♥ cik nana ♥

ACCEPTANCE & REJECTION

I

It is a bright Monday evening. Looking out through the window, he can clearly see every single movement of the people below his office; scattered and rushing to fulfill their routine. From up here, the people look like an army of ants which amazes him a lot. Reality slaps in! He has to get back to his work. He turns around and gets back to the files that piled up on his table. “Mom shouldn’t have let me hold on this position. Sis should have done it instead.” he grumbles while going through the files and penning the signature of him on every file.

There’s a knock on the door, his assistant comes in with a chic-cool looking lady walking behind. “Speak of the devil…” states him. The said lady sits on the sofa at the center of his office. “Mom wants you to meet someone over the weekend. Secret Stars Restaurant, 8pm, be punctual. I’m telling you this earlier so you won’t be raging over stuff being told hands off.” the lady speaks. “No.” replies him, without even looking up away from his files; as a sign of protest. “Not another one. I’ve had enough of it already. It fails miserably every single time I go.” he continues. “Well my brother, you have to tell mom that on your own. Make sure I’m not there when you do.” The lady stands up, “I’m going for a bite, move off your seat now if you are to tag along,” and walks out of the door. He immediately stacks his files back and follows his beloved sister.

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Voices can be heard booming in the living room of the 3-floored bungalow. A man is arguing with a woman. It is like a déjà vu all over again; the same situation that occurs when he is told to meet someone by his mom. “For the last time, I am not going to meet anyone anymore!” he states his point firmly. “I promise you this will be the last time. Trust me this time, you will love her once you see her… She’s such an art… You should take a look at her picture.” says mom. He takes the picture and throws it on the table without taking a glance to it. He looks at his mom unbelievably. He sighs, a frustrating one. There is a silent moment between them, a dead one. No one seems to be budging from their firm decision. “Let’s just do what you have got to do. This is not the first time…” he hears his sister’s whisper out of nowhere. The moment of silent could have lasted forever if it is not for him who dashes through the living room leaving the argument. He turns around half way, “this doesn’t mean I’m agreeing with you,” and continues walking to his room. He gets into his room, closes the door and lies on his bed. A wide grin plastered on his face…

II

It is a breezy Friday night. She is lying comfortably on the couch in her room without any doings. She grabs a magazine that is on the table besides her and looks at the cover. “Wow there! She finally gets to be the front cover!” jolted her when she sees the model of the front cover; her colleague aka her best friend. She gets up from the couch and walks toward her bed, “I should call her,” and grabs her phone.

Before she even gets the chance to dial the number, her sister’s head pops from behind the door, a wide smile can be seen on the latter’s face. “Oh! Hey look who’s on the cover!” she immediately gets back to the magazine and lifts it up to show it to her sister. Her sister, just like her, is in shock too. Both the girls then laugh and scream out of happiness for the said friend. The scene continues with the voices of the girls’ talking.

“Oh yes. Before I forgot… You are going to meet someone this weekend. Dad’s choice.” her sister changes the story flow. “Mood-killed.” says her who knew what the latter is talking about. “You have no other choice. Dad said you’ll have to go or he might stop you from continuing your modeling activity… I’m disagreeing to this meeting too but I’m sure you got something up your sleeve for this time too.” says her sister with carefree. She ponders upon what her sister has told her, “hmm… In a matter of fact, I do!” and she smiles…

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She walks to the kitchen slowly; eyes are barely opened. She reaches for the fridge’s door and opens it. The light that beams through blinds her vision leaving her with no choice but to close her eyes while searching over a drinking bottle. She grabs some random bottle and gulps the water down her throat.

She was just about to get back upstairs to her room when she hears her dad’s car roaring in the parking space of the house. She walks to the front door. On the way there, she manages to catch a glimpse of the clock hanged on the wall; 3a.m it says. She opens the front door and sees her dad, just got back from work. “This is the first I see you coming back home this late,” she hugs her dad and smiles. “I had too. There was an emergency meeting a while ago. I had no choice but to stay back there.” says her dad, walking alongside her into the house. “Ah~ that answers my wonder…” she replies back.

The two figures halt in the middle of the living room, “has your sister told you anything?” her dad asks slowly. “Yes. She told me.” no expression is shown on her face, straight face is all that can be seen. “And?” her dad asks again. “And… I’ll go as you wish. I suppose it won’t hurt for me to go for another meet-up.” she replies calmly. Her dad is so pleased with her answer, “I’m glad you are going willingly this time,” and pats her shoulder. “Anything for you dad…” she then leaves for her room, walking up the staircases. “Anything for you...” another suspicious smile plastered on her face.

III

D-Day has finally come. He sits at one corner of the restaurant. She sits on the other side of the corner, just across him. Both parties are eyeing at this one particular table in the middle of the restaurant; near them. A meet up is about to happen. A meet up which was meant to be for them.

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He sips his drink little by little without forgetting to keep his eyes on his sister that is sitting at the supposedly his table of meet up. Not too long after, a lady approaches his sister and sits down. “Is that her? She’s not bad after all.” he mumbles the soon he sees the lady.

He takes a quick glance of his watch, it has already been an hour and a half since his sister started talking to the lady but the two ladies seem to be showing no sign of ending the conversation. The two are having such a fun talk as it seems. “Excuse me, may I get a set of spaghetti please.” he decides to have his dinner while waiting for his sister to finish. While waiting for his order, his eyes wander around the restaurant watching every single person that comes and goes. At the corner across him, he sees her, gorgeously sitting there looking into spaces far in front of her. His eyes immediately locked to the figure owned by her; fair skin, round eyes, pointy nose, luscious lips, sharp chin and long legs. “Gorgeous~” he is swooned by her beauty.

