Loving what can be Loved

The Life for Starters

Leisl's POV

Some say that you must live in order to pursue your dream but others rather say that you must pursue your dream in order to live. How happy I must be if I was able to do that. Well I tried but I ended up sitting in this stupid and boring class staring at Professor Harley as he discusses the different risks that one may face in setting up his own business.

It's my first day here in Ateneo de Manila and so I'm also here in my first class. On top of my desk is a thick book entitled, 'Core Knowledge about Management' I didn't even make a single attempt in opening it since I acquired it. Trust me, even just a single look on its cover would already bore the hell out of you.

I'm a 20-year old student in her first year of college. I wouldn't actually say that I've wasted my last school year in pursuing a course that I didn't actually continue, but I'd rather say that those were the most amazing times in my life. Why amazing? Because I got to draw and illustrate all the things that I've imagined in my mind, and even though I wasn't the best student in my class, I still won't think twice in saying that I enjoyed every single bit of what I did.

Someone suddenly shouted, "Miss Lewis!" I looked up while clearing up all the thoughts that were circling in my mind. I saw Prof. Harley angrily staring at me. I was completely distracted with how he pronounced my surname, he said 'le-wis' but it should rather be pronounced as 'lu-wis' so I looked back at him and said, "Sorry Sir, but my surname is pronounced as 'lu-is' not 'le-wis' sir."

He started walking towards me while both of his hands were settled above his hips. He told me, "I understand that you're a transferee from a course that doesn't have any relation to Management Engineering but right now, you're sitting here in my class so even if you like it or not, you still have no choice than to participate."

I got his point, and what he said somehow opened my mind in everything especially the fact that I'm not in an architecture class anymore but in a management engineering class so I had to accept what's in front of me and do my best in learning a different subject field. So I simply asked for an apology and said that I understood what he meant.

If this is the path that fate's leading me then I'm just gonna put my trust on it and I will no longer hope to even have the chance to go back to my course last year. I've already decided to go through this path, so I will.

So my second day came and here I am walking to my class with Mr. Harley again when I heard my phone ringing. I saw it was my mom so I picked it up. My mom was the one who forced me to shift to this course that's why talking with her right now somehow still boils up my blood, but I tried my best to talk to her with a calm voice because even if I really hated her, I just can't afford to blame everything on her.

When we were done talking, I put my phone back to my pocket and as I was starting to walk to my class someone called my attention, he said, "Excuse me, Miss igwa kang nahulog na papel digdi." I looked back down on the floor and saw that my papers really fell on the ground, he offered to help me pick it up and then I realized that the words that he just used are actually the dialect in our province so the moment we've picked up all the papers I swiftly looked at him to see if I recognize him.

"You understood what I said, so you're also from Bicol!?" he asked the moment I've put all the papers back into my bag. I nodded at him as I thanked him for the help that he gave. He offered a handshake as he introduced himself saying, "By the way, I'm Gab, Gab Harrolds."

I accepted his handshake while saying, "Yeah, actually I know you. Gabriel Harrolds. You own the Harrolds Hotel in our province, right?" He seemed amused to hear what I just said. "Oh, yeah I'm Leisl Lewis." A second of awkward silence happened between us simply looking at each other so I shifted my attention to my watch and said, "Oh, I'm late for my class! I'll go ahead, nice meeting you by the way."