[New Plot] If I Let You Go

The rumor about John Lloyd Cruz breaking up with Ms. Liz Uy has led to a number of JLC fans screaming/blogging in rejoice, "Single na ulit si John Lloyd!!!" And so now they go about claiming the box office king for themselves for fun. ^^; It's amusing to see a typical manga situation come to life, where fangirls form a club whose sole mission is to preserve their idol's single-ness with their motto being: No one can have him because he belongs to everybody!

Now, let's put a little twist in that piece of news and make it fictitious.

A famous actor breaks up with his equally famed actress-girlfriend who's got a major attitude problem off-cam. I can't say yet on what grounds but whatever it was that led to the break-up would be the girl's doing, something that seriously broke his heart.

This is Philippine setting, by the way.

The break-up, therefore, also affects their on-cam tandem, forcing them to take a break from getting big projects for a while, both with and without them together. So with more time to spare now (and amidst the cries of his fans celebrating his unattached status once again), he gets to tour the network studio and meet various people, especially the core technical crew who makes the entire broadcasting network possible.

There he meets a female member of the technical crew whom he has spotted voicing out her own honest opinion to her teammates in a very bold manner about a delinquent talent who's currently involved in a showbiz scandal and has a disciplinary case filed against him. But she awkwardly pipes down upon seeing him listening to her in profound interest, knowing that he's a good friend of the delinquent celebrity. And her rather "cute" and sudden way of shying away from embarrassment and going back to work as if nothing happened has allegedly impressed him big time, and which he found really funny. Later on he realizes that he can't get her off his mind anymore and finds himself frequenting their work place, making casual visits and engaging in small talks, to catch a glimpse of her at least once a day.

So he starts wooing her, subtly trying out various gimmicks to catch her attention but to no avail since she's always too preoccupied with her monitoring job. And out of all the females (and possibly gays) in the crew, she's the only one who's not so into showbiz fandom, let alone give a damn about him. Nevertheless, they become good friends somehow, with her never letting her guard down.

Haha, so far the story has no substance yet. But I've got a few scenes playing in my head already. And about the working title, I happened to be revamping my music folder while this song by Westlife was playing. And I think the lyrics fit into the story (from the male perspective) because he's been hopelessly smitten with her ever since they've met while she, on the other hand, is not particularly interested in entertaining his advances as she's not so keen on the idea of being romantically involved with a celebrity (though she doesn't snub him either).

DISCLAIMER: I would just like to make it clear that this story does not in any way portray the (ex-)couple's private lives nor of any other person in real life. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental and it is so for the purpose of producing a great work of fiction. In fact, I am truly fascinated by the idea of an actor's girlfriend being non-celebrity and this story has been inspired more by the response of JLC fans than the break-up itself.

[Story Update] My Bed is a Portal

(Head on to Dreambelt to read previous chapters of My Bed is a Portal.)

Feige had once again become a completely deserted island blanketed by a golden cloudless sky. Not too long ago, an ill-fated young man, carried by the infamous billow of the Feige waters, had been washed ashore and doomed to live in amnesiac solitude.

When he woke up, all he had in memory were methods of survival, basic facts he needed, and a name—Adimlen Vorgwen—which he concluded was probably his. But one thing was for sure, and not once did he ever doubt this particular speculation. He believed the reason he was cast away in this island, with a significant portion of his memory erased, was that something about him forbade his existence in his homeland.

If he only knew how very true that was.

So now, with the help of two strangers, he had finally succeeded in fleeing the forsaken island, leaving it the way it was before—ignored and uninhabited.

And it should remain like that for another long while unless someone would fall into the misfortune of accidental transports courtesy of erratic portals.

However, such was not the case this time.

Amidst the tranquility of the aquatic surface, the gigantic ridge emerged like an irate outburst and swiftly approached the coast. Then a series of resounding splashes could be heard against the boulders situated along the shoreline. And in an instant, the colossal wave crumbled into smaller ripples as the frothy water retreated humbly from the beach, revealing fresh feminine footprints pointing towards the mainland.

