Chapter 9
"Cut!" Director Ann shouted as the last scene for this day was wrapped up. She was satisfied as how her new movie is going and she was confident they will be done shooting earlier than the expected date. After telling the crew about their next shooting day and saying her goodbyes, Ann immediately went inside her car. The driver revved the car's engine to life and drove off. Ann's cell phone started to ring…again. For almost the whole day, her cell phone didn't stop ringing. Every time she answers the call from an unknown caller, no one would respond. Her cell phone was ringing again but this time, she didn't answer the call. Instead, she turned her cell phone off and placed it back on her bag.
"Where will I take you, Miss?" Her driver asked her.
"Hmmm… Just take me to the bar, please." Ann replied. As they were driving towards the bar, Ann heard her other cell phone ring. She grabbed her bag and picked it up. It was Rita.
"Hey girl! Where are you?" Rita asked delightfully as she was mixing drinks for her special customer. Her cell phone was placed on the table and the loud speaker was on.
"I'm almost there."
"Good! Hurry up, okay? Finally, Aff's here!" Rita exclaimed as she saw Aff enter the bar. She was in the bar counter so Aff spotted her right away.
"Tell your driver to hurry up. I have something urgent to tell. Bye, love." Rita said as she ended the call.
Aff, who was now standing beside her, looked at her disgustingly.
"Okay, McHorny, what's with the face?" Rita asked her with also a look of disgust.
"Don't tell me you were having phone sex with one of your guys again?" Aff whispered to Rita's ears and laughed out loud.
"What the?! Of course not!" Rita said and pushed Aff away.
"Anyway, so that Paula girl was here a while ago?" Aff asked as she took a sit on the bar stool.
"Yes, she did came and I felt so stupid again." Rita blurted out while mixing a drink for Aff.
"My goodness Rita, everybody knows that you're stupid all the time."
"Hey! Are you my best friend or enemy?"
"Hmmmm… Both! Now, tell me what happened!" Aff grinned and drank her drink in just one gulp. She was really excited to know what the 2 ladies talked about.
"Let's wait for Ann so I won't be repeating the story for her."
"NO! Tell me now! Tell me now! Tell me now!" Aff was persuading Rita to tell her now like she was a little girl persuading her mother to open her Christmas presents now.
"OH OKAY! I'll tell you now!" Rita shouted and glared at her. Aff, on the other hand, was smiling like an angel and was ready to hear her best friend's interesting story.
"Here's what happened…"
Flashback
Rita came to the bar earlier since she was supposed to be meet Paula Taylor today. The moment she entered the bar, she easily spotted Paula sitting on the table by the window. Before going to Paula's table, Rita asked one of the waiters to bring something to drink for the two of them. Rita walked with poise as she was heading to Paula's table. She was walking like a model walking in the runway. A couple of heads turned their directions towards the beautiful Potion Mistress, admiring her beauty. Take note, Rita is not only quite stupid but she is clumsy and accident-prone as well. The Potion Mistress didn't know that the floor near Paula's table was slippery! As she was doing her infamous catwalk, Rita accidentally slipped off, causing some of the customers to slightly laugh. 2 waiters immediately helped Rita to stood up. When she was finally back standing again, Rita cleared her throat, looked around and saw that all eyes were on her. She grinned at them since she was so nervous now.
"Okay…. F-free drinks for everyone!" Rita blurted out and everyone in the bar began cheering and instantly forgot Rita's embarrassing moment. Rita finally reached Paula's table and sat across her. Paula was smiling at her and Rita smiled back but deep inside her, she was disgusted. Rita hated this girl so much since she was the reason why Rome is heart-broken and depressed.
"So what do you want to tell me, Rita?" Paula asked her. Rita didn't know how to respond since she forgot her line when she slipped off a while ago. Before meeting with Paula, Rita, with the help of Ann, was practicing some lines for this particular moment.
"Uhhh… Uhhh… I-I…" Rita was stammering on her words since she couldn't think on how she would begin a conversation concerning…Rome.
"Yes?" Paula asked her.
"I-I just want to know where did you bought your Chanel lip gloss?"
"Oh… That… Rome bought it for me…" Paula replied uncomfortably. Rita just smiled at her and still unsure on what to do. Good thing Paula brought up the sexy devil's name.
"So it was Rome… " Rita sighed.
"Paula, please talk to Rome. He's been depressed for days now." Rita finally said what she wanted. For the past few days, Rita has been worrying about Rome's condition. His mother told them that Rome is always drunk and is not even going to work. All he did was stay in his room and drown himself in liquor.
"Why are you telling me this?" Paula asked her coldly. The truth is, Paula is confused right now. She, herself, didn't know what to do as well. Her ex-boyfriend wanted to be with her again but Rome was also special for her.
"I wanted Rome to be happy. Can you please visit him and talk to him. Please?" Rita pleaded. She really wanted to slap Paula right now but she just can't. She was so jealous with her since her sexy devil loves her. If only Rome would open his eyes wider and see that the one who really loves him is the stupid person who is always beside him. Paula sighed.
"Okay. I'll go and talk to him then." Paula said and smiled at Rita.
"Rome is so lucky to have a friend like you." Paula told her, kissed Rita's cheek and left.
"He would be luckier if he loved me instead of you…" Rita whispered to herself as she watches Paula left the bar.
***end of flashback***
"You told her that?!" Aff shouted at her best friend after hearing her story. She drank another shot of cocktail in one gulp and pushed Rita's forehead using her index finger.
"I want Rome to be happy!" Rita shouted at her and also pushed Aff's forehead with her index finger.
"You want to make Rome happy but how about yourself? I know you won't be happy to see Rome going out with another girl." Aff blurted out and Rita sighed.
"How I wish I was Sleeping Beauty." Rita said and drank her milk. Although Rita owns a bar, she rarely drinks liquors. She loves her milk so much that she can't last a day without drinking a glass of it.
"Why do you want to be Sleeping Beauty now?"
"So I won't be going through all these things. I'll just wait for the sexy devil to wake me up when he's ready to love me."
"What if he will not be ready to love you?"
"Then, I'd rather sleep forever." Rita blurted out sadly. Aff stood up and entered the bar counter. She gave her best friend a hug to comfort her. As Aff and Rita were talking, a waiter interrupted them.
"Excuse me, Ma'am but someone is looking for Director Ann." He told Rita and pointed at the guy sitting on the farthest table.
"Who is he?" Rita asked her waiter.
"He said he is Director Ann's good friend." The waiter replied. Aff examined him carefully.
"He's probably Ann's stalker!" Rita exclaimed.
"Stalker? I don't think so. I think he's her secret admirer." Aff exclaimed delightfully.
"How can you tell he's a secret admirer?" Rita asked her confusingly.
"Stalker is used only for ugly guys while secret admirer is a term used for hot guys. See the difference?" Aff explained and the gullible Rita believed it at once.
"Give Ann's secret admirer a free drink and tell him Ann is on her way." Rita instructed her waiter and looked at the stranger. The stranger smiled and both Rita and Aff smiled back.
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"Remember to take your medications before your wedding night, Dr. Atichart. We don't want to disappointment your wife-to-be." Aum's doctor reminded him as he wrote more prescriptions for him. Aum nodded and smiled.
"And just read more of those books that I told you." The doctor added and smiled. Aum took the written prescription, said goodbye to his doctor and left.
---TBC---