Secretly Married (English)

Chapter 17

Phoebe sneaked into Kent's car right after the class ended. They drove off without a lot of people noticing, which was a relief.

As he drove, Kent started telling her what she had to do on the set.

"You can stay with Mel—that's my manager. Just don't make yourself noticeable."

Phoebe was quiet, just nodding at whatever he said. "Mel's nice . . . and, um, I told her about us."

Phoebe was still absentmindedly just nodding. Kent no longer knew what to say, so he simply grabbed her hand. Phoebe was caught by surprise but didn't let go. They simply drove on in silence until they arrived.

When they got there, Mel met them at the parking lot. Kent nodded to Mel before he went ahead. Before walking away, he said to Phoebe, "Be good."

Mel led Phoebe to the apartment building where the shoot was about to take place. The whole set was busy with camera preps, and no one took notice ofher.

And then the queen bee, Elisa arrived. She had an assistant with her, who carried all her bags. Even when it wasn't bright out, she had her sunglasses on. When she noticed Phoebe, she took off her shades and snorted. "Let's go that way," she told her assistant. "There's something rotten in here."

Mel put her arms around Phoebe and steered her away. "Don't mind her. She's always been such a prima donna."

When Kent saw the part of the script that was about to be shot, he started panicking. It was a kissing scene. He had skipped reviewing this scene because he couldn't stomach the idea of kissing Elisa.

"Let's practice?" Elisa said as she arrived.

"Shut up."

Kent sat on his own, ignoring Elisa for a good thirty minutes, reading the sequence, and memorizing his lines. It was easy. He had no trouble memorizing lines anyway, and it was a short scene.

They were then called on set. Kent saw Phoebe sitting with Mel and quietly talking. They met each other's eyes before Kent sat beside Elisa on a sofa.

"Okay, you two, remember, you are in love, but you still can't let it out. So you just let it out through the kiss."

Kent couldn't look at Phoebe. He felt like he was betraying her by taking her to a shoot where he had to kiss someone else.

"Okay, action!"

They went through their dialogue, and then it was time for the kiss. Kent hated Elisa's face right then because he knew exactly what was going on in her mind. Still, he reached for her face and then kissed her—fast and hard.

"Cut! Kent, have you never kissed anyone before?

That's not a romantic kiss. Okay? Make it softer."

"I liked it," Elisa said flirtatiously. It took all of Kent's force not to storm out of the scene.

They had another take. This time, it was Elisa who started kissing him boldly.

"Cut! Elisa, what are you doing? This isn't an indie film!"

Elisa laughed.

"But that's how Kent likes it!"

The crew laughed. Kent knew that he had to make the next take the best so that the kissing would stop.

"Stop joking around, Elisa. Do you both need to internalize again? Remember, you can't let your feelings out yet, so you take it out on the kiss. The kiss is your only chance to let each other know how you feel."

"Okay, Direk."

During the director's instructions, Kent couldn't understand why he thought of Phoebe and that one kiss they shared. Could it be true that he's just in denial about how he feels?

Think of Phoebe, he thought during the next take.

"Cut!" the director shouted. "Now, that's a kiss!" he said.

Kent stood up immediately and went to look for Phoebe. But she was nowhere to be found.

It was already dark out, and Phoebe didn't know where she was going. The kissing scene kept replaying in her mind even as she left. How could he have kissed her that way? Phoebe knew it was all acting, but something inside her said that you couldn't possibly kiss someone that way if you didn't at least feel something for that person.

She took a cab then realized that she didn't have enough money for the fare. So when they were nearing the bridge where she usually took out her aggression, she asked the cab driver to pull over and, after saying sorry to him several times, gave him all the money in her wallet and got off.

She stood there and started screaming, hearing her voice bounce off the walls. She couldn't care less about the people who passed her by. Just then, it started raining. She didn't know what to do and didn't know where else to go.

"Where'd she go, Mel?"

"I'm so sorry. I just took the call from the producer, so I had to leave the set."

"I told you not to leave her behind."

"I know. I'm sorry. I never thought she'd be like a kid you need to put a leash on."

"Mel!" Kent said angrily.

"I'm sorry."

Kent dashed off the set amid the people calling out his name and telling him the shoot still wasn't done. He got into his car and started calling the house.

"Manang Lourdes? Is Phoebe there?"

"I thought you're both at the shoot. She told me she was going there with you."

"She's not here."

"What? Did you two fight?"

"No, it's hard to explain. I'll look for her." He then started calling Jhone.

"Kent?" She seemed surprised to find him calling her.

"Is Phoebe with you?"

"I thought she was there with you at the shoot. I saw her getting into your car."

Just then, it started raining. Kent wished Phoebe was somewhere safe, but he couldn't think of another place where she would go if she were upset.

"She walked out."

"Oh my god, Kent! Where's my best friend?"

"Don't worry. I'll go look for her."

He dropped the phone and started thinking where she could possibly go. Harley then came to mind. What if she's with Harley? Anger seethed through him, but he knew he had to set it aside if he wanted to find Phoebe. So he started calling him.

"What's up?"

"Is Phoebe with you?"

"No, she's not. Why?"

"Nothing, I can't find her." He dropped the call and then started driving.

When Kent put the phone down, Harley started wondering why Kent was so panicked over Phoebe disappearing. But when he saw that it was raining, he started worrying about Phoebe too. So he got into his car and started thinking where Phoebe could be. Then he remembered the bridge that she pointed out to him on their date. That was where she went whenever she was upset.

He drove straight to that place, and sure enough, he found Phoebe standing there drenched, with a dazed expression on her face. He got out as soon as he could park the car and went straight to Phoebe.

"What's wrong?" He put his arms around her and led her to the car, but she wouldn't budge.

Phoebe was crying. "Why is it so hard to be happy?"

"I can make you happy. Just be with me," he said.

He looked at her right in the eye but was surprised about what happened next. Phoebe leaned in to kiss him, and then just as soon, she collapsed in his arms.

*later*