4:30 pm (present)
My name’s Louis. I’m 27, college graduate; I have a good job with good pay. I get off around 4pm and I spend most of my afternoon in my favorite spot. That spot would be the park on a hill famous for its photogenic scenery of the city and the mountains beyond. And even thought I sit down in that park and look towards the scene, I just can’t get enough of it. After work, I drop by the convenience store and buy my usual juice. I walk up to the park where I usually stay and once again, I sit on the bench and look at the view I that always seem to ease my afternoon tiresome work from day to day. A city waving its goodbye to the sun as it sets beyond the horizon from afar. It was another afternoon in the park; I was drinking my favorite juice. This became my favorite drink because of a special someone who shared her drink and changed my life in one day.
That story began while I was walking in the park 15 years ago when I was young. I was in grade school on my last year before I graduate. I was with my mom in the park but she left me to buy ice cream. I was sitting alone when suddenly a group of high school students started pulling pranks on me. I was alone and weak so I couldn’t do anything… I was being scared and my things were taken from me when suddenly, I saw an angel. She appeared out of nowhere and made the high school students who were bullying me go away. She stared at them fearlessly so they backed off. She was a high school student in a very prestigious school I heard that only very intelligent people with high grades could enter. I was knocked down by one of them when they were walking away; I scraped my knee from falling down. She took her handkerchief from her pocket and gently, softly placed it on my knee that was bleeding a little. She smiled and offered her hand for me to grab hold and stand on my feet. I reached out my hand to grab hold of hers. Her hand was soft, kind, and gave me a soothing feeling of security and warmth inside. Before I placed force on my feet to stand up, she pulled me up completely and that moment, it was a moment of bliss for me, before I knew it, I was embracing her unintentionally. To me she was like an older sister that I never had and I will never have. She offered me juice that she had in her grocery plastic. I took the can of juice and opened it with my hands. I drank and it was the first time I drank that juice.
“So, you picked that juice? That’s also my favorite.” She says.
Looking at me with a smile, she patted my head and so, it became my favorite juice.
“My name is Leslie. Are you waiting for someone?”
“Yes actually. I’m waiting for my mom. She left me to buy some ice cream.” I replied
“How nice of you to spend quality time with your mom. Not all kids these days spend time with their parents like how you would spend time with yours. I’ll wait with you until your mom arrives. They might come back and pull pranks on you again”
“Thank you Leslie and sorry to make you go through the trouble of helping me. I’m causing you trouble” I shyly said.
“Not really, I don’t mind helping out. I like to help people”
My mother arrives not so long after. My mom and I thanked Leslie before we walked our separate ways. As we walked away from each other, I remembered I should’ve given her something… And that something was the handkerchief she gave me. After that day, I studied hard to get into her school so I could be closer to her. I studied night after night for the day of the entrance exam. I was nervous but I kept in mind that I could pass and I took the test. On the day of the examination results came, I was nervous, anxious, excited and also full of fear that I won’t be able to enter the university I seriously worked hard for. Students from different schools crowding the results board, I had a hard time approaching the board. I kept excusing myself from one person to another, wanting to see the numbers of those who passed the exam. I closed my eyes and look up, My number was 1039, my hands were sweating, my knees felt weak, I hoped one last time that I will pass the exam before opening my eyes. When I finally had the courage to open, I saw a lot of numbers. 1010… 1012… 1015… I close my eyes again. I was just too scared to keep scrolling my eyes down to see if my number was on the board, But I opened it once again… 1016… 1018… 1020… 1024… 1028… 1033… 1034… 1037… almost… almost to my number… will I really make the cut? I don’t know. The next 2-3 numbers I see will be my number or someone else’s number… 1038… Did I make it? 1040… “…” what I thought… 1041… 1042, and the list go on and on… “What’s this? My number isn’t on the board…” I said to myself… I… Didn’t make the cut… I didn’t pass… “What now?” I said to myself. I walked straight home after seeing the results with my mind full of frustration and how the world isn’t fair at all. All my hard work was wasted… I was accepted in my other choices… But this one, I guess this one was just too high for me…
