Chapter 12

The day had just started for Carla, but she is toxic as hell. There is a vehicular accident nearby between a bus and an eight-wheeler truck, and the passengers were taken to their hospital. The good thing is, the impact was not severe and the passengers were not seriously injured. The only one severely injured was the bus driver, and Carla and her colleagues really took a lot of time treating him, making sure he will survive. The chaos in the ER lasted until lunch time. Carla is exhausted, because aside from the physical injuries, they also have to deal with the trauma of the passengers. Some are even hysterical when they were taken to the hospital and aside from treating them, Carla and her team has to deal with the patient's hysterics and it's actually harder that treating their wounds. Tired, hungry, and stressed, Carla decided to go to the pantry to drink some water and rest a bit. And it was only then that she took the time to notice her phone that had been vibrating in her pocket all morning because of incoming text messages. Thinking that they are not urgent and important, she just ignored them. If there is an emergency at home, her sister or her parents will definitely call her. She checked her phone and was surprised to see a lot of text notification. But what confused her was the messages themselves. ‘Congratulations, Doctor! Enjoy your date, okay?' ‘Doctor! I didn't know you joined in that contest. LOL! Congrats!' ‘Besh! Is it true? Did you really join in the contest for Joshua's date?' The last one is from Edmalyn. Carla became more confused, so she called her. "Hello Besh!" Edmalyn said on the other line. "Hi! Uh… What do you mean, Joshua's date?" Carla asked. "Ha? You don't know?" Because of exhaustion and stress and hunger, Carla is feeling impatient. "Will I ask you if I know? That's why I called you." Edmalyn was taken aback. It took a while before she answered. "Check out the post of Violet Films on their FB page." Carla rolled her eyes on what Edmalyn said. 'Really?' She's really starting to get frustrated. "It's better if you check it yourself," Edmalyn added. Carla has no choice but to do what Edmalyn said. She went to the Facebook page of Violet Films, the producer of Joshua Socorro and Caitlyn Soriano's new movie. She actually hates the idea but it seems her best friend will not tell her anything, so she has to see it for herself. The most recent post is a video of Joshua and Caitlyn, and the title of the post is Win a Date with Joshua Socorro. The title itself made Carla grimace. Caitlyn: Hey guys! So now, we will be announcing the winner to Win a Date with Joshua. We really took our time choosing, and we thought this person deserves this small prize that we have. Actually, everything that she has done for other people, it's something that cannot be repaid. But we thought, in our own little way, we could somehow treat this wonderful person. Joshua: Well, uh… Yeah… So, this person that we're talking about, she's a doctor and she uses her skills, her time, and even her influence to help those in need. She's done a lot of medical missions, feeding programs, and she's always putting other people first. That is why the letter sender who happens to be a fan of her thinks that she deserves to have a special time for herself. Caitlyn: This wonderful person that we are talking about is… Doctor Carla Labao from Tarlac. Shock is an understatement. Carla wasn't even sure her mind functioned after she heard the announcement. She just gaped at the video like it shows the most outrageous thing this world could ever have. Caitlyn: So, Doctor Carla, we promise you a good time and a wonderful and relaxing salon and spa treatment before the date. (She looks at Joshua.) You should give her a good time. Joshua: …I will! Of course, I will. Caitlyn: And, you said you know her from high school? Joshua: Yeah… From high school, she's my classmate. But, I haven't really talked to her in a long time, so… Caitlyn: This is so exciting, right? Joshua: Yeah… "What the heck!" Carla blurted out. She felt her blood surge to her head. She needed to breathe continuously and deeply to calm herself. When she was calmer, she called back Edmalyn. "You watched it?" Edmalyn asked. "How did… I joined… that contest?!" She's too mad her voice was high pitched. "I won't ever… Ever! Think… Of having a date with that–" She stopped herself before saying anything she'll regret after. "Maybe, the one who sent the letter does not know you and Joshua's story in high school," Edmalyn explained in a calmer voice to somehow appease her raging friend. The hell with the letter sender! And who would even send her story to Violet Films? And what's surprising is that the sender seems to know her a lot. How did that person know about her charitable activities? As much as possible, only her family and close friends know about that. She helps not for attention or clout, but because she wants to. "You did not send the letter?" she asked Edmalyn out of desperation. "Of course not!" Edmalyn denied. "I know you would not want to go on a date with Joshua. I won't even prank you like that, Besh." If it's not Edmalyn, then who sent the letter? Carla feels so stupid she can't think straight. "You can back out. Just tell them you can't come because you're on duty. You're busy with work," Edmalyn adviced. "And what would Joshua think? That I can't face him? That I can't be in the same room with him? That I'm still ashamed of him after all these years? Should I be the one ashamed even though he's the one who chased me then?" Her voice is so loud people started checking up on her. "Are you okay, Doctor?" asked one of her seniors. "I'm okay," Carla said. "There's… just something…" She breathed deeply to calm herself again. "If there's a problem, you can tell me," the female doctor said. "I'm okay, Doctor. I'm okay," she said while nodding. The doctor seems to be doubting her, but she let her be anyway. She went out of the pantry and once again, Carla is alone. "So Besh…" Edmalyn continued. "What are you going to do?" She doesn't know what