“This is it,” Jose begins. Everyone is sitting around the table with Jose standing at the head. “The final meeting before we begin shooting. Gotta finalize it all. Today’s main agenda, though, is to break the ice—bonding moment for everyone. We’re gonna be working with each other for the next upcoming months so we don’t want any isolations getting in the way. This is work, people! Anyway, so the main characters of the movie are here; Gerald Anderson, Kim Chiu, Regine Angeles and Vhong Navarro. Guys, please introduce the characters you’re playing.”

     “I’ll begin,” Gerald says, nodding towards us. “I’ll be playing Aries, a brooding playboy. He broke Kim’s character’s heart causing Kim’s character to walk away from him. Because of that, Aries realizes what Kim’s character really means to him. When they meet again, he’s ready to do anything to win her back,” he says, looking around—his eyes finally landing and lingering on me.

     “My character,” I begin, “is Ellie. She’s very independent, spunky—a non-conformist but very vulnerable when it comes to Gerald’s character, Aries. She’s unlike the hot girls that Aries usually dates so she hated herself for even thinking that she had a chance with Gerald—I mean, Aries,” I pause. “So yeah, she hated herself for falling for Aries especially when their budding relationship ended badly. When they meet again, she tries to avoid Aries with all her might.”

     “Julia’s my character,” Regine says, “She’s one of the hot girls—like what Kim said—that Aries usually dates. She’s Aries’ girl toy during the time Aries and Ellie meet again. Even after Aries finalizes everything with Julia, Julia still kept hanging onto him which kind-of complicated the chances of Aries and Ellie getting back together again.”

     And lastly, Vhong speaks out, “I’m Coco, Ellie’s slightly gay best friend. He’s always been there for her—ever since Aries broke her heart up until Aries and Ellie meet again. He’s seen how Ellie hurt when Aries broke her heart. When Aries and Ellie meet again, he didn’t want Ellie to get hurt once more so he agreed, with hesitation, to pretend Ellie’s boyfriend so that Aries will leave Ellie alone.”

     “Very good, very good.” Jose claps his hand, “So that is basically the essential mapping of our main characters. Through the characters is how we’ll get a refreshing version of this classic plot. Now, about the title, it’s still under works... and a press release about Gerald taking the lead has been given out... so is the one about Kim-Sam issue. Thanks to Kim.”

     I smile, “No problem.”

     Jose grabs a stack of papers and starts going around and passing them out. He says, “These papers that I’m passing out are the final script. Review it, study it, analyze it. Learn to feel it. You can keep these but these are confidential.” Jose grabs another stack of papers and goes around again to pass them out. “Now, these are the Agreement of Confidentiality. Sign it or else, no movie for you.”

     Everyone signs the papers.

     “Good,” Jose pauses. “Now! Time for a little fun! This isn’t exactly a game but we’ll call it that. For the first round; Kim, Gerald, you’re partners; Regine, Vhong, you’re partners. And the rest, you can choose. Alright. So—you will have to say two significant things you know about your partner then ask two things you want to know about your partner... and your partner must answer those two things. Each of you has to do that. It’s very simple. Piece of cake. Alright? Alright, go. Make sure you’re facing your partners,” Jose explains.

     Gerald is already sitting next to me so I just turn my chair sideways to face him. He does the same. Gerald smiles before he speaks, “You want me to start?”

     I smile back, “Go ahead.”

     “Alright. Hm, two things about you, huh?” he articulates thoughtfully and looks away. “Actually, I know more than two things about you...” He looks back at me with those flashing dark eyes and pauses for a bit.  “But two is enough I guess... One, I know that you’re really ticklish especially under your arms.” He pauses, an ominous look forming on his face.

     I should’ve seen it coming but I just didn’t. His hands dive past my personal bubble and into my armpits. He starts tickling me and it driving me crazy. I laugh hysterically and shake incredibly. “Gerald! Gera—Stop! Ha! Ha! Stop! Gerald, ha, ha, ha! Stop, Gera—” I beg but he is having too much fun. And his grip on me is too strong.

     Gerald asks, “What’s the magic wo—?”

     “Please!” I shout back before he could even finish his question.

     “Oh, alright.” Soon, the tickling slows down until it’s all gone.

     I breathe heavily and once I regain my composure, I pound my fist onto his knee playfully but made sure that it'll still hurt him.

     But instead of getting hurt by my fist, he just starts laughing at me!

     I scorn at him but he is too busy laughing and slapping his knee. “What’s so funny?” I ask.

     Before he could answer, Jose interrupts. He is observing how everyone is doing on this little game but apparently his attention is drawn to what is happening between Gerald and me. Everyone seems to notice, too. “Looks like we’re doing some good progress, huh?” Jose declares.

     I look back to Gerald. He just smiles and raises his eyebrows at me.

     “Keep going, guys. You’re doing good,” Jose says.

     “Okay,” Gerald exhales. “Two, I know that you’re a bubbly person, super cheerful.” He pauses. “Your laugh..., the way you smile...”—his voice softens—“And how your eyes crinkle when you do.” Now, he's barking an anxious laugh, “That’s why everyone loves you.”

     Everyone loves me? I don’t know what to say so I just laugh along. I'm laughing uneasily. “Yeah,” I respond lamely. “Now, ask two things you want to know about me.”

     Gerald abruptly drags his chair along with himself closer to me. Too close. He leans in and starts speaking softly but there is urgency in his tone, “Look, Kim. I wanna get straight to the point. And breaking the ice?” he asks, turning to Jose for a quick look. “We can’t break the ice if we pretend that everything’s perfectly fine between us.”

     He is looking me straight in the eyes. His eyes are flashing like an angry fire but he isn’t angry at all. I am struck, moved even, by the abruptness and urgency of his actions. I'm glued to my chair.

     “I mean,” he continues, “there’s nothing really wrong between us at the moment but, you know, we have history. Beautiful and deadly,” he closes his eyes and lets his words hang for a moment. “I wanna start over. Start clean, you know. Just put the past aside for now because you and I have to admit that there’s something holding us back from being comfortable around each other. Let’s start over. What do you say? Friends?” he asks, holding his hand out.

     It surprised me, what he just said. I thought I was the only one who was holding back. I thought I was the only one walking on thin ice. I thought I was the only one who remembered the past. But I guess not so I take his hand and shake it. I say, “Friends,” because this opens a new door which means that somewhere, a story meets it closure and is tucked away with all its grim.

     “Aw, what the ‘hey!’ Let’s hug it out!” Gerald says while we were still shaking hands.  He pulls my hand around him and wraps his arms around me. The warmth of his skin wraps itself around me and his touch is just like yesterday. I could’ve sworn I heard a ripple of saccharine sighs throughout the room but Gerald Anderson’s merely a friend.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I'm surprised by how much this chapter was so easy to write when it's the longest out of all. Maybe because during Kimerald moments, I'm just really inspired:) FYI, this story is just a second draft so there might be errors in some places, forgive me. I'll fix the errors and finalize everything probably once I finish the story. THANKS!