Chapter 7

The Fortune of Luck and Hard Work

 

 

 

It’s the first day of Cleo’s shoot on the set, and she’s still inside the tent, eating her sunny-side-up breakfast. She had a van service with the production team to get to their location at Bonifacio Global City, a commercial center filled with glitzy shopping areas. It’s where all the rich people live and work. It’s basically Manila’s Silver City.

Cleo looks at herself in the mirror. She’s dolled up like Selene—killer red lipstick and scanty sheer dress with a sultry expression on her face. She tries out a smile, but it appears too forced. She frowns and then smiles again. And again. Until she perfects it enough to fool anyone who sees her. Actors are magicians; nobody knows what’s really inside the hat but them. They can pull a rabbit out of the hat and call it a dove, and everyone will see a dove.

Cleo needs to pull herself out of the hat and identify herself as Selene. Not that Selene is a dove or a rabbit—she’s more of a snake.

Selene is a beautiful snake that sheds skin for her career.

“I’m not a snake,” Cleo says to herself, not wanting to imagine her tongue hissing like a snake’s. That’ll be too cryptic and weird. “I’m a Leo. I’m a Lion.”

 

“And they’re gonna hear you roar? Are you a fan of Katy Perry?” Kristel, the production assistant, chimes in. She’s got a lapel in her right hand and the script on the other. She puts the script on the table and takes the brush, combing Cleo’s hair to untangle the slight mess.

Cleo smiles wryly. “Just thinking out loud.”

“Do you need anything else? Water?” Kristel asks, checking her phone for text messages.

“Water’s good. Thanks.”

Kristel nods and turns away. The back of her gray t-shirt reads Production Assistant, but sometimes she seems like a director herself. She’s tiny but also loud. Cleo’s guess is it’s one of the requirements for being a PA.

“Oh, and Jake’s outside looking for you.” Kristel glances meaningfully at Cleo. She doesn’t need to tell Cleo to go outside. The tone of her voice is enough to make Cleo leave her vanity table and look for Jake.

The searing heat of the sun greets Cleo’s skin, it’s only 8:00 a.m., and the sun’s all high and mighty. But what she sees in front of her soothes her, lightens her anxiety. It’s a mural of pastel pink, purple, and blue doors, the doors of imagination. Life in this city may be extravagant, but what brings it to life is the mural art painting in surprising places.

“Have you ever gone mural hunting here?”

Cleo doesn’t need to turn toward the voice to know it for Jake’s. “I haven’t had the time, but looking at it now, I think I’d like to give it a try.”

“Perfect.”

Cleo turns to look at Jake and finds him staring at the mural in front of them. He’s in a casual black t-shirt and dark gray sweatpants as if he just came from a run and casually dropped by the set for the shoot. Now she envies him for wearing something so comfortable.

“Why me?” Cleo asks as the wind blows her hair.

Jake shrugs, fixing the gel on his hair. “You’re Direk Everett’s daughter, aren’t you? You’re publicity.”

“You mean I’m publicity more than I’m a performer?”

“Selene got into an accident. If another random actress fills in, it’ll fail because—”

“Because everyone has love teams already, except for me,” Cleo concludes for Jake. “And because of my last name.”

“But you’re here, right? It doesn’t matter. You get to be in a lead role.” Jake winks at Cleo.

If Cleo were Selene, she’d have the guts to produce an award-winning dramatic slap scene with Jake right now, but she reminds herself she’s not Selene. What he’s saying about her is also true, so she smiles at him instead. If she can get a peso every time somebody says she’s famous because of her last name, she’d be rich enough by now to change her last name.

“Oh, I am,” Cleo says daringly. “I’m your leading lady. While Selene’s gone, you’re stuck with me, and I’m gonna give you hell for it.”

“What a hell-raiser! We’ll see about that, Walter.” Jake smirks, leaving Cleo alone as he goes back to the production crew.

Cleo storms back inside her tent and again looks at herself in the mirror. She pulls out her phone and stalks Selene’s social media accounts. She checks Selene’s photos, trying to imitate how she smiles, frowns, laughs, and flirts. Selene is pretty much the definition of a lead role, so Cleo spends a few minutes watching her scenes from teleseryes. Just as she’s playing with the expressions on her face, Kristel comes back again.

“We’re rolling in five minutes,” Kristel tells Cleo. “Are you good?”

Cleo makes a determined face in the mirror, replying to Kristel’s reflection with “Better.”

 

 

“Okay, Cleo. This is a daring role, a scandalous one. This is the place where you, as Nina, find out about your boyfriend and best friend’s secret relationship. You saw them together here on the weekend, when your boyfriend told you we was sick. Got it?” Direk Gary stares at Cleo, who’s nodding like a good girl.

