to the lakes with you

4: you, me, and them

shocking news.

it turns out that, slater is a genius person who was personally recruited by prof. hontiveros to join and lead the writing org together with her but he turned it down just because he did not want to. he's a smarty pants who qualified for the Chemical Engineering course but chose to study Fine Arts instead just because he did not want to follow their generational science-related profession.

he owns a publishing company and he once had an art exhibit of his works. moreover, his publishing company was the one publishing the books of the writers in the org that turned out to be successful. let me also say that he is very picky with the books and literatures he chooses to publish under his company, as said by prof. hontiveros.

so the question is, i was rejected by prof. hontiveros and i got a lot of not-so-good feedback from her with my writing, hence why does he want to support me with my writing? why is he giving his trust to me?

also, just to say din, na he does not have a sketchy background as told by prof. hontiveros and by the people here sa org. he's just a normal person– not really normal in terms of wealth because mayaman pala talaga siya and he's somehow a "nepotism" child. pero you get what i mean.

he's that kind of rich, intelligent, and successful person at the age of 20 who can easily spend money that's not even 1% of his total wealth. i feel like he's the type to go shopping and hindi man lang tumitingin ng price tag.

and to be honest, i want to be like him. rich, philanthropist, generational wealth.

i may sound too materialistic or mukhang pera but as a person born in a poor family where i have to fend for myself and work hard to get things that i want, this is my dream in life to have.

"deep in your thoughts?" i snapped back from my thoughts when i heard rose talk to me.

"yeah. i'm so close to accepting his help. ikaw ba? if you were me, what would you do?" i asked, glancing at her.

she's drinking her black tea again. apparently, tea calms her a lot. so she drinks tea before and after quizzes and exams. i think may exam siya soc sci class niya. or long quiz, i forgot.

this semester, we're not classmates sa social science course as well as NSTP. ewan ko ba dito, she prefers early classes than the ones that start at 9AM. i think both of us are matched well except for our waking up and sleeping time. shes a morning person and i'm not. i have irregular sleep, she has a regular one– which is nakakainggit because my fluctuating sleep causes a lot of mood disorders to me.

"teh, life is hard. offers like this come once in a blue moon. of course if i were you, i'd accept it without hesitation!" she replied.

i nodded. thats the point that i keep telling to myself. also, he's an okay person. so why am i still hesitating?

he was able to make Arturo and Athena's collection of poetries a best-selling book here in our country so why am i hesitating to take my shot? right?

maybe this is THE opportunity that i have been looking for. the opportunity that will catapult me to my passion in writing being recognized by a lot of people.

"you should call him," rose told me. she gave me that look na parang she'll consider me dumb if i let this opportunity pass and honestly, same.

there's no time to be scared. life is all about taking risks. and i? i am taking risks now.

i fumbled through my bag and reached for my phone. i saved his number that night after we had a talk dun sa coffee shop so i just searched his name through my contacts and made a call. it took him four rings before he picked up the phone.