ecieci
4th February 2010, 07:40 AM
Chapter B: Reality Bites
…8…7…9….8…2…3….
Sybille stopped. She suddenly got nervous. But what should I say?? She put down her mobile phone.
But…hesitantly she glanced at the phone with the corner of her eyes. It’s been a week without meeting Max at all. She did everything she could to try to catch him. Camped out at his (suspected) usual hangouts, haunted engineering building day and night, even went so far as camouflaging as engineering student and attending the lectures (bad idea, until now she’s still recovering from the dizziness caused by a certain engineering mathematics session @_@). She knew that Max was fourth year student and thus very busy, but it’s been a week … it’s driving her crazy. She wanted to see him, see him, see him … so badly!
So she picked up her phone again and redialed the number for the umpteenth time.
Max picked it up at fourth ring. “Max here.”
THUMP! Now she wanted to throw the phone and run as far away as she could. He’s there! He’s there on the other line! What should I do??
“Um…um…hello Max …you busy?“
“Kind of. Who is it?”
He’s busy! Sybille so wanted to bang her head on the wall. What did I say? It’s a bad idea! the angel in her head scolded. Stop chicken out you moron! scolded the devil in her head. Sybille couldn’t stand her own internal fight, and decided to end the agony.
“Um…never mind then….bye….”
Silent for a while. Then she heard Max said cautiously, “Is it Sybille?”
Bingo! She let out a nervous laugh.
“I’m sorry for calling you when you are so busy …”
“It’s OK. How are you? I haven’t seen you for a while. At the moment I’m rather busy with wrapping up my FYP. Got to submit next week or else I will be fifth year student!” he made a self-depreciating joke. They laughed together. It made her lose her uneasiness. Now both the angel and devil in her head went *poof!* and only left Sybille alone, happily chatting with her favorite friend.
“Then what do you do after FYP?” she asked, now without any nervousness.
“Still got a couple of courses to attend. Bu they are nothing. It’s basically gonna be smooth sailing. Then final exams and adieu, l’ecole!”
She giggled.
“In that case why don’t you join Cora and I for dinner after you submit your FYP? We’re planning to try out this new Korean BBQ place in the city.” The idea just immediately came out from her mind. She needed to see him, no matter what. She needed to cure this acute longing. The feeling had cancerously spread all over her body, with symptoms of weakness, impatience, moodiness, and general laziness.
“Great! I love Korean. Text me again the exact time and place later on yeah!”
How happy…Sybille was floating on cloud nine. He didn’t reject her impromptu invitation. Even though he’s busy, he still answered her call. He’s really nice … he’s really nice … he’s really nice … Sybille was so high up on the clouds she’d started to forget to come back down to earth.
When Cora came, she immediately broke the news. “Make your next Friday night free. We are eating Korean.” She said authoritatively to the bewildered Cora.
“Eh???” Cora stood paralyzed on the door, looking confused. “I don’t like Korean!”
***
Ah…
How nice it was to be in love. The beautiful Friday night atmosphere in the riverside restaurant, the neon city lights sparkled around them, the chat and laughter from fashionable people along the riverside promenade, and above all … Max’s laughing face, right in front of her, looking so happy among the BBQ meats, lettuce leaves, soups and kimchi sides. Sybille rested her chin on her palms while fixing her gaze at his handsome face. It’s so dreamlike, this happiness.
“This is such a great idea!” Max beamed. “The food here is cheap and delicious. Buffet on top of that. You girls are marvelous!”
Sybille grinned happily at the compliments, ignoring Cora who has been putting on sour face the whole night.
“We should come here again!” she suggested.
“Sure. Count me in!” Max agreed easily.
Now she had him in the palm of her hand! Sybille was dancing on the clouds.
Her obvious happiness invited suspicions from Cora. On the way back to their room, after Max safely returned them to their hall after their long dinner, Cora finally decided to interrogate her.
“Are you in love with Max?” she eyed on her suspiciously.
Sybille jerked. How could she see that? I thought I had everything under control! “Obviously not!” she denied, rather too strongly.
Cora still kept her suspicious gaze on her. “Well, you better.” She finally let her go. “Christian Skyped me the other day. He asked why you are always offline nowadays.”
Her last words were like a bomb to Sybille. It immediately evaporated every last bubble of happiness she’s been in. she knew, she just knew … dreams would eventually end and realities would bite in. she was just hoping she could dream a little more.
“I’ll Skype him later.” She answered short and cold, then went into the room.
Cora only stared at her back without saying anymore words.
“Hello…”
“Hi Sybille! Are you there?” A boy’s face appeared on the Skype video screen. He’s about the same age as Sybille, cute in a way with glasses and unkempt hair, sat facing his computer in his black Megadeth t-shirt. Sybille sighed at the familiar face she knew too well. “Hey Christian…”
“How are you… hey, turn the video on!”
Lazily, she turned on her camera and let herself being seen from the other side.
“Where you been? You haven’t contacted me for weeks!”
“Sorry, very busy with studies.” Sybille replied easily, ignoring Cora’s angry glance upon hearing her blatant lie.
