Chapter 3 (1/2)
Hehehe.
¹Chinito- It means ”little Chinese boy” in Spanish
and it is used toward Asians (primarily those of known or
a.s.sumed Chinese descent) and other non-Asian races and cultures
who may have physical characteristics that are typically considered Asiatic.
Chinito is for males while Chinita is female.
²They- The sentence used the Filipino word ”siya” which has
the same use as he/she. However, the gender is neutral
so I just use the word ”they” instead.
#AWriterFairyTale
“A writer can do magic: write harsh realities into fairy tales.”
-x-
Her mind’s just playing with her when she saw his familiar face, right?
Riiiight?
It’s all in her mind. Plus, that guy’s kinda-chinito¹ eyes, tall and lean build with a boy-next-door type aura and goofy face? Very common. As in.
More likely than unlikely, they look-alike.
Yep.
For sure.
But that imagination of hers became the reason for the uneasy feeling. A day after that imagination occurrence, Jhing spilled her coffee, thank G.o.d it was cold, all over her co-worker's clothes when they b.u.mped into each other in the hallway.
She was jumpy! And conscious.
They have the same hair okay!
And the other night, if she wasn't able to support herself, Jhing would've accidentally kissed the floor for being klutzy. And more importantly, first kiss! Turns out the guy whom she thought was going to talk to her only has the same built like him.
And that flying kiss he gave was not aimed at her but rather towards someone walking behind her. This told Jhing thing: A lot of women will die alone because of the fact that most of the men are in love. With each other.
During this one whole week, Jhing felt like dying from anxiety every time the elevator opens. Her eyes would scan the unfamiliar faces, and her breathing will only return to normal when the ‘Coast is clear.’
“Have you been drinking too much coffee?” asked July.
Jhing looks really nervous. She was restless as she kept looking from left to right,
“Is your novella done?”
Thoughts aside, Jhing tried to smile. “Not yet.”
“You only have four days until the deadline.”
Thinking about the deadline made her want to hurl. Her head is aching from all the thoughts and imaginations that reaches the sky. Jhing needs a rest.
“I know. I might take a leave after the deadline.”
“Ha? Why?”
Before entering the elevator, Jhing scanned the faces again before she entered. One of them frowned when she met her eyes.
“I'll probably get sick.”
July laughed as she pushed their floor’s b.u.t.ton. “Wow, what's this, your sickness has its own schedule?”
When they went out of the elevator, the two got shocked from the number of people in the lobby waiting for something or someone. They almost thought they were on the wrong floor.
July, being the nosy girl, asked the receptionist. “What's happening?”
“V.L. Tine's interview,” was the answer.
Even though they² have not been in the company for a year, Jhing already knew that the Best-selling Romance Author V. L. Tine is signed in their publis.h.i.+ng company. She also knew that they only show up in front of the big bosses. During the meetings with other people, they will only use skype call… without the video.
“Are they finally going to show up?” July’s giddiness was all over her voice.
“Is what the rumors said. That's why so many people came—”
“You two.” Miss Zue walked towards Jhing and July as the receptionist smiled. “What are you doing? Your break time is up ah?”
“Miss Zue! V. L. Tine is coming?”
Zue shook her head. “My goodness. You really know every gossip in this place, July. Go on now, you need to work on your countless of unedited ma.n.u.scripts.”
A few protests and complaints escaped from July's lips before finally poking the receptionist and loudly whispered,”Call me when V.L. Tine comes ah!”
“Don't do it,” Miss Zue scolded while laughing.
July talking about V. L. Tine was Jhing’s background noise the whole day of working. The first romance novel July read was V. L. Tine’s, and because of it; her love for prose became prominent. This is the reason why she entered the industry.
“It's my dream to meet them,” July said in a daze, hands clasped as her eyelashes batted. “Miss Zue is a villain for ruining it!”
“I heard that!” Miss Mary Zue shouted.
“ Opo, I said it out loud on purpose!”
The people who heard the small banter laughed before they went back to work. On the other hand, the receptionist didn’t call which made July gloomy.
As for Jhing, after depositing money for her brother’s tuition fee, she went home. She ordered fried rice for her three-day meal before continuing her novella.
The words flew magically as if it was meant to be written by her. Word after word, sentence after sentence, creating a blissful paragraph with emotions digging so deep that it’s hurting her.
Yet she continued, not stopping, albeit knowing it won’t hurt soon.
Before this, Jhing wasted all her time writing different stories…. not knowing that this one- this story - can be her winning piece.
A win-win situation.
First, her novella project.
Second, money for her family.
And third… Jhing will release this story out to the world and never let it haunt her life again.
Jhing didn’t stop herself from crying as she was approaching the three-fourths of the story. That’s good news, right? This means that Jhing is filled with emotions as she writes. It's for certain that the readers will get satisfied- and hopefully, herself too.
The flowing of words stopped when she reached the resolution.
Type-delete is what happened as she could not get the feeling for the perfect ending. After a long time, Jhing finally decided to stop writing for the night.
Before sleeping, a tear fell from her eye. The memory of the white ill.u.s.trated book flashed followed by a question that kept repeating inside her mind: 'Does the story deserve a happy ending? Or will the girl writer in the story ruin everything just like in the real life?'
She doesn’t know.
The next morning, Jhing was still thinking about what to write for the ending. Her mind was in a daze as she works on editing the ma.n.u.scripts.
C’mon!!!! What's your problem with me, ah?!?!?! You keep hurting my feelings…. This is not funny!!! It hurts so bad okay!! Why don't you try to feel the same pain as me!?!?! Of course… you won't understand it because you're dense! Ca.s.sannova! I regret being arranged married to you!
Jhing wanted to bang her head on the desk, as she wrote a comment, Casanova* is the correct spelling. Arranged marriage* is the right term. Punctuation marks were lessened, hope you don’t mind.
A few minutes after she sent the email, the author replied. Her words made Jhing cringe as she tried hard not to edit the email too.
Eh,, Miss Jhing,, I wanted to add punctuation marks to express more emotions???? For intensity??? My readers told me that 'I can really feel your character’s anger!!! So amazing!!’ They like it ah! So what do we do????
Thanks po for the edits!! Will read it po when I get home hihi…..
Ohmygoodness.
Jhing breathed and asked help from Miss Vams, one of the executive editors of the book department. “I have a problem po.”
“Why? What happened?”
She showed the author’s email, original ma.n.u.script, and corrections. Vams frowned before asking Stella, the other executive editor.
“Stels, how many reads is that—what was the t.i.tle again, Jhing?”
Jhing stopped her eyes from rolling as she said the t.i.tle, “I’m Nerd Girl to Cool and Arrange Married with the Casanova Womanizer Gangster?!!! BAD BOY??!”
Stella and Vammy looked at each other in a blank.
“That's the t.i.tle?” Stella asked Jhing.
“Not sure if it was Casanova Womanizer Gangster, Womanizer Casanova Gangster, Gangster Womanizer Casanova…..” Jhing paused, ”You get the idea.”
That earned a good laugh from their in-house ill.u.s.trator Facio who was listening to their discussion.He stood up from his cubicle and joined the conversation.