The Wedding

Chapter 2: Getting a Job

On my fifth year of study, I moved from my parents' home to a boarding house. The same boarding house with Tessa. Alya, our classmate and Tessa's former roommate had returned home. She already finished her study last semester, so Tessa was in need of a new roommate. I instantly assigned my name to the owner. 

The reason why I moved out was because I wanted to study and finished my school. It took two hours from the uni to my house. Four hours for a round-trip. It was such a waste of time, especially when I had to do my thesis. Mom kept asking about why I had not finished my study when our neighbor could do it within 3, 5 years and when I would finish it. Such an annoying question.  

Did not I mention before? It is the life cycle. You finish your high school, people ask about the college you choose. After a while, they ask why you have not finished your study. What's next? Ah, they will ask whether or not you can find a job as soon as you graduate. The faster you got a job, the higher your status in the society would be. It's silly that now this thing happened to me.

When my mom said she agreed to let me live near to the uni, I was so happy. It was a huge step of my adulthood. I immediately planned for everything. I planned that I would take care of my life by myself. Going to the grocery, cleaning the laundry and my own room, doing stuff by myself, these all excited me. I felt like I finally grew up.

Tessa looked after me. She cooked delicious meal for both of us. Apparently, you would not know someone until you live under the same roof with them. I realized there were so many things I did not know about Tessa even though we had been friends for years. Now that we were living together, I got the chance to see the other sides of her.

"Tess, help me with this one," I called Tessa on one Thursday afternoon. She was sitting on the floor in front of our house door. Our boarding house was on the second floor of the landlord so no one would be able to see us from here. "One orphanage had four children with 7, 10, 15, and 21 ages. How can I calculate the average and the variance?"

Tessa was listening to Michael Bubble song 'Home' as she always did every time Morgan was away. "Is that for statistics class?" She asked. I nodded. "Find the population mean first by adding the ages and divide by four. Then, find the squared deviation from the mean of each age..."

"Wait a sec! I need to calculate it first," I shouted to ask her to stop. 

"Aahh, you are so diligent. My thesis hasn't had any progress yet. What chapter are you now?" Tessa yawned while looking at her phone. She only sat near the door when she was waiting for a phone call.

"Chapter 3. Still learning statistics. You know I'm bad at it, but I chose thesis topic about data. Such a shame" I pressed the calculator on my phone while talking. "You should finish your thesis. Let's graduate together."

"I'm afraid of Mr Handi. He would yell at me because I didn't come to him for almost a year," this was something Tessa did not mention before. "I'm so lazy too..."

"Like it or not, you should finish your school," I interrupted. "We are seniors and you will see how the classes now showed different faces. It would be more embarrassing to stay longer. I will help you, but please graduate with me."

Tessa looked at me in amazement. I had been persuading her to finish her study right after I moved in together with her. As I mentioned before, Tessa was a brilliant student who received scholarship for three years straight. So, why hadn't she finished her study while the other honorable students graduated 1,5 years ago? It was because of love. 

The prestige Morgan had for being a student of school of marine did not come from Morgan himself. These recent years Tessa had been helping him to complete his study. From one assignment to another, one project to another, including his final thesis defense. I thought it was only those things. Tessa sacrificed not only her time and money, but also her heart. After graduating from School of Marine and Environment, Morgan joined the a cruise ship to Italy and Germany for a Marine Tourism. It was a special right granted only to those who performed the best during their thesis defense. I had to say that Tessa did 90% of Morgan's thesis. It was unfair to see that Morgan was the only one enjoying the prize while Tessa was still here waiting for him to return to her side.