s u n n y s i d e u p.

-- a short story --

First Day, First Encounter!

(The names have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty. If this story, is, in any way similar to a situation you know, it in merely coincidental but intentional. My apologies to any affected)


Monday morning. First day and also registration day at the University. Aruyani woke up early. Got herself ready for the big day with plenty of time to spare.

Before leaving her condominium, she looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror beside the main door, steadied her composure, finger-combed her hair and giving her orange-and-white-striped long-sleeved blouse a brush with the back of her palms. Moving closer to the mirror, she screwed her nose, made faces and smiled at herself.

She took a step back; look at herself in the mirror again, shook her head and ran to her bed-room. A few minutes later, she came out and had a pink vest on. Dressed in her favorite casuals, she was ready for her new life – new because she is away from her family and is totally on her own in a foreign land.

Yes, she was ready for this adventure.

The coach service provided by the University for the students seemed efficient enough – something she was used to in her hometown. Aruyani was glad that that was one myth proven untrue. Her friends had been telling her horror stories of this country and so far, none of them was true.

Arriving at the University, the new students were guided to the registration hall. There was a crowd and to her, everybody looked the same. She could not tell the Malaysians from any other communities. Little did she know that the University actually catered to students from all over the world.

Inspite of the on-line registration system, the process seemed to take forever. Aruyani couldn’t wait to finish the registration, join her new class and meet her new classmates. Again if only she knew………..

After all the technicalities of the registration, she was finally in her classroom.. It wasn’t a big class – only about ten of them.. Soon they took it upon themselves to get to know each other. Now, lets see ……. There’s Jony, Mana, Lawa, Mick Koh , Gollum, Jack, Frizzy, Ling Clos Hup and a few others she couldn’t memorize..

Without getting into the boring details of the lectures and the progress of the class, Aruyani soon found herself happily settled with all her class-mates. Although they come from all over the world, they could adjust themselves to the situation quite comfortably.

After only a few weeks, she has her own circle of friends consisting of her classmates. It was a good group. They complement each other in terms of support and camaraderie spirit. Aruyani has never been happier. The many outings they had had, the friendly hug, the playful slaps on the back,the millions of photographs , the pranks they played on each other and  the jovial company.

Yes--jovial is the word to best describe Jony.  He has ways to make everybody cheerful and laughing their hearts out. Its not just the words, but his expression and his movements could really turn on the screw. But do not be fooled by his seemingly fool-hardy antics because he could easily swictched channel and became the learned Professor and Philosopher. Checking his blog would be a revealation of his inner self !

Mana ? hmmmm --nobody could figure him out. But he complemented Jony pretty well in all the pranks that happened .  Some considered him a rebel and a radical but he was unconcerned aboutthe  impression as he was with other 'stories' or gossips about him.Another avid blog addict-- he always seemed to be busy on the keyboard. Sometimes they wondered if he was writing a love story of sort---..

Mick ? A tall man who should seriously consider becoming a basketball player. Lawa, a Malaysian was by chance a picture of her name. The word "Lawa" in Malay means 'pretty'. However do not be fooled by her petite physique. She could pack a wallop with her words if she wanted to and it had always been effective.

Clos Hup was one very much to himself. But he love food - his and others'. However he can be very over-attentive in conversation. But thats probably his style.

Now, lets see who is left ! Yes , Gollum. Well , he can be jovial but mostly mysterious in his own ways. Occassionally, he would enjoy verbal jabs with everyone, although Aruyani had confided with Jony that she thought  him strange with the looks that he had been giving her. Later , Mana got to know of this weird situation as well!

Jack? Now he is the first person to 'cross sword' with Aruyani. It was only her diplomatic character that prevented the situation into something undesirable. But Jack has always been a pain in the neck to all of them . Its just that he was always picking on Aruyani  and there was an occassion when Mana had  to step in .

So these were the people in her life in this far-away land.

With good friends around her, she developed the confidence to excel in her studies and also to gain the experience of a life-time in a foreign country.

However, a chain is only as strong as the link. All it took to spoil it would be a weak link. And, unfortunately, that was exactly what was going to happen. Poor Aruyani ! As much as it was uncalled for, she was about to go through one of the worst experiences of her life !

(Look out for the Part 3 of this short story. Actually---come to think of it, its not THAT short. But who would be the weak link ? Jony ? Mana ? Ling? Mick?Jack ?......and what is the weakness?????)