And at the end of the trail stood a divine beauty draped in white cloak, bearing the holy crest of Belva, which had been bestowed upon her before she left the sanctuary. Zay wouldn’t let her go without it. That’s why Cil Fa Yien had no other choice but to agree to her best friend’s request.

So now here she was to fulfill a promise, which would also mark the beginning of her own personal mission—the very reason why she had to enter and then leave Belva. She had been strolling along the coastline for a while now, looking for any sign of the lone denizen presently struggling for his survival in this deserted island. She came to take him away and back to where he should be sitting gloriously right at this moment.

But oddly enough, it looked like her objective seemed to have slipped away without her knowledge. Not that she was really keeping an eye on him nor had kept him in detention. It’s just that he simply had no other way of getting out of the island except through that dream scheme he had devised. And during his first attempt to execute the plan, they had bumped into each other in dream land. That’s how she learned of the man’s misfortune.

Finally, she found the proof that someone had actually lived here. Behind a thick row of shrubs was a man-made cavity in the ground. Its mouth was big enough to fit one person crawling in.

“So this is what he used to put himself to sleep,” Cil smiled to herself, impressed with his ingenuity. “Not bad.”

But it looked like he was finally able to flee the island. And along with some comrades, too, it seemed. Cil bent over to examine the aperture more closely. Surrounding the mouth were two sets of scuttled footprints, not identical but both bigger than hers, which told her that they belonged to two different men.

“Someone else was here?” she wondered skeptically. “But who would bother…”

Then she remembered that actually there were people who wanted him—

Dead.

And that was what she feared most: for them to get to him first.

I have to make sure. She thought to herself, as she made her way back to the shoreline while looking far off the still waters. And with one commanding flail of her arm, the giant wave came rumbling forward once again to fetch its lone client and take her to wherever she desired.

[Story Update] A.I.M. High!

Miranda was sitting on the computer chair in the living room, waiting for Ranleigh. They had resolved last night that they would go to school together today. It was for Miranda’s sake, so she would know the way to school and back. But judging from the way they argued during that brawly episode a while ago, she was not sure if she would be able to endure even just another minute with him.

After a couple more turns on her chair, Ranleigh emerged from the bedroom looking utterly handsome in his dark ensemble, which was AIM High’s male set of clothes. The top was an ivory buttoned shirt along with a crimson tie bearing the school’s emblem in little golden prints. He had a gray coat over, which was a couple of shades lighter than his pants. He moved about, walking towards the footwear rack by the door, and grabbed a pair of black shoes.

Miranda watched him in awe as he dropped the shoes on the floor with a thump and put them on. She had never thought the boys’ uniform could actually look this good on somebody. Before, she would catch a glimpse of AIM High male students in the many contests that she had participated in. But every time, whom she would be seeing would be the plump and geeky ones. And if she was to give her honest opinion, she would be sorry to say that the poor clothing did not seem to suit them. But it was never like she despised them. She definitely had nothing against their physical appearance or anything. It was simply a fleeting impression, which she never gave any particular thought.

As she pondered on these things, her wandering gaze fell on her watch, which made her realize the time and jump in her chair in alarm. “Only ten minutes left before first period? We’re gonna be late!”

“You just noticed?” Ranleigh asked indifferently as he stood up straight to have a feel of his shoes.

“What do you mean you just noticed?” Miranda asked back, panic evident in her voice. “You were the one who told me to sleep early since class starts at eight. And yet, you were the one who kinda overslept, if you haven’t noticed that.”

“That’s right, class starts at eight. But not my class,” He pointed out coolly, grabbing his schoolbag, which was beside the computer. He opened the door and was about to leave, “Are you coming or what?” he asked, glancing back.

