Blurred Lines

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She returned to work that week. Alden was so excited to see her on TV again. He was giddy again, even though he still had to act sad because another wedding was scheduled that weekend between her and Frankie.

It didn't come to fruition though. Because, as it turned out, the minister they hired was a fraud. So even though the wedding was completed, it was deemed invalid.

He was happy because Maine seemed to be fine, on the other side of the screen. He felt lighter, and it wasn't only him that could notice.

Back in the dressing room, he excitedly narrated to Tricia the antics that Maine was doing on-screen.

"She was so funny! I swear, I don't know how she thinks of doing those things! And her facial expressions are just to die for," he was so ecstatic.

From the other side of the vanity, Tricia was seated smiling and laughing at Alden's reactions.

He deftly typed in some search words in Youtube and brought up past videos of the kalyeserye that were uploaded online.

"See, look at her here!" He was pointing at Maine in the video.

"You know what I want to look at?" Tricia chided. "Look at you! Do you see the look on your face?"

"What? What is it?"

"It's the look of someone who has seen the person who makes him happiest." Tricia stared him down.

"Really?" Alden started to blush. "She's really just funny!"

"Yeah, she is. And you look smitten in this shot," Tricia pointed at his expression on the video.

"Well, what am I supposed to look like?"

In the van, Maine, Jose, Wally, and Paolo were having a discussion. They were on their way home from the location shoot.

"What are you so afraid of?" Wally was asking Maine.

"That he might not like me that way!" She defended.

"What if he does?" Paolo asked. "I've been speaking to his make-up artist and she was telling me that he's different now. Do you know he can't stop talking about you?"

"Are you serious?" Maine questioned.

"He hasn't talked so much about anyone!" Paolo exclaimed. "Whenever he's in the dressing room, he's normally just there. But now, everyone's just so surprised."

"What should I do? There's still no assurance that he likes me."

"I think our segment writers have you covered on that," Jose shared. "The next few segments should be interesting for him. He's got a lot of surprises in store for him. If he likes you, it seems they'll make him work for it. If he doesn't like you yet, well, with the things he's about to do, he'll want you in the end."

Maine looked puzzled but chose not to pursue the matter.

"Alden!" Lola Nidora shouted on air. "If you like Maine, then you're going to have to prove it! I don't approve of how easy it is to get into relationships nowadays! Back in the old days, if you liked someone, you had to do things for their family to show that you were indeed worthy to be with their daughter!"

This was the greeting Alden got the following day. He looked at Wally's image on the screen, and he had a genuine quizzical look on his face. Genuine because this was a surprise for him, and quizzical, because he absolutely had no idea what they were going to make him do.

Maine was standing behind Wally with a concerned look on her face. Are they really going to make him do this? She was wondering. The sun is at its highest in the sky, and its so hot, and the pollution, and people... she trailed off as she started to worry about Alden.