Written On Trains

Gibran X Dahlia - July 21, 2019

"You're not OK," he decided, and just like that, she fell for him. He was the first one to care.

Being on your own, studying abroad, life in a strange country all sound glamorous but the truth is, no one really cares about you. You have to look after yourself.

He forced her to take some aspirins, a stash he always carries as the weather in the country didn't really suit him. He misses his home country, people don't call Malaysia the land of eternal summer for nothing.

Swallowing the couple pills, she found the situation bittersweet. She now misses home and good old Panadol, that much.

"Thanks," she said. She still could not believe that one of the most admired guys among the Malay students at her university is talking to her, right under this maple tree, where she was hoping a goblin would show up and let her trade gold for Actifast.

"You looked like you were ready to go into coma just now. I've never seen you so pale," he babbled. He couldn't believe he is actually talking to the girl he's been crushing on for over a year.

"You've... never seen me so pale? Have you been..." she couldn't help overanalyzing.

He stopped fiddling with the water bottle. "I meant you looked normal when I saw you at Maths just now. Probability usually don't suck the life out of pretty girls, right?"

Her eyes now looked like a pair of ping-pong balls.

He knew his pickup line was bad. He didn't mean to throw one her way. All these while he had been contented observing her from a few chairs away in classes, burying his feelings amidst books and .

But now she knows! Maybe not the full version, but he did just gave away a huge, huge hint.

"You knew we're classmates?" she asked. She didn't a have clue.

She was the wallflower to all the other wallflowers. She didn't think he would ever register her presence. Save for a few close friends, no one else seems to notice she's alive.

Wait, did he imply she's pretty? Her eyes, now the size of golf balls, blinked.

"Of course. You're in my Economics class as well, right? Hey did you have the notes from our last class? I kinda lost mine," he rambled.

She stared at him for a good minute before asking, "You're Gibran, right? The Gibran?"

"Yes. Not sure if you need to add 'the' to my name but feel free. And you're Dahlia. We did Foundation, First, Second Year together?"

"You know... my name?" she stammered.

He smiled, one that came across to her as quite bashful. "Of course. I didn't think you'd knew mine," he admitted.

Only people in love would see the sky had  suddenly turned all azure, the sun a citrusy tangerine.

"Why wouldn't I? You're the most popular Malaysian student in our batch. I'm honoured the the the... brightest engineering student knows my name," she stammered again. She almost said 'cutest'! But the aspirin she downed 10 minutes ago must be working, she manage to substitute quickly.

And the substitute was true. He has been a 4.0 student throughout, but she only scored above 3.5 in two out of seven semesters.

He now looked thoroughly embarrassed.

"You sure you lost your notes from our last Economics class?" she asked.

"Can I be honest?" he asked, his bright brain could only muster a stupid question.

But she nodded, so he went on, "I needed an excuse to talk to you again. One aspirin is hardly enough to get to know a person."

She beamed. Now she understood why Panadol was fated to be unavailable in this district.

P/s: I only take Panadol 3 times a year max. 

 P/p/s: Wrote this while waiting for meds at a clinic. Didn't know flu can lead to headache this big.

4:22 PM · Jul 21, 2019