INT. JULES' STUDIO APARTMENT - 5 P.M.
Jules, 23, stares at her window overlooking the busy city intersection. With her hands hugging a warm mug of decaf coffee, she watches the rain pour down below, from her thirty-second floor condo unit; a studio-type place where every room is crammed into one small space. She feels her heart race as she watches cars pass by the wide intersection.
Her cellphone on the bed rings. Jules unplugs the charger from it and answers the call from her cousin Candi, 34.
CANDI
(on the phone)
Hey, how have you been holding up there?
JULES
(sighs)
I’m fine, I guess.
CANDI
Really? You sound defeated.
JULES
Okay, maybe I’m not fine. I’m just worried I won’t get the job, that’s all.
CANDI
You’ll be fine, I promise. C’mon, I mean, you graduated from a great school. You know how things go here in Metro Manila—
JULES
(snickers)
Well, they haven’t called me back in a month.
(pause)
None of the companies I applied for has called me back.
CANDI
Tell you what—I’ll just take you out to dinner tonight, and—well, we’ll have a chat.
JULES
Will you pick me up here?
CUT TO:
INT. SAMGYUPSAL RESTAURANT - 7 P.M.
Jules and Candi are seated in front of each other at a table in the far corner of a samgyupsal restaurant. As it is the peak hour of dining, many people come and go through the doors, keeping every server present on their toes. Every table around them is occupied.
With a pair of tongs, Candi flips over some beef strips on the center grill. Jules, a light eater, takes her time with making her own pork belly and kimchi lettuce wraps.
CANDI
So how do you get by while you’re waiting?
JULES
I do freelance work. My art account and Fiverr keep me alive these days since leaving my last job.
CANDI
Don’t you want to do freelance full-time?
JULES
(looking down)
I don’t earn enough. I don’t get commissions too often either.
Candi cannot find the words to carry on the conversation further—or rather, she’s trying to be conservative with the words coming out of her mouth, treading lightly knowing that it can be a sensitive topic at hand. She instead continues to grill the remaining raw meat on the plate.
JULES
Glenn Ramoso’s getting married on the 30th.
CANDI
Oh, your high school friend? Are you invited?
JULES
College friend. And no, not invited—we’re just acquaintances. Saw the news on his Facebook.
Jules lets out a long sigh, lamenting the mundanity and mediocrity of her life. She prods around a small chunk of kimchi on her plate with her chopsticks, before picking it up and eating it.
JULES
(continues)
And here I am—single, broke, and directionless. Ah! Whatever. Life sucks.
Candi can’t help but look at her cousin in pity. If she could only ask her twenty-year-old self to speak for her—or any majority of the population for that matter—just to console Jules, she would. But it’s no use anyway, as nothing would really get through her stubbornness and naïve idealism.
Nevertheless, in her mind, it’s still worth a shot to try and give Jules a different perspective.
CANDI
I get you, babe. Being an adult sucks.
JULES
(pouts)
Yeah, says the person who landed a pretty good job right after graduating—and currently has a boyfriend.
CANDI
(purses lips)
Or so you know. Yeah, I may have landed a job right after I took off my toga—but it didn’t have the best pay. I was pretty overworked too.
Jules looks up at her cousin in curiosity.
CANDI
(continues)
It wasn’t until I was twenty-seven when I got a chance to move into my own place. I didn’t meet Raven until I was thirty—you know that.
JULES
You were a data analyst before, right?
CANDI
Yes. Now I’m in sales. I switched gears a bit.
There’s a long silence as the two continue emptying up their plates. In no time, no trace of food is left. Only the several half-filled sauces and condiments are scattered across the table. Candi pays for the bill, and they stand up from their metal seats, making their way to the exit.
JULES
(V.O.)
What should I do now?
CANDI
(V.O.)
Don’t be afraid to keep on trying.
CUT TO:
INT. JULES' STUDIO APARTMENT - 10 P.M.
Jules picks up her pen and writes in her journal, which is in its last few pages. With a small smile, she eagerly glides her pen across the spaces and writes about the day that had just gone by.
JULES
(V.O.)
As her cousin, I thought I had known Ate Candi well enough. But I didn’t know she landed a not-so-stellar job! That surprised the heck out of me. Shouldn’t magna cum laude grads have a more secure future?
Suddenly stopping in her tracks, Jules shakes her head and crosses out the last sentence she wrote in her notebook.
JULES
(V.O.)
I guess life’s just really hard. It’s not like I’ve never lived it before. But just as I was ready to give up, Ate gave me the spark I sorely needed.
Just as she’s about to close her journal, an idea pops up in her head. To her, it sounds like a really catchy closing line to an entry filled with realization.
JULES
(V.O.)
We just have to cross our fingers... and wait for the next best thing, I guess.
THE END
