"I'm trending? On twitter?" I exclaimed at my friends.
"Not exactly you but.. Kurt with you," Christine showed me her phone. It shows the trending topics on twitter and there it was "Kurt de Guzman" at number nine. We clicked the link to see the tweets about that topic. The first post that popped is a photo of me and Kurt at the restaurant eating breakfast. It is directed towards Kurt's face and you could only see a portion of my face. The caption says 'Kurt de Guzman spotted at McDonalds 5th street eating breakfast with a girl'. I scrolled down to see the next tweet which says 'Is Kurt de Guzman cheating on Lexi?! I thought they are together?' And the next tweet 'Why is Kurt de Guzman trending with another girl?? Whoever tries to ruin KurtLexi must be burned alive!!' goes with a picture of Kurt with Lexi Buencamino.
"Lexi Buencamino?" I asked my friends while still looking at their picture. Lexi Buencamino is a really popular actress who started since she was young.
"I'm not watching their drama but I'm pretty sure they're a loveteam now," Christine responded.
I continued scrolling down the page. An account named Kurt de Guzman Official tweeted 'Please stop spreading rumors about our Kurt. Those pictures may be old photos posted by troll accounts trying to ruin Kurt's career. Let us wait for Kurt's official statement regarding this.' Another photo of us from a different direction, probably the one whose shutter I heard, was posted. Here you can see clearly my entire face and only a portion of Kurt's but one can definitely say it was taken at the same time and same place as the other photos from different angles. The caption says 'Sorry to break your hearts. The pictures are definitely true. I was there too and here's a photo I was able to capture'. An account KurtLexi Official tweeted 'People should stop spreading rumors about Kurt de Guzman because it may hurt Lexi. Kurt and Lexi are definitely a thing and we should protect them at all cost.' I scrolled even more.
'Who is Kurt de Guzman with?? I'm gonna cry if it's not Lexi.'
'Why would Kurt de Guzman risk his career and go out on a date publicly?!"
'Brave move, Kurt de Guzman. What happened to KurtLexi though?'
'Have Kurt de Guzman and Lexi Buencamino broken up?! Why is Kurt out with a girl?'
'Lexi, please stay strong. We deserve an explanation, Kurt de Guzman!'
'Kurt de Guzman out with a non-showbiz girl is the talk of the town *grabs popcorn*'
'Kurt de Guzman? At Mcdo?! With a girl?!'
'Kurt de Guzman kept on breaking my heart :'( please notice me, Kurt, I love you!!'
'Whoever you choose as long as you are happy, Kurt de Guzman <3'
Some of those tweets.. no, most of those tweets came with our photos taken from various directions. I refreshed the page to see latest tweets.
'A friend of a friend knows the girl with Kurt de Guzman and her name is Hiraya Valdez.'
My body froze at the mention of my name.. my whole name.
"Oh shit. Somebody dropped your name?!" Jane exclaimed while snatching the phone from my hands. I felt like melting in my seat. "You got to be prepared, Raya. Next thing you know people are stalking you online."
"Hey, don't scare her," Karla soothed me while rubbing my back.
I released a sigh of frustration and dropped my head on the table. "What have I gotten myself into?"
"Hiraya Valdez is currently a Junior Intern at New Citi Medical Center. She's studying medicine at New City University," Jane read out loud.
I felt like I wanted to cry. I hate attention. I'm not comfortable when people talk about me.
"People are sharing photos or you," Jane continued.
I snatched the phone from her. I scanned my photos which are mostly my current and previous profile pictures. I dropped the phone on the table. It's giving me a headache.
"Hey! Be careful with my phone!" Christine said.
"Alright, that's enough. Let's just go back home since it might not be safe for you to be seen in public now," Karla said.
"Come on! Let's stay for a few more minutes and let them take photos of us. I want to see my face on the trending topics," Christine replied.
We all looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"Fine, fine. I was just joking, okay?"
All of us started packing our bags and walked out of the restaurant. We decided to stay to just review at our own units. Karla and I parted with Christine and Jane at the front of their condominium, then we walked in silence until we reached our own unit. We dropped our bags and sat on the sofa. I got my phone from my bag and put it on the table in front. It's been ringing and sending notifications for new messages but I do not have the energy to check them.
"Christine said she's going to update us if something comes up on social media," Karla informed me.
After a while, Karla went up to the 2nd floor probably to study. I stayed downstairs while staring at my phone, waiting for a message from him. I'm not particularly angry at him because I'm pretty sure he did not want it to happen as well. I just want to clear my name and explain to people that I'm not meddling with whatever relationship they have.
***
I woke up from the sound of someone coming down from the stairs. I opened my eyes and saw Karla approaching me. I don't know how long I slept on the sofa but it's dark outside already.
Karla sat beside me. "Christine said Kurt was on a live variety show earlier with Lexi. No mention whatsoever of the issue."
I just looked at her since I do not know how to react.
