Milieu Euphony (In Act Series #2)

Phase 4

PHASE FOUR

THE FORCED PRODIGY

To seek is to explore, and it all comes naturally.

But when it comes to the Costiñiano lineage, it wasn't like that. They put the words 'forced' and 'talents' into one phrase to prove that they were the best of all.

Why? Because they wanted the word prodigies to mark in everyone's mind whenever the surname was mentioned.

They wanted the idea of the family having numerous prodigies to place their surname into history. They wanted everyone to know that their lineage was full of talented persons so they could secure a place in the social hierarchy. However, their selfish and prideful desires would always result in occurrences as heavy as their implicitness—death and depression.

There were a few ones—young and old—who experienced the mentioned circumstances. Whether they were forced to be good at one discipline when they were young, or whether they were asked to give it up because they were not good at it when they were old—it only resulted in one thing.

A prodigy.

But, of course, they had a different meaning for it.

They were forcing the children to suffer, and a forced prodigy wasn't uncommon because they were the best for it. They were unbothered as long as they would fulfill their long-term goals.

A very cruel system to refrain anyone from pursuing what they wanted. Add the older generation's desire to make a name for the family, they successfully created someone that would be envied by different identities.

Growing wasn't supposed to be like that, but children born under this lineage should do their best to survive. Or it could be easily said—the survival of the family was based on the performance of their children.

Mas madali pang sundin ang utos ng mga magulang na huwag gumawa ng gulo kumpara sa huwag sundin ang gusto.

There were a few family traditions, and there were two that were very cruel. They all revolved around the strict and very ridiculous way of "conditioning the child and the future generations" by exposing them to extreme environments.

The first one was to birth only a maximum of three children with an age gap of seven years. They believed that one could only see the maximum potential of a child when they turned seven. The conditions were: if the first children succeeded, then there's no use to give birth to another child. However, if the second child failed, then considering having a third child because—as what they had always said—third time's a charm.

But in cases where a family failed all three attempts—disownment.

It's the main reason why I only had a few cousins.

In my case, I exhibited what was needed, but my parents' desire to create an even better version of a prodigy forced me to be without any siblings.

They wanted to focus on me more, my grandfather reasoned out. But when I grew older, I knew the reason for that—so they could focus the pressure on one child.

It was another family "tradition" that had been existing for years—to pressure the child—but it shouldn't be practiced anymore. It was too misleading.

Kung noon ay uso ang pasikatan at payabangan ng mga kakayahan ng anak dala ng kagustuhang magkaroon ng sariling henyo, iba na ang kalakaran ngayon. Ang uso na ngayon ay kung sinong anak ang pinakamalinis ang imahe at walang ginagawang masama.