Chapter 4 (1/2)
#TheMikoReturns
“A past cannot be forgotten if it wants to be remembered.”
-x-
Jhing promised herself to lessen her cursing spree.
She will only curse when it's necessary… when Jhing has no words to say but cursing. This became her mindset because, for some reason, her readers love to post bad words in her comments box.
'f.u.c.k you (insert protagonist name),' or 'You stupid b.i.t.c.h/b.a.s.t.a.r.d I hope you die,' and all sorts of cursing. It's okay if it was once in awhile but really, does every comment needs to have a curse as if it was a normal thing?
Who would be sane to gladly receive the curses with open arms?
Not Jhing.
Nope.
She knew that to change others, one must change her own self. She's trying to renew her life…. but this time, a curse was trying to escape out of Jhing’s lips.
She can't.
No.
She wouldn’t—f.u.c.k!
If she's having hallucinations after writing the novella about that man, to h.e.l.l with her mind! f.u.c.k her imagination and this situation and this man…
For being too real.
The shock was an understatement. The two stood in front each other, entering their personal s.p.a.ce for being physically close.
The man pursed his lips and questioned her, “Do you believe in destiny?”
That question made Jhing’s heartbeat stop.
Of all the days, of all places, and of all people.
Why now? Why here? Why her?
Out of all days when Jhing put on make-up, dressed up prettily, and even curled her hair because she was in the mood…. Why did she have to meet this guy today when she looked more like a zombie than a human?
The day when her face looks like it exploded, the day where she can even replace a beggar on the streets… he appeared and b.u.mped into her. He appeared in her life once again and is so close that she can feel his breath against her skin.
Out of all the da—wait. Why does she need to care, anyway?
‘This can’t be.’
Because of the rush, Jhing was able to step her feet back.
Once.
Twice.
Left.
Right.
Jhing moved her whole body to turn and increase their distance from each other. She started walking away from the fear she's feeling, from the shock, from her heart that seems to broke into tiny pieces and…
Away from that man.
'What the h.e.l.l is he doing here!?' She couldn't count how many times she slapped her forehead, trying to get the man out of her mind.
But!!
How!?
Jhing almost had a heart attack as the image of him stuck in her mind. That man was wearing white polo which sleeves were folded up to his elbow. Black slacks. Worn out converse. Even his hair is cut clean!
What the f.u.c.k.
How can that man's aura shout 'professional' with a hint of playfulness?
Jhing only woke up from her daze when she felt a b.u.mp on her shoulders. She finally realized where she's standing right now: Buildings, busy people, and her walking… outside.
'Ay tangina,' the innocent Jhing only wanted to go the pantry to get a coffee okay! But the presence of that man made her walked all the way outside the building.
s.h.i.+t.
It wasn't easy for Jhing to work the next few days. Before, she was only paranoid towards the elevators but now? She’s observing each and every corner of the building.
For a week, she didn’t see him again but that didn’t mean that was seeing things.
Every time she saw white long sleeves, Jhing gets nervous. Every time she saw a converse, even if it's not worn out, Jhing flinches in shock. Every time she saw black slacks….. G.o.ds, countless of corporate in their building wear black slacks!
Fortunately, the men working in Jhing's floor were not a fan of black slacks.
Except for the Security Guard. Sigh.
“I don't know,” Jhing answered when Vams asked about her Novella’s ending.
“Your ending is okay,” Vams said. “But Stels also stated that it's better for the couple to end up together.”
“Sorry, I just can't imagine them being happy together.”
Vams smiled. “Are we pressuring you?”
Jhing didn’t answer.
“Do you want to know a secret?”
Unsure, Jhing nodded.
Vams pulled a rolling chair and sat next to Jhing. “Out of all the novellas we received, yours have the greatest potential to get the adaptation,” Vams said that made Jhing heart… flutter, her ears red and eyes sparkle a bit.
“Online chat between stranger? So authentic! It's not a recycled plot of childhood friends or mystery admirer… It's an actual stranger turning into something! I also like the idea of the protagonist writing her own love story at the end to consider moving on. It was so real! It almost felt like we were reading your own diary because the protagonist is also an author like you.”
Jhing heart jumped in joy but at the same time, she also felt fear. By writing that novella, and after seeing the man face-to-face a few days before, Jhing felt like the wound inside her reopened and kept worsening every second.
Instead of just an open st.i.tch and some bleeding, the wound got bigger, longer- and the bleeding had no plan of stopping yet.
“But you’ve read the comments, right? It just didn’t do justice ah. They separated ways to get things done, cool. But the buildup of their life, feelings, and friends.h.i.+p? It's such a waste.”
“Uh you know,” Jhing wanted to support her story, her character, her decision- but no words came out. “I'll think about it,” she finally said.
In that instant, she once again saw the image of that man's face. Jhing remembered how he smiled at her and said the words 'Leche.'
”Uhm, Miss Vams?”
Vams was just walking away when she called her, ”Yes?”
“Can I change the story?”
This earned her a frown from Vams. “How?”
“From scratch. I'll change the premise, plot, characters, everything- to get a justifiable end—”
“What?” Vams' eyes widened. “It's a waste throw your novella away! We can just fix the story and not change the whole thing. It's good as it is, we’ll just make it better. Maybe add a chapter or two.”
'But… it can’t be fixed,' Jhing wanted to say but ended up with, “Okay. Thank you.”
Jhing felt a bit of regret.
Why did she even write the novel version of their stupid chat box? She also felt regret for opening that box, scanning that white book…… and discovering that last page. She should've rejected the present in the first place!
Jhing also regrets—s.h.i.+t. She regrets a lot of things… but all she could do was get everything out of the way. Get over it.
No one knew about her, him, and their twenty-three elevens.
'We’ll edit this, make it better.' Miss Vams has no idea how difficult it will be for Jhing to do that.
Sorry but, nope.
Jhing couldn’t make it better.
No edits.
That's why she regrets it ah.
A wrongdoing from reality can be fixed in a fiction? It’s a curse and a gift at the same time. A gift to make everything right and a curse for knowing that the only way to set things right was to write fiction.
And when Jhing searched the definition of fiction, Google answered ‘Invention or fabrication as opposed to fact.’
Ahhh.
Far from reality.
Nice.
A slap in the face.