Everglow

September 19, 2016: Just like a star across my sky, just like a song in my heart

A/N 1: Short flashbacks in italics.

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Maine sighs deeply as she removes her seatbelt and takes her keys out of the ignition. She has just parked and finds herself unable to move. She stares at the gray wall in front of her and cries out in frustration. To say she had a bad day was quite an understatement--she had just lost her first case, and she couldn't help but think it was because she was a fumbling, mumbling, stuttering mess in court today.

She manages to drag herself out of her car and  through the building lobby. When she reached her office, she starts to scramble around her drawers. After a few more minutes of pens and paper shuffling, she finally found what she was looking for.

A small keychain of Harry Potter's golden snitch.

"Shit. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it."

Nonetheless, she lets out a sigh of relief. I thought I lost this. Buti na lang it was just here all along.

Just then, Winona comes knocking in with a cup of coffee, "Ma'am! Your cup of macchiato, hot and fresh." She sets down the cup in front of Maine and noticed her flushed face. "Oh Ma'am ano nangyari sa inyo? How was the hearing?"

"Hay nako." Maine replied, brows furrowed together, "I guess today wasn't my day, Winona. Naiwan ko rin kasi tong lucky charm ko dito sa office." She continued, lifting up the shiny golden snitch for Winona to see.

"Oh. Lucky charm niyo pala yan, Ma'am."

Maine smiles as she examines the snitch in her hands, "Yeah. It was given to me before I attended my first hearing, and I've always brought it with me for every hearing I attended since then. Ni hindi ko nga alam if lucky charm ba to talaga or it just gives me confidence or something."

"Ma'am, hindi sa nakikichismis ako, pero makikichismis na rin ako." Winona starts with a sly grin plastered on her face, "Pero kanino ba ho galing yan?"

"Kay Richard."

Winona smiles at her boss knowingly, and inches to close the door. As Winona leans against the door firmly shut behind her, she shakes her head, this teasing grin painted across her face, "Hay nako tong boss ko. I still can't believe she's the only one who can't see it."

She peeks through one of the strips of clear glass onMaine's door, and found the latter still holding the golden snitch in her hands, eyes softened, a faint smile on her face. "Marerealize mo din yan one day, Madam. And I for one can't wait for that day to come."

*******

Maine was pacing back and forth in the court's parking lot continuously and mindlessly fixing her blazer, obviously a bundle of nerves.

"Nasan na ba kasi yun?" She quietly mutters as she continued to pace, inadvertently avoiding bumping into people as she does so. "Sana naman hindi natraffic yun." She fishes out her phone from her bag and checked for messages.

And because she seemed to attract the bad luck--there was none. Nada.

Her pace slowed as she hung her head and whines lightly. "Paano na? Kaya ko ba to? Am I actually prepared for this?"

Just then she felt large yet gentle hands on her shoulders. She lifts up her head and felt all her worries washed away when her eyes met familiar brown orbs.

"Hey you."

She immediately lets out a grin and flings her arms around his neck, "Rj!!" She buries her head on his shoulders, "Grabe ka, akala ko hindi ka na dadating."