After the rain

  Hi.

  My name is Len. I think you already know that

  I'm 18.

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  I strolled down the road, passing by the towering condominiums in the neighborhood. I passed by several bus stops before I reached the crossing. The cars raced past me under the purple but rainy sky. The moon still reflected a bit of light for night was not over yet. It was one hour till sunrise. The traffic lights turned green and I walked across. Opposite was the train station and that was my stop.

  I took the train to the main station nearest to the school as I usually did. There were several other schoolmates, dresses in white and blue, completed with a smart looking dark blue tie with the school's badge.

  That very badge that hung on each building in the school and greeted us as we walked through the grand gates.

  Some light began to stream in. The sky had cracks filled with light amidst the darkness. This was the first sign of dawn.

  I walked past that field I would be seeing for the very last time in my life, past the tall buildings that towered over me and my peers, past the silent trees that comforted me wordlessly. Until I reached the new school hall. 

  People, ladies and gentlemen, walked into the hall like it was a normal school day. But the heavy and solemn atmosphere was no more. People were talking about their hobbies animatedly as though they had been brought to life. My classmates were teasing each other and grinning from ear to ear. Their smiles were like moonbeams that could light up my sky. Before I knew it, dawn had already come, the rain slowly diminished.

  I walked over to the row designated for our class. My classmates greeted me with smiles. Everyone was just really happy and so was I.

  'Hey dude!' Daniel slapped me on the back. 

  Next to him was Jenni, I greeted them both. She smiled brilliantly at me, and handed me a gift.

  'Thanks for helping me this year, my scores improved!'

  'You're welcome,' I said.

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  The graduation ceremony took a few hours. From there, we were dismissed and we could do anything we wanted to. Everyone waltzed out of the school gates in high spirits and no one was alone. People were seen confessing to their crushes openly on school grounds. Girls were letting down their hair, changing out of their school uniforms. Boys were playing frisbee with each other in their formal attire. Some of them got their pants dirty with mud but no one really cared about the dirt. Some of them took of their ties and unbuttoned the first two buttons. It was freedom on a scale never seen before.

  And there was me. But I always had that freedom.

  Daniel and Jenni kissed outside the school gate.

  'Hey Len,' he walked over,' I'm going out with Jenni today, so bye!'

  And they walked off just like that. As I made my way past the field I passed by Luke. He smiled at me and my eyes met his. They seemed rounder, kinder than ever before.

  Some joyful spirit filled everyone. But I was still empty inside. I decided to leave the school.

  As I walked out, I saw someone familiar standing there, I hoped she was waiting for me, and she was.

  When she saw me, she walked over, there was a smile, so radiant and beautiful, on her face. The rain had finally ended.

  'Why are you here?'

  'I'm your classmate,' she laughed.

  She took my hand and we walked together through the small puddles by the road, stopping at the junction when the red light was flashing and the cars racing by. This was the city, my city, where I met you.

  'Let's go to the mall.'

  Why

  'I heard you got accepted into a university overseas, I will miss you.'

  A surge of heat energy just shot through my body. 

  'You're blushing,' she chuckled.

  I think my face turned even redder.

  We walked together after the rain, until we found the mall and picked a restaurant there.

  There was a rainbow in the sky that day. I doubt many people noticed it but it was beautiful. This was what all this was for.

  That was probably the last time I saw her in person, a year ago. But I know this for sure: even if she forgets about me, even if I'm miles away from her. I know that she will come back to me. Just as we met again after several years, it could happen again. Somehow that string of fate pulled us together, just as it united my family, brought me to Daniel when I was a young teenager, helped me to see the good in Luke and most of all, brought me back to Skye again.

  I am on the other end of the world, but I and looking up at the same sky as her.

  And we see such different things.

  And each beautiful in its own unique way

  But none as beautiful as the rainbow after the rain.