to do. She can't think of an answer to that. She's mad, and Carla knows she should not decide when she's mad because she's not on her right mind when she's mad. No one is on their right mind when they're mad. "I don't know," she told Edmalyn. "But the last thing I want is for Joshua to think that I refused to do this because of him. Like… he should not have allowed this to happen! What is this? Another prank of him? He's still not over with what happened before?" "I don't think that's it," Edmalyn said. "Then why did he agree? He knows I don't want this to happen. Is he challenging me? Well, if that's the case, I'm accepting the challenge." "Besh, take your time to think about it, okay? It won't be against you if you back out, especially with the right reasons," Edmalyn said. "Also, we don't know if Joshua tried to refuse, but since he doesn't want the past to be revealed, he wasn't able to explain well. Caith might get mad, because if we look at it, what happened before should not affect him anymore. And you as well. But if you still can't face each other, then it's one indication that you still haven't moved on, right?" Edmalyn has a point. Carla understood what she said. "Of course! We've already moved on. At least, me. So, what if I have to go on a date with Joshua?" "Exactly!" Edmalyn said. "And also, Besh, the salon and spa treatment. I mean, I know you can afford it, but the time? That's what you can't afford." "Exactly. I don't have the time." She has started to calm down. "Maybe after hearing that statement form JoshLyn, your seniors might give you a one day off. Joshua even mentioned that you always put others first. This time, it's time to put yourself first." If this happened ten years ago, during their high school days, Carla would think that Joshua just wants to impress her. But knowing that Joshua is now a famous actor, as well as this choice is a consensus between him and Caitlyn and their producers, and maybe their agency, Carla figured out everything that was said on the video was scripted. "So… will you think about it?" Edmalyn asked. "No, I'm already decided." "Hey! Don't be in a hurry." "Besh, I wanna believe that this is legit destiny's prank on me. I don't know what I did to deserve this, but I'm doing it." "Are you sure?" Actually, she's not. But not accepting it will give Joshua Socorro the notion that she's not yet over their issue ten years ago. She doesn't want to give that satisfaction to him. "I'm sure, Besh. I'm going on that date." ******************************************************************** Meanwhile, Joshua is still in Manila when the video came out. He's in his condo reading the comments on the video when his Cupid Phone rang. Cupid Mentor. He accepted the call. "Hi Josh!" Ria said on the other line. "I saw the video. My letter won." "Yeah… surprisingly," Joshua said quite sarcastically. "That's how it is. Sometimes we have to manipulate things for our missions. We didn't do anything wrong, right?" "Yeah, we were just unfair to those who really deserve to win." "Hey! Everyone deserves to win. Are you saying that because Carla is not a fan of yours and Caitlyn, she doesn't have the right to date a celebrity?" "But other people will be happier if they got chosen." "Maybe, but have you read the comments on the video?" He did, and surprisingly, everyone was happy for Carla being chosen as his date. And that's when Joshua discovered that a lot of people know about the charitable activities of his former crush. Some people even commented that they had a firsthand experience of Carla's philanthropy by being with her during her medical missions and feeding programs, or as one of the beneficiaries. ‘Finally! Someone noticed Dr. Carla. She's not only beautiful, she is kind and compassionate as well. She deserves the price. I hope she will enjoy the date.' That's just one of the thousands of comments that supported the choice. Joshua is starting to feel less bad at the manipulation that happened. Speaking of which… "Did you talk to the Guardians for them to influence Caith and the others?" Joshua asked Ria. "No. Weren't you the one who did it?" "I didn't do it," Joshua said. "At the last minute I felt guilty, so I didn't do it." "Oh, wow! So that means, Caith and the others chose her because they think she really deserves it. So we really didn't need divine intervention, huh?" That, or it's also because of the letter she wrote. Joshua read the letter Ria sent in behalf of Carla, and he himself was impressed with everything that he read. She made Carla look like an admirable person. Maybe, that's true. Joshua is actually having the urge to research about her, but Carla might realize that he knows a lot about her. By the way, they are still not sure if she accepted. "We're not yet sure if she would accept the date," Joshua said. "I'm pretty sure she would decline because of me." "I don't know about that," Ria said. "It could be that way, or it could be the other way around." "What do you mean?" "Maybe unlike you, she has totally moved on from the past?" "That's not true!" Joshua blurted. "Would I have a girlfriend if I haven't moved on yet?" "Okay, fine. I'll just ignore the defensiveness in your tone when you said that, and I'll pretend we haven't talked about that just recently," Ria said. "I'm just telling the truth." He scowled. Joshua kind of realized he was defensive when he said that. "Of course," Ria said. "Anyway, just make sure you get the closure you need on that date. After all, that is the real reason why you're doing that, right? And you need to do that so that you will be comfortable doing your mission with Edmalyn and Carlo… Funny, Carlo and Carla." Ria giggled. Joshua sighed. "Okay. Talk to you next time," Ria said. "Okay, bye." "Byeeeee!" Right after the call ended, Joshua received a text message from his manager. He's not sure if he feels glad upon reading the message, or the opposite. What's he's sure is he felt a little anxious after reading the text message from their manager. 'Josh, Dr. Carla sent a message on Messenger. She's accepting the date.'