For His Entertainment

Chapter Forty-four

"In anticipation of the upcoming awarding night which would be in three days, I'd like to invite the three of you to participate and attend so it would be your first media exposure. Ally, I want you to come with both Theodore and Zachaios," one of the producers said. "We will formally introduce you to the media so that they will know what to expect from this movie."

Nakatulala lamang ako habang patuloy sila sa pagsasalita. I can't fully comprehend everything they're saying dahil ramdam na ramdam ko ang awkwardness na pumapalibot sa amin. I don't want to blow this up because I literally sacrificed everything for this dream, but Spencer wouldn't like this.

He has been there since day 0. I don't want to hurt him in any way.

"Do you all understand? Ally?"

Saka lamang ako bumalik sa ulirat nang marinig ko ang pangalan ko. "Yes ma'am."

"Good! We'll see you all in three days then."

The meeting adjourned at isa isa nang lumalabas ang mga producers, pero nanatili ang mga mata ko sa pinto at ang katawan ko sa upuan.

"So, you know each other?" Tanong ni Zach.

Doon lamang ako nagkaroon ng lakas para tumayo. I realized being with the two of them is suffocating, I can almost feel the walls of the room closing in on us.

"Yes, uh, Ally is a college friend," sagot ni Theo.

Kinuha ko ang bag ko at hindi na ako nagpaalam sa kanila, tuloy tuloy lang ako sa paglalakad hanggang sa makalabas ako ng meeting room pero agad ko namang naramdaman ang presensya ng kung sino sa aking likuran.

"Ally, teka lang," Si Theo.

Huminga ako nang malalim bago lumingon sa kan'ya. I want to try to be civil as much as possible especially we'll be together for quite some time for this big project. This would be our big break if ever, at alam ko rin naman na pangarap na rin 'to ni Theo para sa sarili niya.

I raised my brows at him.

"Congrats nga pala sa... sa commercials mo at dito sa project na 'to," he said. I looked at him from head to toe, he looks better now, kuminis ang kan'yang mukha at mas maayos na ang kan'yang tindig. Nagkaron na siya ng laman at bumabagay na sa kan'ya ang built ng katawan niya. He was nothing like the guy I used to know before.

"Congrats din, so... pano, I mean, si Jeric din ba?"

He nodded. "Sorry, hindi ko naman alam na ikaw ang gaganap," he said sincerely. "I can feel that you're uncomfortable. Sabihin mo lang, pwede naman ako mag-back out."

Guilt crept in on me. If anything, we both had the same dreams. I know how it feels like to land on a role this big, and I know that I wasn't doing any effort to keep my discomfort to be with him, but I'm not one to snatch another person's dream from him.

That would be too selfish.

"No," I inhaled a sharp breath. "I'm fine. Nagulat lang ako. But I'm glad you're here." I faked a smile.

"Are you sure?" He asked and cocked his head to one side.

Tumango ako. "Anyway, kailangan ko nang umalis. May pupuntahan pa kasi ako."

"Okay, it was nice to see you again."

Ngumiti akong muli at tinalikuran siya. At least he isn't an asshole like Zach. Okay, I can do this. Kaya ko 'to. This is just work, tulad ng mga napapanood kong interview ng mga artista. I should stop overthinking, and Spencer is nothing but supportive.

I'm sure he'll support me on this one.

He was there when I stood up against my family because of this dream.