The letter

The heat of the afternoon sun was beating hard on me despite the fact that I stayed in shades most of the time. Bathed in perspiration, I thought of the cool soothing sensation that Oishi would be able to provide me. I jumped to my feet and made my way towards the canteen.

The school was then almost deserted because the Open Debate Forum had been brought to a close half an hour ago. While some other adjudicators had already set off, I was still lingering on the campus to keep Pagna and Vina company. Here and there, students in light pink Debate T-shirts huddled, engrossed in conversations which were barely audible but which occasionally broke into boisterous laughter. On the edges of the pond perched some other students in various colors. My gaze fell upon a lady student who was dressed up neatly in school uniform at the furthest corner. Given my bad eyesight, it took me some good seconds before I could figure out that she was my student. It was evident that she was being carried away by the music from her Ipod, and even from the distance, I could feel that she was feeling down about something, something I wondered but something I would probably never be able to figure out.

As soon as I handed over my 3000 Riels to the shop lady, I tore off the plastic covering the cap, uncapped the plastic bottle, and gulped down large proportions of the juicy soothing liquid. Then I headed back to where Pagna and Vina were waiting. Out of a sudden, I saw the student advancing towards me. I was ready to give the most sincere smile to her in spite of my drained, sweaty body as I always did with her and other students. However, there was something determined about the way she walked to me. Something she had probably wanted to do for a long time. Something that would surprise me!

I smiled at her, but to my astonishment, she stopped dead right in front of me. Before I could ask her how i could help her, she deftly withdrew a tiny little box, on the cover of which bore "Musical Inspirations".

"Thank you, but for what occasion?" That was the only question I could manage to come up with despite many other suppressed ones. She opened her mouth to explain but was at a complete loss for words to say. All she could do was to make some awkward gestures to show that it belonged to me now and that I should just zip up!

It took me a few minutes to let what had just happened sink in before I joined Pagna and Vina near the pond again. Pagna's eyes were sharp enough to notice that I was trying to conceal something from her. I had no choice, but to pass the box over to her.

"There's a letter, Ven!" Upon hearing this, I quickly snatched it back from Pagna's grasp and unfolded the letter which was hidden below the tiny little musical instrument in the box.

The letter read:

Hi! What shall I say? Mm... I got this thing last time I visited SGP. The first time I saw it, I felt that someone was deserved to get it. I've been keeping it for almost a month, maybe oover a month and I never dare to hand it to you. But now I see it again appears on my bed and I also feel that it is no longer belong to me. So no matter how, I just want to give it to the one who derserve it. I am sorry if I offence you or sth, especially last time I sent you an email. It was just because I was too depressed to sort thing out. I also do not understand myself. I just wanted to show my feeling to anyone for i could feel better. You can say I am too frank, weird, naive to do such thing. I know sometime, being too frank brings only shame and trouble, but I just can't helpt it plus i want to make things clear. I sometime feel like we are lecturer and student but sometime I also feel that we are stranger who never see each other before. Now I think and realize that it is time for me to stand up as strong girl or woman, it is time for me to gain confidence, time for me to clear all the doubts and time to accept the fact and no longer escape from the problem and reality. Again i am sorry if this letter and tiny little thing get on your nerve. From now on it is yours, you have the rights to do anything on it, chop it or grill it up to you. and Finally, I hope you smash this letter because it's gonna annoying. Thanks for spending your valuable time to read my letter and also thanks for what you have taught me and my classmates. Good luck and God bless you always.

Fragments of memory started to piece together in my mind to form a complete picture. This explained why she had often avoided my eye contact in class, and why her mysterious friend had asked me what I thought of her...