Chapter 2: First love, who?!
Fangirl (noun)
Fangirl is a girl or young woman who is very enthusiastic about and interested in a particular thing such as film, entertainer, or type of music. (Cobuild Advanced English Dictionary)
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EXT. CEMETERY, DAY
Alex E.
"I was just kidding. That's what all fans would say."
Oh. Alex's shoulders dropped.
"Let me restart. I'm Isabella Santiago. I'm a fan of both your mom and dad."
Her name rang a bell. Alex finally realized that she's one of the loyal fans of both her parents. In a fan club's terminology -- an admin.
Isabella and Alex sat at an old stone bench. Isabella showed a memorable video of her and Dave. A video that was all over the news in 1988. The video showed a fan-girl who jumped on Dave just to get his autograph, even at the expense of interrupting an interview. The girl was Isabella's cousin. Also Dave's fan.
"My aunt was dying at the time and her last wish was to get an autograph from your dad. I mean. Shallow as you may think but you'd do everything to fulfill your loved ones' final wishes, right?"
Alex nodded. It's the same thing as going back to Manila when he dropped all opportunities that he could get just to find the real culprit behind his dad's death.
"Totally understandable, Ma'am. We do crazy things for love, right?"
"Yes." She paused and glanced at Dave's tombstone. "How's your mom?"
"She's good. We're running a business now."
Good for her. Isabella replied with a side-smile, her eyes stared blankly at the horizon. She picked up a card from her leather sling bag.
"Sorry. I overheard what you said a while ago. Uhm. The plan?"
Alex locked his jaw, hesitant to share another word. Can you really trust a fan? Or even a person you just met?
"If you need anything from me. Please, let me know. You have my number."
INT. VENUE PRESSCON, DAY
Alex T.
Filed under Alex's series of unfortunate events. It felt as if I was drowning inside a cave full of aliens or my most-hated species. Eeeww. Perfect casting to ruin my happy day.
The press con has finally started. I couldn't help but throw up while listening to these templated questions:
How do you feel being the new ambassador of Sheen Medical Group?
Of course, she's happy. Do you expect that she's sad? Duh!
What's your relationship status with Carl?
Relationship status? Can we ask more sensible questions? Really? Love life again?
Pea-brains. Pet-peeve. Eeeww. I can't take this anymore.
"Question from the lady at the back, you're from?"
PH TODAY. I answered sharply.
The moderator handed me the microphone. Mr. Chen gave me that 'keep-your-mouth-shut' face warning. I ignored it. You want an A-list journalist to attend your event? Well. I'm giving it to yahh, boss!
"Hi, Ms.Tamayo. Oops. Sorry. I realized this isn't Malacanang. Well. Hana. As the new ambassador of Sheen Medical Group, here's my question: The government has plans to ban Birth Control Pills in the Philippines. Your thoughts?"
Boooh yeah. Mic drop. That question startled her! Panic mode. Look at that beads of sweat on her forehead! Champion! Commotion. Murmurs. I smirked. It's like where inside a courtroom and the moderator was trying to shoosh everyone.
A stressed Hana shot a look at his beloved manager Chen, asking for help or rather asking for permission to answer truthfully. I butt in.
"I think you are at the right age to answer this question. How old are you again? 29? 30? Oh my gosh, 33??!!"
The press laughed. Even the brand heads of SMG laughed.
Of course, Mr. Chen stepped in. Oh uh.
"Miss??"
He's asking as if he didn't know me. Good acting. That wouldn't hurt me. Game. Just go with the flow, Alex.
"Tapang, Sir. Alex Tapang."
"Well. Ms. Tapang. I think that's irrelevant." He addressed the crowd, convincing them to agree. And gosh, it's working.
"Anyone can comment about Birth Control Pills. Specially women of her age. Someone who has a voice as influential as hers. And, hello! She's an ambassador of a medical group. What's irrelevant?"
I wanted to stretch our conversation. I wanted to prove to him that a bad-ass journalist asks sensible and smart questions that don't just orbit about her artist's lovelife. It's also our first talk after a very long time. In this kind of set-up. In a press conference. Oh, how showbiz!
"So, Ms. Hana Tamayo, no comment?" I lifted my recorder.
No word. But she acted as if words were about to come out of her mouth.
"Like I said. It's a sensitive issue. We can talk about it later. Moving forward…"
Mr. Chen signaled the moderator to wrap up.
INT. CAR, DAY
Alex E.
Browsing #HanaTamayo on Instagram, Alex stumbled upon the viral video of Hana being grilled in an interview. From Hana, the angle on the video zoomed in to the lady wearing white v-neck long-sleeves, tight-blue jeans, and black flat shoes; her hair was up in a ponytail form and you can see her curly hair tails resting on her right shoulder. She's pretty but a bit underrated; pretty but not as stunning as the well-pampered celebrity, Hana Tamayo.
"Birth control pills? Are you kidding me?" He vented.
To his surprise, the reporter on the video was his former MSU classmate, Alex, who's the daughter of Leila Tapang.
