Babysitter Cougar [COMPLETE]

Chapter 5 page 2 - First Cub

December 2005

The birthday night was the most memorable by far, and I finally succumbed to the fact that my life is still worth to be spared. Adia and her boyfriend, Faiz actually took the liberty to set up a surprise birthday dinner in an enclosed garden in front of the campus cafeteria, my favourite spot to hide whenever I had one of my melancholic moods.

I enjoyed the artificial grass covering the entire garden floor with white, grey, and black pebbles scattered along the cobblestone path. A couple of small pots with colourful petal flowers inside a wooden crate and a medium size pot with a different type of flowers inside the garden basket were arranged neatly by the sides of a metal bench. Above me as I sat on the bench was a wrought iron arch encircled by dried crawling plants with some sprouts of promising flowers half-blossoming, making it look romantically gothic, and reminded me of one of Evanescence's music videos I watched.

But the cherry on top for that evening was the presence of Danial (Dan), that cute junior who had a crush on me since last year. Dan and I bear blaring contrast from one another because he's a rural boy who yearns to connect with a city girl like me. I secretly had feelings for him too at some point, but I refrained myself from going further as it somehow violated my principle for courtship. I should date only guys of same age or older.

Dan, however, is a year younger and a junior by two semesters, so it's a NO for me. But as our mentor-mentee relationship blossomed gradually throughout the semester, my caged feelings craved for freedom. Dan had proven himself valuable than any of those slovenly males that I've been chasing after, does the code really matter?

"Happy birthday, Sof," Adia handed out a small brown gift box with a yellow lid to me. "It's not that much but I hope you like it."

'Well, you brought Dan to this occasion, that's overwhelming enough,' was what I wanted to say. "Thank you, Adia. I cherish whatever gifts coming from you," was what I said instead.

I opened the lid and saw a friendship bracelet woven into a combination of a beautiful pattern made out of purple, blue and pink thread. They are my favourite colour.

"I've something for you too," Dan delivered a small paper package to me.

"Thank you, Dan. You're my surprise guest, you don't have to give me anything," I blushed.

"Initially I told him to get you something," Faiz nudged him. "It's a good thing he had all sorted out prior. Even if I didn't tag him along, he already planned to give something on your birthday."

"Really?" I flitted my gaze from Faiz to Dan. "You know my birthday?"

"Well, I remember everything you said about yourself during the Brass Band junior initiation session," Dan confessed.

The birthday celebration was brief but meaningful with just the four of us. It started with them singing the birthday song, me blowing the cake candle, followed by cake cutting and then resume reminiscing campus life and talked about the future in between our refreshments. We both left half an hour later when the cafeteria announced its closure of the day, so the lovebirds went west while Dan and I went east.