Chapter 28

When Rene told me she would be meeting me this weekend, gusto ko siyang takasan, but I also wanted to be true to my words with Valerio na hindi ko na nga itutuloy ang pag-interview sa kanya. Which is the sole purpose kung bakit din ako sumali ng lifeguard training and when I got side tracked and thought that it's not gonna be beneficial for both of us, hinayaan ko na lang.

He needs his private life since most of his stay here in Bondi, a lot of journalists are coming after him just to get a glimpse of what really happened that day. I know what happened that day. He told me and I mean to respect that.

He also told me that whatever he told Cory and Douglas, it was just all the same stuff he said from his past interviews and he would never do it again. That's why he never entertained my request on him... that's why entering the training thought it could be my way of getting closer to him.

But things changed along the way and I don't regret it.

Saglit lamang ay may kumatok na pinto. Hindi na ako hinintay nito na magbukas at bumungad si Kuya Henry.

"Rasha's here," anunsyo nito sa akin. Saglit lang din ay lumusot ang ulo ni Rasha. Malapad ang ngiti nito at nakuha pang makipagtitigan sa kuya.

"Thanks, Henry," she said so amusedly.

He smirked. "No problem. Anyway, where are you guys going? Don't you want to join me on the food truck today?"

Mabilis na lumingon sa akin si Rasha because she would do that without hesitation, but because we've got other things to do hindi siya pupweding um-oo.

"We'll be going somewhere."

"To where? Are you going out with Valerio?" dagdag na tanong pa nito.

I quickly shook my head. "No, we're meeting someone else. She's a girl from Perth."

"She's one of her followers," pagdurugtong pa ni Rasha.

"Ah. I see... if you can come by the beach later, would you mind helping me out?"

"We'll try!" si Rasha na ang sumagot.

"Thanks, girls!" Ngiti ni Kuya Henry saka sinara ang pinto at iniwan kaming dalawa nito sa kwarto.

Parang tanga naman na kinikilig na umupo si Rasha sa kama ko.

"You know, your house is the best meeting place ever," she said. "There are not many pretty guys like Henry on India—I'm not making any less of them, but you know why Henry is so fine for me."

I scrunched my face, slightly disgusted by the fact she keeps putting her admiration for my brother on my face.

"You've been away for two weeks. A lot of things happened," I said. "Especially on the beach."

Napanguso naman ito at humalukipkip. "Whatever, Thesia. If you're gonna break my heart with all those stuff then I'm not gonna come with you meeting Rene."

"No!" I quickly said. "Okay, I won't say anything, just come with me. You just got home in time so I won't have to do this alone. If you just saw what happened yesterday at the beach, it was so awkward I wanted to push her away. She's smiling like a weirdo. She kinds of freaking me out."

"We'll see what she will do later," she said, arching her brow repeatedly. "But I have an assumption she could ruin everything."

"Oh, no. Don't say that." Napabitaw na lamang ako nang malalim na buntonghininga. "I just hope we'll settle it perfectly and she won't take it too personally and also respect my decision."

"That's the part we won't be sure," Rasha pointed out. Tumayo naman ito at lumapit sa akin sa desk at tinapik-tapik ang balikat ko. "Just don't let her get into your nerves. Her smile could be her way to deceive us of her true intention."

"We don't know her real intention is. Maybe she's just a fan and excited to meet me." Kahit sa sinabi ko, hindi ako sigurado at napakibit balikat na lang din ako.

Hindi rin naman kami nagtagal at umalis na kami. Before we leave the house, tinawag pa ni Kuya Henry si Rasha. Inakala ko pa na iimbitahan niya ulit ito na pumunta sa food truck niya mamaya sa beach kasi alam niyang malaking tulong din ang nagagawa ni Rasha—well, if he just know!

"Thanks again for your gift. It fits perfectly."

"Of course, it does. No problem, Henry." Ngiti pa ni Rasha.

I gave them both a weird look which I happened to pull Rasha out of the house dahil sa kung saan pa umabot iyong titigan nilang dalawa. When I asked her what she gave to him, hindi naman niya sinabi sa akin kung ano 'yon. Madamot.

We'll be meeting Rene on the Westfield. I'm not sure why she was there, but she messaged me earlier that we should meet there instead. Siguro naglilibot siya mag-isa kaya naisipan niyang pumunta ro'n. That place is a mall so I guess she's just trying to get in the cold condition inside the premises.

It's still hot in here. Gusto ko na agad tapusin ang summer, but I don't also want to end what I'm having this summer. It only took us fifteen minutes to arrive at our meeting place. I message Rene asking where she is and she immediately replied she's inside a coffee shop so we went where exactly she is.

Nanginginig ang mga paa kosa bawat paghakbang ko papalapit sa meeting place namin. Hinawakan naman ni Rasha ang kamay ko. I know she'll be there for me at kung ano man ang mangyari sa pag-uusap namin ni Rene, I hope she wouldn't take it personally.

Though the fact that she flew all the way here just to receive that news made me feel sick. Pero sinasabi nga ni Rasha, hindi ko kasalanan kung pumunta siya ng New South Wales. Kung sinabi ko sa kanya na pumunta siya, that should be on me, pero sa puntong ito, wala akong kinalaman dito.

Iyon na lamang ang pinanghahawakan ko.

Nang matapatan namin ang coffee shop, overlooking from the outside, natanaw na namin si Rene from where we area. Nakita niya rin naman kami kaya kumaway ito sa amin. When she waved at us to join her inside, napahugot na lamang ako nang malalim na hininga.

"Remember, don't fall for her sweet smile," Rasha whispered.