Leila Tapang was the lead news anchor who voluntarily covered the story about Dave's sudden death in 1989. Leila's reports and write-ups manipulated the viewers by diverting all the mess against Diane; so much so that the public forgot about Dave Esteban's murder case. She picked an angle that would pin Diane down the wire. Channeling the people's wrath against Diane was way too important than finding the real culprit behind Dave's case — at least, for Leila — as brainwashed by Eric Chen.
Much to say that Alex, being the daughter of Eric Chen — former manager of his mom Diane — and Leila Tapang — the TV Executive who manipulated media to run against Diane, inherited the sins of her parents.
He googled Alex Tapang. Top news on google were Tapang's latest investigative wins as a journalist of PH Today.
"Not surprised. It runs in their blood," Alex whispered.
That google search fired up his reason why he came back to Manila. All the more that he's pressed to re-open the case of his late father. His phone rang. It's Jake from MSU reminding him of his talk for tomorrow's MSU Hall of Famers Career Talks.
"Hey, bud! You home?"
"I replied to your message this morning," Alex replied. Annoyed.
"Level of persistence, buddy! Persistence is key! You ready for tomorrow?"
"Ahhh. Yeah. Whatever. I'll just stand there and let my lips roll, right?" He smirked.
"Ohhhhhhzzzz. Man, at least half of MSU students bought tickets because of you, bro!"
"Hmm. Cool. Thought you announced me the last minute?"
"Yeah. And our ticket sales double, man! Although, there's this hall of Famer who got a pull, too!"
"Oh. And who's that?"
"Funny, you have the same name. Same batch. Alex….Tapang. Rings a bell?"
"Yes. She definitely rings a bell." He growled. Eyes sharp. It's as if his rounded voice signaled 'Round 1' from her mental battlefield.
INT/EXT. Malacanang, Day
Alex T.
It's so unusual that I didn't ask questions during our press briefing. I couldn't even enjoy the praises and high-fives from my pals here.
Oh sweet! Ugh. I picked up my phone and I'm flooded with messages from Pinky. She didn't react to the series of text vents I spewed on her inbox. Instead, she sent me screenshots of hate comments that our team has been receiving on the now-viral video of my burning questions with Hana Tamayo from the press launch earlier.
Earlier I was viral for a news-worthy issue. Now I was breaking the net because of this non-sense, bullshit showbiz headline. Hana's troll warriors are calling me names: Ugly, Lame, Bias, Flop, and worst - an illegitimate child. Gaaaah. I almost threw my phone if it weren't for Marky's Skype call.
"Hey! I thought you're trending because of your exposé! Your banter with Hana hits the top trend on twitter! HA HA HA! From news to entertainment real quick, huh!" He joked.
Meet my best friend. My only friend, rather: Marky Olivar. Yes, I don't have any friends. I was exposed to a world where people avoided my mom. We used to transfer from one place to another. And ever since my mom died I concluded that it's useless to build a relationship if your situation is nothing but temporary. I would often set a wall so people wouldn't bother to befriend me. But befriending Marky was a different story.
My mom died at the same time Marky's sister died. Same hospital. On the night of the funeral, I didn't know where to go. Her mom Alice saw me crying alone. Non-stop. Beside my mother's grave. Penniless. Powerless. Homeless. Marky persuaded his mom to adopt me.
It was okay for the first months. We kind of helped each other recover. We prayed together. We moved on together. It was smooth. But my illusion of having a family derailed when Marky's father declined Alice's idea to legally adopt me. Marky believed that I was helping their family moved on from the death of her sister Ria, but his father thought otherwise. So I left.
"Ugh. You know how much I hate showbiz! Eew. And besides, you know the rule. Showbiz is off-limits. What if someone would find out that I'm…" I whispered… "Eric Chen's daughter."
"Don't you think that's good? I'm sure you'll like that."
Yes. I like that. Imagine my years of putting 'illegitiamte' child on every dropdown menu and leaving my father's name blank on my info sheet every now and then. Mother: Deceased. Father: Uhm. I dunno.
And just like any other best friends who totally get you, Marky diverted the topic.
"Okay. No more showbiz talk. People would forget about that viral video anyway. Let's talk about your gig tomorrow. You ready?"
Oh, shoot. I almost forgot. It's MSU's Hall of Famer's Career Talk tomorrow. It's not on my google calendar!
"You forgot?" He squinted. "You serious? Girl, you have to ace your preso! I have a last-minute inside scoop that your namesake's gonna be there!"
How could I ever forget the guy from MSU who's my namesake? Marky said that he just arrived in Manila. I knew that our batch was planning to invite him but I was sure that he'd declined if he found out that I was part of the list of speakers.
"Soooooo.. Does that give you some… good vibes?" He teased.
Good vibes? What's so good about it? He's just like my father who sees me as an eye-soar. And I got it. I inherited the hate that he has against my family for life! Fine.
"Isn't he your… pers (first) lab (love)?"
First love? Eeeww. After everything that happened today, do you think that I am still in the mood to talk about my unrequited love? No. And what great timing! Just in time when I have a viral video with a superstar who happened to be his first love! Ohhhh God help me!
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