Denying Destiny

Kill Lian

"Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!!" Lian kept repeating out loud as we walked to the campus parking lot still looking at what I pointed at a few minutes earlier. She almost never took her eyes off it. "Gago I need to call Max! We need to meet like ASAP!" She continued.

"Ang OA mo Lian." I said as I dumped my books, cases and bag sa likod na passenger seat and snatched my slippers so I can can get out off my heels. I climbed to the driver side feeling relief for my feet. I can see Lian already dialing Max's number as soon as she got in the car. There was no stopping her.

I drove towards the exit of our campus. The traffic on the way to the exit was already building up since classes already ended for most students. I couldn't get out of here fast enough. Ayokong mag isip.

"Maximo oh my god ano ba! Ang tagal mo sumagot!" Lian almost screamed at Max and I can hear Max's reply though I cannot decipher his exact words. "Wait speaker kita." Pinindot ni Lian yung speaker and Max's loud and annoyed voice filled the car, I almost jumped sa gulat sa lakas ng boses nya. "...anong feeling mong ginagawa ko dito?! Nakatayo lang?!"

"Hi Max! Miss you!" I interrupted. "Miss you too mga baks! So anong pinagsisisigaw ni Lianna dyan? Just so you know nagpatigil ako ng scene para dito. So kung hindi pa patay si Lianna, paki sakal please."

I can almost imagine the look of annoyance in Max's face and natawa ako. "Buhay pa si Lian and she's just overreacting." I said as my car moved slowly when the car in front of us slowly crawled.

"Girl nakita na namin si Killian Roxas!!!!!" Lian now screamed at her phone. I rolled my eyes and akala namin wala na si Max kasi tahimik na sa kabilang linya. "Hello, Max?" kumunot yung noo ni Lian. "What the hell??? Saan???" Max also screamed excitedly.

Napangiti si Lian triumphantly kasi he had the same reaction as hers. "Prof namin sya sa Civil Law Review 1! And ohmygod ang gwapo nya!!!" I massaged my temples with one hand sa ingay ng dalawa. I wanted to open the car window pero baka may makarinig saming pinaguusapan yung bagong prof.

"Gaano ka gwapo?" Max excitedly asked. "Like artista gwapo! Daniel Padilla levels. Kung may kuyang mas gwapo si Daniel Padilla na abogado, GANON." Lian said with the same excitement na parang gusto nyang tumalon sa upuan nya. "Ay bet! Anong reaction ni Stace?" Max asked laughing.

I didn't exactly share their excitement. I'm actually annoyed at their excitement. My distaste for crowds came with my distaste for becoming the center of attention. Kaya siguro I usually have a hard time with recitations.

"Ngayon, irita saatin. Pero kanina di makagalaw." Lian laughed. "OA." I denied making a sour face. Well, actually di nga ako makagalaw kanina.

"Nasaan ka ba? Magkita tayo!" Lian was now more composed. "Umm since inistorbo nyo ko, baka buong gabi kami dito. Pero free ako bukas. Puntahan ko kayo bukas sa Starbucks sa baba ng condo nyo pero two hours lang ako pwede. What time kayo free? Pwede morning?" Max asked.

"Girl di to makakahintay. Saka may klase kami bukas ng umaga. 24 hours yung Starbucks sa baba, so hintayin ka namin don magaaral din kami." Lian said with finality. Yeah both my friends are definitely overreacting over this. Mommy help.

Naalala ko nanaman yung weird na manghuhula na naencounter namin eons ago nung highschool pa kami. Can she be right? I instantly shook my thoughts away. I don't believe in those things. I had to remind myself.

Pero aaminin ko yun yung una kong naalala when I saw the name. Kala ko nga joke lang yung pangalan e. Or namalik mata lang ako. I had to read it five more times. Nung napasigaw si Lian, dun lang ako naniwala na tama nga pagkakabasa ko.

Pag dating namin sa condo, walang parin tigil si Lian sa pagdaldal tungkol sa hula. "Li, later na. Mag aral muna tayo. Saka whatever you're saying, Max will surely want to hear it." I said ng pasuko and that seemed to pacify her.

