Chapter 1 - The Golden Genius (2/2)

No! She realized it too. There was still a throbbing pain on her back which made her body trembled even more. That alone… made her sure… this wasn't a dream at all!

She lost all of her blood on her face. Her hands turned into noodles and it flapped onto her thɨġhs. Helpless! She never felt helpless like this before! What sin did she make to pay for this misfortune? But was this… really a bad luck in the first place? Her dejected eyes slowly rolled on to her arms.

'Huh?'

Her eyelids went half closed and she immediately narrowed her eyes to be sure she saw it right.

'What the heck am I wearing?!!'

She was stunned to see herself in Chinese clothing. What could've happened? When did she slip into that luxurious robe? Ah! It was shiny! It's actually a thick silk cloth. With its glittering purple color that exudes regality, it was patterned with a golden dragon soaring into the clouds. That wasn't the one that piqued her interest, but the strange letters above it. Urging to read, she immediately tilted her head as her gaze crawled on the bizarre symbols. But to her shock…

'This! Isn't this Baybayin?!'

To her amazement, she then again looked on to the letters then started to utter as though she was reading it. Yeah. She could actually read it… like a grade school student.

”Si…a…o… Mmmm… Si-a-o? What's that?” Her eyebrows twitched. Goodness! She didn't understand what she read!

'Damn! This… It is harder than I thought…'

She immediately covered her face because of her embarrassment. Thank God! No one was around or she might lose face! What's the use of calling her 'The Golden Genius' if she would suck on a simple word?

Nah! You had already done great reading it though. Unless skimming through books, most Filipino might have no idea how to read that. At worst, they may even confuse Baybayin with Alibata. Alibata was actually believed to also be another term coined for Baybayin. But it wasn't… because this 'Alibata' was actually an Arabic alphabet thus it was made to be a misnomer for the ancient script of Filipinas.

Wait. Are we forgetting something? Oops. Yes! She was called as 'The Golden Genius'. Uhm… I mean… she… er… the truth is… she was the one who called herself the Golden Genius. So narcissistic right? But she wasn't. This was just one of her executed plans to slap her father with her success! However it was not a total lie at all. Well… she was smart… but not enough to be called as genius… except for physics. Heck! She was a physics maniac. Concepts… theories… calculations… applications… damn! She might even drool over a simple book of physics.

Still couldn't figure out what it means so she decided to jump on to the next word. Sweats dripped on her forehead as though she was on a hectic exam.

”Lo…ngu...”

'Huh? What?' A question mark was written over her face. Her eyebrows furrowed even more and she even scratched her head while thinking it over again and again.

In a swift breeze, her crumpled face suddenly pulled straight until a grin came.

”Zhao Long! How idiot! This is just a name!! Ahaha.” She burst with laughter when she realized how stupid she was. That was a direct translation of Chinese name Zhao Long. She totally forgot how Filipino borrows word from other language, and then translates it based on its pronunciation. But why Chinese name in Baybayin?

She immediately lifted her chin feeling proud of her achievement.

However sudden realization hit her hard…she forgot that really important part! Why was she in that luxurious robe?! Her confident face suddenly dropped. She quickly raised her hand and bit her thumb as her mind fell again into perplexity.

'Damn! Where am I?'