Time Of Our Lives

Favours

The next day Dechen and Yuphel went to school with Chimmi, while I looked after the shop. I hid the paint the muse in a box which I made into a makeshift seat. After trying out and browsing many forms of art styles, I decided to practise Realism and Abstract art styles. I wanted to capture Yuphel’s smile with Realism and I wanted to capture her colourful emotions with Abstract. Discretely I practised whenever Yuphel went to school, with every stroke of brush I improved and with Yuphel on mind I never ran out of inspiration. As the days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months winter reared its cold grasp on the Earth. As winter came the students dreaded their exams. It was more stressful for Dechen and Chimmi as they had recently got the results for their Trial exam were biding their time waiting for their board exam. “I can’t believe I only got this much, it’s embarrassing.” Said Dechen. With a heart full of hope I went to tease my sister for her bad grades. “Let’s see how much our genius got, it’s…. *HUGH*” I said with a smirking look before choking. She had gotten 94 marks, it was also on Mathematics. When I used to get 50 on my Mathematics paper, I considered it an absolute win. But this girl was disappointed at getting less than 95. “I should study more now, I can’t afford to me embarrassed once again.” Said Dechen. “Don’t push yourself that much, you are an intelligent exam. When I used to be a student I only got around 80 in maths” said Yuphel trying to cheer up Dechen. “Same here, I can’t raise my maths grade above 80. Compared to us you are doing extremely well. So don’t worry too much.” Said Chimmi with a cheerful smile. Oh no, I am the dumbest. These guys take high marks for granted, this shall remain a secret. If they knew about it I will never be able to live it down. “Jamyang, how much did you get in maths when you were a student” said Chimmi. “Oh you know, around 96 or 97” I replied while trying to calm down. “Woah, really?Amazing.”Said Yuphel and Chimmi unison while Dechen stared suspiciously at me. “This gives me an idea, how about Jamyang help you two study? It will be easy for a genius like him.” Said Yuphel with a beaming smile.“NOOOO! Why? Yuphel you doomed me.” I screamed internally. Dechen responded by saying “its fine, achu is busy looking after the building and the shop. I don’t want to burden him, oh I remember now. Achu there was a complaint from the tenants below can you come with me and check it out?” I agreed and left Yuphel and Chimmi to chat while sipping tea, “So what’s the complaint” I asked. “No you idiot I was lying, and you owe me a favour” said Dechen. “Favour?For what?” I asked as I played dumb. “Well I should go tell those two that you will help us while studying.” Replied Dechen with a blank stare. “Madam, this stupid servant has made a grave mistake. Please forgive me.” I begged while bowing to her. “That’s more like it, anyways I have something to share with you. Don’t make jokes it’s serious.” Said Dechen while staring at the dark clouds. “Don’t tell me I will soon have a nephew or niece?” I asked before being hit on hit on the head. “I think I have a crush on Chimmi, as I helped him in writing his book I could not help but fall for him.” Said Dechen while blushing a bit. I responded by saying “Wait, wait, wait. Crush? Book?You? I didn’t know it was possible for you to feel human emotions” I said while teasing her. “Maybe we should study together from tomorrow.” Said Dechen. “I apologize mistress, please forgive this fool” I said while bowing one more time. “So Chimmi is writing a book? That’s impressive, how is the story?” Dechen replied “We decided to call it ‘One Smile at a Time’ it is a story of a girl with nothing to her name. Everyday enduring hardships and loneliness, but she powers through everything with a smile.” “Not bad, it actually sounds good. So does he plan on being an author?” I asked. “Actually we hope to sell the books to raise enough money for his surgery. He has a rare form of blindness which is yet to be named. But it is possible for him to gain his eyesight back through a dangerous and expensive surgery. The doctors say it is highly experimental and they don’t recommend it.” Said Dechen while sighing. “I don’t want him to be in danger, but his only dream is to see the world again, to see the Sky. Flowers and Colours. If that is his dream who am I to stop him.” I was shocked. I was left speechless. At that moment I could not do anything else but hug my sister. I always knew she was a strong woman. And I am always proud of her. We silently returned back to flat. “What was the complaint?” asked Yuphel. “Ah… Yes... that... they lost their underwear.” I said while staring back at Dechen for help. “Really?” asked Chimmi. “Apparently so, I just told them to not hang the clothes where dogs can reach to avoid losing it.” Said Dechen smoothly.
We continued to chat more, until it was time for Chimmi to go back home. Dechen accompanied him leaving me and Yuphel alone. “I think those tow make a lovely couple” said Yuphel. “You should see how close they are in school, they are inseparable” said Yuphel as she passed me a mug of warm Suja. “Jamyang I have a favour to ask you” “What do you need?” I asked. “Is it possible for us to visit my village? I want to go back for closure.” Said Yuphel sheepishly. I quickly agreed as I wanted to spend more time with her. “Let’s go next week, we will be able to return just in time for Dechen and Jamyang to start their exam.” “I think we should go during break and take them with us. It feels selfish.” Said Yuphel. I responded by saying “If we take them with us they won’t have enough time and privacy to bond and become closer. Like you said, they would be a lovely couple.”  “That actually make sense, ok then. Thank you, words cannot describe my gratefulness to you” said Yuphel.
The following day when they left for school, I hurried of to the shop and to finish my first painting. Slowly with every gentle stroke, I grew closer to finish my painting. After hours of dedicated concentration, I was interrupted by a customer. I had kept a closed sign on the door but she had entered regardless. “That’s a beautiful painting, I love how you used bright colours to compliment her smile.” Said the woman. Taking a good look on the woman, I noticed she was an attractive woman. The handbag she carried was a black designer bag which I only saw on advertisements. It was apparent that this woman was wealthy, the Prada gloves and handbags made it apparent. “Are interested in accepting commissions?” she said. “Sorry, I am not interested in it” I replied awkwardly. “So anything you want to buy?” She grabbed a pack of strawberry gum and pulled out a card from her handbag. “Here is my card, call me when you finally grow a brain, trust me. I always get what I want.” After paying she left swiftly. That was indeed a weird encounter to say the least.I hid the painting again and took a look at her card.  The card was a white card with her number in gold, I stared at the card and thought about her offer. If I was able to impress that snob, I might be able to turn art into a profession. As I continued to think about her offer Yuphel suddenly appeared. “Hey Jamyang, what are you holding there?” she said in her usual cheery tone. “Just a card from a customer, but why are you here early?” I said as I handed her the card. “Well there is not much going in school today so I wanted to be with you, and I think we need to have a talk” said Yuphel while reading the card. “What do we need to talk about?” I asked. “Well I think you might have made the choice haltingly, why would you agree to go to my village? It was out of the blue” she answered. I could not tell her that I wanted to hang out with her alone, it will make it obvious that I like her. I quickly said, “I am just tired of sitting in the shop, I need a breath of fresh air. So it made sense to go your village.” “That makes no sense, but acting on impulse is something you would do.” She said whilst giggling