His order arrived. He dines in his food without forgetting to take a quick glance of his sister and her once in a while. He finishes his food quickly when he sees his sister is about to leave. He pays up and walks toward the exit of the restaurant. Walking away, he steals a last glance of her. Once he is in the car with his sister, “was that her?” asks him, referring to the person his sister met. “Just drive.” the latter replies carelessly, leaving him hanging; clueless.

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She takes a look at the menu book handed by the waitress carefully. “I’ll have the medium plate steak and a glass of guava juice, please.” she hands back the menu book to the waitress politely, “oh! And a glass of plain water please,” she sends the waitress with a sincere smile. She turns to the supposedly her table of meet up. “I thought I am supposed to meet a guy?” she mumbles when she sees a lady is sitting at the table. Not too long after, she sees her sister approaching the lady and sits down.

She checks her phone to see the time; it has already been an hour and a half since her sister approached the lady. She throws her back and leans on the chair, eyes locked at the same view. From across her, she hears a husky voice calling up for order. She turns toward the voice and blurrily sees the owner of the voice, “that’s a bit too loud…” and giggles. She supports her chin with her hand on the table and continues to stare at her sister figuring out when would the two’s conversation end.

She keeps on looking at her sister, still waiting. Right at the corner of her eyes, she sees that someone is stealing a glance at her. She tries hard not to turn around. Just when she was about to steal a glance to see who is watching her, she sees that the lady has bid her sister good bye. She turns away and pretends to be eating her food when the truth is that she already pushes her dish aside long ago. She keeps in the pose and sees the lady walks out to the exit of the restaurant through the corner of her eyes. After the lady is out of sight, and after a few minutes, her sister signals her to come and sit at the table. “Finally!” she stands up and walks toward her sister. “Where’s him?” she asks her sister. “I thought you couldn’t care less about him?” her sister retorts. Her sister continues to sip the drink and stands up afterward, “let’s go home!” and walks away leaving her hanging; clueless.

IV

It has been months since the D-day. His mom still believes that he met her. Her dad does not have any single idea about her plan with her sister. They both have been living their normal live doing their normal routine happily. It could be said that neither party still has got the memory about the day up to today.

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He is getting ready for the company gathering. He buttons up his suit and the blazer. Buttoning up the sleeves and putting on those silky black shoes too. He then looks into the mirror to fix his face and hair. Done fixing, he goes out of his room and off he goes. Roaring sound of his car can be heard even from the end of the street.

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She is making up in front of her dressing table. Getting ready for a gathering that she does not know of; accompanying her friend. Applying some soft pink blushers on her cheek and putting on the bright red Prada, she is set to go. She walks down the staircases and grabs the key of her car. She gets into her car and hits the road for her friend and straight to the gathering.

V

There are a lot of people attending the company gathering. Everyone is chatting along with their colleagues and any other named person. He can be seen at one end of the hall, talking to his business partner with his sister. There seem to be some serious talk going on with some laughter once in a while.

He looks around to look at all his colleagues and employees. He suddenly feels his stomach grumble. “Please do excuse me for a second, I’ll come back with some munchies for all of us.” he politely signals to all of the people he has been communicating to. He then leaves to the food section after getting the “nod” from all.

While he is putting various munchies into the plate, his eyes wander around to enjoy the scenery of the gathering. Spot lights that beam the hall, the soothing music and the people. Everything is just so memory-worthy. A soft hum can be heard coming out from his mouth. And then, there she is, walking through the entrance elegantly with her friend. The memory of that day snaps back into him, “isn’t that the lady at the restaurant?” he mumbles to himself without looking away from her. Without his conscious, his legs make a move toward her, slowly approaching.

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As soon as she enters the hall, her friend introduces her to the others. She shakes their hand and introduces herself with a smile. It does not take a long time for her to familiarize with the surrounding and the people there. It is not too long before she starts to be immersed into a fun chat with her friend and others.

She was exchanging career knowledge with the others when she sees him approaching toward her. She turns around and smiles at him. He stops just a few steps from her. She looks at him, a little bit amazed by his appearance. He could not resist but to do the same. He looks at her and is already deeply mesmerized by her.

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“Hello,” he breaks the ice. She replies with a soft voice. “Do you by any chance have been to Secret Stars Restaurant?” he asks; just to reconfirm that she is the same person. “Oh yes. I’ve been there. In a matter of fact, a lot of time…” she says with a little chuckle at the end of her words. “Ah~ we meet again!” he jumps to the end. “Come again?” she asks out of confusion. “Oh. I’m sorry. What I meant was that I saw you once at the restaurant. You were so stunning back then and I thought of approaching you to be friend with you but that would have been very rude of me to just invade your space, aren’t I?” he explains. “Wow… that is so impressive!” she jokes to what he has said. He lets out a small laugh too. Silence approaches between them… He breaks the silence again, “well now, from the bottom of my heart… would you allow me to offer a sincere friendship for you?” he smiles and stretches out his hand for a handshake. “It would always be my pleasure to accept your friendship… I couldn’t have said no anyway…” she smiles and reaches for his hand and shakes it. “Would you accept mine too?” she asks him back. “With great pleasure!” he replies without any hesitant.

Through the handshake, it is officially sealed that they now accept each others’ friendship. Little did they know… he rejected her once, she rejected him before… on the very same day...

hasil nukilan : izyanie farhah