“Promise?”
“Yea, it’s our promise!”
We put our last finger together, outside of the fence of our secondary school and we exchanged present as memorial purpose… looking at her smiling face, it had been a satisfaction for me… I really thought it was…
* * * * * *
I had just finished my degree course in a music institute. It had been 12 years since I graduated from secondary. After I graduated from the secondary school, my dad instantly got a job promotion and sent to a newly-opened branch in New Zealand, and of course, we followed him to a place where everything was so unfamiliar, so lonely…
Before the flight, I gave Rosabelle a call…
Thinking about that, it had been quite a long time I lost contact with her. Her blurry image is still in my mind…
A long black hair, big watery eyes and a little mole on her right cheek… I could never forget…
* * * * * *
“Remember to practice everyday, ok? See you next week then…” I reminded my new student, Aaron, before he left the class.
“Ok teacher, I will! I wanna be as good as you teacher!” that cute little
5-years-old student replied… he handed over the piano book to his mother…
She gave me a smile, I smiled and I waved at them… After they left, I started packing up my teaching materials and walked out from the small music class. It was a dream comes true when I become a piano teacher.
Ah… It was good to be home, finally. I rented a house a year ago when I came back, as my family were still living in New Zealand… I quickly took a refreshing bath and filled my hungry stomach with some pizza. For some reason, I recalled about the class I had just now, the strong determination of learning shown by Aaron, it made me remind of my life as teenagers…
“Wow, I love this song, can you play once more, please?” she clapped her hand and requested…
“Okay, with a condition…” I pointed on my cheek, and, she kissed me… I smiled sweetly…
That gloaming, it was the most memorable moment… I sat in front of the old acoustic piano in the music room of our school, and she was beside me, laying her head comfortably on my shoulder… we didn’t speak a lot, I let my fingers danced gracefully on the black and white keys, a perfect melody came out from the piano…
* * * * * *
“Well, today teacher will teach you a song, since you have mastered the fingering practice, so, it’s up to you which song you would like to learn…” I said.
“Teacher, I wanna learn ‘The Promise’, I love that song so much. My mummy loves it too, she told me to play the song for her one day. Mummy also said that there was a boy played this song to her before she met my papa.” Aaron told me…
I was stunned by what came out from his mouth. But I forced myself to remain calmed and continued the piano lesson. I really hoped the lady that was going to appear before me was not her…
An hour later, the class finished.
“Mummy!” Aaron ran towards her mother.
“Hm… mummy heard what my little boy was learning just now, it is mummy FAVOURITE song, right? Look at you, sweat all over your forehead, come and let mummy clean your face…” her mother said as she was wiping Aaron’s face with a little handkerchief.
“Thanks for teaching my son this song, I hope it won’t be any difficulties for you.” She smiled and thanked me gratefully.
Wait a second, the mole, on her right cheek, I recognised that! How come I never realized it before… at first, I doubted, until my instinct whispered and gained my courage to ask her…
“Are you… Rosabelle?” she responded and looked at me curiously…
“Yeah, that’s my old name, but people know me as Rose now, do I know you? Sorry if I couldn’t recognise you…”
“I… I am… Timothy…” she looked at me with a blank stare. The situation was like a time-stop…
* * * * * *
Ring…
“Hey Tim, are you going to fold your love letter into a paper plane and throw it to her? Tell me that you’re joking…”
“How if the wind blows in the wrong direction and you may miss it…”
“Yeah, probably you will throw it to the wrong person and it’s bad…”
I just ignored what my friend said and warned… ah, finally, the paper plane completed!
“Hey! Give it back! I mean it, give it back!” I chased and shouted. My voice could be heard all over the class like I was a mad person…
Darn friend grabbed it from me and ran to the next class…
“Since the first encounter with you, I know I have fallen in love with you; my heart was stolen by you; if you absent for a day, that day would be a dull and grey day for me… your presence painted my life and it turned incredibly colourful… I…”
Before my friend finished reading, I managed to grab it back, but, in a very short moment, Rosabelle and I became the focus in the class, everyone was looking at both of us, my face quickly turned red… as well as hers…
“Woo... Accept him! Accept him! Accept him! Accept him…” whole class cheered… and surprisingly, she nodded her head, shyly… she took a little glimpse on me and faced down again… everyone was so excited and made a lot of noise like there was a goal in a football match…
Suddenly, our school ‘monster’, discipline teacher walked in with a long and big cane, everyone quickly dismissed and ran like mice met a Persian cat… leaving me behind and put me in responsible for the incident… I was caned and punished to stand for a period in the discipline room… but, the feeling of happy overwhelmed the pain on my palm. My mind was all about the confession made moments ago… was it a dream after all?
