An introvert reader. An online writer. A nostalgic short story.
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An introvert fanboy develops a crush to his favorite online writer, who doesn't even know his existence. Instead of following her on her social media accounts, sending her long swee...
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Dear Calliope,
Ang duga mo rin ‘no? May mga tinatago ka palang exclusive stories on your own reading website. Kung hindi pa sinabi sa akin ni Kylie, hindi ko pa malalaman na may mga story ka pa pala na out of this world.
Pero sige lang, pinapatawad na kita agad kahit hindi ka pa humingi ng sorry. Dahil bukod sa idol kiya, ang gaganda pa ng exclusive stories mo. Sobrang ang cool mo talaga! You’re really a genius one!
Ang cool talaga ng reading site mo. Before we can read those stories, we need to perform several challenges and answer some questions. The purpose of those games was for you to confirm if we are truly one of your readers. After the confirmation, the site gave me a code to open some exclusive stories.
Ang una kong binasa ay ‘yong nasa fan fictions category since wala ka pa namang pinopost sa wattpad na fan fiction. Dahil trending palagi nitong mga nakaraang araw ang kalye serye, una kong binasa ang fan fiction na gawa mo for AlDub -- Hello, Maiden.
Hindi ko akalain na gagawa ka ng story na point of view ng isang lalaki. May part naman na meron ding kay Maine pero mas marami ang kay Alden. On that story, even for a short period of time, you brought me to their real world.
After that, naghanap pa ako ng iba. I was expecting na meron ka rin about KathNiel since sila ang tinaguriang blockbuster teen king and queen, pero wala. And I can’t help myself asking why?
Dahil puro kpop idols ang mga sumunod na fan fictions, and I know to myself that I can’t connect to each story, I just skipped them all. Maybe I should read some articles about them first or watch several video of them next so that I can relate to them.
I shifted my interest to your anime fan fictions category. There, I found and started reading Project X, a fan fiction story about the adventure of Gon and Killua of Hunter x Hunter. It was all about the quest of Killua together with his sister and the story of Gon after meeting his father. Dahil nakakabitin nga talaga ang series na ‘yon, gumawa ka na lang ng after story nito.
You know what? Habang binabasa ko ang bawat chapter, pakiramdam ko, para akong nanunuod ng bawat episode nito because each chapter was amazing.
Each one of your stories is fascinating!
After downloading for offline reading of those remaining anime fan fiction stories, my interest landed to the short stories category. I never read a one-shot story written by you since you never posted something like that on your Wattpad account.
You were really full of surprises. You really knew how to make each one of your readers be amazed to your stories.
Pagkatapos kong basahin lahat ng one-shot stories mo, bigla kong naisip na subukang magsulat kahit gano’n lang ka-iksi. It was really a short one but the story itself tells a lot.
Among your entries, the Unconditional Love was my favorite. It was a story about the undying love and support of a mother to her reckless and self-centered daughter, who was, eventually, became the one who caused the death of her mother.
Pakshet lang, naiyak ako after reading that. Mapanakit ka talaga kahit kailan. Akala ko naka-move on na ako sa second installment ng tribe series mo pero biglang bumalik lahat pagkatapos kong mabasa ang one-shot story na ‘yon. Can I call you lovely ‘bitch’ just for to this one?
I was about to exit the short stories category when suddenly, a message from Kylie popped up on the screen.
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Kylie:
Check these stories on that site. Thanks me later.
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Hindi ko na nagawang mag-reply pa sa kanya dahil hinanap ko na agad ang mga story na ‘yon. Halos lahat ng suggested stories na binigay ni Kylie ay nasa ongoing stories mo. Most of them were already on the first quarter of the story but four of them were almost on their final chapters. Hence, I decided to open those almost finish first.
If I am going to assess you and how you wrote stories, I could say, you categorized them mostly into two main genres: slice of life novels and speculative fictions. Most of your stories on Wattpad were under teen fiction novels but on that site, you focused on writing speculative stories which I found astonishing.
You and your stories are always unpredictable. Indeed, you are a queen of genre explorer.
One of the stories under your speculative genres was entitled: In Times of Darkness. It was a story about an abandoned kingdom and its people.
Honestly, your choices of words on that story were quite deep. Maybe some of your readers would surely got annoyed or somehow their nose were bleeding uncontrollably. Alam mo kung bakit ko ‘to nasasabi? Dahil gano’n din ang nangyari sa akin.
Gusto ko sanang magbasa pa ng ilang stories pero baka himatayin na ako. Instead, dinownload ko na lang ang mga ito for offline reading. Baka kasi maputulan pa kami ng kuryete. Or baka i-delete mo na naman ang mga ito. Mas mabuti na ‘yong sigurado.
Habang hinihintay kong matapos ma-download ang mga ‘yon, nag-scroll muna ako sa ibang category ng website mo. To my surprise, may activity board ka rin rito kung saan may quiz about your stories pati na rin ang mga character na likha mo. Bawat tamang sagot, may makukuha kaming points at pwede namin itong gamitin para ma-unlock ang ibang features sa site mo.
Balak ko na sanang i-exit ang website pero may nakita akong kakaiba. Hindi ito fan fiction stories or short stories. Hindi rin ito novel or series. At lalong hindi rin ito part ng activity board. It was your personal blogs. Several blogs that were categorized into three: thoughts, writing, and personal.
“Ano kaya ang laman nito?” I can’t help but to ask myself.
My curiosity brought me to your personal blogs. It was like as if I have finally found the answers to the set of questions inside my head. Like the reason what inspires you to write, the reason why you chose to keep your privacy, and other stuffs.
The first category was all about your opinion on something, such as growing up issues, insecurities and changing for the better version of yourself. The second one talked about your writing styles and journey. What helps you to write, your schedule of writing and other tips for writing. The last category was my favorite one. It was about telling your own story.
I know sharing and posting your personal issues and insecurities in life was something quite difficult. Especially for someone who don’t want to be noticed by and burdened to others. But you tried and made it.
Maybe, that was your own way of connecting to the world and to your readers.
Sometimes, we need to do something difficult not just because we wanted to, but at some point, we left with no other choice but to do it.
To breathe. To live. And to be free. Hang in there and be brave, calliope.
