The building was bustling with tourists, ladies, and gents. Especially students that arrive from different universities to use this time to gather research contents that value their grades and future, it was definitely a hassle for security guards to keep the visitors safe by carefully inspecting their objects and storing those bags with heavy objects like umbrellas, insulated water bottles, and food packs inside the square cabinets.
The museum is known for its rich history of humans and their creations, inside the building holds the famous Laguna Copperplate Inscription, a pre-colonial document made from copper which is written in Old Kawi. Thus, making it a historical document for those who are interested with pre-colonial history.
Madeline was glancing on it like it had a value, and she was definitely interested in buying it if it was in auction. Sadly, she's aware that it's a precious item that is aging through decades, she wouldn't want her apartment to smell like rusty copper from Lumban.
"I can see the characters, no lie." She jokes to herself. Her nosy and cracky friend, Julia De Dios, was inspecting other artifacts such as the Ling-ling-o.
"Do you know what it says?" Julia questions.
"Not really, but I can tell that this is written beautifully."
After five minutes of checking everything, they exit the room and let out their sighs, as Julia carefully sneaked some chewing gum inside her Hermès Birkin.
"What are you doing?" Madeline asks, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Chewing, malamang." Julia confidently tells.
"You know that's not allowed here?"
"It's fine, unless it's not a bag of Zesto or Vcut."
Sometimes, Julia has the habit of sneaking snacks in public places. She anecdotes her moment in Senior High that she confidently consumed five pieces of shark gummy candies and her teacher at Humanities did not recognize her chewing sounds, neither the chewing act of hers.
"I feel like I'm retaking my HUMSS strand once again." Julia sarcastically says, secretly chewing the white gum. Meanwhile, Madeline watches her as she patiently waits for this to end.
"What time is it?"
"Check your relo." She checks her Quartz watch and learns that it's 5:30 PM.
"WE HAVE TO GO. SERIOUSLY." Her lips declared.
"Huh? Why naman??"
"It's closing at 6!"
"OH."
"Let's go and just farewell to these ancient objects." Julia announces, keeping the chewing gum pack inside her bag and went downstairs with her.
---
Mansion of De Dios Family
Forbes Park, Makati, Manila.
From: Marcus Montemayor <marcustoffeem@yahoo.com>
To: Julia Amanda de Dios <julamandadioslol@gmail.com>
Subject: Documents
Greetings, Julia!
Last night, my laptop broke because Benedict accidentally dropped it while it was on the couch. I am e-mailing you using my personal e-mail address and not my DLSU school e-mail because I forgot its password, but please send me the documents regarding the C.A. v. Chi Ming Tsoi :D Nasa printing shop ako ngayon and medyo mahina yung signal ng wifi. Please send it to me hehehehehe thanks ha!
p.s. it's my first year in law school so break a leg to me I guess...
Sent: 2/07/2022 7:32 PM PHT
-----------
To: Marcus Montemayor <marcustoffeem@yahoo.com>
From: Julia Amanda de Dios <julamandadioslol@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Documents
Good eve, Marcus.
I understand that you're preparing for your first classes tomorrow, that's why you e-mailed me. And don't worry, I scanned some of my kuya's case files that he used during his days at studying law. And my mom had to compile all of them from first until fourth year. I hope you can access and print these files.
Have a lovely night of studying!
-j
Sent: 2/07/2022 7:39 PM PHT
[File: peoplevtsoi.pdf] [File: summary.pdf]
"What are you doing?" Madeline spoke on the phone, because they are having a phone call, obviously.
"Just mailing." Julia's keyboard typing sounds can be heard in Madeline's speaker.
"To whom it concerns?"
"Marcus." She reports. "It's his first day of law school tomorrow."
"Oh," "Well, good luck to him. I heard professors strictly use the Socrates teaching during recitations." Law school is indeed one of the most difficult schools to go and study, as every professor in every law school highly uses the Socrates method for the students to memorize every law that they read, study, and use. It's way different from the normal teaching method that high school or elementary school teachers use. Because it's advanced, and it's a challenging way of forming the students to become a good lawyer.
"Have you tried applying for law school before?" Continued Madeline.
"Not me, but my kuya did. His pre-law was Legal Management in Ateneo and he studied law at San Beda, which is a good school according to dad." Says Julia, she taps her fingers on her legs, trying to cure boredom. Her friend lets out a "wow" virtually. It's amazing how prominent families like the de Dios clan have the beauty and brains to study anything in this world. Not because of success and money, but their never-ending affirmations of courage.
Julia adjusts the screen of her MacBook and a notification rings, it's a text message from Hayden, the Korean student from International School Manila, inviting her to watch their 19th season of Rugby.
"I'm sorry," She reads out the words that she is typing. "But," She continues. "I am only interested at," She exhales. "Volleyball." She finally declared, expressing her admiration for the sport.
"Don't send it." Madeline warns. "He'll be annoyed and he'll go crazy."
"I want to piss him off a little, to be honest." Julia elicits a giggle, planning like a mastermind. "And to be real right here, I'm used to annoying his interest in Rugby." She answered, shutting down her laptop and putting it away from herself.
In the other side, Madeline is inside her bedroom, removing her makeup, preparing for bedtime as she fears tiny Animalcules crawling on her face while she sleeps due to the decomposing contents of the eyeshadow. She doesn't like ghosts, or even the aswangs terrorizing her at night, she would even hide under the covers when she was at Iloilo during her days as an 8-year-old.
Due to her clumsiness, she dropped her cleansing water and accidentally spilled a few amounts of it. Disappointed, she ends their audio call with Julia and grabbed two leaves of paper towels to wipe the mess on the wooden tiles.
"Nakakainis!! You're such a bitch!" She grunts with heavy frustration, seeing her favorite product getting wasted just because of one accident.
YOU ARE READING
Gold, But Not Cold
General FictionIn the modern-day Philippines, rich families such as the Del Valle, De Dios, and the Tanpoco hold a big name. They're known for their businesses and international projects, which makes them the "Holy Empire" of Southeast Asia. "Gosh, the humid is so...