“You may go now, but remember, no more next time! School is not a place for monkeys to play around!” the discipline teacher warned me with such ferocious tone…
I nodded, took a little glimpse on her, and quickly walked away… huh… I was relief after I left the hell-like place…
* * * * * *
Ring…
Yeah, school dismissed! I walked out from my class and a girl next class informed me to visit our school field. She said that Rosabelle was waiting me there… my heart was pumping hard as I was on the ‘journey to the west’, well, our school field was really located west from my class…
“H—I, are you…” before I could finished my sentence, Rosabelle turned and faced me… she pulled my left hand and observed if there was any injury during the battle with ‘monster’. I could see her watery eyes…
“Is that hurt? It looked so red and swollen.”
“Is… Is okay…”
A little tear was at the edge of my eyes… it was a mixture of happy and touched… little salty and sweet…
“Erm… about the confession just now, what your friend read from the paper, is that true?” She looked at me, hoping for an exact and certain answer that would come out from my mouth…
I only nodded with a smile, and surprisingly, she hugged me. Although everything was out of my expectation, I was still so happy though…
Since then, everyday, I got a scrumptious breakfast prepared by her… when there was exam, we studied together and discussed about the questions in the exercise book… we were so close to each other, everywhere I go, she would just stick on me like a koala bear… sometimes, we would go out to a shopping mall for a walk, watch some movies. I even drove her to a lake nearby one night to watch the falling meteors reported by astrologist.
I secretly drew her portrait and prepared to give her as a surprised gift, as I was going to walked out from my room, I heard a discussion of my parent accidentally, my mind went completely blank… no way… it shouldn’t be like that… but I kept it from Rosabelle, it was too cruel for her to accept such reality… I would rather share my last few moments in this country with her, happily.
Days after days, weeks after weeks and the moment of truth had arrived, I had to go, leaving this old home, my buddies, my school, and most importantly, my beloved Rosabelle… I still kept the present we exchanged, she received the portrait, and I got a necklace she made by her own… I was afraid that I couldn’t do like what I had promised to her, which was to go for a trip, just for both of us… I knew, I would definitely leave her a deep scar this time…
Toot-toot… Toot-toot… Toot-toot… … hello there, I’m Rosabelle, I’m sorry ‘cos I couldn’t answer your phone now, please leave your message after the beep sound, thank you… …Beep…
“H-I, is me, Timothy, I… I have to say goodbye now… I’m leaving this country and follow my family to overseas, I’m… sorry… sorry for not informing you earlier, I know, it will be a certain shock for u, and now, I would probably on the plane already… I won’t blame you if you hate me…” I hung off the phone… tears dropped uncontrollably and fell down to my cheek… I swore for god sake, I won’t forget you…
* * * * * *
“What a beautiful night view from here, right? Looking at the image of the moon reflected on the surface of the lake water, it was not much of the difference here… it had been 14 years since I left this place, so many memories…” I said to Rosabelle… I meant Rose.
“Yeah not much difference here, only some sky scrappers were built after you left… … Oh! The necklace?! Don’t tell me is that necklace… haha… you are such… …”
Eventually, she turned out to be speechless… and silence, took control on us, we both know that we still care for each other…
That night, we talked about many things… and the night was the longest night ever in my life…
After what we have gone through for such a long period of time, I become confused and uncertain now, the relationship between us, is it a pure friendship? Or it’s a true love that I missed for 14 years?
“Yea, it’s our promise!”
We put our last finger together, outside of the fence of our secondary school and we exchanged present as memorial purpose… looking at her smiling face, it had been a satisfaction for me… I really thought it was…
* * * * * *
I had just finished my degree course in a music institute. It had been 12 years since I graduated from secondary. After I graduated from the secondary school, my dad instantly got a job promotion and sent to a newly-opened branch in New Zealand, and of course, we followed him to a place where everything was so unfamiliar, so lonely…
Before the flight, I gave Rosabelle a call…
Thinking about that, it had been quite a long time I lost contact with her. Her blurry image is still in my mind…
A long black hair, big watery eyes and a little mole on her right cheek… I could never forget…
* * * * * *
“Remember to practice everyday, ok? See you next week then…” I reminded my new student, Aaron, before he left the class.
