11/23

Hashtag 02

"Hala? Araw ba ng patay ngayon?"

Hindi na kailangan lumingon ni Jhing para makilala ang bubbly voice ni July, a co-editor. While checking her email, Jhing tried to smile at July.

"Ayan na ha, nakangiti na ako."

"Girl, ang creepy!"

Napasimangot si Jhing. Lalong tumawa si July. Pagkabukas ng latest manuscript to edit, page 43 na siya, devastated when she saw there are 300 plus pages more to go.

Oo na! Alam ko na! Di nga ako prinsesa pero hindi rin naman siya prinsipe, ah?! Gusto ko lang naman ng fairy tale. Gusto ko lang naman ng happy ending namin. Ano bang masama doon?! Nagmamahal lang ako! Nagmamahalan lang kami pero bakit may sisira pa rin?! Bakit kahit ang dami nang nangyari sa amin, hindi pa rin namin makuha ang happily ever after namin?!!!!

Aahhh! Nakakabingi!

Kung papel lang ito, there's a huge possibility she'll set this manuscript on fire. Sa ilang months niyang nag-te-training bilang editor ng publishing company kung saan siya writer, doon niya nalaman ang isang pet peeve niya.

Shouting! Voices! All! Over! The! Manuscript! It! Hurts!

Sheeet.

As she corrected the punctuation marks and toned down the 'shouting voice!' of the narration, July giggled after Jhing posted a comment. The exclamation point (ssssss!!!!) make the story childish, my eyes are bleeding pls stop. Note: Dear Jhing, delete this comment after.

"Kapag nalimutan mo burahin 'yan ta's na-send mo sa author, lagot."

Jhing sighed, pinalitan ang comment: 'I replaced the (!) with (.) for better reading experience, at para mas professional ang dating.'

"Better," July said.

"Dapat kasi sinasabi natin sa kanila kung paano maaayos kwento nila."

"You know people. Kaunting negative lang, butt hurt na."

"Yung mata ko, butt hurt na talaga. Sumasakit ulo ko."

Jhing wasn't really the joker type of a person. Kung may dry humor, sa kanya ay dead humor, RIP. Ohh, and one time, that particular guy said she had no humor and she laughed because it's true and—oh, shit.

Never mind, doesn't matter.

The point is, it's either Jhing's humor was resurrected, or July just laughs at everything.

"Anong problema mo? Ang cranky mo."

Or July just wanted to laugh at Jhing's crankiness.

"Wala."

Jhing sipped her coffee, trying to drown herself para naman nerbyusin siya imbis na mainis.

"Ows? Ano bang nangyari?"

With hesitation, Jhing peered at their surroundings. May sari-sariling mundo at nagkukwentuhan ang karamihan, malalakas ang loob dahil may meeting ang mga bosses.

Defeated and frustrated, she confessed, "wala pa akong naisusulat sa novella."

July frowned. "Bakit? Excited pa naman akong i-edit 'yung iyo!"

"Wala kasi akong maisulat. Writer's block."

Habang iniisip ni Jhing ang mga ginawa the past few weeks, ei: nothing, napanghinaan siya ng loob. Big project na kasi. To be part of this project was a good thing, tapos may chance pang mapili gawa niya for a movie adaptation. Once picked, one step closer na siya sa pinaka-goal niyang yumaman. And she could buy all the things she wanted after giving her siblings a bright future and her mom a good life.