“Of course, I am!” Miranda quickly stood up from her chair and ran towards the door, with another argument pending in her already irritated mind. As they went down the stairs, into the lobby and out of Cassel, she was doing her best not to explode due to frustration and start an all-out word war against him, for it might delay them even more.

“We’ll get there in no time, don’t worry.” Ranleigh muttered so as to calm her. They crossed the street, walked a couple of blocks, and arrived at the nearest bus stop.

“But my class starts at eight.” Miranda stood next to him impatiently as they waited for a bus to turn up. “You should’ve told me you won’t be having your first period. That way, I could’ve gone ahead.”

“Oh, really?” Ranleigh raised an eyebrow at her. “Can you do that without getting lost?” he added with a smirk.

Darnit! Miranda cursed in her thoughts, knowing that he had scored another annoying banter on her. He’s right. I do not know the way. She stood there, a smug on her face.

“Actually, I was informed just this morning. Jaron called while you were in the shower. Something came up so the teacher couldn’t come, he said.” He explained, quite oblivious of the fuming girl standing next to him. “So I went back to sleep.”

“And how would he know?” she asked, quickly calming down. Getting angry is dangerous to health. Jaron? The one from last night?

“He knows everything,” he shrugged. Then, glancing sideways at her, he noticed that she still seemed uneasy, obviously because of her fear of being late on the first day of school. Not really an impression anyone would want to give the teacher, “Honestly, do you even look at your schedule?” he asked all of a sudden.

“Huh?” Taken aback, Miranda looked at him in puzzle, “What’s that supposed to mean? Of course, I look at my schedule. In fact, I’ve checked it a dozen times already. I’ve memorized the room assignments, the teachers, the…”

Ranleigh cut her short. “How about the school’s schedule?”

This time, Miranda froze, not knowing what to answer, “What about it?”

“Well, have you seen it?” he raised an eyebrow at her once again, another smirk playing on his lips.

“No…I haven’t,” she shook her head gently, still oblivious of what Ranleigh was hinting, “Why?”

Unbuckling the front flap of his bag, he took out a piece of paper and handed it to her. “Here. You can have it.” Miranda skimmed through the sheet, which looked like a calendar of activities. Just then, a bus pulled over. “There will be an orientation program for freshmen at 9 am.” Ranleigh grabbed the vehicle’s door handle and was ready to hop on. “It’ll probably end at around lunchtime so technically, your class doesn’t start until 1 pm. Come on, let’s go.” Miranda was so busy examining the paper to notice the bus’ arrival that Ranleigh had to step back down and drag her onto the vehicle. “What are you doing? I thought you don’t wanna be late for school.”

“Where’d you get this?” Miranda asked in interest, as she trailed behind him along the aisle, unaware of the stares being darted towards them from the moment they got on.

The public vehicle was already close to being jam-packed but fortunately for them, there were still three empty seats at the back. “From Jaron.” He replied. “He gave each of us a copy.”

“Are you sure I can have it?” she asked again, this time to make sure she heard him right a while ago.

“Yeah, I can always ask for another one, anyway.” He shrugged, as he took a seat and looked out of the window, with Miranda taking the space beside him.

Finally, Miranda lifted her gaze from the paper and scanned her surroundings. “Wow, there’re sure lots of AIM High students taking this bus, aren’t there?” she was practically gaping in amazement as she looked around. Almost every other seat in the bus was occupied by a student wearing the same uniform as they were.

“Stop acting like an idiot, will ya?” Ranleigh sighed, irritated by the look of ignorance plastered on her face, which she was currently unaware of. He was certain she was marveling the other students on board.

“I’m not an idiot.” Miranda answered defensively as she shot him a heated glare.

“I know. That’s why I told you to stop acting like one.” He repeated himself. “Don’t look at them as if it’s your first time seeing them.”

“But it is my first time seeing them.” She pointed out.

