What Belongs to Me [COMPLETE]

Chapter 21 "Fresh Start"

2008-2009

The one who replaced Miles as the new instructor for thesis was ma'am Glaiza, I liked her better though she couldn't remove her sarcasm thing. She was better than Miles for me, she doesn't do favoritism, and she is always fair with her judgement and she is full time in teaching us. She supports our ideas, tries her best to help us improve it and she is always motivating us to do our best.

Sunday morning and it is a freezing December, the sun rose spilling lemon yellow on the clear blue canvass in the sky, striking the curtain wall of the glass house with prismatic effect on the other side of the street. Few days after my meeting with Cizar, I was thinking on how good was Mr. Destiny these days to me, this year 2008 in general. He made an extraordinary shift in the universe for me. I was sipping my caramel flavored coffee at the terrace while checking my emails and notifications on my social media accounts, because I disciplined myself to lessen the hours that I'm consuming for social media before I enrolled thesis.

I ate breakfast, two fried eggs and a pair of California raisin loafed bread with peanut butter. Took my shower and wore my H&M stripped blue and white long-sleeved, black denim pants and white converse rubber shoes. I attended the seven-thirty mass at our school and in the afternoon, I attended again another mass at this parish that is very close to my heart. I liked listening to the same gospel with different homily from my two favorite priests. I ate dinner with Gayle at McDonalds, talked about the homily and we also talk about our thesis and a little gossip about our junior classmates and about Christa's new boyfriend that has been distracting her lately. After eating, we bought thesis materials at the National Bookstore and we did a little grocery just enough for the whole week and then we parted ways.

I was busy on my drafting table when my phone started buzzing with notifications from messenger. It was ma'am Glaiza telling us her final announcements for our final defense the next week. I didn't feel any shock because I know to myself that I was already prepared, that I had always been prepared even from my past thesis class. Whenever I had a successful pre-defense on my thesis, I was always emotional and I always remember the pain and sufferings I had experienced before. But the difference is that, I'm not angry anymore, truth is I feel pity for her instead, for turning herself into a monster just because of her insecurities.

The day of the final defense came, the day that will guarantee me in graduating. I was dude up and equipped in my handsomely tailored plain red Marks&Spencer long-sleeved and a dynamic Zara black blazer with sharp pleats, a black pants and my Ralph Lauren brown leather shoes that is all about comfort. We were given two hours each to present and explain all our boards and answer the questions from our four juries that are all licensed Interior Designers. I was confident that I had prepared for five months for my presentation and that I could deliver an excellent defense. Two hours passed already but I was still in the middle of my presentation because of the details I had made, apart from nodding and raising eyebrows in amazement, the panel didn't ask questions anymore because it was already on my presentation, already crystalized for them. And so they gave me an almost perfect score and grade making me one of the few who got the highest spots in the entire class.

After my successful defense, I celebrated it with my classmates eating at an eat-all-you-can restaurant because we deserved it and we just wanted to reward ourselves. I informed Mama about how terrific I did on my final defense and I could hear her crying- a tears of joy, she kept on telling me how proud she was of me and that she had always knew that I could do it, that I am special. The next day, I went to our school chapel to say how grateful I am to God, the day was very beautiful with the sun filtered through the clouds and I couldn't stop smiling alone, as I passed the statue of the saints and the virgin, they were not tearing anymore, they seemed to be very happy and proud instead, staring at me.