Behind the Scenes of Life

Chpater 19

Chapter 19

 One day in English class, Chace and I had made each other memorise the other’s birthday. I remembered his birthday, and him mine. For a few days we quizzed each other on one another’s birthday. Since my birthday had already passed, that meant Chace’s was coming up. His birthday in August fell on a Saturday and I had completely forgotten about it. On that day, Janitha, Tisha, Art and I had gone to the mall and played at wonderland as well as grab a bite at Panarotti’s. Just before we went to Panarotti’s there had been a little of a crisis. Tisha, Janitha and I were just outside a music store. Art had never arrived yet. The three of us had just gotten fruit shakes at Marcel’s when Tisha said she was feeling dizzy.

“Guys I need to sit down.” Tisha barely got the words out.

“There are benches not far from here. We could just walk till there.”

We tried to walk a bit further to the benches, but we had stopped just in front of the music store. Tisha leaned against the railing there. It was cold and she leaned her head against it. Tisha’s skin was paler, her veins barely showing, she was sweating and her eyes were half closed and half open. She did not look well at all.

“Tisha can I get you something?” Janitha asked her. Concern evident in her voice.

“Something to drink.” Tisha just about whispered.

“I’ll get you some water.” Janitha went off and I was left with Tisha.

She was now slumped down on the floor. I was contemplating phoning my mother, but I didn’t want to alarm her for nothing.

People were passing and staring. One lady approached us and asked me if she was okay. The lady instructed Tisha let her legs lie straight. A few minutes and questions later, the security arrived with a wheelchair. Tisha sat in it and the security wheeled her outside. I stood with her and the two security men by the entrance outside. The cool air allowed Tisha to feel a bit better. The whole time I kept a look out for Janitha. She still hadn’t arrived yet.

A guy passed us a while later. He turned out to be a paramedic and checked Tisha out. It was kind of embarrassing, but I knew it couldn’t be helped.

“I feel better.” Tisha said to me.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I just needed some fresh air.”

“You can sit a bit longer.” One security said to Tisha.

“No I feel much better.”

The security took down Tisha’s information- where she was living and the telephone number. etc. This was actually my information, but they needed it for record purposes. I was still keeping a lookout for Janitha and she arrived with a bottle of water. She handed it to a grateful Tisha. Tisha actually did look much better. The three of us headed to the security desk where we received the items that Tisha had bought. Tisha also rather gave the security her own address and number in Korea. She had told the security that she didn’t want to upset my parents.

So a few minutes later, Janitha, Tisha and I found ourselves explaining what had happened to Art.

“I was panicking like you won’t believe it.” Janitha explained to Art. “And where’s your fruit shake?” Janitha asked me.

“I finished it.”

“When did you get the chance to finish it during the drama that happened?”

“I was thirsty.”

We had made a pact to never speak about that day again. Not to anyone, especially Kerry. I though, told my mother the following day. I didn’t want to keep anything from her, in fear she was going to find out anyway and then ask me why I hadn’t told her.  My mother didn’t give quite such a reaction to it. I don’t think she realised the enormity of what had happened.

I got in touch with Sophia again and was glad to find out that the therapy was going well. She was still making use of a wheelchair, but overall she was improving. I was happy to hear this and I believed that Sophia was going to walk again someday. Healing took time.

What you probably wouldn’t guess is that neither Chace nor Zara knew how Sophia looked. Rahul had seen a picture of her only once and that by accident. I don’t believe that one incident was enough for him to store her image to memory. It was easier for Rahul to speak to Sophia without knowing how she looked. At times you’d find it easier to open up to a stranger because you know that they’d be able to look at your situation with a different perspective and sometimes you just need that change of perspective.

“Hey hey hey Kina.” I greeted her one day in Accounting.

I took my seat and after taking out my books to appear busy, I turned to face Kina.

“Hey.” She greeted me.

“So Kina… I think I’ve left you alone for long enough now. It’s time for an update.”

She made her face straight. “Even me I’m tell you nothing.” She said in the accent she did so well.

“You don’t even know what I want to ask.”

“I could guess.”

“Kina,” I moaned, “I just want to know how far the ‘revenge’ is going.”

“All I’m saying is that the truth will come out.”

“Then just tell me what you are doing or planning on doing.”

She sighed. “I was going to chat to him and try and get him to speak about what happened, then I was going to show you the messages and prove the truth.”

“Oh, but you know I believe you right?”

“I know, but I just wanted to have the proof so that he can’t call me a liar.”

“I see. So the two of you are officially back to basics?”

“We do speak like normal now, like ‘how are you?’ and that stuff, but that’s all. It’s like he didn’t just call me a liar in my face a year ago when I tried to help him, but I leave it. What goes around, comes around.”

“Wow, I never thought the two of you would ever be civilised with one another after what happened last year.”

“It’s because he knew he was the one lying,” she tapped her pencil on her desk, “but the thing is, he can never speak to me alone, there’s always someone with us like Sibo or one of my other friends. Whenever we speak to one another, there’s someone around. It just shows how guilty he feels. He can’t even look me in the eyes.”

“I’m surprised Chace has a conscience.”

“Chace shocks you like that.”

In September, on a Friday, I done my piano exam. Sitting in the room, I was super nervous. Once I was in the examining room, I started to calm down and once I was done, I was so relieved. My mother came to fetch me again and took me home. There was no way I was going back to school even though I had said I’d be back by ten in the morning. I was the first one to do my piano exam in the morning and Jessie was also doing her piano exam on that day, though later than me. My performance wasn’t perfect, but I felt I did rather well.

Monday, during class teacher’s period, Chace spoke to me about my piano exam asking how it went.

“You said you were coming back at ten, but I waited for you and you never came.”

Touching!

“English period was boring without you,” he continued.

Really touching!

“I didn’t feel like coming back to school.” I offered as explanation.

He pretended to be angry. That day I took his English book home to catch up on the work that had been done on Friday. It was usually Chace that took my book home. He was frequently catching up on work done as he barely made attention in class. I didn’t either, but I multi-tasked.