Come On, Collide

[6] The One With The Emails

*waves awkwardly* Hullo!

So...yeah. It's been six months since my last Thing2 update. If you follow me on Twitter, alam niyo siguro na ilang beses kong pinangako na parating na ang chapter na 'to at nagtweet pa ako ng ~teasers. Sorry kung nagpatakam lang ako hahahuhu. The past months had been a little...weird (an understatement) for me kaya natagalan akong magpost. A huge chunk of this chapter was written months back (written, meaning sa notebook ko haha) at paunti-unti ko siyang tinype sabay edit na rin. Na parang walang effect kasi ang supposedly 2k word count ay naging 4k (excluding this annoying author's note lol).

Sorry for the long wait, guys. Gusto ko sanang mangako na mag-u-update ulit ako soon kaso ayoko namang magpaasa kaya abang-abang na lang pag may time haha.

Something to look forward to (I hope), though: chapter 7 will be a filler update, pero sa chapter 8 na ang POV ni Andreau ng TSIB Chapter 5, aka no'ng nasa San Ignacio na sila. Watch out for that hahaha!

All mistakes are mine. Jusko, kabado akong ipost 'to. Enjoy :D

#Thing2Ch6

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The One With The E-mails

Ten days after that infamous (and very awkward) dinner, natapos din ni Andreau ang five-paged proposal niya para sa CinePinas Docufest.

Although he was relieved na finally, worth it ang halos dalawang linggong pagpupuyat, disappointed pa rin siya na hindi niya na-meet ang goal niya na matapos ito in just a week. It wasn't his personal best; "crammed output" na para sa kanya ang anumang trabaho na hindi niya naipasa four days before the said deadline. He only has himself to blame, though. Okay na sana ang Draft #6 niya three days ago, kaso nakasalubong niya sa hallway ang adviser niya at pinabasa niya ang draft para sa comments. It took him a day and half to incorporate every comment-- he even had to rethink a huge chunk because yeah, that didn't sound right, how come he didn't realize that in the first place? Once satisfied, mga sampung beses pa niyang pinroofread ang final proposal bago ipasa sa screening committee.

Sa wakas, tapos na ang Phase One ng plano niya. Maghihintay lang na lang siya ng resulta.

Ugh, waiting. That's what he liked least with projects like this. Kung siya lang ang masusunod, diniretso na sana nila ang shooting sa San Ignacio this week. Fuck those proposals, formality lang 'yon. May pera naman siya para pondohan ang two week shoot sa probinsya. Kaya niyang magsakripisyo ng pera, oras, at tulog matapos lang ang entry niya earlier than scheduled. He has a lot on his plate right now, work and school things, kaya mas mabuti nang gawin pa ang pwedeng gawin habang may oras pa siya.

(Andreau Cortez was never a patient man.)

This documentary was the most stressful project he's ever done in years. Bukod sa goals niya, dumagdag pa sa pressure ang adviser niya at dean ng Mass Comm na nag-e-expect na maiuwi niya ang grand prize ng CinePinas. Kung bakit siya lang ang sumali sa batchmate niya this year, hindi niya alam, and frankly, pabor pa sa kanya 'yon. Malabo na siyang makakuha ng Latin honors (laging sagad ang absences at may ilang subjects siya na 2.5 pababa ang grade) kaya sa extra curricular activities siya bumabawi.

After sending his proposal, Andreau drove around the campus to clear his head and mentally plan his schedule for the coming months. Fini-figure out niya kung paano niya maisi-singit ang isang (surprise) ocular inspection sa San Ignacio this March. A day or two would suffice, he thought. Maybe he could ask Zade abo--

He almost stepped on the brakes.

Oh, right. Si Zade.

He'd tried so hard to forget about that awkward dinner. Andreau has had his fair share of awkward moments before, but that dinner had been the worst. Different. Unnerving. A fucking wake up call. He couldn't believe someone could caught him off guard with just one look of indifference, from a stranger, no less. He'd thought having Roldan with him would help make the situation better, as always.