SPM Essay : That Day.

Assalamualaikum,

Just a random essay I found in my laptop. Thought I could put it up here on the blog and share it with you guys. Enjoy 🙂

Oh, but please beware that it’s a bit mushy and all lovey-dovey kinda thing. No puking allowed.

There he was, sitting at the exact same spot, eating the exact same thing, with the exact same person. I smiled to myself as I thought of the past few weeks. I have purposely taken the long way to college everyday so I could sneak a glance at him. I might be just in time for class, but it was worth every second.

His adorable smile stole my heart the very first time I saw him, exactly one year ago. Back then, I didn’t even know who he was. All I knew was that I’ve fallen in love at first sight with a cute stranger I met on my weekly shopping trip. It was a coincidence that both of us were waiting for the elevator together. He was wearing a normal white shirt with black jeans, but to me, he looked awesome. And when he smiled at me before he left, he stole my heart, my mind, my soul.

I didn’t meet him again until a few months ago, when a friend of mine told me that about a cute guy in the college a few blocks away from ours. At first, I didn’t pay any attention, but when she pointed out the guy, I was beyond happy to know it was my mystery guy, that cute stranger with the adorable smile.

After class ended that day, I hung back at the college’s canteen, waiting for Masyitah and Nurul to finish their meeting. It was Tuesday, and as usual the three of us would go to the library to finish off our Statistics assignment. As I sat there, sipping a glass of orange juice, someone came towards my table and sat down in front of me.

I ignored him as I was not in the mood to entertain anyone. I was in a bad mood, thanks to a bunch of rude people from my Economics class earlier. I raised my head to ask him to leave, when I saw who it was. It was him! The apple of my eye! Ahmad Asyraf Abdul Manaf.

I stared at him, speechless. His stare caught me off-guard, and I melted on the spot. Oh my God, if he stays there for a second longer, I think I can fall right through the floor! I thought to myself as I try to bring myself together.

“Hey, you’re Farhana, right?”
“Y-Yeah…” I couldn’t bring myself to answer him. OMG, he knows my name!!!
“Are you… Err, are you waiting for someone?” he asked, looking around.
“Err, kinda…”
“Oh, okay then. Em, I was about to ask you to join me for a cup of coffee, but never mind. I guess I’ll see you around,” he said with a dejected face. He stood up abruptly and started to walk away.
“Asyraf!” I heard my voice calling out his name without realizing it.
“Yeah?” He stopped and turned in my direction.
“Em, how does lunch on Saturday sounds?” I asked.
“Saturday? Hmm, yeah, lunch sounds nice,” he answered. “I’ll see you again here?”
“Saturday, 12:30pm, yeah?”
“Yeah, sure. See you then.” He smiled at me and walked away.

I sat at the table, starstruck. I could not believe that I just spoke to him. I pinched myself in an attempt to wake up from the dream, but all I got was pain. So, it wasn’t a dream after all. I smiled in the direction he left as Masyitah and Nurul came up to me.

“Hey! What are you smiling at?” Nurul asked, dropping her stack of books on the table, waking me up from my daydreams.
“Eh! When did you guys get here?”
“Long enough to see you drooling. What happened?” Masyitah said.
“Asyraf.”
“Huh?”
“He talked to me.”
“OMG, HE DID NOT!” Masyitah shrieked.
“What did he said?!” Nurul asked.
“He wanted to have ‘a cup of coffee’ with me today, but I told him I’m meeting you guys,” I said.
“WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU SAY THAT?!?! Come on Farhana! You’ve been waiting for him for a year! And now, you have a chance to talk to him and you blew it off?!”
“I didn’t. We’re having lunch on Saturday,” I added with a smile.
“OMG, you are NOT having a lunch date with him!” Masyitah asked in disbelief.
“Well, I am. Oh, that reminds me. I need to tell Shafiq I might be late for the club meeting on Saturday. I’m not sure what time we’d finish lunch.”
“You meant you’re not sure what time you’d finish your date with him!” Nurul laughed. “Don’t bother texting Shafiq, I’ll tell him tomorrow during class.”
“Thanks Nurul!”
“Aren’t you psyched you’re finally getting a chance to talk to him?”
“Psyched? Guys, I can’t even feel my face at the moment! I couldn’t even LOOK at him when he came here, he was too cute for words! I melted straight away.”
“Yes Farhana, we know,” said Nurul and Masyitah in unison, laughing.

