 'no."
"Ikaw kaya nakakamiss kay Junjun."
"Ay oo miss ko na nga siya."
"Maine, tumigil ka na. Ituloy mo pa yan, tayo ang magkakaron ng scandal."
"Tagal..."
He made a move pretending to kiss her. "Wag ako, Maine. Wag ako."
She gulped. Her mind screamed, Kiss mo na ako, namimiss ko na kaya! But she said,"Sige na, peace na. Sorry."
They took a corner booth and they sat beside each other so they could share the earphones.
"Rj? Okay ka lang ba talaga?"
"Yes, I'm okay. Thank you for checking on me."
They shared a smile.
---
Note: sorry the chapter is a bit bitin. I've mentioned in my tweet that I went through some personal stuff last week and I'm just getting back into writing this. Thanks for reading this 😊
