You will read this story again. It’s not a choice given to you, it’s a challenge you have to face. Be judgmental, ask questions, make conclusions. You are the reader, I am the writer. You own my words now and all I can do is wait.
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At nine o’clock in the morning, while Britney’s half-singing half- squeaking her latest song ,Toxic in the background, Atoy is in his room, seriously contemplating on what to wear the next day. Tomorrow’s his first day as an official intern at the Makati Business Club and he can’t wait to strut it out. He then realizes that some last minute shopping has to be done to boost his self esteem. The obsessive-compulsive in him runs through a list of possible malls he can go to, “Glorietta, Powerplant, Podium, Galleria… hmm, Rustan’s kaya, definitely not Megamall, the place doesn’t feel comfy and classy enough.” While in deep thinking, his polyphonic tone of Beyonce’s Baby Boy begins playing, he reaches for his Nokia 3650 on his study table and starts to read his friend’s text message.
“Atoy, u hav 2b in mega ‘round 2pm,,d movie Anthony n i’l b wtchn wil prbably end ‘round dt tym, u hv 2 save me if he bores me to death,, pls,pls sweetie, plus, I do miss u. mwah,mwah. Ur d swtest thng,luv ya…ÜÜÜ.”
Bitch, he rolls his eyes after reading the message,
I told her to stop meeting up with all these men if she can’t handle it herself. She didn’t even bother to ask if I was ok with it. The nerve of this girl, if she isn’t my friend, I would have subjected her to serious spanking. She is one of the reasons why I stopped being a bisexual and chose to be a complete homosexual. He smiles sheepishly knowing that no matter how unbelievably bitchy his friend is, he will still meet up with her at Megamall. He looks forward to seeing her and better yet to bashing the place again .
Megamall, ready or not, your greatest critic will grace you again with his royal presence. While checking out the time in his Gucci wristwatch he got up and headed for the shower.
At 1:55 pm, Atoy arrives at the Megamall and struggles not to lose his temper while he waits for his turn to park his Toyota Vios at the mall’s open parking. Norah Jones’ soothing voice as she sings Come Away With Me doesn’t help much to ease his growing disgust. When it’s his time to park after 15 minutes of waiting in line, he still can’t find an unoccupied parking space.
This is rubbish, why let all these cars enter when in fact they know that there isn’t enough space to accommodate them? And what’s with all these rerouting schemes inside the open parking which made the traffic even worse than a heavy traffic situation in EDSA? They charge me for this and I get exhausted even before I am able to go inside the mall simply because their parking space is insufficient, I really do love Megamall! When he is about to give up, a couple emerges and signals that their Mercedez Benz is right in front of his car.
Great, ‘coz I don’t have any plan to prolong my agony While adjusting his i2i New York pair of shades, Atoy waves back and ironically, looks forward to going inside the mall.
He finishes his parking stint around 2:20pm.. At the mall entrance, Atoy once again falls in line for the routine inspection conducted by the security guards.
Its purpose is to allegedly ensure the safety of all the shoppers. Yeah right, this is a very efficient way to detect possible criminals and terrorists. Atoy opens his Marithe Francois Girbaud clutch bag for inspection, raises his hands to give the guard access to his body.
This is more of an erotic ritual than an assurance that we’re all safe. Of course criminals and terrorists won’t hide whatever it is that they must hide in obvious places. Even if they do, touching a person’s side and occasionally, his back doesn’t make sense, it will not detect anything. The guard utters an incoherent thank you after what Atoy believes are sweet caresses and Atoy smirks in return. While smoothing out his polo from Top Shop and his khaki pants from Dockers, he felt his penis react not due to lust but because he feels like peeing, he then tries to battle it out to go through an infinite number of people and push carts. While doing so, he realizes that though it’s normal for Megamall to be filled with people, there must be something special going on that day, people are literally swarming.
Who would believe that the Filipinos are poverty-stricken when they’re all in the mall shopping their hearts out? But then again, they maybe taking advantage of the free aircon. It’s summer, staying in their houses is more of a torture. While inching his way to the escalator and preventing the people from stepping on his Bristol Shoes in what seems like eternity, his attention gets caught by a certain banner. SM Three-day sale…
Now, I am ready to kill that bitch. Who in her normal mind will schedule a date in Megamall on one of the three days of the megasale? I swear sometimes she can be annoyingly clueless, or should I say dumb? He shakes his head in desperation and breathes slowly in an attempt to stabilize himself.
Relax. He pays attention to the enduring attempt of his pee to come out of his favorite part of the body. Seeing the washroom sign is like a battle won, he walks briskly towards it only to be stopped by a sign which says
Sorry for the inconvenience, please use the comfort room at the third floor. Awestruck, he purposely pushes the sign out of its place because there’s nothing else he can do. With another attempt to control his pee, his Nokia 3650 vibrated and he swears that the sensation it gives him doesn’t help at all. It’s his friend, the reason of his misery, the unsuspecting villain of his mall-bashing story, the clueless bitch who’s probably making out with her date somewhere. Her text message makes him even more fuming.
