There was 10 minutes left before her next lecture began. Ally sat on one of the benches by the lecture theatre as she waited. She took out her lecture materials to read, before her lecturer went through them in awhile. She opened her manual, stared at the words for a minute or two before she realised that her mind was registering none of the words before her. Her mind was on him.. and the surprise lunch visit that had taken place two hours before.
"Ally!!! How could you be late for the first lecture that we had today?! You didn't even turn up for the morning run!"
"... I lost something. I was late because I was looking for it."
"Lost something??? Your concession card again?!!"
"No, not that.. But it's something very important to me.."
"Then what is it?"
"I don't wish to talk about it. I'm very upset about it already."
"Okay okay. Let's change the topic. What shall we have for lunch today? Where to to have it?"
As her friends debated on their lunch venue for the day, Ally's mind wandered away from them. The frustration which she had finally managed to suppress during the morning lectures was beginning to rise again within her. She hated it when she can't remember where she had placed her belongings, and it gets worst when she loses her possessions. While she was getting ready for school that morning, she realised that her religious beads bracelet was not at its usual place, in the accessories basket bowl. She panicked and did a quick search throughout her room but it was to of no avail. She was forced to leave her house dejected, for she was going to be late for school already. It sucked to not have her daily accessory with her. She felt uneasy, not having it with her. It was her lucky/protection/energiser charm. It felt weird to have to go through a day without it. Ally took a gulp at the words "a day".. Somehow she had an inkling that it wouldn't be just a day. She hadn't had the confidence that she would find her beads bracelet anywhere at home even if she were to turn the whole house around.
Ally dragged her feet behind her friends as they made their way towards the canteen at the Southern part of the school. She tried to focuse her attention on her surroundings as she attempted to push this morning's incident out of her head, but found herself dazing instead, thinking about her beads bracelet.
"Hey, let's find seats!" The voice of one of her friends pulled Ally out of her daze. They had arrived at the canteen and as per usual, it was packed with hungry students. Ally stood up straighter and strained her neck as she looked around for a table for her clique. Just then, her phone buzzed.
Hmmm? Why is he calling me at this hour? Shouldn't he be having his lunch too?
Ally picked up the call.
"Hello?"
"Are you going to have lunch today?"
"Nooooooo..." Ally joked.
"Why?! You better have your lunch okay!"
"Nooooooooooo!"
"EAT!"
"No no no!"
"Please..?"
"Why are you able to call me now? Shouldn't you be having your lunch break?"
"Yeah I'm having my break now."
"With Chuck?"
"Yeap."
"Where is he?"
"Somewhere else..."
"Oh.. So what are you guys having for lunch today?"
"Eh he's coming back already. I call you back later."
"Oh-k..." Ally heard a 'click' and the line went dead on the other side. She hadn't even finished her sentence yet and much less said goodbye. She shook her head and pushed the dialog and her thoughts out of her mind as she continued her search for a table.
Her phone rang again. It was Millicent this time. She answered.
"Hey darling! Where are you?"
"I found us a table. It's infront of the Western food hawker. Come here."
"Okay! On the way!"
Ally waved to the 3 other girls in her clique who were beside her and led the way towards their table. When she arrived at the table, she plowed herself down on one of the seats comfortably and looked around at the hawkers in the canteen as she decided on what she would have for lunch.
With her eyes still on the various hawkers in the canteen, she asked her friends on what they were planning to have for lunch. Then, Jess, who sat beside her at the table, patted Ally on her shoulder. Ally turned around to face Jess.
"What..?"
Ally's eyes stopped for a second on Jess, then she saw a familiar figure in a red-checkered shirt behind Jess. Chuck...?! Then her eyes wandered towards the figure standing next to Jess, who wore a familiar looking khaki-coloured jacket. Her eyes lingered there for another second before it raised to see the owner of the jacket..
"EH?!!!! What are you doing here for?!!!" Ally voiced her thought out loudly unknowingly. Her heart took a double flip! There he was. Standing right before her.
For 3 minutes, Ally thought that she had gone deaf. All the chattering and noises in the canteen had become muffled. Except for him, everything else beyond that focus had gone blur. Ally's mind was trying to register the scene before her.
Him. Here at her school. At the canteen where she was at. In front of her table. No, she is not dreaming. He is real. Everything is real. He's here!!!!!
Ally snapped out of her stunned mode and zoomed back into reality. She began re-accepting the sounds around her and heard the taunts from her friends.
"Wah!!!! Surprise leh!!"
"Ally!!! He's here!!!"
"Hahahaha!!! Ohhhh... Ally.... Tsk tsk!"
Ally didn't know what to say. She had yet to recover from the surprise. She sat there, eyes on him, still in shock. He made his way towards her, and then pushed two cards in her hands. She looked down at the cards in her hands and recognised them. They were the Buddhist cards which he had always carried around his wallet, and he treasured them a lot.
"Hey, why are you giving me these?"
"Just take it. And keep it in your wallet properly."
"But why..."
"Take it."
It was redundant asking him for a reason when Ally knew the cause behind his action — her beads bracelet. She smiled widely, like a fool.
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