11/23 Chapter 3

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.

“The t.i.tle will cover the whole book cover,” Facio said.

“How did this happened, Stels?” Vammy asked.

Stella grabbed the list of most read by PH readers. It didn't take a long time for her to find that novel because it's standing on the 4th place. After the fanfiction trilogy in English Wattpad was that story with a whopping 89,926,123 reads.

“Wow, she's good.” There was amus.e.m.e.nt on Facio’s face and voice.

“Well, she included all the trending male lead troupes: playboys, gangsters… casanovas…" Stella shook her head, “It's not a surprise for the novel to get popular.”

“I will try to resolve this issue with Miss Mary Zue,” Vammy said. “You should stop editing for a while. We didn’t expect this story will be too much to handle.”

“My head is splitting,” Jhing complained.

Miss Stella’s apologetic smile, Miss Vammy’s light squeeze on the shoulder and Facio’s laugh somewhat ended her misery. Somewhat. Slight.

Fortunately, her friend Fall decided to text her, I'M ON MY WAY TO THE OFFICE!!! WAIT FOR ME AT THE ENTRANCE OKAY!!

Jhing replied her with, ‘Lessen the (!), one is enough, and avoid caps locking words if unnecessary.’

Leche! was the cursed she got.

That shut Jhing up.

Fall came to the office to get the royalty which has been late for a few days now. This task only took her a minute so Fall decided to sit on the sofa in the lobby to hang around with Jhing for a while.

“How's the ma.n.u.script?” Fall asked after she got her royalty.

Jhing shrugged her shoulders. “It's okay.”

“Is it done?”

“Kinda.”

“Define 'kinda.'“

She heaved a sigh. “I only need the ending.”

“So fast?” Fall asked hysterically which made a few pa.s.sersby turn their heads towards her voice.

At the sudden attention, Jhing squinted her eyes on Fall. The killing intent coming from her made the latter hold a peace sign using her two fingers. “The last time we talk, you haven't even started the novella yet. But now… you just need the ending? What the heck happened?”

What the heck indeed? Instead of confessing 'Because it’s my blood dripping to flow the words as I cut my flesh to reminisce,' Jhing said, “Magic.”

Fall reacted with a poker face. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

Jhing's nod made Fall smile widely. “What kind of ending are you writing?”

That stopped her a little from breathing. 'Ending?' Well, that’s a question she wanted to answer. But can’t. “I have no idea."

“None at all? How did you reach the 'I only need the ending' without any endings in mind?”

Jhing couldn't answer her. At the back of her mind, she already knows the real ending of her novella. At the back of her heart, she knows what needs to happen in the story…  but Jhing doesn't like how she's giving a false hope to her own self.

She will not just fool the readers if she followed her heart’s desire but she will also be fooling herself. Jhing felt stupid.

“I can't decide if I should give the male lead an amnesia which will kill him because he forgot how to breathe, or kill the girl with a train because she forgot that it's dangerous to cross the rails," Jhing answered.

“How cliché!” Fall laughed. “What about drowning in the ocean and get eaten by sharks instead?"

"But seriously though, your novella's chick lit, right? You should just write a happy ending.”

“Happy Ending," Jhing repeated, "That's what everyone likes ah, but what about the reality?” she asked- not too sure if she the question was for Fall or for herself.

“Well, you’re a romance writer. A writer’s job, especially romance, is to satisfy romantics. We have the power to change the world by writing. Use it wisely ba.”

“That's just giving false hopes.”

Fall couldn't help but laugh again before standing up. “Why not? We got paid for writing stories that give the readers false hopes!!”

Jhing didn’t argue with that, of course. As an author, royalties from her books are the one giving food on their table every day. And as an editor, Jhing noticed that all of the romance stories she worked on ended with a happy ever after.

At that certain moment, she decided how to end that story.

They will both get cancer.

Sounds fun.

Jhing's mind drowned to death after finis.h.i.+ng her ma.n.u.script, that's why she was absent the day of the deadline. She slept the whole day, refreshed her mind, before coming back to work to kill herself again by editing other authors' stories.

Two days after her scheduled ‘sick leave,’ Vams shouted from the other cubicle. “Jhing! Check email please!”

Jhing's heartbeat started beating faster as she opened her email. She almost prayed to all the G.o.ds and Saints in the world for positive evaluation results.

While reading the comments, Jhing couldn't stop herself from smiling until she reached the comment for the ending….

The smiling was replaced by crying in a matter of seconds.

Tears were shed as the last fifteen minutes of reading commenced. It was heartbreaking to see her cry because of her own decision. It was only thirty thousand words worth of a story to capture my heart. The two of them became a part of me in a matter of four hours of reading. Lame as it seems but when they laugh, I laugh. They smile, I smile. When their hearts were broken, my heart also shattered in pieces. It’s nice to see a touch of reality in the end but Jhing, don’t you think it’s unfair for the girl to be this miserable? I know it’s her decision but… .BUT. BUT!

I think she deserves a happy ending. And I refuse to think and consider a happy ending without him.

Have you thought about changing the ending into a happy one? I mean, hey - this doesn’t look tragic but I don’t know - I know I’m supposed to comment like an editor (I’m trying!) I just can’t see the two of them without their own little forever. Give them their own, please. They deserve it.

Reading a comment from another perspective made her re-think of everything.

Every…. thing.

They deserve it.

Jhing wanted to laugh but what escaped her lips was sobbing.

Do they really deserve it? Does she deserve a happy ending? With him?

Hah.

“O why are you crying?” Facio asked in concern.

Jhing wiped her tears. “Sorry. The comments made me cry.”

“I didn't know you were a crybaby ka pala?!”

Jhing just laughed. Couldn’t argue, no?

The comments are a good way to start the day… not until she continued editing and she almost set her computer on fire. She grunted. Hissed. Almost flipped the table. Jhing wanted to curse but oh my G.o.d…

'Why,' she asked the heavens.

Why punish her?

Jhing highlighted the whole ma.n.u.script and added a comment: REWRITE TO MAKE SENSE!!!!

She needs a break.

She forced herself to absorb the gibberish of the ma.n.u.scripts which resulted in Jhing's nerves in the brain decaying. She's overreacting? But it's true! Her brain turned to ashes!

Jhing bowed her head to hide the anger on her face.

The pair of feet walked to the pantry to get a coffee…

But someone blocked her path.

A person wearing a worn out converse shoes.

Without looking, Jhing stepped to the right which the person did, too.

She stepped to the left… and the person followed once again.

What the h.e.l.l?

Are we dancing Cha Cha Slide right now!?

Jhing is now boiling in anger so when the person blocked her path once again- she burst out:

“Leche ah!”

With creased forehead, Jhing looked up….

Only to feel her heart stopped from beating.

A terribly familiar face looked at her with a smile.

And in a familiar playful voice, the guy said…

“Leche too.”