-l-i-n-d-a-

Saturday, September 18

|||...passion is the quickest to develop n the quickest to fade. intimacy develops more slowly n commitment more gradually still...|||

scene 1 : ngee ann poly canteen 1, july 1998

he saw her hafing lunch with her gfs. e way she talked n luffed caught his eyes.

scene 2 : ngee ann poly bus-stop, aug 1998

he saw her again dis time alone at e bus-stop. 'shld i or shld i not?' as bus 61 nears, he decides against going forward to talk to her n moved to e front of e bus-stop to board e approaching bus with his frens. they r on their way to take their driving lessons at bbdc. he noticed she moved in e same direction as well. 'is it fate?' they were both standing near e front of e bus. 'juz go get her no if u r interested. she's v tall oso, good match leh. we r getting off soon, faster la.' hissed his frens to him.

there's no direct bus to or fr sch so she has to change buses. 'at least e bus is fast today.' walking to e front of e bus-stop to prepare to board bus 61. on e bus, she's suddenly acutely aware of e intentions of dis rowdy grp of guys. being shy, she quickly squeeze her way through to e back of e bus before he can say a word n hops off e bus-stops later at e stop where she's supposed to change her bus.

'hey, she's getting off at e same stop. its now or nv.' e frens prodded again. 'dun wan la, so ma lu, e bus-stop is so crowded.' he rebukes.

'oh no, y do they haf to get off at e same stop too.' shortly, seeing her bus 67 coming, she nv felt more relieved. without realising another bus 157 had cut into her bus's lane, she boarded it. when e bus turned left at e nxt junction, she was so shocked. she immediately pressed e bell to alight. 'god, its so embarassing, hope e guys haf already left' as she walks slowly back to e original bus-stop to wait for her bus. nearing e bus-stop, she felt so glad tat they r gone n no-one noe how silly she was.

scene 3 : near ngee ann poly bus-stop, sept 1998

its raining heavily n she's waiting for her bus with her best fren. 'oh no, its them again. well, at least i'm not alone.' n continue chatting with her best fren.

'its her!' he thots happily. he had regreted not getting her no e prev time. he n his frens r on their way to bbdc again.

she n her best fren boarded bus 184. 2 bus-stops later, all of them alighted at e same bus-stop. e grp of guys were standing behind e bus-stop jostling each other. after a long wait, she boarded bus 181 with her best fren. he can oni stare helplessly as her bus moves away.

he felt sad when she left n disappointed with himself for not being courageous enough to walk over to her n say hi. 'all right, our bus to bbdc is here. lets go.'

'scrreeeecccchhhhhhhhhhhh' her bus had knocked a sec sch boy tat was dashing across e rd whom was too lazy to use e pedestrain crossing sme distance away cuz of e heavy rain. everybody alighted. the boy was bleeding profusely. being one of e few passengers onboard, she helped to call e ambulance n gave away all her tissues in an attempt by e bus-driver to stop e bleeding of e big cut on e boy's forehead.

they were cracking jokes on e bus as usual when he saw e commotion in front of e rd. as his bus slowly moves into e bus-stop, he saw her. 'hey, tats her! lets get off' n e grp dashed to alight. standing at e other corner of e bus-stop, he did not noe when it wld b a good time to walk over with e injured boy n all. before he knew it, she suddenly moved with her fren to board another 181.

'can we go? e nxt bus is here. all e blood is making me nervous' plead her best fren. 'all right' she wans to get out of his way too as she had noticed him n his frens alighted n standing at e corner looking so oddly at them. both of them rushed to flag e oncoming bus. she alighted at her bus-stop. but was trapped there cuz e rain seems to b getting heavier. not wanting to become drenched, she waits patiently for e rain to stop.

devastated he missed her yet again, he boarded his bus with his frens despondently. looking out e window, he suddenly saw her alone at e nxt bus-stop when his bus zoomed past it. 'how? she's there. u tink she's waiting for another bus? shld i get off at e nxt stop?' by e time he made up his mind, its already 2 bus-stops away n he ran all his life back towards e bus-stop for fear she's already gone. 'u better treat us later. we haf to wait for u here in such a ulu place. e bus-stop is so wet n no place to sit dwn. hurry ya, our driving lesson almost time already.' his frens nagged. as he near e bus-stop, his heart did a flip when he saw her still standing there. giving his coolest look, he slows down his pace n walks into e bus-stop.

'awwww, y is he here? wat shld i do? i hate it such moments. i hate dis type of guys. muz b so desperate. but if i reject him, he wld b embarassed. how? i dun wan him to feel bad too. there's so many ppl at e bus stop.' after trying to delay e time by yakking with her guy fren on her hp, whom is on his way to ubi to renew his expired bike license, for 0.5 hr, 'hey, i need to hang up, call u later.' 'huh? can later den hang up?' but he can't. she had to end e call n dreaded e moment when he walked over n started talking to her.

he : hi, heavy rain hor. *smiles*
her : ya. *can't b bothered*
he : *hair dripping with rain water still* u stay ard here? *smiles widely*
her : yes. *feeling so sorry for him* sorry, i dun haf any tissue on me, gave it all away just now.
he : its ok. so u study at ngee ann? which yr? *smiles*
her : yes. 2nd yr. u?
he : ohhh, i'm in 1st yr. *smiles*
her : i c. *turn off, junior*
he : can i noe u? *grins*
her : er.... *c-ing his wet hair, clothes, shoes* ohhhh all right.
he : *grins* can u write ur no for me? i got to go for my driving lesson. i call u again k.
her : *relunctantly* ok.
he : u wan me to walk u hme? its raining, so romantic. *smiles*
her : huh? u can walk urself n b romantic urself. i'm not getting wet.
he : er, ok, i make a move first. *grins*
her : ok.
he : bye byes. *grins*
her : bye.

its her first time giving away her contact no to a stranger. its has always been outright rejection for all e guys whom approached her. tat first time eventually lead to smething more. for its tat moment's decision tat changed her life forever.

cuz u c. she's attached at tat pt in time. but all she felt then was lots n lots of sympathy for e guy who went thru so much trouble n who got so wet running a long distance juz to get to where she was. so she relented n gave in. e min e guy called tat nite, she rejected him n told him nv to call again as she has a bf n its impossible between e both of them.

but e first was not meant to b n like lots of things in life tat is pre-destinated, fate finally brought them together many mths later for 2 yrs before they eventually got married.