“I miss you …” Christian’s voice mellowed down, but suddenly he seemed alerted. “Is Cora there?”
“No.” another lie came out of Sybille’s lips easily.
“I miss you like crazy, you know…” he then continued his mellowness. Cora seemed uneasy sitting at her study desk. She started to consider leaving the room.
But Sybille didn’t really feel anything by his words. Maybe she’s cold, maybe she evil, but you couldn’t fake these feelings. She just sat there, listening to him opening up his romantic side. “When are you coming to Germany?”
“Christian, we both know when.”
“I was hoping you could still change your mind and make it this summer instead.” He sheepishly reasoned. “It’s so boring here without you. I got studies and all, very busy, of course, but I still miss you sometimes, you know.”
“I will go for Christmas like planned.”
“I can’t wait that long.”
“So what do you want? I got school too.”
“I…sorry, Sybille, I shouldn’t throw it out on you.” He held back and smiled sadly. “It seems like I’m still not used to you being so far away, unlike in high school when we were so near. Sorry…”
Now Sybille felt a little guilty. It’s not his fault that Christian missed her so badly. She’s the one who got distracted and didn’t contact him for weeks like they promised before he left for his studies in Germany. But Christian being so nice as always, he put the blame on himself.
“It’s precious, you know, the relationship you have.” Cora was trying to have some serious conversation with her later on, after the Skype date was over. “I think you should treasure it.”
Sybille knew what she wanted to say, but pretended to not know anything about it. She just kept quiet.
“You guys were together for two years already right? Since high school? And now just because he goes overseas, doesn’t mean that you can’t keep the relationship.”
“Who’s talking about breaking up?”
“You know what you are doing, I don’t have to spell it out for you.” Cora looked at her straight. “The fact is that you are an attached girl, and flirting with other guys is disrespectful towards your boyfriend, you know.” She continued.
“I’m not flirting with anybody.” Sybille stood up, feeling fed up with Cora’s counseling session. “You are imagining things.” With that, she left the room.
She knew she’s fooling nobody but herself. She had feelings for Max; probably even already in love with him (*gasp*).
Nowadays, nothing would make her happier than getting in touch with Max. All her feelings were pouring out for him, there was no more left for Christian, her boyfriend of two years who’s now studying in Germany. Maybe it’s the long distance, or the loneliness…she’s trying to find an excuse. But one thing for sure, the attraction to Max was getting stronger. His charms were like magnet, kept drawing her closer and closer to him, day by day. And what could a helpless girl do?
***
Wait for Chapter C: Girl Has So Much to Do !
…8…7…9….8…2…3….
Sybille stopped. She suddenly got nervous. But what should I say?? She put down her mobile phone.
But…hesitantly she glanced at the phone with the corner of her eyes. It’s been a week without meeting Max at all. She did everything she could to try to catch him. Camped out at his (suspected) usual hangouts, haunted engineering building day and night, even went so far as camouflaging as engineering student and attending the lectures (bad idea, until now she’s still recovering from the dizziness caused by a certain engineering mathematics session @_@). She knew that Max was fourth year student and thus very busy, but it’s been a week … it’s driving her crazy. She wanted to see him, see him, see him … so badly!
So she picked up her phone again and redialed the number for the umpteenth time.
Max picked it up at fourth ring. “Max here.”
THUMP! Now she wanted to throw the phone and run as far away as she could. He’s there! He’s there on the other line! What should I do??
“Um…um…hello Max …you busy?“
“Kind of. Who is it?”
He’s busy! Sybille so wanted to bang her head on the wall. What did I say? It’s a bad idea! the angel in her head scolded. Stop chicken out you moron! scolded the devil in her head. Sybille couldn’t stand her own internal fight, and decided to end the agony.
“Um…never mind then….bye….”
Silent for a while. Then she heard Max said cautiously, “Is it Sybille?”
Bingo! She let out a nervous laugh.
“I’m sorry for calling you when you are so busy …”
“It’s OK. How are you? I haven’t seen you for a while. At the moment I’m rather busy with wrapping up my FYP. Got to submit next week or else I will be fifth year student!” he made a self-depreciating joke. They laughed together. It made her lose her uneasiness. Now both the angel and devil in her head went *poof!* and only left Sybille alone, happily chatting with her favorite friend.
“Then what do you do after FYP?” she asked, now without any nervousness.
“Still got a couple of courses to attend. Bu they are nothing. It’s basically gonna be smooth sailing. Then final exams and adieu, l’ecole!”
She giggled.
“In that case why don’t you join Cora and I for dinner after you submit your FYP? We’re planning to try out this new Korean BBQ place in the city.” The idea just immediately came out from her mind. She needed to see him, no matter what. She needed to cure this acute longing. The feeling had cancerously spread all over her body, with symptoms of weakness, impatience, moodiness, and general laziness.
“Great! I love Korean. Text me again the exact time and place later on yeah!”
How happy…Sybille was floating on cloud nine. He didn’t reject her impromptu invitation. Even though he’s busy, he still answered her call. He’s really nice … he’s really nice … he’s really nice … Sybille was so high up on the clouds she’d started to forget to come back down to earth.
