Laro (Autotelic Series #1)

Simula

Simula. Calliope

2020

My heart is throbbing so fast. Parang mga kabayo na nag-uunahan sa pagtakbo ang nangyayari ngayon sa loob ng dibdib ko. I was standing here in the corner of the backstage waiting for them to call my name. I looked around the place, ang daming tao. I feel excited and nervous at the same time considering that this is my first fan meeting and my first ever interview since I debuted as a writer.

My crew booked a whole stadium for this event - hindi siya sobrang malaki at hindi rin siya sobrang maliit, it can accommodate 100-200 people. It is also air conditioned and my crew made sure that the place is comfortable para hindi makapagbigay ng bad impression sa mga "fans" ko.

I didn't got to sleep that much last night, sobrang kinakabahan ako lalo na nung binalita sakin ni Wilma na sold out daw lahat ng tickets na binenta nila for the fan meeting. She told me also that she didn't expect it to sold out that fast. Halata raw sa mga tao na excited silang malaman at makilala kung sino ako.

I stopped daydreaming when I felt someone poked me from my right side. Dahil nga sa kinakabahan ako, medyo napapitlag pa ako dala na rin ng gulat. I slowly turned to the person who poked me - it was just my emcee.

"Good luck, Miss Calla!" she excitedly said. Medyo nahihiyang nagkamot ako ng batok and a faint smile formed my lips. Hindi ko magawang ngumit nang malawak ngayon daahil pakiramdam ko anytime matatae na ako sa sobrang kaba.

"Y-eah, thanks." I said. She smiled widely bago siya nag-ayos at lumabas nang backstage to welcome everyone and to start the fan meeting.

I watched Luisa as she walked through the center of the stage. Mas lalo akong kinabahan when she finally arrived at her spot. Ilang minuto nalang magsisimula na ang fan meeting.

Actually, hindi naman ako kinakabahan if they would hate me or madisappoint sila sa itsura ko na hindi naman sobrang kagandahan, but instead kinakabahan ako to make mistakes and embarrass myself in front of these people who supported my stories and loved my stories and also I'm a perfectionist one and I just can't attain na mapahiya sa harapan ng ganito karaming tao.

I feel like I'm gonna have an upset stomach when Luisa started talking. Habang mas bumibilis ang mga minutong lumilipas, mas lalo akong kinakabahan. OA man pakinggan but I feel like I've been sentenced to death.

"Good day everyone! I'm Luisa Marcial, your emcee for today. I know all of you are super excited to finally meet the most famous author right now, who was known for her tragic stories that actually reached everyone's heart." Luisa started, "Nakakabilib lang rin na sa dami niyang pinatay na characters sa stories niya, sa dami ng mga endings na hindi niya hinayaang maging happy, you are all still here supporting her and loving her despite of how many hearts she already broke." medyo natatwa pang sambit ni Luisa. Well, she was right. I was known as the author who hates happy ending as almost all of my stories ended unhappily and it was totally surprising na ganito karaming tao ang dumating because I was also dubbed as the most hated author, sa dami ba namang hate comments na narereceive ko almost everyday, sa dami ng complaints na naririnig ko at nababasa ko sa mga stories ko, hindi na talaga nakakagulat na tinawag nila akong ganun. The hate was actually understandable, sobrang dami ko na atang pusong nabiyak at damdaming nasaktan dahil sa mga kwentong ibinahagi ko sakanila, but what can I do, my whole life was like that - tragic and miserable, "And here we are right now, finally meeting the "faceless" author who never showed her face to anyone but right now it was a total privileged to finally meet this author." Luisa said. Okay, this is it, wala ng atrasan 'to, "Please welcome, Miss Calliope Gonzales!"

Ipinikit ko muna ang mga mata ko at pinilit na pakalmahin ang sarili. Huminga ako nang malalim, "Go Calla, you can do this." I tried to cheer myself up.