THE GOOD SISTER

Chapter 30 - Headline

Good morning my dears, I am taking a break from work for fifteen minutes, what better way to do that than to post my update, diba? 

I know you are all hoping for our two couples to have a smooth sailing relationship, with no 'saksak-puso' moments. But it's those moments that make them stronger, and we can't get all kilig till last chapter because you all might get bored with me and leave the story, haha. 

So susundot tayo konti, ok? Promise, painlevel 6 lang, no Disruption or The Surrogate Wife levels. Konti lang. Stay with me, hinga lang, laban lang ok? Tiwala lang, it's all going to be happy and worth it in the end, I promise you that :)

The news of Disruption being shot as a movie generated curiosity for it. Pages Bookstore picked up on the frenzy and signified interest to get another two thousand copies of the book. They also arranged for a Meet-and-Greet activity for Richard, which included a live book reading session and book signing. Two weeks after that first presscon, another set of one thousand books were ready for distribution. This time, Pages made the book available online as well.

The poster outside Vanilla Bean Café showed Richard's photo on the back cover of Disruption. Women were curious about who this broodingly handsome author was, and why his book was so tragic. So many women lined up to buy the book, such that the five hundred copies available in the café for purchase were wiped out by the crowd.

Only two hundred people could be accommodated inside Vanilla Bean, the rest were asked to wait outside the café for the meet-and-greet while the live reading session was being done. There were more women who wanted to buy the book but had no recourse but to go to Pages Bookstore, get the book there, and come back in line for the meet-and-greet.

Dei was seated on a corner table, watching Richard read a few lines from his book. He was a natural, his American accent and deep voice had the women and young girls swooning. There were a few media people and bloggers who also came to the event, and she made sure they were taken care of with food, drinks and a free book as token for coming. She had a surprise up her sleeve that Richard didn't know, and it was happening in a bit.

Just as he was reading a part of the book that had interaction between Richard, the main character, and Maine, the female character of the book, Kat emerged from the café's counter to read Maine's lines. The audience went wild, but were kindly requested to settle down, to finish the reading session. Richard was composed, he and Kat read their lines impeccably. The right emotions were there, their chemistry was felt by the audience. At the end of the reading session, thunderous applause was heard and people clamored for a kiss.

Richard was looking awkward and Kat blushed. Dei wanted to take this opportunity and tried to get Richard's attention. She gave the go signal for Richard to kiss Kat on the cheek, there was an imperceptible shake of his head, a momentary sharp look at Dei. But she clasped her hands together as though imploring him to do it. He awkwardly approached Kat and merely pressed his cheek to hers.

"I'm sorry but I don't like this one bit," He whispered. Kat blushed furiously in embarrassment, but the crowd saw it as a blush of someone in love. He smiled back at the crowd, the smile not quite reaching his eyes. But the crowd does not know him well enough to see the smile for what it really was, they saw what they wanted to see; the birth of a new couple to ship.

During the question-and-answer portion, Richard tried to answer the ten questions as best as he could. The questions were mostly personal, some about his writing habits, his love life, hobbies and some asked about his involvement in the movie. One lady asked about his inspiration for the book. He thought for a while and answered carefully.

'When I was still in Northwestern University, I fell in love with a girl who couldn't be with me. We tried to make the relationship work, but it just wouldn't happen. When we finally accepted we were not meant to be, I wrote the book to try to move on."

He looked at Dei and smiled. Their eyes met and held, and Kat saw the exchange, feeling left out. Inigo was right, even in a sea of people, Dei and Richard could still have a world of their own. They were capable of blotting out everybody and have eyes for each other only. It was just a few seconds, but anyone astute enough to read body language would know that they were two people in love.

The crowd did not see this though. As he side-glanced to his right to look at Dei, they felt he was glancing to his right to look at Kat, but was too shy to fully look at her.

"Richard, si Kat ba yung girl na yun? Diba friends na kayo dati pa?"

Kat answered for him, afraid that he would get offended with all the personal questions.

"Guys, let's just talk about the book ok? Huwag na yung private life ni Richard, hindi po siya artista."

At the end of the meet-and-greet, five hundred or so books later, the event was done. They all got a text message from Ciara, the PR consultant of Kat's network, requesting for a quick meeting still at Vanilla Bean. Vanilla Bean prepared a private function room to give them privacy. Inside, Ciara, Sir Eddie and Inigo were waiting for them.

"Hi everyone, thank you for staying on despite the short notice. Richard, congratulations on the successful meet-and-greet. Never before have I seen so many women lining up for a book! I bet some of them just wanted to see you."

Richard felt insulted. He didn't care much about his looks or women wanting to see him. He wanted to know if they liked the story, if these people could identify with his characters. He also wanted to create awareness for OCD and how it cripples people to function normally.

"Uh, Ciara thanks I guess. But I'd really want for them to read the book and appreciate it. The celebrity status that comes with it is something I don't really care much for."

"Wooohhh, don't say that sa interviews ha, yari tayo diyan. Don't worry, I've read your book and it's damn good. I'm sure people who bought it will appreciate the story. The response to your chemistry with Kat, though. Wow."

Richard looked apologetically at Inigo, who was smiling tightly. He would need to talk to this guy about him and Kat.

"Anyway, the reason why we called for this meeting is to discuss how to move forward with the movie publicity efforts. Let's start off with this fascination for Kat and Richard. We've decided to play up on this pairing for the durationof the shoot until post-showing of the movie."