Glimpses of Yesterday (Isla Contejo #2)

Chapter 14

IBINALIK sa amin ng prof namin sa isang major ang long quiz na naganap noong isang araw. She already checked it that's why there was already a score on the top of the paper. Arsen took a peek on my paper. I quickly moved it away from him. He lifted his eyebrows and I just smiled.

"What's your score?" tanong pa niya.

"Secret!"

"Come on, I wanna know. Mine's twenty-five."

Our quiz had 30 items. Knowing him, he wanted more than just a score of 25. He was always aiming for a perfect score.

I pouted a bit, feeling more hesitated. "H-Huwag na, secret nga."

I didn't want him to feel like his efforts wasn't enough again. I've been keeping all my scores from him since first year because if he happens to know that I got higher scores than him, for sure it would upset him again. Kaya iniiwasan ko na talaga every time na sabihin sa kaniya ang mga scores na nakukuha ko. It was better that way. I've been doing that since freshman year and now that we're already on 3rd year, I would still keep it that way.

I would never want him to feel small. I would never want him to feel like I was better than him. 'Cause for me? He was the best. He was always better than me.

"I just wanna know, that's all, Ga. Promise." He flashed his oh-so-charming-smile.

Nanghina yata ako sa ganda ng ngiti niya at natulala na lang doon kaya hindi ko namalayan na nakuha na pala niya sa kamay ko ang papel ko. I blinked repeatedly as if I just got back to reality. He looked down on my score and I intently watched his reaction. He just nodded and smiled a little at me before he handed me back my paper.

"Wow, twenty-eight," he said.

Tumango-tango pa siya bago na nagbaling ng tingin sa harapan. Mabilis na nawalan ng reaksyon ang mukha niya. My lips pursed before I breathed a sigh. This was the reason why I never wanted him to see that I got high scores than him. He would turn expressionless afterwards and would start ignoring me for a while.

Nag-iwas na lamang ako ng tingin at humalukipkip.

When lunch time came, maingay na agad sina Enrico, Iñigo, Quillon, at Arsen. They were talking about something which Ciello and I couldn't relate. Kami na lang tuloy dalawa ang nag-talk hanggang sa makababa kami ng hagdan.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Molinario!" I heard Arsen greeted.

Agustin Molinario is a well-known architect who owned one of the biggest architectural firms in the country. He got introduced to us by our dean last year. Lahat kami ay humanga dahil sobrang successful niya sa career and that just made us more motivated to do good in our studies. All of us aspired to be like him in the future.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Contejo! How's everything?" bati nito pabalik kay Arsen.

Nagsipagtigilan tuloy kami sa paglalakad upang hintayin si Arsen. He looked so happy to see Mr. Molinario again. His eyes were only screaming adoration while he was looking at him.

"I'm doing good, Architect. Pupunta po ba kayo kay Dean?"

"Oo. May kailangan lang akong imungkahi."

"Sige po, ingat po kayo. So happy to see you again."

Nagagalak itong tumawa sa sinabi ni Arsen bago kumaway at nagpatuloy na sa paglalakad. I smiled when Arsen came to me and draped his arm on my shoulder.

"You were fan-boying over him." I chuckled.

He laughed and shook his head. "I just really idolize his career and his success. Actually, gusto kong mag-apply sa firm niya pagka-graduate natin."