Under His Power

Decree 6

I woke up with a throbbing pain in my head. Sinubukan kong tumayo sa pagkakahiga ko pero di kaya ng katawan ko. I looked around and find out na nasa ibang apartment ako. Nasa sofa ako ng kung sino man may-ari ng pamamahay na'to. I still have my clothes on last night. Malinis at very manly ang style ng apartment. May narinig akong kaluskos at tinignan ko kung saan nanggaling ang tunog. Tumayo ako kahit masakit ang ulo ko. Naglakad ako at nakita ko si Lewis na naghahanda ng almusal. Naka-sweat shirt siya at naka-boxer siya. Bakat ang kanyang namimintog na nota. I shook my head and he spoke to me.

"Your timing is good. I have our breakfast prepared." Ngumiti siya at umupo na sa stall. Pansin ko na modernized ang kusina niya although very manly pa rin ang style nito. I sat across him and ate our bacon and egg breakfast. Very American style. As I chew my food, I discreetly observed him. I love the way he chew his food, his nose is very perfect and his eyes... s**t! Nahuli niya akong tumititig sa kanya. I bet his eyes are brown. I noticed that the silence is deafening so I decided to break the silence.

"How..." Nalaman niya kaagad ang tatanuning ko. He replied to me.

"You were so drunk last night I have to accompany you to my apartment." I nodded in response at pinilit kong tandaan lahat ng nangyari kagabi. Ang natatandaan ko lang, nagdespedida kami ni Lewis at sumayaw kami. Nang mahilo ako, umupo ako at hinintay si Lewis kaso nainip ako at natalisod ako at may humawak sakin kaso vague ang mukha niya. Hindi ko maaninag mukha niya.

"Who is the guy who hold me?" Tanong ko sa kanya. Tumingin siya sakin at sumagot kaagad.

"It's me. There was a guy who bumped you and I caught you as you lost balance." Tumayo na siya at niligpit na ang mga pinagkainan namin. I checked my phone and I received an email from Leia.

"Lewis, the production needs our help to create props and disseminate the teaser around the city." Sabi ko kay Lewis.

"Who emailed you?"

"Leia."

"Damn, do we have to go right now?" Tanong niya. I scrolled my phone for more details at 10:00am ang oras ng pagpunta do'n. I looked at the time and it's 9:30!

"I think we have to go right now" Tinulungan ko si Lewis sa paghuhugas at nagsuot na siya ng pants at sapatos para umalis na kami at pumunta sa trabaho. Damn.

Nakarating na kami ni Lewis sa loob ng teatro at gumagawa ang mga production staff ng mga props at backdrops na gagamitin sa play. Sa tabing kwarto naman, naririnig namin ang mga sound effects at background music na ginagamit ng mga nagprapractice ng sayaw. Nakita namin si Leia at Christina na tumutulong sa paggawa ng props. Lumapit kami sa kanila at inutusan na kami ni Leia na gumawa ng props. Hinati kami ni Leia sa dalawang pair. Si Lewis at Leia na tutulong sa paggawa ng backdrops at kami naman ni Christina sa props. We started our work through cutting papers and putting glue to make a thing suitable enough for the play. I looked at Christina and I caught her looking at me. I smiled and she avoided glancing me. Nahiya na siguro. I cleared my throat and started to break the silence between us.

"Why are we doing this? We're playwrights."

She replied to me while not giving glance to me.

"Well, the executives focused in the acting part of the production leaving those BTS people having a hard time to find people who can do these things. They're only 10. They needed more people so they called the pre-production staff."

I nodded as a response and continued doing our work. Hours have passed, we are now nearing the completion stage of making props for the first half of the play. I looked at Lewis and he's still busy as f**k. Leia came over to me and handled me a ream of posters. I looked at her with my eyebrow raised.

"You need to post that until 3pm. You have the freedom to take a break if you want." I checked my watched and it's 11am. Wow. I asked her.

"Can I accompany someone?"

She shook her head and urged me to do it right away. She gave me a sticky transparent glue to paste it. I stormed out of the theater and started doing posting the posters. I started posting. I walked around the street and posted it. Some people are looking at me and some people are looking at the poster and walk away. Some people asked me questions and most of them are Americans and British - and I answered them and invited them to watch the play. They promised to do so. Buti na lang may kalamigan dito sa Luxembourg kaya hindi ako masyadong naiinitan. Bumili ako ng pagkain ko sa isang convenience store at doon ako kumain. May mga iilang mga customer ang pumupunta rito. After this, I started doing my errands again. Dikit dito, dikit doon. Lakad dito, Lakad doon. Halos nilibot ko na ang buong siyudad kakadikit ng mga posters. Pumunta ako sa munisipyo para maipost sa mga public bulletin ang mga posters. Pagtingin ko sa relo ko, alas dos na. Sumakay na ako ng taxi pabalik sa teatro.

Nang makabalik na ako sa teatro, halos tapos na ang mga propsmakers sa paggawa ng props pero hindi pa rin tapos ang mga backdrop makers. Kumaway sa'kin si Christina at kumaway din ako pabalik sa kanya. I walked towards her and she told me what happened hours ago.

"Well, we're making a lot of progress now. The props are almost done. We're having some problems making the bigger props. The backdroppers are still having a hard time doing their backdrop." she smiles to me. I smiled back at her too. I looked at him and he's still very busy doing backdrops. Leia approached me and gave me a two thumbs up as she saw me empty-handed. She told me to help Lewis. I nodded as I followed her. I approached him and he looked at me and continue working. I asked him what I can do to help and he told me things that I'll do.

Tahimik lang kaming dalawa habang gumagawa kami. Maingay ang bawat paligid ng kwarto. Gumagawa pa rin ng mga props ang mga propsmakers. May kalakihan na ang ginagawa nila. Kumaway sakin si Christina at kumaway din ako pabalik sa kanya. I smiled at her and Lewis talked to me out of the blue.

"You're already close?" tumingin siya kay Christina na gumagawa ng props.

"Yeah." I replied. Tumango-tango siya at bumalik ulit sa paggawa. I shrugged my shoulders and continued working. Gano'n lang kaming dalawa ni Lewis at tahimik kaming gumawa pareho ng mga dapat naming gawin sa paggawa ng backdrops. Magnda ang mga nagawang backdrops nina Lewis at mga kagrupo niya. Well, medyo dark-ish ang tema dahil about dictatorship ang play. Siguro kailangan niya din ng me time. I just shrugged off my thought about him again and continued working.

Hours have passed at tinipon na kami ng executive manager namin. Binigyan niya kami ng papuri sa dedication namin para sa production. Binigyang pasalamat din niya kaming mga pre-production staff na tumulong sa production. Kulang kasi ang staff ng production kaya nahila kaming pre-production staff. Pero okay lang 'yon. Para naman sa ikakabuti ng teatro. Hindi na kami sabay umuwi ni Lewis dahil iba ang daan papunta sa apartment niya and before I know it, nasa kwarto na ako at nagpapahinga. Hindi ko na naka-video call sina ate dahil nakatulog na ako sa sobrang pagod.