Knock Again, Professor [GL• #1]

Chapter 36

"Don't be nervous, Saji." kuya Hilantho said and tapped my shoulder. "They are your family, matutulungan ka nila, just be tough." He said with assurance and opened the door of his car, pinagbuksan niya rin ako.

Nahinto kami sa isang mataas na building, ito na 'ata ang pinakamataas sa buong City. It was shining at sa itaas ng entrance makikita ang logo ng company na HASC. binalingan ko ng tingin si Kuya Hilantho para itanong kung ano ang ibig sabihin nun.

"H-A-S-C? Anong ibig sabihin nun?" tanong ko.

He smiled warmly at me, his eyes twinkling with pride. "Our great-grandma built this company from the ground up, so it was named in her honor, Helani Alcantara State Corporation," he explained with a sense of reverence. I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow in surprise, realizing that my second name came from such an important legacy.

Siguro ay kahit papaano ay naisip din ni Mama, ang side nung tunay kong ama, kaya niya ipinangalan sa akin ang Jelani.

I chose to remain silent, letting the information sink in, and instead followed him inside the grand building. As soon as we stepped through the entrance, all eyes were on us. People were stopping in their tracks to look, and Kuya Hilantho, ever the charismatic one, was waving and greeting them with a smile.

I had never really imagined that my biological father was this rich. Maybe, I had an inkling before, but I never expected their wealth to be on such a grand scale. It was overwhelming to think about how different my life could have been if I had known about this side of my family earlier, o kahit malaman ko rin ay hindi rin naman ako maghahabol, I was an illegitimate child after all.

Pumasok kami ng elevator, kinakabahan na ako kaya bumaling sa akin si Kuya Hilantho. "Saji, they will understand you okay? Tsaka we've been secretly watching you since then, and quietly helping you," he stop when he realized something.

"What do you mean?" tanong ko naman sa kaniya.

He took a deep sigh. "Okay fine, since I've already mentioned it." He paused and looked me in the eye. "The day you left Forbes and chose to live your life on your own, our family let you go, but it wasn't easy for us. Even though you're not Uncle Helano's child on paper, you're still his blood and flesh. We always made sure you were okay, so we paid some people to help you. The scholarship you thought you earned was actually because of us. We changed your papers with other students' papers," he stopped when I cut him off.

"That's not true, I topped that entrance exam," I said to him, incredulous.

He smirked at me. "Yeah, you topped that exam. You are an excellent student, but you didn't read the directions clearly, so you got a zero score and didn't pass the exam. It was just our care that made us exchange your papers," he explained.

My jaw dropped at his statement. "I can't believe this. All this time, I thought I made it on my own. I worked so hard," I said, my voice trembling. Hindi ako makapaniwala sa mga sinasabi niya.

He sighed again, this time more deeply. "I know this is hard to accept. We didn't want to undermine your efforts. You are incredibly talented and hardworking, but we also wanted to ensure your success, to give you a fair shot at life without the burden of our family's complicated history."

I shook my head, trying to process everything. "So, all those years... every achievement, every milestone... it was all manipulated?"

"Not all of it," he replied softly. "You did a lot on your own, more than you realize. But we stepped in when we thought it was necessary. We wanted to protect you, to give you the best chances."

I felt a mix of anger and sadness welling up inside me. "But you took away my agency, my chance to prove myself." Nanginginig ang boses na sinabi ko.

He reached out, but I pulled back. "I'm sorry," he said, pain evident in his eyes. "We thought we were doing what was best for you. Maybe we were wrong."