THIRD PERSON’S POV

“Naku (Oh, no)! Sorry, Miss.” Because of an incident that happened long ago, a spark rise inside a man’s heart.

“Sorry rin (I’m sorry, too).” There came Marianne who was still on her normal life as an architecture student. Not wanting to hurt anybody, she came towards the man that bumped her and helped him get the books he dropped. “Mag-iingat ka naman sa susunod, Kuya,” she spoke in a friendly tone.

When her gaze dropped towards the man, she saw his round glasses and his height a little smaller than him. “Fred,” he spoke, his eyes captured by the beauty and kindness of the lady in front of her.

“Ha (What)?” asked Marianne.

“Ako nga pala si Frederico delos Santos (I’m Frederico delos Santos),” he uttered, waiting for his hand to be shook by hers. “But you can call me Fred. I’m from the College of Entrepreneurship”

Marianne took his hand and they both shook hands. She gave her a smile which was replied with a radiant smile by the boy. “I’m Marianne de Guzman, from Bachelor of Science in Architecture.”

From that faithful moment, he was captured by Marianne. He thought that she was the love of her life.

Shy as he was, he remained her lover, being with her most of the times like her body guard. As a photographer of their organization, he secretly took Marianne’s photos and pasted them on his wall.

A few years later, a window of opportunity entered Marianne’s life when she was asked to become a cast of a television series. That was the start of her life as a star.

“Marianne! Marianne, it’s me!” He huddled on the crowd, searching for the actress’ attention. Marianne was now on her third year on college, whereas Fred already graduated two years ago.

“Marianne, I love you!” He shouted, waving the banner he was holding with the picture of the young actress. He already created a fan club of his own who continued to support for her newly found career.

Another year passed and the pictures on the wall just became even more. Some even have edited pictures of Marianne being on a bikini suit and revealing dresses.

“Magiging akin ka rin, Marianne de Guzman (You will soon be mine, Marianne de Guzman),” he spoke with an evil grin on his face. “Mapapasaakin ka rin (You will be mine)!”

He put her gift that she would give to his idol. It was a set of fake nails, chocolates, and flowers. Even though he knew that it was not hard to approach her, he still hoped for the best.

He attended on the fan meets, hoping to give the gift but failed many times. He was about to give up when he met her again on the back stage.

“Miss Marianne,” he couldn’t say anything else because of the reason that he was consumed by his shyness.

Marianne saw the gift on his hand. She took it, assuming that it was for her. “Wow! Thank you!” She took the gift with her, being in haste because of the fear of getting late and being scolded by the bossy Jong.

Before she could even went away, a small bit of bravery went inside his tongue. “K-Kilala mo pa ba ako (Do you still remember who I am)?”

Marianne halted, remembering the boy he saw two three years ago, back when she just entered college. He was still wearing his round eyeglasses, his gaze still remains the same. “Fred? Tama ba (Am I right)?” she asked.

He answered with a nod, amazed and grateful that he was still remembered. “Sana magustuhan mo iyang regalo ko sa iyo (I hope you’ll like that gift I gave you),” he spoke, still a little shy. “I researched a lot about what you want and I found out that you like that design.”

“Thank you!” She rushed back towards him and gave a kiss on his cheeks. After that, she ran away to go towards Jong who was waiting for her.

He worked hard to become the manager of a perfume industry. Luck stroke his back when a new actor arrived in his door – Lee Jong Hee, who became famous as Marianne’s love team, became his model. The two young celebrities’ chemistry on the series stroke the hearts of the people watching them, but hit Fred’s heart like tiny arrows.

He grew hate on Lee Jong Hee but it was lessened when he took Marianne as a model with him. That made his company grew even better.

“Nice shot! One more!” He knew that a movie was being made for the two celebrities at that time – a good opportunity to make his company grow more. That time he grew more confidence, ready to face his desire.

