It’s been a year since I met Daniel. He was one of my batchmates in a callcenter where I used to work. My admiration for him started with physical attraction. I was attracted  with his looks and the way he carries himself. Those are the things that caught my attention for him, which eventually turned into admiration , although he said that he has a girlfriend. I am aware that what I felt for him may not be acceptable because we were both males, but I just had that feeling which I find hard to control. I recognized that I was really attracted to him, so I made it a point to sit beside him or join him on breaks, that I could have some chance to talk to him and get to know him better.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only person in our office who was attracted to him. Other admirers noticed our closeness and thought that we are in a relationship as lovers, although what he had was just in a friendship level. They assume that there is something between us. Rumor spread among some people who knows us. They say that we have a relationship. Daniel heard this. Being wary of the image that he portrays, he began feeling upset and began passing the blame on me. He said that he feel being harassed because of those rumors, which he thought being spread by me. On the contrary, I treat those rumors as something to laugh about. I was happy being linked to the person I admire although I also deny it. I always say that there is nothing going on between us except being friends.

Daniel did not treat those rumors in the same manner that I do. I found out that he bad mouths me to deny the veracity of the issue between us. He turn against me, and influenced others to do the same. The person I admire became my critic and hater. He did not talk to me to discuss how to resolve this problem. Instead, he prefer to discuss his sentiments with some people around us, convincing them to hate me as well. It was one of the most depressing moments of my life. I cried during those lonely moments, feeling hurt, letting the tears flow to relieve the pain of being betrayed.

To ease the pain that I feel, being despised by the same person I admire, I shared my sentiments as well with my close friends. It is not to retaliate, but to draw strength. It was not easy to be subjected to a social psychological stress. Somehow, I managed to cope and find a way around. I choose not retaliate no matter how bad the things being said against me, keeping in mind that what critics say doesn’t make me less of a person. I learned to choose people to be acquainted with because some small issues are being drag to topple me down, even by some whom I thought I could trust. That’s when I learn that what the eye can see can sometimes be an illusion, that nice people can turn out to be the worst villain.