Upon hearing my statement, I could sense how Aruna was struck by confusing air around her. She must not have been prepared for a compliment, well, something that appeared to be a compliment. She sipped her drink while I gave her my warmest smile, restraining myself from a strongly pushing tendency to turn that compliment into something insulting.
"Sure, I can see Aruna is a smartie," uttered my mother. "But how come you didn't win at last?"
"Oh," Aruna responded in astonishment. "It was due to my health condition. I... fainted during the selection."
I almost clapped my hands knowing how effortless this conversation was to me.
"And that is why Desiree took my place. I really thanked her for being very helpful," she added.
Now I almost cursed the whole world.
"Oh, so Desiree, if not because of her sickness, Aruna would have won then?" My mother was trying to clarify. And I was busy looking for reasons to justify.
"Yeah," I finally said. "I told you. I almost lost. But at the end, I didn't."
Note how I stressed each word from my last sentence.
"Yes, Desiree. I was so grateful that you have been such a good back-up and even won the real debate competition. Your mother should be so much proud of you. Anyway, may I be off for now, Maam?"
Before I could answer, my mother already said, "Do you have a plan to go somewhere after this? I would love to invite you to our house and have dinner with us tonight. My driver can drop you to your house later."
[D]