“Got it,” Cleo responds.

“Jake, well, you know what to do,” Direk Gary says as a matter of fact. “Okay, on your places.”

Everyone rushes to their places, including Cleo and Jake. While the director goes back to the tent complex, the assistant director double-checks everything on the set. The gaffer checks the placement and condition of the overhead equipment and lighting.

“QUIET ON THE SET!” the assistant director bellows. “Rolling in five, four, three, two . . .

 

ACTION!”

 

PROD. The Boyfriend Switch

ROLL 3. SCENE 18. TAKE 1.

DIRECTOR: Gary Hillaro

 

Nina pushes her sunglasses up onto her head and goes from one store to another. Life had suddenly gotten better when she got on the reality TV show. The expensive clothes she couldn’t buy before are just a peso to her now. What’s even better is that she and her best friend, Lara, get to enjoy all kinds of perks. They’ve been best friends for as long as she can remember, so nothing on God’s green earth can come between them, not even this competition, not even when she’s finding herself kind of into Lara’s boyfriend, Martin.

As if on cue, Nina gets a text from Martin. He wants to meet up with her to talk about “their feelings,” but she disregards it.

She puts her phone back in her bag and rolls her eyes. She’ll always be chicks before dicks. There are a lot of Martins in the world, but only one Lara. And she and Lara are, like, all for one and one for all. It’s a pact they made way back when they were kids.

Nina’s almost tempted to reply, though. She likes Martin, but if it weren’t for the boyfriend switch reality TV show, they wouldn’t like each other. They’ve just been put together in circumstances that can make people’s feel sort of jumpy, and she’s not a believer in a love produced on the screen.

“Miss?” the cashier calls for Nina’s attention.

Nina hands her credit card to the cashier and smiles at her. “Sorry.”

Speaking of boyfriend switch, Nina wonders how her boyfriend, Ryan, is doing. He barely has time for her now, so Martin has been taking up more space in her head. It’s crazy, and she’s guilty of thinking about another guy instead of her boyfriend. Oh, the goddess of love must be so stressed right now for only giving her one heart that can dream of two guys.

“Thanks!” Nina says cheerily, leaving the store and strolling around the streets of BGC. The hot sun is making her throat all achy, so she ends up in Heartstrings, brewers of the best coffee in the world.

Inside the cafe, Nina inhales the smell of fresh coffee. It hits her nose like a breath of fresh air, a taste of what it feels like to be alive in a sometimes-monotonous world. A good day gets even better when she sees Lara sitting comfortably on one of the couches, a sweet smile on her face. Excited, she’s about to call out to her when a man—no, not just a man, but her boyfriend, Ryan, sits down by Lara.

“What the hell?” Nina murmurs to herself, observing the two from a safe distance. She quickly slips on her sunglasses and watches them.

Yes, Nina’s boyfriend and Lara are indeed holding hands. Nina clenches her fists and grits her teeth. So, after all this time, they’re going behind her back? Okay, she and Martin like each other, but they didn’t go as far as this.

Nina strides over to Ryan and Lara’s table, her heart lurching forward and full of fury. She crosses her arms and looks at them, dropping her shopping bags on the floor.

“Hello, love,” Nina greets Ryan sarcastically.

Ryan and Lara both look guilty. Ryan stands up, trying to pacify Nina, but Nina’s hand greets his face.

 

“AND CUT!”

Direk Gary comes out of the tent system and claps his hands. “Well done! Let’s do another take and then keep on rolling, yes?”

Cleo breathes out a sigh of relief before smiling to herself. She looks at the crew and then at Jake, who is giving her a nod of approval. This once-in-a-lifetime may have been meant as a joke on her, on the part of Jake or whoever, but this joke can’t be joked with. She can’t help but laugh.

Baliw ka na ba?” Kristel comes up behind Cleo, looking warily at her as if she’s really gone loca.

Cleo shakes her head and returns to her original post, ready for the next take. If these people think they can play her around, then they’ve got it all wrong. She’s played the game too many times to lose this time around.

“Your phone, Cleo,” Kristel reprimands Cleo. “We can hear it loud and clear in your tent.”

“Oh, wait. Let me turn it off.” Cleo goes back to her tent and finds Owen calling her. She rejects his call and starts to type that she’s busy and will call back soon, but when she hears Direk Gary’s ready signal, she turns off her phone without finishing the text. Back in position, she stands ready for the next take.

“Rolling in five, four, three, two . . . ACTION!”

And so, for the next three days of taping, Cleo spends her entire time preparing for the upcoming scenes. She can flaunt herself out there and be Selene for now while she works on her own image. Accepting this role has been the best decision she’s ever made. Owen’s being an extra boyfriend too. He’s been sending snacks and waits for her to finish the shoot, even if it lasts until 4 a.m.

