shanthereal
Claudia Sinclair Lagdameo spent most of her life trying to escape the weight of numbers.
Grades, medals, rankings. Mga label na pilit na dumidikit sa kanya, parang tanikalang sumasakal sa kabuuan ng pagkatao niya. She kept telling herself she was more than that... that she shouldn't be measured by what the world thought she was worth.
At naniwala siya roon. Kahit papaano.
But then everything changed.
She didn't notice when it started, but one day, she caught herself wanting the very thing she had spent years resisting. Gusto niyang makilala. Gusto niyang may mapatunayan. Gusto niyang may malinaw na basehan kung sino siya, kahit alam niyang hindi iyon buo.
And maybe it all started with him.
Emilio Andres Saavedra.
He is the guy who seems always a step ahead, effortlessly good at everything, untouchable. Out of her league. That's what she keeps telling herself.
But she was good too. Claudia was used to being admired, envied even, for the way she looked and the way she thought. She knew that. Even if she didn't want to admit it.
Napapansin kahit hindi nagpapapansin. Everyone felt a little intimidated around her. She never felt small, until Andres walked into her world.
For the first time, she felt that same nervous awe... staring at someone who seemed so far above her, someone who made her question herself in a way no one else ever had.
And just like that, Claudia realized that maybe the hardest person to impress wasn't everyone else... but him.