My Royal Lesson (Kingdom University, #4)

Special: His POV

The thing that I hated the most was unwanted attention.

My parents and older sister had always been in the spotlight, and they had grown to like being there, but I loathed it. Mas gusto kong maging tahimik ang buhay ko. Kaya noong nalaman ko na kasali ako sa topnotchers ng incoming freshmen ay gusto kong mag-apply sa ibang university.

"Oh, come on, that's no big deal!" my sister sneered. "I'm sure they'd be more interested to those who are in the top ranks."

It turned out they were interested with everyone, to the point that they were already invading privacy. Parang lahat ng galaw, kailangan alam nila. Lahat ng kakausapin mo, gusto nilang makilala. This kind of social stratification in the campus promotes idolatry and elitism, and I hate how this has become the norm of this institution.

The first few weeks had been hard. Everyone had their eyes on us. Pakiramdam ko, bawat galaw ko ay may nakamasid. Some enjoyed the overwhelming attention; others did not.

Over the year, I learned how to escape the spotlight—finding safe spaces whenever I needed them and doing mundane and boring things. The rest of our batch's topnotchers had far more interesting personal lives than mine and that had helped me steer clear of rumors . . .

. . . until I met her again.

Naglalakad ako sa hallway nang may makita akong umupo sa madalas kong pinagtataguan at pinagtutulugan. With careful steps, I looked over the window and saw a girl quietly browsing on her phone. But what caught my attention was the site she was looking at.

I remembered some of my classmates forcing me and the others to read stories on that site. They said most of the stories were either regency romance or fictions set in the Medieval or Renaissance period, while the other half were fanfictions. Siguro reader din ito?

I was about to walk away when I suddenly saw her username. It was the same one my classmates were talking about. Does this mean she's a writer?

She slightly shifted her position, and a familiar face came into view. I remembered her from one of my classes last year. A smile escaped my lips as I recalled that encounter. Walang seating arrangement sa Kas1 kaya madalas ay iba-iba ang nagiging seatmates ko. I remembered her well because she was grimacing at the reading material, mumbling the words and somehow mispronounced most of them.

"Do you need help?" I asked.

She looked at me with a confused expression, but her face lit up a few seconds later. "Y-yes please."

It turned out she couldn't understand deep sentences and I had to translate most of the paragraphs to her. Hindi ko rin alam kung bakit kumuha siya ng Filipino elective kung hindi naman niya masyadong naiintindihan 'yon. Maybe it was a required course? Or maybe she wanted to challenge herself?

My thoughts jarred back to the present. She's also one of Tiffany's friends. Madalas ko silang nakikitang magkakasama. Madalas din ay sila ang naririnig ko tuwing may practice kami sa band. Darryl would always talk about Tiffany and how cute she was. Minsan makikisali rin si Patrick. It was kind of weird to see those sides of them, but they looked happy.

"Oh. So you're notaroyalty," I blurted out, catching her attention.

She quickly turned to my direction as she tried to hide her phone. I chuckled at her action and the panicked expression remained on her face.

"Your fanfictions and stories are really popular among my classmates," I added. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

There was a hint of panic on her face. Was that too much?