“Whatever.” Ranleigh heaved a sigh and slouched in his seat in defeat. She’s hopeless…

“Hey, Ranleigh, why are they all looking at us?” Miranda asked another rather innocent question. Especially those in uniform. She had finally noticed that all eyes were set on them, particularly her.

I knew it. We shouldn’t have taken the backseats. Ranleigh thought. But there were no empty seats in front. And taking the remaining ones in the middle would be worse even.

“Ranleigh…Ranleigh? Are you listening?” Miranda asked as she waved a hand in front of his blank expression. “Do you know these people?”

Ranleigh snapped out of his reverie at her question. “No, I don’t.” he replied. “I probably see them around at school but no, I don’t know them.” But I’m pretty sure they know me.

“So tell me, do you have any idea why they’re looking at us?” she asked again, retreating in her seat as she felt a bit embarrassed.

“I don’t know.” Ranleigh muttered apathetically.

“They look kinda weird to me.” Miranda mumbled in her seat as she fumbled with one of the buttons of her uniform. She had a gray blazer on over a beige blouse. Its dark collar, which matched the color of her skirt, resembled that of a sailor with a single red stripe at the edge, indicating the year level she was in. To complete the sailor image, a crimson bow veiled the base of the neckline in a trim knot. And just like Ranleigh, she wore black shoes that toned with the print around the top of her gray boot socks.

You’re the one who’s weird. Raising an eyebrow, Ranleigh glimpsed at her as if to say “Look who’s talking?”

“Do Jaron and the others take this bus as well?” she went on.

“No.”

“How come? Where do they live?”

“None of your business.”

“Are you gonna meet up with them at school?”

“Probably.”

“Oh, I wanna see them, too!”

“…”

“You know, even though I wasn’t able to see a clear view of their faces last night, I think they all look handsome…” she smiled to herself.

“…” Ranleigh simply kept staring outside.

“Just like you.” she added nonchalantly, making Ranleigh blink his annoyance and boredom away. But he just kept still, pretending to have not heard anything, until Miranda continued on with her small talk. “But I must say you are the grumpiest of them all.”

With this, Ranleigh turned away from the window to face her, rage glinting in his eyes. “And how would you know about that?”

Knowing that she had hit a nerve, Miranda felt herself shrinking in her seat as she watched her seatmate glower at her in anger. Being quick-witted as she was, she had decided that since she was the one who started it all, it would not seem right if she would simply allow herself to be overpowered by him. Besides, she knew for a fact that she was right. “Your face says so.” She sneered at him, pointing at the scowl on his face, “See?”

Narrowing his eyes at her, he realized that he was being childish, which simply proved her impression about him. And so he opted to just drop the subject. “Shut up, you little bundle of misery.” He grunted as he sat back, closing his eyes in composure.

“What?!” It was Miranda’s turn to fly into a rage. But as she was about to strangle him, she saw from the window that the bus had finally come to a halt. She looked around and saw that everyone was getting ready to leave. “We’re here?” she asked in a calmer voice. That was fast.

“Yes, come on.” Ranleigh rose from his seat as he helped Miranda get up as well since she seemed that she was a having a hard time getting on her feet because of the crowd. “Clumsy.”

“Save those brilliant words for later, pal.” Miranda lashed out sarcastically as they squeezed their way through the swarm of commuters and off the bus.

“Not to worry. I’ve got loads of them.” Ranleigh countered with equal sarcasm as he fumbled with her hair for a while, shuffling it into a mess, before turning on his heel.

Miranda was left dumbstruck in her place as she watched Ranleigh enter the school grounds with a death glare. “WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT FOR, YOU SMUG??!!!” she yelled at him in fury. But he simply walked off, waving his hand at her in a see-you-later manner. Damn! I had a really hard time doing my hair this morning. She thought irritably, trying her best to put all the stray hair back into place. When will he ever stop picking on me?

