ZWCS#9: Playing with Fire

Six

She messed up. Ilang beses na siyang napagalitan ng coach nila sa volleyball dahil ilang beses na siyang pumalpak sa practice nila ngayong araw. Aminado siya, wala siya sa focus at sarili. Paano ba naman? Hanggang ngayon, wala pa ring reply si Steven sakanya, tulad kanina nakita niya ito ulit na online pero hindi na siya nagmessage pa dahil baka mas lalo lang siyang masaktan.

Sabi nga ni J.K Rowling, 'Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike', which is so damn true. Mabigat ang kalooban niya simula nang makatulugan niya ang paghihintay sa reply ni Steven. Never in her life had she felt neglected. Being an only child, she has all the attention of her parents, she's popular in school and she has a lot of friends, and she's starting to be afraid that it only takes one man to make her feel the taste of rejection and she is not liking the feeling at all.

Natapos ang practice niya na hindi man siya nakapagperform ng maayos kaya bago siya makalabas ay hindi na siya nagtaka nang kausapin siya ng coach nila.

"Is there a problem? Ang pangit ng performance mo ngayon, puro ka lang assists."

Napayuko siya at bumuntong-hininga. "I'm just not feeling well, coach. Babawi nalang po ako sa next practice," sabi nalang niya.

"You should be. We're one game away from the nationals, Trinity. So I want all of you to focus, understood?"

Tumango siya bilang sagot. Nauna nang pumasok sa loob ng gym ang coach niya at siya naman ay naiwan dito sa labas ng gymnasium. Tinignan niya muli ang phone at wala pa ring reply sakanya si Steven. Nasaan naman kaya iyon? Nakauwi na kaya ito galing Canada? Bakit hindi ito nagrereply sakanya.

She doesn't want to think bad things that will just make her feel worse so she decided to go to the gym and work out, at least that'll keep her busy and not think about Steven for two hours. She went to her car and went straight to her gym good thing she always have her sports clothes in her car. Hindi naman kalayuan ang gym niya kaya saglit lang ay nakarating na siya doon. After she got dressed, she did some stretching and hopped on a treadmill. She put on her earphones and started her run.

Kapag kasi nagwo-workout siya, focused lang siya sa ginagawa at walang pake sa paligid niya pero nasesense niya na may nakatingin sa gilid niya kaya naman nang liningon niya iyon ay si Philip na nakakunot ang noo ang nakita niya. When he saw her look at his way, he grinned and walked towards her. He started talking to her when he got to where she is but because of her earphones, she didn't heard him.

"I'm sorry, what?" tanong niya nang tanggalin niya ang isa niyang earphone. Binagalan din niya ang speed ng treadmill niya.

"I said, I was not so sure that it was you, buti nalang lumingon ka," he casually said.

"Ah. Yeah, I'm a member here,"

Tumango ang lalaki at ipinatong ang braso sa handle ng treadmill at tinignan siya. Nailang siya dahil nakatayo lang ito at nanonood sakanya. Hindi siya makatingin dito dahil ayaw niya kung paano ito makatitig sakanya, she's sweaty all over her body and face. Sa sobrang ilang niya, pinatay niya na ang treadmill at bumaba mula roon, kinuha niya ang kanyang tubig na nilapag niya sa sahig at ininom.

"What?" she couldn't help but ask since he's been staring at her for about five minutes already.

Philip shrugged. "I'm trying to figure out something."

"By staring at me?"

Walang pakundangang tumango ito at humalukipkip. "I'm not sure if you are a bad girl or a good girl. Either way, you're still beautiful." Nginitian siya nito na sa tingin niya ay may kahulugan pero hindi niya lang mawari. "See you around, Trinity."