Certain Uncertainties

XXVII

HABANG NASA TENT AKO, nakatitig lang ako sa phone ko. She's not replying, halos dalawang araw na.

Nasa Mommy pa rin ba nya ang phone? Maybe. She wouldn't ignore my calls and messages for no reason. "Denice, can we talk?" 

"Direk Patty, pasok po" sabi ko. Nakaramdam naman ako ng biglaang kaba. "We won't have enough time for this later so I'm taking this chance to finally talk to you about this" 

Inabot n'ya sa akin ang isang papel. TV Rating Statistics.

"For the past week, our viewership were down 5% and the trend shows that it will continue to drop kung hindi natin macocontrol"  This is the first time Direk Patty talked to me personally about the ratings, at alam ko na kung saan papunta ang usapang ito.

"Sorry po, Direk. Nadadamay kayo sa issue namin ni Deanna" sagot ko. "I'm not here to judge or comment about the real deal between the two of you pero apektado na ang show natin. People have jobs to keep, we even extended our original contract but this... the fanwar of the two fandoms leading to massive decline of viewership affects all of us. Ilang sponsors na rin natin ang nagbigay ng concern about sa issue, one has even backed out"

Inabot nya ang kamay ko, "Denice, I need to know what your management is doing to control this"

"I'll... I'll talk to Pixie. On Saturday, Deanna and Virgo will give a statement together.  Sorry it has to come to this extent, Direk" I feel so bad. Kita ko kay Direk na pati s'ya ay apektado na rin.

"Alright, for the mean time, tapusin na natin ang backstories ninyo. We made revisions. As much as possible, lahat ng scenes nyo ni Deanna together ay hindi muna kukuhanan until all of this is figured out. That's the least I can do not to worsen the dating issue, mas okay na hindi muna kayo makita na magkasama sa set"

Gusto kong magprotesta pero hindi ko magawa. All of a sudden, pakiramdam ko lahat ng mata nasa amin na nakatingin. Wala naman kahit sino sa set ang nagtatangkang magtanong, not even our co-stars.

Like an elephant in the room, the issue becomes something so huge but everyone refuses to acknowledge it.

"Direk, 'yung tungkol po sa aming dalawa ni Deanna..." panimula ko pero hindi ko alam kung paano itutuloy.

"Denice, hija. Again, it is not my place to meddle. I just need an assurance that something is being done to control your supporters' reactions"

I can feel her support. Somehow, I'm grateful she's not  forcing me to explain things kasi sa totoo lang, kahit ako hindi ko na rin alam. 

Nang makaalis na si Direk Patty, "Miss, si Madam Pixie kanina pa po tumatawag" sabi ni Pia saka inabot ang phone.

Napabuga ako ng hangin bago sumagot.

"Until when are you going to ignore my calls?" bakas ang inis sa tinig n'ya. "Yes, I'll go to your office later" I said with no choice. 

"You are driving me nuts, for real, Maria Denice! Should you have listened to me before..." napapikit nalang ako. Ito na naman kami. "Ugh. Ano pa bang sense na sermonan ka, I could imagine your eyes rolling. See you later"

"Miss Den, okay ka lang ba?" tanong ni Marie habang inaayusan ako para sa susunod na scene. "Are you worried na mawawalan ka ng trabaho kapag nasira ang career ko?" tanong ko sa kanya.