When Cora came, she immediately broke the news. “Make your next Friday night free. We are eating Korean.” She said authoritatively to the bewildered Cora.
“Eh???” Cora stood paralyzed on the door, looking confused. “I don’t like Korean!”
***
Ah…
How nice it was to be in love. The beautiful Friday night atmosphere in the riverside restaurant, the neon city lights sparkled around them, the chat and laughter from fashionable people along the riverside promenade, and above all … Max’s laughing face, right in front of her, looking so happy among the BBQ meats, lettuce leaves, soups and kimchi sides. Sybille rested her chin on her palms while fixing her gaze at his handsome face. It’s so dreamlike, this happiness.
“This is such a great idea!” Max beamed. “The food here is cheap and delicious. Buffet on top of that. You girls are marvelous!”
Sybille grinned happily at the compliments, ignoring Cora who has been putting on sour face the whole night.
“We should come here again!” she suggested.
“Sure. Count me in!” Max agreed easily.
Now she had him in the palm of her hand! Sybille was dancing on the clouds.
Her obvious happiness invited suspicions from Cora. On the way back to their room, after Max safely returned them to their hall after their long dinner, Cora finally decided to interrogate her.
“Are you in love with Max?” she eyed on her suspiciously.
Sybille jerked. How could she see that? I thought I had everything under control! “Obviously not!” she denied, rather too strongly.
Cora still kept her suspicious gaze on her. “Well, you better.” She finally let her go. “Christian Skyped me the other day. He asked why you are always offline nowadays.”
Her last words were like a bomb to Sybille. It immediately evaporated every last bubble of happiness she’s been in. she knew, she just knew … dreams would eventually end and realities would bite in. she was just hoping she could dream a little more.
“I’ll Skype him later.” She answered short and cold, then went into the room.
Cora only stared at her back without saying anymore words.
“Hello…”
“Hi Sybille! Are you there?” A boy’s face appeared on the Skype video screen. He’s about the same age as Sybille, cute in a way with glasses and unkempt hair, sat facing his computer in his black Megadeth t-shirt. Sybille sighed at the familiar face she knew too well. “Hey Christian…”
“How are you… hey, turn the video on!”
Lazily, she turned on her camera and let herself being seen from the other side.
“Where you been? You haven’t contacted me for weeks!”
“Sorry, very busy with studies.” Sybille replied easily, ignoring Cora’s angry glance upon hearing her blatant lie.
“I miss you …” Christian’s voice mellowed down, but suddenly he seemed alerted. “Is Cora there?”
“No.” another lie came out of Sybille’s lips easily.
“I miss you like crazy, you know…” he then continued his mellowness. Cora seemed uneasy sitting at her study desk. She started to consider leaving the room.
But Sybille didn’t really feel anything by his words. Maybe she’s cold, maybe she evil, but you couldn’t fake these feelings. She just sat there, listening to him opening up his romantic side. “When are you coming to Germany?”
“Christian, we both know when.”
“I was hoping you could still change your mind and make it this summer instead.” He sheepishly reasoned. “It’s so boring here without you. I got studies and all, very busy, of course, but I still miss you sometimes, you know.”
“I will go for Christmas like planned.”
“I can’t wait that long.”
“So what do you want? I got school too.”
“I…sorry, Sybille, I shouldn’t throw it out on you.” He held back and smiled sadly. “It seems like I’m still not used to you being so far away, unlike in high school when we were so near. Sorry…”
Now Sybille felt a little guilty. It’s not his fault that Christian missed her so badly. She’s the one who got distracted and didn’t contact him for weeks like they promised before he left for his studies in Germany. But Christian being so nice as always, he put the blame on himself.
“It’s precious, you know, the relationship you have.” Cora was trying to have some serious conversation with her later on, after the Skype date was over. “I think you should treasure it.”
Sybille knew what she wanted to say, but pretended to not know anything about it. She just kept quiet.
“You guys were together for two years already right? Since high school? And now just because he goes overseas, doesn’t mean that you can’t keep the relationship.”
“Who’s talking about breaking up?”
“You know what you are doing, I don’t have to spell it out for you.” Cora looked at her straight. “The fact is that you are an attached girl, and flirting with other guys is disrespectful towards your boyfriend, you know.” She continued.
“I’m not flirting with anybody.” Sybille stood up, feeling fed up with Cora’s counseling session. “You are imagining things.” With that, she left the room.
She knew she’s fooling nobody but herself. She had feelings for Max; probably even already in love with him (*gasp*).
Nowadays, nothing would make her happier than getting in touch with Max. All her feelings were pouring out for him, there was no more left for Christian, her boyfriend of two years who’s now studying in Germany. Maybe it’s the long distance, or the loneliness…she’s trying to find an excuse. But one thing for sure, the attraction to Max was getting stronger. His charms were like magnet, kept drawing her closer and closer to him, day by day. And what could a helpless girl do?
***
Wait for Chapter C: Girl Has So Much to Do !