 

“So.” Owen scratches the back of his head when they reach the gates of Cleo’s house. It’s almost five in the morning, and they’ve both gotten barely any sleep.

Cleo kisses his cheeks, grateful for his efforts. “Thank you, babe. You’re amazing. The shoot’s amazing. Everything is amazing, and I’m so tired.”

Cleo doesn’t feel tired on the set, but on the way home she feels her energy draining. Thankfully Owen’s there for her every step of the way. He makes sure she has everything she needs before she sleeps and after she wakes up in the morning. She doesn’t know what she’d do without her boyfriend.

Owen gives her a little smile, his eyes locked onto hers. “Dinner tomorrow?”

Cleo can barely keep track of her schedule, but they haven’t been anywhere for almost a week now. “Sure. I think call time is at ten in the morning, and we’d have an early pack up. The scenes tomorrow are—I think—easy for someone like me.”

“Someone like you?” Owen raises an eyebrow at her, doubtful. “You take everything as a challenge, babe. Nothing is ever too easy for you. I love you.”

Cleo yawns and grins at him. “I love you too.”

 

 

Owen hardly slept a wink. The dark circles under his eyes tell him it’s not a great idea to run this morning, but he still changes his clothes, plugs his air pods in his ears, and goes for a run outside. He runs like his life depends on it, and somehow, he believes it does. So, he runs to compete against his racing thoughts.

The neighborhood Owen lives in has never been very lively. It’s quiet, and he can hear the soft humming of the birds perched on the trees, but it’s the last place in the world he ever wants to be. While it’s leisurely peaceful with different modern house designs, it all looks the same to him. Each house has some extravagant feature or other—floor-to-ceiling windows, Picasso-worthy artwork on the walls, crystal chandeliers. It’s garage after garage with their sleek black Jaguar cars. And as he passes by these houses, he sees the colorful outfits of maids cleaning the front yards.

It seems like the only people seen outside these houses are the house staff. Meanwhile, the masters are riding home in luxury. It’s crazy how alike they all are to Owen. He’s gotten used to being at the same parties and events as these people, but he still can’t enjoy it. He’s tired of seeing these people over and over, at places he doesn’t want to be.

“Good morning, sir!” Jerry, the security guard, smiles a gap-toothed smile at Owen when he comes to a complete stop at the guard’s house—if one can call it that. It’s just a tiny little box with a small electric fan, chair, and a radio. Yet, the guard seems content and happy for someone who can’t possibly have very much. And maybe that’s why he looks happy—none of this stuff is part of his life when the working day is over.

“Good morning,” Owen returns, sweat trickling down his face.

“Today is the day, hindi ba, sir?”

Yes. Today’s the day Owen gets the results of his ALE—his architect licensure exams. He’s almost sure it’s already posted on the news portal on the university’s website. But he hasn’t gone online yet. He’s not one to dig around in social media. There’s nothing there that interests him.

But Owen somehow feels light, like the weight he’s been carrying for so long has been finally taken off his shoulders.

“Yeah. You remembered,” Owen points out, smiling at that.

“Of course! You’ve been working so hard for it. Alam mo na ba results?” Jerry asks, drinking his mug of coffee that has probably gone cold.

“I haven’t checked yet.”

Jerry nods. “You should. Share mo results sa’kin ah!”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll let you know,” Owen assures Jerry.

“I’m your number one fan, sir!”

Owen doubts that, but it’s fun to know he has Jerry as his fan. “I’ll head home then. Thanks, Jerry, and enjoy your morning!”

Jerry gives Owen a thumbs up.

Owen shakes his head, smiling on the way home. Back in the family house, he showers and puts down a hearty breakfast. His favorite bacon and eggs as always, surrounded by empty chairs. There’s nobody to keep him company. He eats his morning meal quietly. Everyone in his family is busy making money, and he can only guess what their friends say about him. He must be the weak link in the family, lounging around and enjoying the food without working for the family company.

That doesn’t matter now. Owen’s ready for this day to turn his life around. Money is not all there is in the world. No amount of money can ever satisfy a person. It just keeps everyone wanting more.

Owen opens his browser on the phone and types in the website of the professional directive board. Over a thousand people passed the exams. Owen skims through the list, looking for the last names that start with V. There are quite a few Velazcos, and it’s kind of hard to track since the letters blur together. But as his eyes follow from one Velazco to another, he realizes there’s no Owen there. The closest to Owen is Olivia. He checks the names one by one, thinking they must have mixed up his name with somebody else, but after almost an hour of scanning through the names, he realizes there’s nothing wrong with the list. It’s just that his name isn’t on it.