In front of him stood the person who he planted jealousy. Deep inside he wanted to crush him but he couldn’t because of his company’s sake.

“Nice! How about another angle!” he added, trying to hide his anger with a smile.

Beside him came Marianne who was readying himself up. “Okay na ba (Is it okay)? May muta ba ako (Do I have something on my eye)?” she asked, worrying about her look on the camera.

“Marianne, you’re always beautiful even without makeup,” he whispered romantically. He looked into the lady’s eyes, his eyeglasses now removed to add his shot for Marianne’s heart. He tried to hide his affection but couldn’t.

“Kuya, ano iyang ginagawa niyo (What are you doing)?” Marianne spoke in an uneasy tone. Fred was leaning closer and closer towards her as he gently touch her cheeks.

He licked his lips as Marianne tried to step away from him. “Kuya (Sir)?”

Finally, before even touching her lips, he snapped out pf his senses and came back to watching Jong’s poses for his products.

“Nice!” the director applauded to Jong.

“Marianne, you may enter now,” he spoke.

Marianne formed uneasiness when in front of him that made his desire to touch her body grew even more. Plus, he wanted to get rid of Jong, considering that the people want him to become her girlfriend.

One night, he was invited to look at the shooting scene at the bridge. It was a full moon and the moon was reported to become blue because of an eclipse.

He already knew that something’s going to happen. His company was already thriving and he didn’t want Jong anymore.

“Walang gagalaw (Nobody move)!” A man had made Marianne a hostage as well as Jong. He already told them that Marianne should be safe or else the gun mans he hired would suffer his wrath.

“Tulungan mo akong Koreanong panot ka (Help me, you creep)! Annyeong, help! Help! (slang: no translation)!” He saw that Marianne was already scared. He couldn’t move a muscle because of the reason that it might reveal his secret.

“You, Korean boy! Stop that, or I’ll shoot your girl!” Jong was unexpectedly strong and defeated the one holding him captive.

I saw Marianne’s tears falling on her cheeks. “Tulong! ‘Yaw kong ma-deads ng walang retouch (Help! I don’t want to die without any retouch),” Marianne begged. “Please po, pakawalan niyo po ako. Magreretouch lang ako (Please, let go of me. I will just retouch my makeup).”

“Bitiwan mo ang anak ko (Let go of my daughter)!” Marianne’s father came unexpectedly into the scene, putting down one of the gun mans.

The two were suppose to meet when a bullet from an unknown man hit her. “Marianne! NO!” He tried to run towards her. He knew the presence of the unknown sniper but Marianne’s life was more important.

When Jong jumped towards the bridge, he felt a sense of fear, halting at the bridge’s railing. However, with the flashing of the camera, he came with the two towards the unknown.

There, he used his businessman strategies and became a successful jeweller that became famous. He became close to the Captain-General at the time as well.

With the help of his newly found army, his and Marianne’s path crossed once more. “For the second time, my plan will now work,” he spoke as he looked at Jong who was with Marianne on the plaza at that moment he caught him. “Mamamatay ka na rin sa wakas, Jong Hee (You will now die, Jong Hee). Mananatili kami rito ng mahal ko habang buhay (Me and my love will stay here forever).”

But when the time comes that he knew that he was already breaking his barrier, his consciousness began to consume him. At the time the church bell rang to catch the attention of the people, he watched the marching of his accused fellowmen, including Marianne who was sentenced to death.

He was already savouring the moment that he could finally kill Jong when he snapped into realization that changed the course of his plan. When the general was about to shoot Marianne, he felt his body dashing towards her with the camera on his sling bag. He was the one to receive the bullet.

“Click that, Jong, and you two would come home,” he spoke as he hand the camera to the man he once hated.

He died on the past, with all the memory of him existing in the present moment faded away. The Frederico delos Santos who became Marianne’s number one fan was erased out of existence. A sacrifice he made for the wrongness he did and for his undying love to the lady who caught his eyes and heart.