The Mysterious Girl

I felt the continuous vibration of the phone. I reached deep into my pocket, and then withdrew the phone. Before I could press the YES button, the phone became lifeless again. One missed call. I pressed the YES button, and the number of the caller appeared on the screen. The phone suddenly sprang into life again vibrating so hard it almost slipped loose of my grip. Without pausing to think who the caller might be, I pressed the YES button. I waited. And waited. And waited...

Finally the voice came on the phone. A sweet feminine voice. Quite familiar. At first I came to the hypothesis that it was one of my students calling. But it was immediately rejected when she asked me in a friendly manner, "What are you doing? Am I disturbing you at this hour?" I froze racking my brain to figure out who this mysterious caller might be. "No, not really. Er...May I know who this is?" Quite naturally, I expected her to reveal her identity, but I was taken aback by her answer. "Well, sorry I can't tell you!" This is weird. I did not stop there, though. I continued on my quest to unmask this girl. "Er...may I know how you got my number?" I could feel some good seconds ticking away in silence. Is this some sort of prank call? My thought was resumed when I heard her say, "Well, let's just say that I got it by chance!" OK! This is even weirder! Before I could say anything more, she questioned me, "Am I bothering you? What are you doing?"

To be very honest, I felt quite uneasy being engaged in a conversation with a girl whom I did not know. It almost felt like standing in a room with four mirror walls. All you could see were your own reflections, but then you could be seen from the other side of each mirror wall. Most of the time, I knew who the speaker was even if he or she tried to play prank on me. But this time, I could not be any more clueless. Though a part of me wanted to find out her intention, another more rational part just disliked the thought.

"Er...I am so sorry. I am in the middle of something right here. I don't think I can talk to you for long. And er...thank you for calling. Bye" I did not even give a chance for her to bid me good-bye. That was a bit harsh, dude. But I think she would understand, or at least this would push her a little bit more to give away her secret identity. For the next couple of hours, I could not keep thinking about this caller. Could it be one of my friends? Maybe it was my student? ...

The following day was just a typical uneventful day at the workplace. At least that was how it seemed to be at first. The clock in my room had struck 9pm, and I was feeling exhausted to the core. I stripped off and took a cool soothing shower. I was drying myself when suddenly I heard a beep coming from my phone. I reached for the phone on my desk, and pressed the YES button, only to find the number belonging to that girl with the content of the message revealed before my eyes.

The message read:

I am sorry I bothered you yesterday. I hope you not angry with me te. I want to be your friend because when I see you you smile all the time. I cannot be happy as you te. I want to be like you. Hope you are not angry with me.


I frowned. This girl is really spinning my head around. I wanted to give it one last shot. So I wrote:

How can I be friend with someone I don't know? Do I know you? You tell me who you are first and then we can be friends, I am sure.

I waited for her reply. It was before long that I heard another beep. And given the welling curiosity inside me, I fumbled clumsily for the YES button.

The message read:

Sorry na...I cannot tell you...because when I tell you...you know about me...Sorry I can't tell you te...hey what are you doing? Tell me ban te...

I was disappointed, and at the same time, kind of sick of playing this little game. So I decided not to make any response to her.