We changed into more comfortable clothes after grabbing a quick bite (meaning tira tira from delivery last night). Lian wore white shorts and a large shirt and sneakers while I decided on my favorite black straight drape pants that actually look like PJs but I don't care, white fitted shirt and my white birks and I also decided to throw in my unicorn socks in case it was cold sa Starbucks. We also brought jackets.

We found our usual spot pag dating sa Starbucks sa baba and I stood up to order our usual after dumping my things sa table. Pag balik ko, Lian was again wearing an expression that looked like she was still thinking about Killian Roxas. Sinimangutan ko sya to mean I don't want to talk about it, so Lian just reluctantly picked up the first case on our list to start reading. "Ang corny mo talaga." Lian joked.

I made myself comfortable in the couch by putting up both my legs in my seat curling them under me and I leaned on the arm rest.

After a few minutes, I reached for my drink and for some reason I looked over sa may claim counter because of a strange feeling that someone was looking at me. I choked on my drink. It was Attorney Roxas. He was casually leaning on the counter looking like some movie star still wearing his light blue long sleeves and slacks and shiny shoes, and he was looking straight at me. Umuubo ubo pa din ako at panigurado namumula na din. Di ko lang sure kung dahil sa pag ubo or dahil nandyan sya. I instantly looked away sa hiya dahil sa reaction ko.

I tried so hard to control my choking. My hand was automatically grasping my chest. Yes, I was still choking, people. And probably dying from embarrassment at the same time. Only consolation was my coffee didn't spew out of my nose. That was the only thing that can be worst than my reaction.

I tried not to cough too loud pero nakatingin na si Lian saakin. "Ok ka lang girl?" She worriedly asked. "Kuha kita ng tubig." She was about to stand up pero pinigilan ko sya by grasping her hand. "Ok lang ako may water ako dito." I blurted out. I reached for my klean kanteen sa bag and I shook it towards her then I drank from it. I instantly felt pain in my throat. God this is so embarrassing Stacy!

I stole a glance at the claim counter while pretending to drink, and I saw our prof waiting for his coffee thankfully now looking at another direction but still with a smile on his face showing that he's clearly amused at my reaction upon seeing him. Ugggh bwiset.

I can feel my cheeks burn again na mas nakakahiya so I shifted my position sa couch para di ko sya masyadong makita. I slowly lowered my feet and hid them below the table in front. Oh why do I have to wear the unicorn socks now??

Lian looked at me in a weird way and turned around to check out kung anong nakita ko sa likod nya para mag react ako ng ganon. I tried to reach for her arm, but it was too late. She already saw him.

"Oh my god!" Lian said too loudly bumilog pa yung mga mata nya, and I was so sure narinig yon nung prof namin. So sinipa ko si Lian then pretended to read again without looking at the counter kung nakaalis na ba yung prof naming gwapo or hindi. I'll give it another 5 minutes before ako titingin ulit

"Lian, I swear, I'm going to kill you. Manahimik ka dyan!" I gritted my teeth as I slowly lifted the photocopied case I was reading para takpan yung mukha ko. I wanted to die. I also wanted to kill Lian. Why did she have to be so loud??

"Hi Attorney." I froze when I heard Lian's voice turned sweet. Too sweet actually. Tangina tinawag ba nya?? I'm really gonna kill Lian!!! Napapikit ako.

"Hello." I heard the smooth deep confident voice of our young professor return the greeting, again with amusement in his voice as I tried hard not to imagine his face. Why is he so damn distracting kahit boses lang naririnig ko? I also heard the scraping of the chair on the table beside us. Omg dyan pa sya uupo??? My focus flew out of the door faster than an athlete on steroids.

"Civ Rev 1?" I heard him ask Lian. "Actually sir, I mean Attorney, Poli yung binabasa namin." She replied. "No what I meant was sa Civ Rev ko kayo students." It wasn't actually a question. Tumaas kilay ko. Bakit parang madaling basahin yung boses nya pero at the same time hindi?

