After his shift, Talin went home to rest and eat dinner.
His mother and brother had already eaten so he ate alone. It was 9 pm in the evening and his mother and brother were in their respective rooms lying down and about to go to sleep.
He walked towards the path inside his room. There were various portraits of different sceneries as he walked through the small hallway. He stared at them for a while and saw his name on the bottom of the frame. He thought that he himself was actually an artist. Ves was also an artist but the only difference was that her portraits are more of grown men and women concept.
He stared at hit paintings even more and he noticed that his paintings were different from others as it was more of an abstract style.
Each of the members of the Cuevas family has a portrait from graduating or from events. When a member of the family graduates, they will have a portrait placed in the small hallway and the room of their house.
He entered his room. He realized he had a rough day and finally took a rest. Tomorrow is his first day at Wellington U.
The next day…
Mrs. Cuevas knocked on Talin's door twice after Talin opened the door.
"Good morning Honey" his mother greeted him.
"Oh, Ma you're up early, How about Gayo?"
"Gayo's still on his phone but he'll be out soon, I'll go ahead." Mrs. Cuevas kissed and walked past her son while waving.
"Okay, good luck on your work Ma!" Talin waved back to his mom.
"Yeah, good luck on your first day too!" Mrs. Cuevas smiled and walked away.
Talin walked inside Gayo's room to check his brother tying his shoelace while having face time with his classmate on his phone. Talin was able to talk to Gayo's girl classmate.
"Oh hi, Tal! Good morning, bye Eunice, talk to you later, I gotta go now." Gayo said to his friend
He finished tying up his shoelace before taking his khaki-colored bag and locked his room, next, he walked towards the dining table where his brother is sitting.
Gayo's eyes immediately brightened and he clapped his hands to his brother. "Good morning Bro! Congratulations!" He greeted and hugged his older brother.
" Thanks Bro, Good morning" Tal greeted back.
The brothers chatted while having breakfast.
"I just hope there are no bullies in your new school Bro," Gayo told
"I hope so Bro, time is running we're gonna be late" Talin caught his brother's soul back to his body making him blink twice before finishing his meal.
"So I guess we separate ways here" Gayo commented which made his brother nod.
Wellington U's school bus arrived and Talin sat near the driver's seat. While sitting he couldn't help thinking about what his brother had said.
He's always been invisible and it was way before he became a victim of bullying. He was like a nobody. Most of his schoolmates think that he's appreciated because of his pretty face and his intelligence. For him, that wasn't the case. His fashion style we're way too ugly and back then he had a poor body image due to being fat. He's been doing his best to improve and work out, that's why he lost weight when he was in 11th grade.
When he reached 9th grade being bullied and discriminated against was fine. He has gotten used to it. Not until a friend of his betrayed him. He thought his friend was real, he treated him as one. He was the only friend that he had since then.
They mocked him as 'Talin cheap' and 'fatty prick'. That's when his bullies multiplied. His friend left him behind. He thought what they had was real but he was so dumb to believe that. He only used Talin for his grades and just to copy assignments from him. He even let Talin make his research papers and projects.
Talin attempted suicide. But he remembered why he's still standing up to that day, his mother and brother. He needs to act as the father of their family. He needs to be tough. The dumbest thing about all this was that his mother didn't know what her son had been going through. Talin didn't want her to know. He knew they were nothing compared to his classmates' families.
..
A bell awakened Talin. He has arrived at Wellington U. The university looks like a whole community. He walked close to enter the university's entrance gate.
He's in front of the gigantic gate. The guards opened the gate.
After 2 minutes of walking, he arrived at a wide building. The university's name was carved on top of it.
A voice from the speakers of the campus suddenly appeared.
"Students welcome to Wellington!" the principal said with joy.
Two men guarded the second entrance as he entered. Other students were busy doing their things in the school hallway. There were friend groups who were chatting on the stairways. He saw each of the beautiful murals on the walls and was amazed by them. This school loves the arts.
Once he reached his assigned class, He went inside and to his shock that it was actually a spacious room, with its own comfort room and a small clinic. Its walls are richly furnished with color palettes of gray, white, and black. There were only 35 chairs. He sat down on the chair at the back.
His classmates were busy talking about random topics and how their vacation went and their family trips. They wore all kinds of fashion trends in their generation and they came from various clothing brands.
"There were a few people surrounding and looking at me, their faces are full of judgment and discrimination."
"I can also see my co-scholars, I clearly see that the three of them are friends"
"Was I dreaming? I'm not used to seeing this kind of environment" Talin spoke to himself quietly.
Ves was rich but she's been homeschooled since high school.