Tuition Fee

Ateneo De Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines

"You want me to do what?"

Although Lhiza said that, she didn’t need him to repeat what he asked. She just wanted time to think.

“I can help you out, kung gusto mo, but only if you accept my offer.” He then pulled out a thick wad of paper money, bound by a rubber band, and slowly, deliberately, he licked his index finger and started counting the cash. One thousand, two thousand…

Lhiza stared at the bills; never in her life had she seen so much money at once. She wanted so much to reach out and admire the smoothness of the fresh paper money. But for it, she realized, she had to pay him in deed. Her stomach churned at the thought of it, and she stopped herself.

“…and, twenty-five thousand. Twenty-five thousand pesos. So, are you gonna do it?” he smirked. 

She bit her lip. She hated everything about that conyo kid, that rich bastard: obnoxious, desperate, and downright pathetic. She wouldn’t even touch him with a six-meter pole. But holy shit! Twenty-thousand pesos! With this much money…

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips as she finally gave in and revealed herself to him. He reached for her and fondled her with one hand. “Ah, your nipples are getting tense. Gusto mo ako, ‘no? You want me, right?”

She noticed the bulge in his pants and looked away, defensively. “Don’t get me wrong, gago. I’m doing it just this once for my tuition fee, and never again,” she said, staring at the cash lying on the desk.

(271 words)

Author's Afterword:

Manila, Philippines. For most people, the first things that come into mind whenever these words are mentioned are adobo and pancit, lovely sunsets at Manila Bay, lots of malls and party places, very friendly citizens and well, more adobo. But look past Roxas Boulevard and you will see the other side of Manila: a dark, complicated city colonized by the Spanish for four-hundred years and forty by the Americans, ruthlessly occupied and destroyed by the Japanese in the Second World War, and even after being freed from twenty years of the dictatorial rule of the Marcoses in the late '80s, the city is still a slave to poverty, violence and corruption.

Manila is a complicated place where light and shadows collide, and when they do, anything becomes possible. Due to this, Manila is full of topics to talk about, whether it be about its questionable justice system, or its very lively and colorful pop culture. This story is a product of one of the many ideas that this city inspires.

Anyways, this is my first shot at noir, a very dark genre of fiction. Jessica Hagedorn enumerates the essentials of noir in her introduction to Manila Noir as:

 "...alienated and desperate characters, terse dialogue, sudden violence, betrayals left and right. And of course, there's plenty of mordant humor. And of course, there are no happy endings."

This isn't your usual noir, though. This is an experimental kind. I'm just trying out new things with it. In this case, it's trimming it down to flash fiction and from the point of view of the femme fatale of the story. I hope you enjoy this experiment of mine just as I enjoyed making it.