Below The Tide (Charity Series #1)

• Fifty Five •

Betina Tiara

~

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the CVA party."

Lahat ay natahimik at umayos ng upo nang marinig ng lahat si Hailey na magsalita sa hawak nitong mikropono. Seryoso at pormal ang dating ni Hailey sa stage, tipong hindi ka pwedeng mag-ingay kapag siya na ang nagsasalita.

"We have more guest than usual, I hope that this turns out to be a meaningful occasion for all of you. I’m sure some of you are confused regarding why we are holding a press conference for a celebrity actor at a charity party. Some of you may know, but we have here one of the CVA members--- Zen, who is in the middle of a controversy at the moment," she went on, "As an organization, we would like to prevent any false rumors from spreading about one of our members and maintain the status of our organization. Of course it is our opinion that this is all a misunderstanding, please be your own judge of this matter."

Nang yumuko si Hailey para magbigay galang ay saka naman umakyat si Zen sa stage at umupo sa nag-iisang upuan na nando'n. Tumapat sa kan'ya ang mga ilaw mula sa itaas.

Binigyan ko ng ngiti si Zen nang lumapat ang paningin niya sa 'kin. Gusto ko iparating sa kan'ya na nasa kan'ya ang katotohanan at ano pa man ang mangyari ay nandito lang kami-- lalo na ako para sa kan'ya.

He cleared his throat and smiled politely at everyone, "Good morning."

"So, can we have questions now?"

"Really? Are you in a hurry?" Zen replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"Excuse me," Hailey interrupted who’s on the other side of the stage, "It’s not time for questions yet."

Zen heaved a deep sigh, "Okay so first of all, I would like to thank everyone for coming to this press conference. I highly appreciate your presence and interest regarding this contoversy, so let me start with myself. It’s... a bit funny talking about myself but please listen."

"Ever since I was a teenager I wanted to act and my family didn’t like that. I was independent from a very young age. I can’t deny that my looks played a part on how I survived in the showbiz industry, you know, when I’m in front of the camera--- acting, that’s when I can expressed myself. I think the fans who still supports me despite all the popular opinion are those who felt the sincere struggles in my characters, and me as well."

"To be honest, I meet a lot of fans and I can sense who likes me for my looks and who likes me for my acting," he let out a chuckle, "I’m grateful to both. But I think Alexandria became my fan because of my looks."

One reporter raised his hand, "Did you just say that Alexandria Rudio is your fan?" he asked.

"Actually---"

"No questions yet," anas ni Hailey.

"No it’s okay, Hailey. I wanted to tell this right away," Zen continued, "Actually she stated that she watched a lot of my shows and movies during the beginning of her career, she said I was her role model. That was posted on her blog six months ago... could you see?"

Everyone turned to the white screen on the side of Hailey as the screenshot of the blog flashed through the screen as proof.

Some of the reporters nodded as they saw the screenshot of the post.

"On the twitter account," Zen continued as the screen changed into another screenshot, "She used three years ago when she was still in college. She wrote, “Let’s claim it, magiging kami ni Zen kapag naging sikat na artista na ‘ko. As if ma-hindian n‘ya ako, right?” and a lot of her fangirling post over me. Anyway, her post wasn’t deleted yet so if I were you I would check her official accounts as proof. You can qoute them in your articles if you like."