Aria's Medley

Chapter 3

“Please sign here Miss Villalon,” the secretary of Mr. Romualdez said as she gave me the contract.

I read it thrice and finally, I signed the contract quickly and hand it over to him.

“I hope I can trust your promise that you will take good care of the employees of my father and his friends Mr. Romualdez,” I said coldly as we both stood up.

The old president bowed and nodded, “You can be sure of it, Miss Villalon. I will treat them as my family members, like your father and his partners did for a long time.”

I gave him a small smile and nodded.

“About my... small request Mr. Romualdez?”

“Ahh... Yes, it has already been taken care of... My secretary here will give you all the list of the children left behind in two days’ time. We are repeatedly verifying and double checking if everyone is in the list.” He said to me surely.

“Thank you for your efforts Mr. Romualdez and I hope the Group will continue to grow under your care.” I offered him a handshake which he accepted gladly.

“You will always have a place in the company Miss Villalon. If I can be of any assistance to you... Anything at all, I will do everything within my power.”

I nodded and smiled gratefully, “I will surely remember that Mr. Romualdez. Well, I’ve better be going. I have a class at four. Good day to you.”

As I walk away from him, he caught up and held my hand in a fatherly way, “Miss Villalon, allow me to say that your father will be very proud and happy for what you are going to do. If I am him, I will feel the very same thing.”

“Thank you for those kind words Mr. Romualdez. It gave my heart some peace. Again, thank you and good luck.”

-0-

“That will be all for today! Good luck on your finals and have a happy semester break.” I said to my class on the last day of our meeting.

“Thank you, Miss Villalon!”

“Happy Vacation, Madam!”

“We will miss you!”

“Bye, Miss Villalon!”

“Thank you!”

The students yelled their goodbyes as they ran out of the room to discuss their coming vacations. As usual I was left behind with my teaching materials and chalks.

I threw everything in my bag and hurried out of the room as well.

Now that I’m living alone in our small mansion, I have to get home earlier than usual. No more welcoming smile, the hugs, sharing of stories and experiences for the day, the jokes, the laughter and homemade foods.

As I walked pass the buildings of the town, a fading advertisement posted on the wall of an abandoned house caught my attention.

-IMMEDIATE HIRING-

WHAT:                             LIBRARIAN

WHERE:                         ARISTOCRARTIC DUKEDOM OF RIKSENT

WHY:                                SHORTAGE OF ARISTOCRATIC PART TIME                                                                                              WORKERS

HOW:                               SUBMIT YOUR RESUME AT THE NEAREST                                                                                                GOVERNMENT OFFICE NEAR YOU

-REQUIREMENTS-

18-24 YEARS OLD, GRADUATE OF ANY LIBRARY RELATED COURSES, NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED, WILLING TO WORK UNDER PREASSURE, HARDWORKING AND STRICT, WILLING TO WORK OVERTIME*, WILLING TO LIVE IN THE DUKEDOM FOR THE DURATION OF WORK**, OBEDIENT, STRONG WILLED AND PATIENT, WILLING TO TEACH LIBRARY SUBJECT IF NEEDED BE***

*:                                          TRIPLE PAY PER HOUR OF OVERTIME

**:                                       FREE BOARD AND LODGING

***:                                    QUADRUPLE PAY FOR EVERY HOUR IN                                                                                        TEACHING

Riksent huh? That certainly brings back memories... sad and painful memories... but... triple pay per hour of overtime and QUADRUPLE pay for every hour of teaching?

Knowing the dukedom, they are not cheap on paying what few foreign workers they hire on their nation. Riksentians hate hiring other people to do their jobs except if there is no other way...

Plus, I’ve already sold the company of my father and his friends to a close colleague of Papa who will surely take care of it...

The money will be donated to the children like me who lost their parents or relatives who support them in the form of scholarship grants from kinder to college.

I’ve asked Mr. Romualdez to give me the list of the names of the children so that I can pinpoint them and send their grants through a non-government organization unanimously with the help of my Papa’s trusted lawyer.

Hundreds of millions of pesos to be given away as scholarship grants and business support to help the families to start again, a new life without their loved one. I know how the money will never be able to remove the scar completely but it will help them have a peace of mind.

All that I have left is the house and lot in Quezon and fifty thousand pesos on my bank account or roughly seven hundred fourteen Euros.

The path that I must take is clear... all I have to do is to step forward into the new world with nothing but the strength my Papa gave me and my unbending heart.

-0-

“Excellent! You are now hired Miss Villalon!” the interviewer said after forty-five minutes of talking.

