At What Price (Completed)

VIII

#AtWhatPrice 8

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

•••

From: Hadwin

San ka na?

I replied.

Two stations na lang.

Hadwin: I'll be at the gate.

True to his word, I saw him immediately near the guardhouse. Kapansin-pansin ang tangkad niya.

"Hey." I weakly greeted.

Diretso kaming naglakad.

"Did you check your temperature?"

"Yep. It was 38.4 last night, ngayon 37.9 na lang."

He shook his head. "Mainit pa rin. Uminom ka na ng gamot?"

"Yeah."

"Water?"

"Puno 'yung tubig ko?"

"How do you feel?"

Humarap ako sa kaniya. "I'm really fine, Hadwin. I did what I had to do. Saka magpapahinga naman ako mamaya."

I was thinking about my upcoming exam. I'm proud of myself that I was able to cover all the topics yesterday. Nakapag-aral ako just how I want it. Kaso is that enough?

He nodded, satisfied sa sagot ko. It's the first time I saw him so early. "Oo nga pala, may klase ka ngayon?"

"Uh, mamaya pa naman."

I stopped when we reached my room. "This is me. Goodbye na." simpleng taboy ko sa kaniya.

Tumango siya. "Contact me later."

•••

I was already in my exam room. Alphabetical kase usually, kaya wala akong kakilala dito. Nasa ibang room din si Margot. Basta pare-pareho kami ng prof.

I don't know if it was the pressure, pero my agitation was to the roof. I breathed again. Napatingin ako sa orasan ko. It's 8:50. Bakit ang tagal? I know 9:00 magsisimula, pero I'm so freaking nervous bigla.

Hindi ako kinakabahan dahil di ako nag-aral, I was just terribly anxious of what could go wrong with my answers.

Oh god, nanginginig ako sa kaba.

How do I calm my nerves? The more I want it to be, mas tumataas yata kaba ko. It didn't help na nilalagnat pa 'ko.

Asan na ba yung test papers? I need to get this over with!

It was like the upper gods heard me dahil nagsimula nang magdistribute ng papel.

•••

"Time's up."

I passed my papers along with others. Naging smooth naman ang pagsagot although it was chaos in my head. I knew how to solve them, mostly. The problem was the time pressure. May hindi tuloy ako nasagutan.

Saktong paglabas ko, andon si Hadwin.

I just noticed that I was shivering. Agad niya akong dinaluhan.

"Are you okay?" His face is filled with worry.

"I.. yeah. Sobra sobra akong kinabahan bago mag-exam. But when it started, I did okay. May ibang hinulaan ko lang dahil sa time limit, but yung mga nasagutan ko... I think I answered okay. Now, I don't know why... maybe I'm having aftershocks dahil sobrang kinabahan ako kanina.." I don't know if I'm not making any sense but I was hyperventilating.

He grabbed my hand my together and held it tightly. "You did great, Claudia."

That was enough to make me feel a lot better.

•••

Nasa bahay na ako. Nagpapahinga habang nanonood sa Netflix. Kakagising ko lang din.

A notification popped up.

Hadwin Neo Valderama sent a friend request.

His profile pic was him wearing a nursing uniform with a stethoscope. I immediately clicked accept. Tapos ay agad siyang nag-chat.

Oy. Baka nag-aaral ka naman, Miss Studious.

Lahat naman ng estudyante sa'tin, studious.

Saka hindi ano. Kaumay rin.

Okay. Take this time to rest.

Yep. Kakagising ko nga lang eh.

Good. Sorry for being paranoid. I'm aware you can take care of yourself. I couldn't help it. Sana di ka nainis.

Nah. Thanks a lot, actually. I appreciate you.

He hearted my reply. I resumed watching on Netflix.

What a good friend. Hopefully it lasts like Margot.

---x---

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