Serenade in the Daylight (Old Money #1)

FOUR

04 - Old Money

"Money! Money! Money! Always sunny! In the rich man's world!"

"Ayon na, na-obsess na sa kanta." Dalia cackled at Khiel who was sticking the accomplished papers on our decorated board while singing to the ABBA song that has been on repeat for three times in a row already.

While Dalia and I were pouring silver and blue glitters over the styrofoam we cut, we talked about the recent engagement party that occurred in the past weekend. She wasn't there to attend because she pretended to be sick, when in truth, she just sneaked out of the city after her family left and went to Q.C. to meet with her boyfriend.

"Bakit nga ulit ikaw ang may kailangang pumunta roon? He's the guy in your relationship kaya dapat siya dumadalaw sa 'yo rito sa Biñan," I gave a side comment. "Sure, being boyfriend-girlfriend should divide equal roles but let me highlight it for you, Dior Alunsina… it's night time! Being in the dark is what's most dangerous for us, girls."

Para kaming mga sindikatong nagpaplano ng sunod na galaw sa sobrang hina mag-usap. Every time it's about our personal relationships or family matters, we try our best to talk about it in private or at least, in voices only we can hear if our tongues couldn't hold the tea.

"Okay, everyone, kayo na muna d'yan, attend lang ako sa next class ko. Kapag kaunti na lang kayong matitira, feel free to just use the time for resting or kahit gumala na lang kayo," Khiel announced.

"Hay, salamat! Tatahimik na!" Carl humored when Khiel grabbed his things and disconnected his phone from the Bluetooth speaker. We all laughed.

An hour later, kami naman ni Dalia na ang umalis for our next class. We were given a group task kaya hindi rin naman sumakit masyado ang ulo namin lalo pa't masarap pakisamahan ang aming mga kagrupo, hindi nawawalan ng mapapag-usapan kaya walang dead air sa buong oras na may ginagawa.

"I was thinking, ano ba'ng difference ng old money sa new money? Magkaibang level ba ng wealth iyon?" Ulrich asked. "Poor kid here," pahabol niyang biro.

We were comparing two famous personalities who were the exact opposite in terms of living the life of being rich. The topic is in no way related to our subject and the task we're working on but we got to that point since our groupmate, Ridel, opened up the current issue of one personality who received tons of backlash from releasing a statement saying financially unstable people are always hungry for giveaways and it makes them pathetic.

Kaya namin siya naikumpara doon sa isa pang celebrity dahil tahimik lamang siya at hindi nang-s-shame ng mahihirap. Ridel claimed that it's because the other party is old money rich, however, Rosie disagreed.

She argued, "May tama ka naman sa part na kapag old money, you're not bragging about how rich you are. Pero, apart from that, old money refers to generational wealth. Bago ka pa naipanganak, bago pa naipanganak ang mga magulang mo, lolo't lola mo, may yaman na kayo. The two people we were talking about earlier, they're both new money dahil hindi naman nila nainherit 'yung yaman but instead, they walked above a thin rope to get to where they are now. Ang pinagkaiba lang nila, 'yung isa ay humble, samantalang ang isa pa ay masyadong mapagmataas."

"Ah… so, new money, pinagtrabahuhan mo 'yung yaman mo. Old money naman, minana mo," Ulrich said with a tone like he's asking for clarification.

Rosie nodded. "Oo, pero in old money, I think pinagtrabahuhan din naman? Probably decades or centuries ago. Hindi naman bastang nakukuha ang yaman kahit noong lumang panahon. Let's just say it this way, whatever amount of wealth it is that was generated by those people, it was passed on to the hands of their descendants wherein even the products from the old times were preserved to remind the future of the history of their wealth, and to where it is rooted. That's what I have read on online articles I randomly searched on Google before so, if I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. I'm just sharing based on my understanding."