She asked me things about the library to check my knowledge, my willingness to work under pressure and my courage to teach hardheaded Riksentian Aristocratic spoiled kids.

I impressed her with my cold and straightforward approach in teaching. How everything will be purely education and nothing personal. The past tribulations and tragedies in my life has hardened my heart and I can’t even barely produce a smile now. That’s what separates me from the rest of applicants.

“Thank you.” I answered slowly.

The interviewer smiled happily as she extracted a contract and waiver from her drawer, “Your visa, plane ticket and pocket money will be handled by the government of Riksent. You have to wait for the last week of October and then you will then depart for Laroost posthaste. Please sign here so we can send these papers via e-mail to Riksent as soon as possible.”

I quickly signed the papers and handed it over to her, she then stood up and offers to shake my hand.

“You are very lucky to get this job Miss Villalon. And they in turn, are very lucky to have you there to teach their kids.”

“I will do what I’m told and teach what I have to teach and make sure they will behave inside the library and classroom as long as I’m there. I can’t promise I will be perfect but I can promise I will come close to excellence.” I answered as I stood up and accepted her hand.

She beamed and waved me good luck as I walk out of the office door.

-0-

“Another part-time teacher and librarian resigned from the Laroost University Crown Countess.” Della said to Winry who is currently sitting at the chair of the Minister of Education at the west wing of the Palace of Hausen.

“And the replacement?” she asked wearily.

It’s the fifth time for the last three months. They can’t seem to control the rising problem of lack of discipline the students at the various schools at Riksent especially at the University of Laroost after the old Baroness Severina, the previous overall Dean for education of Riksent.

Like her name, she is very severe when it comes to teaching and the breakers of rules are punished harshly while the ones who follow them are rewarded generously.

Riksent prides itself of the discipline the graduates of their school exhibits.

Now that the Baroness has passed away, the students are taking it easy. Part time teachers and staffs are resigning left and right for the last months. Students are becoming unruly and disrespectful now that no one is there to check their behavior.

With no one to curb their rebelliousness, teenager Riksentians began to start acting like western children act. Rude and they also stop listening carefully to the instructions of their superiors.

Like the Clan of Traska, the quality of education in Riksent is also teetering on the verge of collapse. The Ministry of Education has its hands full of finding, swapping and requesting for new teachers at the various schools around the dukedom.

Crown Countess Winneth Rynoa is having trouble finding another batch of new instructors to replace the latest batch of resigning workers.

Now another woman gave up her post due to stress.

“My lady, we have no other teacher to replace her. So, we requested our ally, the Maharlika to aid us in our plight. They promised to send a competent librarian teacher as soon as they found one.” Della answered quickly.

“And?” Winry asked.

“We just received the credentials and name of the applicant. She seems to be promising. Her estimated date of arrival is on the last week of October. She was interviewed by a Filipino psychologist who studied here under Baroness Summer’s guidance as a liaison in case we need competent workers from Maharlika so rest assured, the one who will be replacing her will be a competent one.” Della answered confidently.

Winry nodded and smiled, “I have complete confidence on everyone who studied under the good Baroness. I just hope she can last for at least until the end of school year. We are already out of part time workers. Most of our manpower is being poured to handle the unrest within the economic sector of the dukedom. For seventy-five years Baroness Severina masterfully handled both the economic and the education sector of our nation. Now that she is gone, we are having problems living our life without her.”

Winry’s adviser Della nodded in agreement as she and the Crown Countess started to come up with different strategies to quell the students.

-0-

October 29...

The day of departure...

I’ve already finished packing my things. One duffel bag, one wheeled traveling bag and a backpack is all I’m bringing with me. Clothes, toiletries, important papers, my small laptop, android phone, pictures of Mama, Papa and Granny and the jewelries I inherited from Granny.

That’s all what I’m going to bring with me. I have a feeling I won’t be returning for quite some time so I covered all the furniture with white cloth and requested that our electricity, water and internet line to be cut off.

This place is no longer my home. Home is where my loved ones are. Now that they are all gone, this place became lifeless and sad. It pains me to stay here any longer because every nook and cranny reminds me painfully of memories of my life with my family.

As I close the gate of my house, I’ve felt that I am closing my own heart. No more use for wishing for neither happy life nor good memories to come by for they will all just leave me behind with nothing but a bleeding heart.

Time itself has stop for me. My heart became numb and unfeeling. Trivial wishes and wishful thinking are all useless to me now.

I will live my life as it is... Whatever happens, happens.

Now that I’m on board the plane that will bring to the new world, I am curiously filled with nothing but emptiness and my mind is set on my future work on how I can be an effective teacher and a librarian.