I timidly nodded to her and then we walked inside the shop, joining Rene on her table. She's so humble and very welcoming kaya naman hindi ko alam kung paano ko sisimulan iyong patungkol kay Valerio.

She even treated us some coffee and sweets even though we said we would be okay, but she insisted. Wala na naman kaming nagawa ni Rasha at tinanggap na lamang niya iyong binigay niya. I also don't want this meeting to be so awkward na halos

"So, how are you guys?" she asked, shifting her eyes at me and Rasha.

"I'm good. Totally doing fine."

"Great! Happy that you finally got to have some rest. Your training of being a lifeguard still surprised me though, but good for you! That's some kind of achievement! And what about you, Rasha?"

"Oh! I just got back from Mumbai last night," Rasha said. "My family and I celebrated new year back in India with our relatives there and we had to go back immediately since they've got work here in New South Wales."

"Wow! That's good! You're so gorgeous I must say. You pretty much look like the Miss Universe who won last year."

"Oh, Harnaaz? I don't know about that, but I'll take that as a compliment."

"Sure, you do." She giggled.

"So, Rene, what made you go here except for the fact that I live here?"

"I wanted to see you," she said. "That's the first thing I had in mind and I've been following you ever since you broke out on Tiktok. You made a viral video there on your college campus. After that, I became one of your fans!"

I smiled. "Thanks for that. I really appreciate that you have the time and of course, money to fly here! It's expensive. I couldn't even go to the other states without minding the fee."

"That's fine for me," she said. "I really don't mind. And I know my trip here would be worth it! Now that I've got to see you and talk to you personally, I couldn't ask for more. I can't also wait to see much of Waverley. I really wanted you to show me around, but I know you're busy so I wouldn't ask that to you."

"Yeah, I'm pretty much busy with everything else. But I hope even if you're alone, you'll still be able to go around. There are a lot of places to go so you won't get bored on your stay here."

"Thanks, but if you have some recommendations I'll take that."

"I have some," Rasha said. "I'll message you later."

"Wow! Thanks, Rasha!" she's so bubbly and I feel like telling her about the challenge she asked me to do, I don't know how to say it. "Anyway, what's the progress of your interview with Valerio now? And tell me what's happening between the two of you?"

"Uh... about that, Rene, I have to tell you something and I hope you'll understand that."

"Oh... sure... what would it be?"

"I'm not going to do an interview with Valerio." And there I dropped the bomb.

"Oh..." she muttered. Natulala na lamang siya. Inaasahan ko naman iyon sa magiging reaksyon niya, what after her initial reaction is what I'm curious about. "Why? I thought you're doing well and all? You're getting closer to Valerio and I'm sure you get to have a lot of stuff you have discovered from him. Why stopped now when you could be the next big journalist?"

"Ah, Rene... she could be the next big journalist by also not doing an interview about Valerio," Rasha explained.

"But... but that's the reason why I am here. I wanted to know something about it."

"I'm sorry, Rene. I was about to tell that in one of my lives, but I know many of you will be disappointed if I say it then so I didn't say a word then."

Hindi naman maipinta ang pagmumukha ni Rene at hindi ko alam kung paano ko siya kakausapin kung parang hindi na naman niya matanggap iyong sinasabi ko.

"And Rene, you flew here by yourself and it's not Thesia's fault if she's not gonna continue her interview with Valerio. She respects that person's life so she wouldn't do that anymore."

"Then you've got stuff from him!" Rene said. "You could tell it to me alone."

"I'm sorry, Rene, but that's not how it works."

"What?!" she sounds so offended. "That's some kind of bloody BS."

"Language, Rene. We come in peace here and we don't want to fight with you. You know what, this is what I had in mind. Your petty reaction."

"My petty reaction?!" she smirked. "How dare you?"

"I think we will go now," I excused. "Thank you for your time, Rene. But just like I said, I hope you respect that as well. Come on, Rash, we're going. Have a nice stay here in Bondi, Rene..."

I harshly grabbed Rasha's hand and we immediately left her table and ran off the coffee shop. Kakaiba ang kabog ng dibdib ko at hindi ko sigurado kung paano tatanggapin ni Rasha iyon. But if she's gonna be mad at it dahil pumunta siya ng Bondi para doon, hindi ko kasalanan iyon.

Gusto ko lang maging totoo kay Valerio at ayokong sirain iyong tiwala ng tao sa akin. I may let down those people who actually doesn't know me at all than the person who's trying to believe in me. Mas pipiliin ko si Valerio over anything.

"Don't feel bad about it, Thesia. You don't have to be. It's not your fault."

"I don't know... I feel like I would be carrying this issue for the next two weeks."

She scoffed. "Don't mind her. And what does she care if you won't do it anymore? Does she get pleasure from it? Just because she's your fan you have to do what they have to do."

"I should've said it before..."

"You don't owe them anything, Thesia. Just let it go."

I thought I should do what Rasha told me. That I should just let it go and focus on the last week of my training which is the final assessment. But when I thought nothing could go wrong, on Monday, before we could go to the beach, I started receiving mentions and messages from many people online saying a lot of mean stuff about me.

One of them was... Aesthesia is a liar. And a lot of horrible things were said about me and when we figured out who did it, I was so devastated.

Rene posted a tweet on her profile quoting, 'Starting as a fan, becoming one of your enemies now.'

And that hurts me... and then the worst thing I have read, a picture of me on the beach with a caption of, Aesthesia should drown herself! Liar!

***

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Let me know your thoughts! I would appreciate it so much

#DrasticWavesInBondi #DWIBChapter28 #WTS8

Interact with me on Twitter >>> @Imjacobxoxo