The bus had left and Miranda found herself standing amid the flock of noisy students entering the school gate. Miranda, this is it. You’re just a dozen steps away from your dream school. You totally rock, girl! She pounded her chest with her fist, pride and confidence boosting up her spirit. But just as she was about to take a step forward, she felt somebody’s eyes on her and noticed a group of students busily chatting with one another while hanging out by the school gate. One of them, a girl in the middle, looked away when she realized that Miranda had seen them. The others, however, just kept on talking. Ignoring their presence, she continued walking and in no time, she finally got her feet on the very soil of AIM High.

[Story Update] A.I.M. High!

Boy, I am so stupid. When I was fixing this place last night, I’ve been wondering why there were male stuffs everywhere I looked. But it never occurred to me that this place would actually belong to a guy. Miranda looked groggily at her worn out reflection on the bathroom mirror the next morning. As expected, she was not able to sleep a wink. She knew she was excited about her first day at AIM High but adding to that was her constant alertness to the person sleeping next to her. A level below to be exact. And speaking of him, he seemed to be still enjoying his sleep up to this hour.

Better sleep early. School starts at eight. Ranleigh’s words echoed in her mind. Look who’s talking. She thought angrily as she looked at her watch. It was already ten minutes past seven and Ranleigh appeared to have no plan on attending the first day. I wonder if I should wake him up… She put on a pair of thick spectacles, which cleared her view of herself on the mirror, just as Ranleigh came barging into the bathroom, his eyes half-open.

“What’s with the glasses?!” he demanded at his entrance as he stared at her surprised expression, his eyebrows furrowing in what seemed like annoyance.

Noticing the unjustified irritation painted all over his face, Miranda could not help but feel annoyed herself as well. What’s he doing yelling first thing in the morning? What an annoying habit…so noisy. Clenching her fists, she decided it was no good pretending to be nice to him when deep down, he was really getting on her nerves. Actually, the cause of her aggravation was last night’s unforgivable incident wherein Ranleigh had accidentally walked into her while she was changing. The mere thought of it already infuriated her. Then, she crossed her arms in front of her haughtily. “It doesn’t concern you so butt out.”

“Then, get out of here and let me take my bath in peace.” He answered arrogantly, closing the door behind and locking both of them in.

“Like I’d want to watch you take a bath.” She retorted but wanted to take back everything she had just blurted as soon as the words were out, especially when she saw Ranleigh raise his eyebrow at her as if daring her to do just that. So to compensate for her humiliation, perhaps an equally arrogant bellow would do. “Well, step aside! You’re blocking my way out.” she snapped behind gritted teeth, but Ranleigh just remained at his position by the door.

“Then, use the other door, you idiot.” Ranleigh grumbled as he knocked her quite hardly on the head with his knuckles, which almost made her go out of balance since she was not expecting it. This time, it definitely blew her up.

“What the hell did you do that for, huh?!” Rage was evident in her eyes. Hitting me for no reason at all, that’s just too much!

“Oh, um…” Ranleigh, himself, was taken aback with his own act since he did not really intend it to be that forceful. Sorry…

“I’ve had enough!” Unable to control her temper anymore, she turned on her heel and exited through the other door, just like Ranleigh had told her to.

[Page 1] A.I.M. High!

“It’s just the mailman, Dad!” Miranda yelled as she went back inside the house after receiving the mail. Slowing down her pace, she browsed through the pile of envelopes of various sizes and colors, most of which were newsletters and subscription invites from international science journals. “Hey, Dad! You’ve got another one from Foss Finds. It looks like a ‘Thank You’ letter this time.” She seemed not the least interested as she shot a fleeting look at the emblem of the Research Institute embossed on the flap of the packet. Immediately, she moved it to the bottom of the heap as she went on browsing. In a little while, she came upon a plain but professional-looking envelope that instantly aroused her interest. As she had expected, the mail was addressed to her. With trembling hands and her heart pounding, she tore it open and read it right away. The letter read: