"Ashton is here!"
I looked outside our classroom and saw that my brother was really there, waiting for my class to end para sabay kaming umuwi. May mga kausap s'ya, those friends of his and classmates that I often saw with him.
Ang gulo nila sa labas ng room. Napapairap na lang ako kapag may mga dumadaang babaeng estudyante and they would stare at them from head-to-toe, assessing them pagkatapos ay magtatawanan as if they have a secret joke.
I already knew that my brother was like this. He was... a playboy. Well, he's handsome and I couldn't really blame him as those women were the ones who were approaching him that was why he became kind of... conceited. Mas nafi-feed ang ego n'ya dahil sa mga babaeng 'yon.
"Ang gwapo talaga ng kapatid mo," Harper, my seatmate, whispered to me. "Kahit ikaw."
I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Gwapo ako?"
"No! I mean, maganda ka, Xanthe. Ang ganda ng lahi n'yong mga Larrazabal." She looked at me. "Baka pwedeng magpaampon."
I giggled. Napailing ako at isinulat ang nasa board. I tucked the strands of my hair behind my ears. Humaharang kasi.
"You can't have our genes, even if my parents will adopt you."
"It's fine! At least, maaambunan ako ng yaman n'yo."
I squinted my eyes at her.
"Wow. What a way to say that you are after our riches."
"At least honest." She didn't even deny it! "Alam mo bang may dalawa akong pangarap? First, to become Ashton Larrazabal's wife."
"Eew!" I exclaimed na ikinatawa n'ya.
"Second, to become Xanthe Primrose Larrazabal's sister-in-law."
This time, I laughed. Iisa lang kasi ang dream n'ya since I didn't have any siblings other than Ashton. So, she was saying that her second was still Ashton's wife, as she would be my sister-in-law that way.
I was aware of how many of my classmates had a crush on my brother. Minsan nga naiisip ko, they were only attending my birthday parties and overnights because my brother would be at the house. And they didn't bother hiding their intention. Itinatanong kasi nila muna sa 'kin kung nasa bahay ang kapatid ko ng mga panahong 'yon.
It didn't really bother me. I got used to this kind of treatment. People would only approach me because they had an agenda. It was either because they wanted to get close to my brother or they wanted to get close to me to share my popularity and my family's riches.
The Larrazabal family is rich. We have a lot of connections. We were all living lavishly, and we got everything we wanted. We were what they called 'old money' as all my ancestors were rich too. Minana iyon ni Daddy, 'yung family business namin. And there were other businesses that he built himself. Walang pumalpak sa lahat ng iyon. All his businesses became successful, making us, the Larrazabals, even richer.
Dad was a great businessman. Marinig lang ng mga tao ang pangalang Theodore Larrazabal, alam na nila kung sino s'ya. He was so powerful and influential that a lot of businessmen looked up to him. Some even tried so hard to get acquainted with him and even used their children to befriend Ashton and me para lang magkaroon sila ng connection kay Daddy.
And to share his luck, Dad had a lot of charities that he was supporting, and he even built orphanages to help kids. Nado-donate rin s'ya sa mga school and even helped students by being his scholar. Hindi ko na mabilang kung ilang tao na ang natulungan ni Daddy. I was so proud of him.
Our family was influential. I was just fourteen years old pero ramdam na ramdam ko na iyon. Kahit si Ashton. A lot of people wanted to be friends with us. We both know that they have their agendas, but... well, we're rich. Hindi namin maiiwasan ang mga taong ganoon so we just let them be. It didn't hurt us anyway. Mayaman pa rin kami.