“Ei boytoy, wer u? I knw I tld u 2 b hir @ 2pm bt im stil inside d cnema w/ Anthony . we’r knd of enjyin each othr’s company so cn u jst stroll ‘round 1st? im rily sory. It’s jst dt he’s rily cool, we’r wtchn The School of Rock n d movie’s just hilarious. My d8’s a good kisser, n did I tel u he’s got blue eyes? I knw ur hapy 4me,il c u l8r sweetie. Lotsa luv ;-)”
Stroll around first? Is she crazy or plain stupid? How am is supposed to stroll around when all these people are giving me the elbow, pushing me ‘round and literally bumping into me every so often? Atoy remembers his need to pee and continued the journey to his much-awaited destination, the washroom.
Great, just great. My pee’s for the management who closes their washrooms just in time for a three-day sale. Cheers! After what seems like a blissful moment, he gets another text message from she-who-deserves-to-be-punished .
“ d d8’s almost over, last nlng, we’re goin 2 Timezone to play Daytona. Atoy,ur nt md at me ryt? F u wnt u cn jst meet us der. Cnt w8 2 c u again, and cnt w8 2 mke kwnto of d things we did. Hope ur enjyin ur stroll @d mall. Mwah. :-*”
Atoy wipes the perspiration on his forehead with his Bench hanky and texts her back, “Mad at you? Nah, it’s an understatement. I’m more like furious. But the good friend that I am refuses to give in to my present emotion. Ok, this guy must be really worth it or I’ll definitely hurt you both physically and emotionally, big time. :-P No, I’m not enjoying my stroll at your favorite mall and yeah I miss you too.” He sends his text message after checking his spelling and grammar, he refuses to use his phone’s dictionary.
Text lingo makes Filipinos dumb, communication is a good thing but if done in bad taste, it’s annoying. He still doesn’t understand why his friend is in love with Megamall. In SM Megamall, there’s disorder and a bad case of Filipino culture. Of course, his friend disagrees and he more often than not will argue with her until they end up with the resolution that it’s all a matter of personal preference.
That’s a good way to put it, relativity is a point widely-used by debaters, you can never argue without a standard. He still believes that comfort is only felt where there is order, aesthetics, well-mannered people wearing and using branded items.
While walking, or more appropriately, while being dragged by the crowd to the escalator, he finally sees his friend and her man. He looks at her and she secretly smiles back.
She is wearing the dress we bought at Morgan de Toi, the sandals we eyed in Doyee Tumpalan’s exclusive line of footwear and the set of white gold jewelry her father gave her. Atoy knows that she doesn’t want her date to find out she planned the whole bumping into each other situation. He lets them pass him by, establishing eye contact the whole time with his friend, giving her the half-smile, raised eyebrow, you-are-such-a-flirt look. She giggles while clinging to her date’s arm whom by the way Atoy finds charming and oozing with sex appeal.
Bruha, it’s their first date and they’re all touchy and clingy. He must really be a good kisser and conversationalist or she will not be holding her like a possessive bitch. He follows them to Timezone and watches them from afar.
Blue eyes, medium built with muscles at the right places, Moreno, tall. He looks like a guy out of GQ magazine. Yummy.“Atoy, ohmigosh, I can’t believe you’re also here,” She gives Atoy a smack. “This is my friend Anthony, Anthony this is my close friend Atoy. Who are you with?” She smiles innocently, perfectly acting out the surprised friend part.
“ I’m not with anyone, I was just strol---ling and appreciating how diverse the people are in Megamall. Hi there Anthony, it’s nice to meet you. Are you her boyfriend? You bitch, you never told me you’re with someone new now.” Now they’re both in the action. He hears Anthony saying he’s pleased to meet him and that he’s not YET her boyfriend, then he asks him if he’s always in Megamall. Atoy smiles, “Yeah, Megamall’s one of my favorite malls in the metro, it’s quite an interesting place. I get to observe people and understand them in my own little way. Right girl?” He taps his friend’s shoulder and gives her a you-better-end-this-conversation look.
“Right, so Atoy, why don’t you join us? We’ve got a lot of catching up to do bitch! I’m sure Anthony won’t mind, right sweetie?” Like a professional date guru, she holds her date’s hand and gives him a sugary sweet smile which makes Atoy squirm. The poor guy nods without knowing what he’s getting himself into.
“Aww, I would love to, I’m finished appreciating the beauty of Megamall, I might as well join you guys so I can start appreciating other things.” He gives his friend a familiar wink. The wink signals the start of a grueling interrogation which involves Atoy’s new object of labeling, Anthony.
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We’re all living a branded life like Atoy. From wearing branded clothes to assuming personalities to please the people around us. We label people according to what we perceive them to be. We judge people through our own standards and more often than not, we are unwilling to compromise.
We are like Atoy’s friend who charms her way through different situations. We all love the feeling of being superior, of being in total control while holding other people in complete surrender.
We are similar to Anthony, the clueless, optimistic, gullible man. We continue to see the world as a sugar-coated candy. But when is it time to finally wake up?
We are the seemingly unimportant men and women whom Atoy bumped into in Megamall. These men who unknowingly influences other men’s way of thinking, destination and even the journey itself.
This story is about you, about us, about every man’s life. I’m sure you’ll figure this out and find new interpretations after reading the story again. Go find yourself in the story, go invent and rediscover new meanings. Besides, I’m a writer, I can’t do all the explaining and interpretation for you. It’s forbidden.
