Chapter 1

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

TL: whosays25

ED: corensi

It’s been a while, everyone. I’m back with another project, which I think you’ll like. This story is not just like my any other project, but a historical/time-travel one so I’m hoping it will catch your interest, just as it caught mine. Have a nice read. XD

1 – Assignment

“What the heck is wrong with our Humanities professor? It’s Christmas break yet she’s making us do assignments!?”

Tammy, twenty years of age, crossed her arms in front of her laptop. It was already past ten PM, but she still couldn’t find any topic for the assignment given by her prof in the Humanities subject. The task was supposed to be simple: just a research on a masterpiece that had caught her attention. It could be a painting or sculpture. Easy as pie.

But what made it difficult for Tammy was the added condition that it must be a masterpiece of a Filipino artist, moreover, it must not be the same with her classmates. However, all of her desired topics was already taken, from Juan Luna’s Spoliarium¹, to the Oblation ² statue.

Tammy clicked another browser tab and glanced over the Google spreadsheet. Her forehead furrowed when she saw that another painting that she wanted to research had also been taken up.

“Damn, somebody already snatched the Parisian Life ³ from me! And even Jose Rizal’s sculpture of A Mother’s Revenge ⁴? Aish! How I wish I didn’t laze around last week! If I didn’t, I would have gotten ahead of my classmates by now! Damn, who wants to do assignments? It’s Christmas! Christmas!”

Tammy weakly supported her chin with one hand. “Argh. Fine, I’ll persist a bit longer.”

Out of the sudden, she thought of something to type in Google.

Mysterious Painting Philippines (TN: obviously people always assume that Google understands XD)

Search results popped up immediately.

Tammy scrolled down until she found a web page which had this as title:

Who is ‘The Señorita’? No one knows who did this mysterious painting.

Tammy quickly clicked on it and then she was brought over to a blog post created on 2009. She then went to read the content.

Ever heard of this painting called ‘The Señorita’? I bet you haven’t. I never thought this painting existed until I visited the basement of the Manila Art Museum.

It’s a painting of a woman in a baro’t saya [5] with her back turned to the viewer. I asked the art director about the story of this painting. According to him, this was donated by a wealthy businessman after he lost his wife to an illness. The businessman was an avid art collector and he got The Seorita for an affordable price at a garage sale in Calamba, Laguna. He was obsessed with looking at it every day, until he realized that he was starting to go bankrupt and that his wife fell ill. When his wife died, he gave away the painting to the Manila Art Museum, and now it resides in the basement.

No one knows who did this painting, nor who was the model with her back turned. All we know is that this piece of art was said to be jinxed.

“Wow, it’s a possible subject!” Tammy smiled to herself.

She copied down the blog’s URL and pasted it into the Google Spreadsheet.

Tomorrow, she will certainly visit the Manila Art Museum. She must get any information pertaining to this so-called mysterious painting.

Her timing should be good too, since tomorrow is December 27.

***

Notes:

1 – Juan Luna’s Spoliarium:

2 – The Oblation Statue at the University of the Philippines:

3 – The Parisian Life

4 – A Mother’s Revenge

5 – Baro’t Saya (a traditional outfit for Filipino women.< Read more here)

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