My day began thirty minutes earlier than the usual. I drove straight to Mardale Drive although I'm supposed to be meeting up with my production crew at Marylebone to shoot footages of the flats where the contenders stay but I need to distance myself from Henry.
My phone vibrated to a message from Mr. Lynch.
"Congratulations for a job well done! Our pilot episode had an eighty five percent of the audience share."
That message lighten up the load in my chest. I thanked God for our success.
The moment I log in to Twitter, the Ikon account has already been bombarded by over a hundred tweets and questions. I took images of the relevant one and just ignored the inapplicable ones.
It may sound stressful but I'm actually enjoying it. They send really odd questions like 'why Lattrel can't sing country music when in fact he grew up in Nashville?', why La Vida is called La Vida and not The Divas?', why James is scared of lighted candles?' and the list goes on.
Some fans are also requesting the contenders to have a live chat every week which I think is a brilliant idea. We are receiving positive feedbacks from the media so far. The issue between me and Henry has finally died down, stacked by the positive reactions from the pilot episode.
It's almost five in the afternoon and everyone's in the production room is already tapped out so we all decided to take a 30-minute break.
"What have I missed?" Janey, the head writer nosily asks.
"Huh, what do you mean?" I asked back totally unaware of the things she is referring to.
"Everyone's buzzing about Henry's hallway drama last night asking you to be his---."
"I'm sorry Janey, but I don't feel sharing my personal life right now." I apologize.
"So, he has now crossed from being a part of your professional life to being a part of your personal life?"
"No, not like that. I've turned him down already, plus I need to focus on this project. Mr. Lynch is counting on me."
"Are you crazy? You turned him down? Half of the female contenders are obviously trying to get his attention, while you turn him down. You're unbelievable!" She disgustingly responded.
"As I always am!" I snap at her as I sink my teeth to the clubhouse sandwich that Shane ordered for our afternoon snack slash early dinner.
My Thursday is nearly finished and I'm comfortably working with Henry at bay. I'm purposely avoiding him and I hope nobody notices it. I don't want my emotions to affect my work.
I headed back to the production room and reviewed the footages for the spin off that we will be releasing this Monday.
I am amused while I watch the footages. Andrew is the goofiest one dancing only in his boxers, the girl groups arguing over a lost pink lipstick, the older ones having a hard time using an iPad and there's Henry who exists in seclusion. He's sitting by the window and playing his guitar. I zoom out the video and hit the pause button and before I realized anything, I'm already staring at his image on the screen.
I feel really sorry for him. Any girl will easily fall for in love with his expressive green orbs and infectious smile. He's sweet and caring too. If only he came a bit prematurely in my life, I would really consider him. But he came when I'm already free from wavering.
Mr. Lynch is aware that I'm no longer pursuing a career in this industry once we're done in this season. He knows everything about my future plans and doesn't hold any grudges against it. He's like a protective uncle to me considering that his father was my biological father's best friend.
He offered me a job to be his assistant alongside Laurie and Shane. I accepted the offer thinking it would broaden my horizon before I enter the formation house. But I am regretting everything now. If I turned down the offer I would no longer be catching up with my Philosophy units and drop subjects from my Psychology course. I would never be in this point where I am already held captive by my emotions.
I don't know if I'm already falling in love with Henry as I've never felt the feeling before. I used to have a best friend back in the Philippines. I was excited each day to see him and spend the entire evening with him but that was just it. I was just excited. But with Henry, it's different. I'm longing for his presence and kind of misses him terribly the moment he leaves my sight. He may not seem to affect me professionally but emotionally, he's already drowning me. And the kiss. I hated myself when I moaned but my system insisted that I got carried away sensually.
I wiped away a tear in my eye and continued playing the video until the entire production crew was back from the break.
"Are you ok?" Laurie asks in worry.
"Yeah, I am. Just a bit exhausted."
"What about your heart?"
"It's doing fine too, been avoiding cholesterol recently." I jokingly told her.
"You know, cholesterol won't kill you immediately but love can leave your heart dead in an instant. I saw you while you were staring at Henry's image on the screen. It's not bad to let yourself fall for him. I'm aware of the impact he has made in your life. You can't either enter the formation house if you still have doubts. Listen to what your heart is saying. Or at least enjoy your remaining days outside the convent. Or consider Henry as your final sign from up above."
Yes, maybe God sent Henry as the storm that will test my anchor.