I grinned at them as I stood up, gathering my books. I was in a better mood, all because of a guy named Asyraf.

The time passed by, and suddenly it was Saturday. I woke up at 6am as usual, and after performing my prayers, I took a quick shower and got ready. My housemate, Shafizah asked me to help her pick out a dress for her bridesmaid gown. Her sister is getting married next month and she’d be the bridesmaid. Since I have nothing to do in the morning while waiting for lunchtime, I figured I could help her out.

After having breakfast at the nearest mamak stall, we went to a few boutiques to look at the different types of gowns. It took us almost three hours, and without us noticing it, it was almost half-past twelve.

“OMG, Iza! It’s almost 12:30pm! I better get going, I’m meeting Asyraf for lunch!” I said, looking at my watch.
“Oh, yeah, your lunch date! Sorry to keep you for so long! Have fun Farhana!” she said with a grin. “Enjoy your lunch!”

I ran out of the shop and headed towards the nearest bus stop. Fortunately, the bus heading towards the college had just arrived. And thankfully, it was not full as usual. I sighed, relieved, as I took a seat at the back of the bus.

A few minutes later, I reached the college stop and stepped down. My eyes searched the grounds for him, my eye candy. I couldn’t see him anywhere. I went to the canteen as we planned, but he wasn’t there as well. I looked at the clock hung above the counter. 12.15pm. Huh? I glanced at my watch and realized that it was out of battery.

I guess I’m a little bit early. Oh well.

I sat on a bench facing the park. My mind started to wander off, and I didn’t notice someone walking up behind me and sat down on the bench next to me.

“I see you’re busy thinking…”

Startled, I turned to face that person, who turned out to be him. I blushed, and looked away.

“Do you always have to scare me like that?”
“Aww, I’m sorry Farhana, it’s just that I think you’re so cute when you’re blushing,” he said, straightforward.
Errrrrk! My cheeks began to feel hot. “Stop joking around Asyraf,” I said, blushing hard.
“I’m not joking Farhana…” he said slowly, looking straight into my eyes.
“……” I stared at him, speechless. His deep stare went straight into my heart, and I swear, I’d never forget this moment for the rest of my life.

The next few hours were a blur to me. Asyraf took me to a restaurant for lunch. It was not a fancy, 5-star restaurant, but the food was quite nice all the same.

I later learnt that he had been keeping an eye on me for the past few months. I was embarrassed to admit that I, too, have been admiring him from far. He told me that his mornings have been brighter ever since he saw me walking past his college.

“I still remember the first time I saw you, at the shopping mall. You were wearing that light blue baju kurung with your white shawl,” he told me.

I was speechless, I couldn’t say anything back. There I was, having a lunch date with the guy of my dreams. And he was the one telling me how he has been waiting for me for months. It was just too good to be true.

A year after that meaningful day, we were separated. He flew off to the UK to continue his studies in Medicine. Meanwhile, I was in Australia, sponsored by JPA to further my studies in Economics.

We might have been thousands of miles apart, but somehow we stayed connected through letters and emails. It was the first time I had to be away from him ever since we got together, but I know, nothing will change between us.

The years we spent away from each other taught me the meaning of loyalty and trust. I learnt to trust him and prayed that our relationship would last forever. True, we couldn’t meet each other as often as we want to, but the fact that we share a special connection between us kept us strong throughout the years.

Five years later, we were united once more in a simple yet elegant wedding. We owed it all to Nurul and her sister, Shiqin, who worked as a wedding organizer. They managed to transform our dream wedding into reality, complete with the garden reception and a live band performance.

The presence of our university, college and school friends made the day even merrier. Family and relatives came from all around the nation to celebrate our special day. The day I’ve been dreaming about ever since he entered my life. The day I officially become his wife.