In the year 3020X, as the population continued to surge while economic growth declined, the government faced an unprecedented challenge. When the economy hits rock-bottom and spiraled into despair, the government made a solution- to leverage human g...
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7: Code Black
My first day at work wasn't tiring. All I did was rearrange things that weren't even a mess. Nakakahiya lang tumunganga, lalo na't nakikita ko si Sage na abala sa ginagawa niya. Ilang beses ko siyang tinitingnan habang nagtatrabaho. He looked different—malayong-malayo sa mahiyaing Sage na halos hindi nagsasalita.
Whenever he's deep in thought, he taps his pen on the table, fixes his glasses, and then ruffles his hair.
Most of the time, he's out, probably busy in another part of the laboratory. Hindi ko rin nakita si Wolff ngayong araw—thankfully, dahil malamang masisira lang ang araw ko kapag nakita ko siya.
Since wala naman akong ginagawa at wala rin si Sage, I decided to browse through some publications na naka-display sa shelf ni Sage.
I ran my fingers over the embossed words on the cover. Ravago and Bane, An Exploration on the Correlation of Human Behavior and Genetics.
Muntik ko na itong mabitawan nang bumukas ang pinto at may nagsalita.
"That's our thesis when we were fourteen," narinig kong sabi ni Sage. Pumasok siya sa loob at ngumiti nang nahihiya. "We were really young then, but it was published and won Best Thesis."
Fourteen?!
Wow, they're really geniuses. Mabilis ko iyong binalik sa shelf. That was ten years ago. They published their work at that age, samantalang ako, nagrerebelde pa lang kay Lola noon by putting too much sugar in her coffee. She hates sweets, so sinasadya kong tamisan ang kape niya. I was so evil back then.
"So, magkaedad lang kayo ni Wolff?" tanong ko. Don't get me wrong. I'm not interested in Wolff—malabo. Baka kay Sage, oo, pero kay Wolff? No. Definitely not.
"We practically grew up together," sagot niya at napayuko. "My grandmother is a servant of the Glass, at ang lolo ko naman, messenger nila. That means I spent most of my life in the Glass Palace." Napakamot siya ng ulo at nahihiyang ngumiti. "Sorry, I... I got carried away, kung anu-ano tuloy ang nakukuwento ko."
"No, it's okay. Ang lola ko rin naman, governess ng mga Glass," sabi ko sa kanya. It's amazing to know that he made it this far. Imagine, katulong at messenger lang ang lola't lolo niya, but here he is, the boss of Bane Laboratories, next to Wolff.
"I knew Miss Emily," sabi niya. "In fact, she's the reason why I was granted a scholarship."
That sounded just like my grandmother. Palagi niyang sinasabi sa akin noon na magtino ako sa pag-aaral para maipag-request niya ako ng scholarship sa mga Glass. At natulungan pa niya si Sage.
"Wolff and I became friends when we were four. His lizard pet died that day, and he asked me for a shovel. Tinulungan ko siyang maghukay para ilibing si Lizzy, and I witnessed him cry over the loss of his pet..."
Pinigilan kong huwag matawa. A lizard is a weird pet, but who am I to judge? I used to catch dragonflies and tie them with threads so I could walk them around. That's a weird pet too, right?
