Eternal Memories

Chapter 14

College life was never a walk in the park for Dianna. She was no longer the most beautiful girl in the campus for there were a lot of pretty girls (some of them were even prettier than her). She was no longer the most popular girl because college doesn't care about popularity. Nobody cared if she was pretty, rich or popular. Nobody cared if she dated the captain of the basketball team or a nerd. College doesn't work like that. There was less of popularity contest and more of preparing for the real world: the corporate world.

Dianna studied and worked hard in order to give Andrei a comfortable and good quality life. Her parents' food business was no longer booming unlike before. Franchises of famous food chains such as Jollibee, KFC, and McDonald's suddenly sprung up like mushrooms within that area. It was hard to compete with those big chains. Most people love to eat sinfully good food. Naturally, they would choose cheap, convenient, delicious but unhealthy foods over healthy ones. They don't care whether the food they consume would hurt their waistlines or give them diabetes and heart attack. Fast food is life!

Needless to say, the number of customers of her parents' restaurant After Dark had exponentially dwindled. If not for Dianna's mother's passion for food, they would have already closed the restaurant for good.

Dianna worked as a model in one of the top modeling agencies in the country. She shared her earnings with her family.

When she applied for the job, her boss told her that she needed to lie about her age (she was seventeen at the time, but she needed to say she was eighteen) and hide the fact that she had a son.

Dianna's boss was an attractive and skinny woman in her 40's named Ashley Del Rosario. She was a retired model. She was strict about the rules and regulations of the job.

"In this industry, the moment people learn you're a mother; you instantly become less attractive to them," she informed Dianna.

Dianna swallowed her pride. She obeyed her boss. No one but her family and close friends knew about her age and son. Especially about her son. When people asked her about her relation with Andrei, she told them Andrei was her nephew.

Dianna had a best friend named Claire Rivera. Claire was her classmate and fellow model. They're pretty much alike. They were gorgeous, confident and amiable. But their beauty was their only redeeming quality. They did not have any special hobbies that would help them land other lucrative jobs in the future once they lost their beauty and youth. But they loved partying and popular music. They loved to call each other "pek." It was a crude term of endearment between two friends which, when you combine the two words, is the Tagalog word pekpek which means vagina. It was during the late 2000's when liberated girls used that word when they refer to their close girl friends.

Dianna and Claire were in the comfort room of the university. They were fixing their hair and makeup. Their morning classes were over and it was their break time.

"Hey, pek!" Claire said.

"Yes, pek?" Dianna said.

"My boyfriend Charles will be joining me at lunch. Wanna come with us?"

"Err. I don't know. I don't want to spoil your moments with the love of your life."

"Oh, come on. Don't be a dick, pek."

"Haha, that's a good one. Of course, I'll come with you if you want."

Charles met the girls in front of the school.

"Dianna, this is my boyfriend, Charles," Claire said. "Charles, this is my best friend Dianna."

Charles held out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you," he said. Dianna shook his hand, but he held hers a few seconds longer than necessary. Dianna felt uncomfortable.