"Also, you're not on the top 10 trending topics anymore," she said.
I let out a sigh which I did not realize I've been holding. "Thank God. People are going to forget about it overnight, right?"
"Come on, don't feel so bad about it. You did nothing wrong. The issue's going to die down in a few days. Christine said Kurt could have been given some good beating by his management. We're betting he's not going to communicate with you anymore."
My messenger suddenly rang. We both looked at my phone.
KDG_1220 calling
Karla and I looked at each other.
"I think that's Kurt," I told Karla. I slowly reached for my phone and answered it. I have to know what he has to say about what happened. "Hello?"
"Hi, Raya," he said from the other end.
"What's up?"
"I'll go straight to the point," he said. I suddenly got nervous. "I'm sorry about what happened, for dragging your name into an issue."
"Yeah! It's kind of funny, right? I mean, we were just eating and people were so quick to assume stuff."
"Yes, that's my life."
"It's... sad, bro. I mean, I'd get suffocated if I were on your situation."
"I had to get used to it. I'm not actually allowed to dine in except for work or when I'm with my family or some close friends," he revealed. "I was supposed to order take out for breakfast but I got excited when I saw you." He laughed.
"You just got to be careful next time," I reminded him.
"I know," he said. There was silence. "Uhm, I sincerely hope you forgive me for what happened."
"It's okay. I mean, you did not want it to happen anyway," I assured him. "It's you I'm worried about. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to clear things up? It might affect your drama."
"Hhmmm, we're doing damage control. Lexi and I will just post mysterious stuff on our instagram to get people to talk about it instead of our breakfast. We're not going to answer the issue directly. We're just going to let it die down," he explained.
"Oh, so that's how you do things."
"Hey, I hope you don't mind that plan? I really wanted to release an official statement to clear your name but my manager won't let me. He thought it would be better to leave it like this."
"No, it's fine. People might make a big deal out of it if you release a statement," I said. I was surprised with myself. Earlier, I wanted my name to be cleared. Now that I'm talking to him, I'm alright with letting the issue die down and the people forget about it.
I looked at Karla for affirmation. I got nothing from the way she looks at me.
"I just hope people stop digging stuff about me. It makes me uncomfortable," I told him. There was no answer from him. He probably did not know what to say since he has no control over it. "Good thing I do not have twitter and instagram. They'll just get tired searching stuff about me."
"I see you're a very private person. I'm really sorry."
"You have nothing to worry about. I'm not the type who will post things about us or my own official statement," I laughed.
It's making sense now. Why do I have to worry about clearing my name when I did nothing wrong in the first place?
"Thank you for understanding," he said.
***
"Ohhh the trending doctor is here," Rex, my co-intern greeted me. I rolled my eyes at him. "So, is it true? Huh?"
"What do you mean is it true?" I asked annoyed.
"Are you dating Kurt de Guzman?" He asked.
"No!" I answered him, a little louder when I noticed Andrei, my bestfriend, arriving.
"Why are you shouting this early in the morning?" Andrei asked me as with a laugh as he put his bag in his locker.
"I was just asking her whether it's true that there's something going on with her and Kurt," Rex explained.
I did not bother to answer them anymore. I decided to start writing cases on my notebook which we will pass by the end of our rotation in the community. I need to finish 30 cases and I haven't even finished my first case.
Our other groupmates arrived one by one and we got ourselves ready to go to the local health center where we will have general and prenatal consultations. The health center is a street away so we always walked to go there.
As expected, a long line of patients were waiting for us when we arrived. Right away, we started the consultation since we wanted to go home early.
***
"Here's your prescription, and remember to go back for follow-up after two weeks, okay?" I told my last pregnant patient as I handed her prescription.
My groupmates are done with their consultation as well.
Rex moved his seat between me and Andrei. "Hey, look at this. Shooting Star released a new behind the scene and it's trending again," Rex said while showing us his phone. He clicked play and the video played. It shows Kurt goofing around the set. Well, I've never seen this side of him. The video continued playing and he's now on a scene with Lexi. They're hugging and laughing in between takes. One can see that they're really close. They look really cute playing tag and rock, paper, scissors. Nobody can deny their chemistry even behind the camera. No wonder lots of people ship them. I was kind of relieved, hoping people will forget about me.
"Why are you showing this to us?" Andrei asked when the video as finished.
"I just thought Raya wanted to see it," Rex said shrugging his shoulder.
"They're doing damage control now," I said out of nowhere with a laugh.
"So what's really going on?" Rex inquired.
"Nothing. We just met a while back and bumped into each other the other day. Then people made a big fuss about it," I finally explained.
"So what's going to happen now?" Andrei asked.
"He said they're doing stuff and letting the issue die down. I mean, that would probably be the last time we'll see each other anyway," I shrugged.
My messenger sent a notification and the three of us reflexively looked at my phone since it's on the table in front.
KDG_1220: Hey, I'm around 5th street. My sister wants to meet you. Are you free?