Hidden Behind the Stars (Celestial Series #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Life is tiring, isn’t it? You would try to be smart, but your parent won’t be contented of it. Every effort then would feel like it’s not enough. Kahit gaanong hirap o pawis ang ilaan mo, hindi pa rin sapat. You would start to ask yourself: Should I give up or not? It’s important to realize that you’re not fighting for the sake of others but for yourself as you realized that the future held by your actions is yours. The consequences of your decisions can be positive or negative. Either way, it will affect you. It maybe not now, but you’ll understand how it affects you in the process of building yourself.

You would try to be kind, but someone will still abuse the goodness you have inside as a person. Minsan, aabot sa puntong itutulak ka niya sa pinakahangganan hanggang sa masagad ka na at mailabas ang halimaw na minsan ay hindi mo pa nakikita. It’s the same as being kind to take the responsibility of others or what we call as leading. When people see that you have the potential, aabusuhin nila ang kabaitan mo at ipapasa sa iyo ang mga bagay na dapat ay sa balikat nila nakaatang. It’s tiring and draining because together with this kindness comes understanding.

You would try to be happy, but it isn’t your fate. And at some point in your life, you would assume that you are destined to be lonely… or alone because this is where you got tired and drained out of everything that kindness, enthusiasm, and understanding are not enough to help you battle the real cruelty of the world hidden behind the sugar-coated words, sweet compliments, and faked facial expressions and gestures.

Maybe, I was really destined to be alone.

“You sure look like an actress my sister idolized, but she suddenly left the industry.”

I tilted my head, teasing the man inn front of me. Nakasuot siya ng itim na button-down long sleeves shirt. Nakabukas na ang mga butones ng kanyang damit at medyo lantad na ang namumulang dibdib. “Sure?”

“Yeah, but you look more beautiful than her though.” He rubbed his chin. “Honestly.”

I chuckled. That freaking line was so cliché. I had it coming, but it was still so… I don’t want to say it.

“Want to come in my place?”

I hummed. This man, surely, was fast. He must have thought that I was flirting with him. I don’t like him even with his clean cut hair and neat appearance despite his drunkenness.

“No. I was waiting for my boyfriend.” I stood up and finished the last drop of my drink before putting it in the counter. The bartender looked at me, and I shot a glance at him with less desire flickering in his black eyes. “Excuse me.”

The man sitting on the stool purposely brushed the back of his palm on my legs when I walked past by him. I pretended to go back to the counter as if I forgot something. When I was beside him, I acted out-of-balance and stepped on his foot accidentally on purpose. I fixed myself and whispered sorry while I see lust in his eyes as his hands touched my exposed skin.

This man, really.

Nagtungo ako sa banyo dahil kailangang-kailangan ko na talagang umihi. I’ve never been to a comfort room in all the bars I went before. I believed they were disgusting. Baka hindi ko matiis ang amoy ng mga suka nila at ang tunog ng mga tao rito sa tuwing naiisipan nilang dito gumawa ng milagro.

After retouching, I headed to the dance floor and dance with strangers who some tried touching my chest while some ‘accidentally’ tried groping my buttocks. Nevertheless, I ignored their rude attitudes because I went here when I can just sit on one of the stools situated in the counter to avoid being harass.