SUCH IS LIFE

SECOND CHANCES

Izz opened his mouth, but nothing came out. After a curt nod, he pedalled away. "The bicycle has low gear and high gear. Look at this. When the chain is at the big gear, it is low," Haziq explained, squatting down and pointing. His face was slowly getting redder as his and Hani's face was so close together, their faces separated only by Hani's back tire.

Hani glanced upwards and noticed the blushing, but only raised her eyebrows in confusion. Haziq noticed this through his peripheral vision, but decided not to make further eye contact, lest his condition worsen. He put his hand on the handle and flicked the shifter. "See," Haziq said, as the gears switched from largest to smallest cog, and vice versa.

"When it is at low gear, you move slowly, but pedalling is easy. This is used when going uphill. When you are going downhill, or want to go fast, you move to high gear. You will move more with each pedal, but it is hard, okay?" Haziq said, giving a thumbs up. Hani blinked a few times, before saying "I think I do. Thank you. If I have anything to ask about my bicycle, I will ask," she said. Haziq blushed even harder. "O-Okay!"

Day turned to night, this turned to that, and soon, Haziq caught up and surpassed Izz's literal years of a head start he had with Hani. Izz was so confused. However, he didn't realize that this competition had caused him to focus so much on Hani, that he barely spent any time with Haziq anymore.

During recess, the boys would buy her drinks, and even offer to treat her with fried rice. Izz noticed that somehow, Hani's reaction was different with Haziq. She would thank them for the treats and would do so with a smile. But the smile looked better when she gave it to Haziq. Was it, more genuine?

One fateful day, as Izz was about to greet Hani in the morning at school, he realized that all was lost. She wore a watch. A beautiful, circular watch with brown leather straps. "Haziq gave this to me," she declared, noticing that Izz who came up to her was just staring at it, leaving Hani in an awkward silence. Izz at the moment didn't have much money. He was the eldest son, so his father had only been working for a few years with a medium salary. The money that Izz did save, were spent on buying Hani treats. Would it have been better if Izz saved up money and buy something expensive in one shot instead of buying cheap treats albeit regularly? Did Hani secretly want a watch this whole time? Hani wore that same watch every single day and even willingly struck up conversations with Haziq, something she never did with Izz.

Haziq unintentionally rubbed his victory in Izz's face a few days later. "Did you see her watch? I think she likes me!" was what Haziq said, after the former best friends had not been talking for about a week without either of them realizing it.

Feeling betrayed, Izz got mad and decided turned his back on his former best friend, not spending time with him anymore from that moment on. Izz was so close he could almost feel it. He had spent months getting close to Hani, gaining her trust, spending time and money for her, making her comfortable but at last, due to a watch, he had lost to Haziq. School was almost over and if it weren't for that stupid watch, Izz could have walked away with someone special. Two weeks later, Izz sat alone in class as Haziq was unwell. Despite not talking with Haziq, his absence was very much felt. When Haziq did return, Izz wanted to approach Haziq and make amends. Izz waited for Haziq to take his seat, right beside Izz's. However, Haziq went to talk with another friend first. It was at that moment Izz knew, Haziq was his only friend, but he was not Haziq's only friend. He was replaceable.

However, Izz decided that it shouldn't end there. Grief turned to rage. He sat in his room, formulating a plan. He couldn't physically do anything to Haziq as it would get him in trouble plus they were separated. Based on what Riza has told him, Haziq and Izz were to attend different secondary schools so even if Izz waited, he couldn't exact his revenge. Thus, the revenge was never enacted, and retribution was never paid.