The Ultimate Man Hater 2.0 (Revising)

6th Hate: Hashtag Forever

"Hm, Oo naman." Natawa pa nitong sagot patungkol sa kanyang asawa. Nyeta.

"Landi mo." Pabulong na sagot sa kanya ni Mikaela ng nakangiti. "Ikaw Belinds? Meron bang nagpapainit ng iyong mga gabi?" tanong nya kay Belinda ng may nangungusap pang mga mata.

Napatingin pa muna sa amin ang sekretarya kong si Belinda saka din sumagot. "Opo Ma'am. May boypren po ako eh." Nangingiti pa nitong sagot. Weh talaga may boyfriend sya? Eew.

"O ikaw Bernadette? Malamang meron ka." Turo nya rin kay Bernadette.

"Of course." Proud naman na sagot netong isa patungkol kay Charles.

"O ikaw naman Ms. Tapia, may forever ka ba?" tanong sa akin ni Mikaela. Tawagin daw ba akong Ms. Tapia.

Nag cross arms pa muna ako bago sya sagutin. "Kung forever lang ang pag uusapan, wala—"

"Woops!" pagtigil nya sa aking pananalita. "May forever ka girl. Forever Alone." Banat nya saka sila sabay sabay na napatawa. Ang kupal na si Asher pa ang may pinakamalakas na tawa. Walanghiya.

"Kidding aside," pagpapatuloy ni Mikaela sa kanyang pananalita. "Forever is a word that mean so much to this generation. Merong hashtag walang forever at meron din namang, hashtag may forever. Two contradicting sides of the word. Ganun naman palagi di ba. Pero, what we wanted as a project is something that the girls or even the youth rather of this generation would want to read. Ano ba yon? Actually, sex might be the number one thing that they would want to read, secretly ofcourse. Like you know, how to have sex. Boom pak! Pero, if I were a 14 year old girl starting to hit puberty, aba, hindi ko naman pwedeng basahin ang isang sexy slash porno magazine sa harap ng mga magulang ko noh. Or, a 14 year old boy for example. Vice versa, that kind of magazine is not something that a parent and a child can share with each other. Ano to? Sex ideas sharing? Hindi naman di ba." tumango si Mikaela kay Asher para ilipat ang slide.

"What we wanted," pagpapatuloy nya sa kanyang pananalita. "is a topic that everyone can share with, which is Love. We wanted to focus on forever, specifically on the hashtag may forever. We have to show interviews then write articles or even conduct activities that shows na pagdating sa love, may forever. This is the idea which we wanted to expand and be the main theme of our next project. That love is forever."

Itinaas kong marahan ang aking kamay. "Why focus in hashtag may forever? Why not in hashtag walang forever?" pagtatanong ko kay Mikaela.

"Because the focus of that is hate and not love Jess." Mabilis at nakangiting sagot ni Mikaela. Mukhang handa ang babaeng ito ah.

"We wanted to advocate happiness and not hatefulness." Tumayo si Asher at singit na nagsalita. "Happiness is contagious. Kung magiging mukhang masaya ang advocate natin, mas magiging madali sa atin maghanap ng mga organization and people that would support the project." pagpapatuloy pa nya. Sus, yun lang naman ang naitulong.

"So, what do you think?" masayang tanong ni Mikaela.

"I think that is a good idea." Sagot ni Aden. "Timely and with a nice advocacy. Right Berns?"

"Yeah. And actually, parang may mga pumasok ng ngang idea sa akin ngayon. I think we could work on to that." Masayang pagsang ayon din ni Bernadette sa kanila.

Saglit akong nag isip. Maganda ang konseptong ito. Napapanahon nga sabi pa nila pero...

"I like that the advocacy promotes "happiness" pananalita ko habang in-analyze ang konsepto. "Sa tingin ko ay, ito naman talaga ang tamang energy na ipromote ng ating magazine pero...masyadong maganda din ang konsepto ng hashtag walang forever para tuluyan na natin itong isantabi. Why don't we also make articles na nagpapakitang there is happiness in loving and choosing oneself. Kasi di ba, hindi naman lahat ng single ay malungkot at hindi naman lahat ng in a relationship ay masaya. Hindi naman bilog ang mundo at yun na yon. Different perspectives and dimensions in love and of love."

Mabagal silang napatango at mukhang napa isip.

"I like the idea." Unang nag express ng kanyang opinyon si Asher na para bang mas "pro" na ang dating nito, doing his role bilang ang aming consultant kuno. "But that part of the whole project is kind a tricky. No matter what happen, the end goal should be happiness."

**

this chapter has been proofread and revised.

MsRedMonster,

01/11/19