Athena’s P.O.V.
“Later, Helena. I made a promise to your father na aalis lang ako kapag nandito na siya,” hirit niya, “tsaka ano ka ba? Kayang-kaya kong habulin ‘yong topics natin kahit nakapikit pa, I can even tutor you if you want. So ano na? Any comments so far on our proposal?” He smirked again, looking so proud of himself.
“Stop bragging, okay? In case you haven’t yet realize it, you’re already cutting your classes! Hmm, do you really want to hear my comment? Well, the report is… ugly. It looks terrible! It doesn’t even reach half of my expectation!” Then, I secretly smiled.
Nag-iba kasi bigla ‘yong aura niya. ‘Yong tipong parang lahat ng kayabangan niya sa katawan ay biglang nawala.
Ha-ha! Serves him right! I rolled my eyes.
So he immediately placed himself in front of the laptop, moved the wireless mouse and double checked the report. “Hindi naman pangit ah! Perfect pa nga ‘yong pagkakagawa ko eh. I consolidated everything and I’m sure, wala akong nakalimutang ilagay…” kumakamot siya sa ulo habang binubusisi pa rin ‘yong report namin. He even attached my USB again to check if he really missed something.
“You’re asking for my comment but you don’t want to believe it? Ang gulo mo rin eh, ‘no?” I was holding myself not to laugh. Scrolling the report from start to finish, he looked like he was very eager and desperate to know where he could have gotten wrong or which part of the report turned ugly for me. “And excuse me… nobody’s perfect, okay?” I smirked.
“Yeah, but for me… you’re almost perfect, Helena. Walang halong biro,” he whispered. It suddenly stopped me from bursting a laugh. All of a sudden, it felt like my heart skipped a beat and my stomach twirled around. I didn’t know what was happening to me… but it only happened first time in history.
Did he really say that I’m almost perfect? No, he was only making fun of me!
I looked at him intently and we were now having an unbreakable eye contact. ‘Yan na naman siya, he was again making me blush.
May mga naging crushes na rin naman ako way back elementary at sa dating high school na pinasukan ko. I even talked to some of them in terms of academic matters and I could say na ‘di hamak na mas gwapo pa sila kumpara kay Cristoff, but it was only him who could make me feel this way, to think that I didn’t even have a crush on him. He was making me happy, yes… but I hated him. We looked like a dog and cat everytime we were together!
We were still not breaking our eye contact and I didn’t know what to do anymore, when my cellular phone suddenly rang. It instantly made me look away, na para bang bigla na lang akong nahimasmasan.
Oops, saved by the bell! Thank God!
Daddy was calling based on my phone’s screen. “Hello, Dad?” I answered.
“Helena, so how’s my unica hija? Are you getting well, my princess?”
As much as I wanted to be happy, I couldn’t. Those words were meant just for Helena, not for me. Realization hit me and that hurts. I was suddenly hurt by a mere fact that he was just treating me as Helena, when I was clearly not his favorite daughter. I was already hurt by truth… and being killed by lies.
When will I be able to live as Athena again?
“I—I’m fine, Dad. M-Medyo wala na po akong lagnat though m-malat pa rin po ‘yong boses ko,” sagot ko. I was trying to ignore my intensified feelings.
“I’ll be going home late, okay? I needed to close a big deal. By the way, is your classmate still there?” he asked. Pero kung ako talaga si Helena, malamang ay uuwi na agad si Daddy. Helena was more important than anything. Baka nga hindi pa siya pumasok knowing that Helena was sick.
I glanced over Cristoff and rolled my eyes on him. “Yes, Dad. He’s still here, why?”
“Well, I’m glad he didn’t break his promise. Let him stay until dinner.”
“But, Dad? We already finished our report. I think, he should go.” I protested.
“No. Why don’t you tour him around so that you two were not just sitting there in the Study Room doing nothing, and for you to get out of the house to breathe some fresh air? Give him your phone, I wanted to talk to him…” he instructed.
I really wanted to oppose my father’s decision but I had no other choice. Labag man sa loob ko, I ended up giving my cellular phone to Cristoff.
What did he do to make Dad treat him this way?
I knew my father so well and I could say that he was very strict when it came to boys asking even a single word for Helena. He would be glad to push me in replacement of her.
Is it because he is starting to accept the fact that I was really Athena? No! I guessed, it’s too impossible.
“Thank you po, Tito. I will,” that was the last thing I heard from Cristoff before giving me back my phone for me to continue talking to my father.
“Hello, Dad? Are you really serious about this? He should go now!” Pinandidilatan ko ng mga mata si Cristoff na wala namang ibang ginawa kung hindi ngitian lang ako nang nakakaloko.
“What’s the problem, Helena? He’s a good young man. You see, he paid you a visit and he did your report. He even looked after you while I’m not around.”
“But, Dad! Alam niyo naman na I can take good care of myself even if you’re not around,” I still objected. Cristoff was laughing while I was still eyeing at him hardly. He was even wiggling his dark eyebrows to annoy me even more.
He could really, literally and figuratively… making my blood boil, ugh!
“I’ll hang up now, Helena. Daddy will resume the meeting, I love you.”
“I love you too, Dad. Bye,” and my father ended the call. “Hey, geek! What did my Dad tell you?” I asked Cristoff right away after placing my phone on the center table.