How It Starts

She was pissed off! She had just flunked CE202 Revision Test 2! “I shouldn’t have crammed in the last minute,” she mumbled to herself. She was trudging slothfully under IFL bridge towards the main gate when a few chuckling boys were rushing past her towards the gate, knocking her neatly-filed green plastic folder off her grasp so that it spilled the guts all over the hard scorching cemented pathway. “SERIOUSLY?” she let out an outrage! While the other two boys chose to ignore the sight and continued as fast as their tiny little pale legs could carry them towards the gate, one of them came to an abrupt halt, swiveled back, and gave one apologetic smile before taking to his heels again.

Not wishing to make a dramatic scene to the passers-by, she quickly got down to her knees, and with some hasty hand movements, managed to stuff everything back inside the folder. She stole a glance at her watch, and she immediately knew her tuk-tuk driver must have been waiting for some time by now. With her left arm hugging the folder more tightly this time, she slung her bag over her right shoulder, got to her feet, and started darting in the direction of the gate.

It was 6pm, and the sky was already engulfed by complete darkness. As soon as she hopped onto the soft comfy seat of the tuk tuk she had been so familiar with for the last 2 years, she fished around in her pocket and withdrew the 4-year-old Nokia N70 phone. Like any other days in the last two years, verbal direction of where she wanted to go was not needed since home was the only destination for her after this hour.

The tuk-tuk was purring with pleasure at the speed of 40 km/h. The chilly breeze of the December night was touching her rosy cheeks so softly that she could not resist the temptation to lean her aching back onto the soothing leather-like tuk-tuk couch and fix her eyes on the tiny screen of her phone. With a beep sound that was almost drowned out by the noisy buzz of the nightlife, another text message popped up on her screen.

Don’t be upset! Chill! I am sure there are many good things in store for you. After all, it’s not like it’s the first time you flunked your test, anyway :P

Her lips stretched to form a smile. It never ceased to amaze her how she could have kept in touch with a complete stranger through multiple texts each day over a period of one year. It all had started out of boredom with a “Hi” text to a random number. She could still recall how nervous and excited she was after receiving a humorous reply that said, “Bored much? LOL let’s do this!” If there had been something as fate, this must have been it! Before she knew it, she found herself being drawn to him the way a tiny helpless needle stuck to a magnet. Though the bond grew mysteriously stronger, he had always refused to let her know everything about him. She had tried on various occasions to unmask him, but to no avail. Despite her undying desire to know who he was, she respected him too much to risk losing him by forcing him into putting himself in the spotlight.

Suddenly the tuk tuk driver pulled over and screeched to a halt in front of the tall lofty Canadia Tower. She looked around, bewildered! Before she could lean forward to ask the tuk tuk driver about what was going on, the driver hopped off his seat, walked towards her slowly, took off his cap, and apologized profusely.

“I’m sorry! My wife needs to deliver the baby in a few hours. I need to drop you off here!” She could barely see his face as the bright street lights were blinding her eyes, but she managed to force a smile out of confusion.

“It’s ok! I’ll flag for another tuk tuk. Congrats!”

“No. No. I already asked my brother-in-law to fetch you from here. He’s also a tuk tuk driver. Please wait for 10 mins or so.”

She half-opened her mouth to turn the offer down but ended up smiling gratefully instead as she was sure at this hour, it would not be easy to flag for a tuk tuk, especially from Canadia Tower. As soon as the tuk tuk was swallowed up by the glittering sea of moving vehicles, she glanced at her watch and after deciding to kill her time by strolling in the Tower, dashed towards the sliding doors that slid open admitting her inside.

“Attention, please! Sok Daphea, please proceed to the fourth floor!” A soft beautiful voice blared out from the tiny black speakers dangling rather dangerously from the ceiling of the Canadia Tower.

Did she just call out my name? Yeah, Daphea! That’s my name! Did I do something wrong? Nervousness was welling up inside her. A cold tingling sensation started to run down her neck all the way to the base of her spine. Casting furtive glances around, trying to ascertain that nobody had taken heed of the announcement, she dashed back towards the sliding door. But she was only inches away from the door when a fat angry-looking security guard in dark blue uniform emerged blocking her way, his bloating belly seeming to bear the most weight.

“Please go to the FOURTH floor, madam!” The security guard, with crossed arms, put so much emphatic stress on the word “fourth” that he almost sounded furious at her attempt to flee the building. Feeling confused and trapped, she had no choice but to drag herself slowly towards the lift, got into it, pressed number four, waited anxiously, and upon arrival, stepped out very carefully. However, she was not quite prepared for the sight that greeted her eyes.

She was standing rooted to the marble floor of the long hallway, mesmerized by the small notes in bright orange—her favorite color—that were plastered all over both walls of the hallway leading towards the iron door, the exit access to the large open space of the fourth floor. It took her a few seconds to realize that the notes were not blank notes but bore handwritten words. Curiosity was pulling at her heart’s strings, and therefore, succumbing to the temptation, she carefully took down the orange note closest to her. The note read:

LOL I am glad you feel better and gladER I am of assistance to you :)

The sentence sounded familiar to her, but it did not ring a bell. Slowly she moved along the hallway reading some notes on the right, some on the left and then on the right again. She repeated the cycle until she reached the iron door. Her eyes caught sight of a bigger note in pink that was stuck on the door itself.

Daphea, are you ready? Take a deep breath and please open the door :)

She did take a deep breath, reaching down to touch the cold doorknob, turned it, and pushed it open.

Orange rose petals carpeted the floor of the open space, in the middle of which stood a raised wooden platform supported by four short pillars wrapped around with pink roses and leaves. Strings of orange neon lights were zigzagging overhead so that they formed a resemblance of a gigantic glowing flowery canopy. On the left, random photos of hers taken from her daily school life were being projected on the enormous white sheet, ranging from the one in which she was dressed up as Oganda for the role play to the one in which she was spoon-feeding her female friend at the canteen.

She literally gasped in awe, letting everything in sight sink in slowly. It was so fairy-like that she had to pinch herself to ensure she was not fantasizing. Still struck by disbelief, she made her way gracefully towards the platform, taking each step very cautiously so as not to trample on the rose petals. Upon getting onto the platform, she remained still, her heart racing with excitement. Suddenly the iron door swung open revealing a guy with a white shirt tucked into black trousers. From where she was waiting eagerly, she could not figure out who the guy was. Just as she was about to step down the platform and walk towards him, her phone beeped and a text popped up.

I am sure you are not upset anymore :) And hope the security guard did NOT give you a hard time LOL.

She buried her face in her hands, sobbing out of sheer excitement and joy. She could feel her face blushing and burning with heat. It was only when she felt a slight tap on her shoulder that she let her hands go of her face and looked up. There, in front of her on the platform under the manmade starry sky, surrounded by beautiful rose petals, stood the guy she had texted everyday for one year, the guy who finally revealed himself in person, the guy who made all this possible, and the guy she actually had bumped into earlier at school today!

“Hi! My name is Sophorn.” Smiling shyly, he extended his right hand for a handshake. She smiled back at him, looked him straight in the eyes for the first time after one year, the pair of eyes she had always been wishing to see, and finally shook his hand gently but firmly.

“Hi, I am Daphea. Nice to meet you! This is a nice way of introducing yourself.”

They were lost in each other’s eyes. And it was just the end of the beginning!