Lian gave a small laugh and napairap ako. "Yes, sorry Attorney." Then she kicked me under the table para ibaba yung papel na nakataas pa rin sa mukha ko. I wasn't even wearing my airpods para maisip nyang di ko sila naririnig!! The horror pota!!!

I slowly lowered the useless case I was pretending to read intently and was immediately greeted by his eyes again with that curious look and smile. I awkwardly smiled at him. "Hello, sir." God, kill me. Nasabi ko na ba yon?

"Hello, Ms. Valdez." He said cooly and I pretended to look for my highlighter para matago sandali yung namumula kong pisngi. "So palagi ba kayong nag aaral dito?" He asked me, never dropping the amusement on his voice. I can feel his stare boring down on me.

Stacy snap out of it! Mas pinapahiya mo yung sarili mo! Chill! Tignan mo sya! I screamed at myself and turned to him. "Yes, attorney." I answered looking at him. Flushed with a little horror on my face. Ang pathetic ko ano ba!

"Actually sir dito kami sa condo nakatira so palagi kaming nandito." Lian tried to salvage my weirdness and smiled at him. Killian hesitantly turned to her breaking our eye contact. Nakahinga din ako. "Talaga? Dito din condo ko." He said and tumaas kilay ni Lian sa tuwa. Napasimangot ako sakanya. Easy Lian! "Wow sir what a coincidence!" Lian stressed on the word coincidence and gusto ko syang sapukin for being too enthusiastic.

"So sir, sorry curious lang ako pero parang ang bata mo pa para maging prof? I mean lahat usually ng prof namin for review classes are ancient. No offense sa kanila." Lian smiled sweetly at him. I rolled my eyes.

Natawa si Killian. "I'm sure the ancients will be offended, so I hope you don't repeat that to anyone else. But since you asked, I passed the Bar 3 years ago and nagturo ako agad. I moved here because of a better offer and schedule and I get to teach review classes." He smiled at Lian and his gaze turned back to me. "By the way, Ms. Valdez, can I have your phone?"

Nagulat ako and napataas ang kilay sa professor namin who just smiled at me while looking like he was reading my face na nagtatakang nakasimangot. "Relax, Ms. Valdez, nakalimutan ko lang ibigay yung number ko. You'll need to know where to reach me diba?" Sabi nya again with the amusement tone.

I looked completely puzzled. What the hell is he talking abut? Why would I need to reach him? Iniisip kong natataranta. "Miss beadle?" Dugtong nya and I immediately felt stupid. Among all things. Gago Stacy find your f*****g common sense.

Namumulang kong binigay yung phone ko without saying anything else. Mukha na kong tanga as it is. Ayoko nang dagdagan. Lian rolled her eyes at me and mouthed Umayos ka! Killian typed his number and he called it as well.

Bumilog ang mata ni Lian and smiled widely when our prof's phone vibrated on the table. He quickly ended the call. "Now you know where to reach me." He said smoothly and I didn't realize that I was holding my breath again.

"Sorry Attorney, hindi ako sanay maging class beadle." I admitted. Killian raised one eyebrow at me and smiled. "Yes, I can see that when you didn't volunteer."

He stood up pocketing his phone and reached for his latte and handed me my phone back at kabadong ko tong kinuha. "Next time Ms. Coronel, no need to raise both hands. I can call you as a volunteer during recit kahit isang kamay lang itaas mo." Nagbiro sya while Lian smiled sheepishly. "Good evening ladies and good luck with your Poli." He smiled his dazzling smile, then he flawlessly crossed the room to exit.

"Tangina!!!!" Lian screamed silently while still excited. I tried to calm my heartbeat. "Girl namumula ka pa rin!" She continued.

"Gago I feel so stupid." I groaned.

"Medyo" Lian snickered.

"He probably thinks I was being super weird. Or super stupid. Or both." I placed my reading sa mukha ko and slouched back and groaned again. Lian laughed and knew she didn't need to answer me. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

I replayed the scene a while ago over and over again and wished the ground would just swallow me whole.