“Ok teacher, I will! I wanna be as good as you teacher!” that cute little
5-years-old student replied… he handed over the piano book to his mother…
She gave me a smile, I smiled and I waved at them… After they left, I started packing up my teaching materials and walked out from the small music class. It was a dream comes true when I become a piano teacher.
Ah… It was good to be home, finally. I rented a house a year ago when I came back, as my family were still living in New Zealand… I quickly took a refreshing bath and filled my hungry stomach with some pizza. For some reason, I recalled about the class I had just now, the strong determination of learning shown by Aaron, it made me remind of my life as teenagers…
“Wow, I love this song, can you play once more, please?” she clapped her hand and requested…
“Okay, with a condition…” I pointed on my cheek, and, she kissed me… I smiled sweetly…
That gloaming, it was the most memorable moment… I sat in front of the old acoustic piano in the music room of our school, and she was beside me, laying her head comfortably on my shoulder… we didn’t speak a lot, I let my fingers danced gracefully on the black and white keys, a perfect melody came out from the piano…
* * * * * *
“Well, today teacher will teach you a song, since you have mastered the fingering practice, so, it’s up to you which song you would like to learn…” I said.
“Teacher, I wanna learn ‘The Promise’, I love that song so much. My mummy loves it too, she told me to play the song for her one day. Mummy also said that there was a boy played this song to her before she met my papa.” Aaron told me…
I was stunned by what came out from his mouth. But I forced myself to remain calmed and continued the piano lesson. I really hoped the lady that was going to appear before me was not her…
An hour later, the class finished.
“Mummy!” Aaron ran towards her mother.
“Hm… mummy heard what my little boy was learning just now, it is mummy FAVOURITE song, right? Look at you, sweat all over your forehead, come and let mummy clean your face…” her mother said as she was wiping Aaron’s face with a little handkerchief.
“Thanks for teaching my son this song, I hope it won’t be any difficulties for you.” She smiled and thanked me gratefully.
Wait a second, the mole, on her right cheek, I recognised that! How come I never realized it before… at first, I doubted, until my instinct whispered and gained my courage to ask her…
“Are you… Rosabelle?” she responded and looked at me curiously…
“Yeah, that’s my old name, but people know me as Rose now, do I know you? Sorry if I couldn’t recognise you…”
“I… I am… Timothy…” she looked at me with a blank stare. The situation was like a time-stop…
* * * * * *
Ring…
“Hey Tim, are you going to fold your love letter into a paper plane and throw it to her? Tell me that you’re joking…”
“How if the wind blows in the wrong direction and you may miss it…”
“Yeah, probably you will throw it to the wrong person and it’s bad…”
I just ignored what my friend said and warned… ah, finally, the paper plane completed!
“Hey! Give it back! I mean it, give it back!” I chased and shouted. My voice could be heard all over the class like I was a mad person…
Darn friend grabbed it from me and ran to the next class…
“Since the first encounter with you, I know I have fallen in love with you; my heart was stolen by you; if you absent for a day, that day would be a dull and grey day for me… your presence painted my life and it turned incredibly colourful… I…”
Before my friend finished reading, I managed to grab it back, but, in a very short moment, Rosabelle and I became the focus in the class, everyone was looking at both of us, my face quickly turned red… as well as hers…
“Woo... Accept him! Accept him! Accept him! Accept him…” whole class cheered… and surprisingly, she nodded her head, shyly… she took a little glimpse on me and faced down again… everyone was so excited and made a lot of noise like there was a goal in a football match…
Suddenly, our school ‘monster’, discipline teacher walked in with a long and big cane, everyone quickly dismissed and ran like mice met a Persian cat… leaving me behind and put me in responsible for the incident… I was caned and punished to stand for a period in the discipline room… but, the feeling of happy overwhelmed the pain on my palm. My mind was all about the confession made moments ago… was it a dream after all?
“You may go now, but remember, no more next time! School is not a place for monkeys to play around!” the discipline teacher warned me with such ferocious tone…
I nodded, took a little glimpse on her, and quickly walked away… huh… I was relief after I left the hell-like place…
* * * * * *
Ring…
Yeah, school dismissed! I walked out from my class and a girl next class informed me to visit our school field. She said that Rosabelle was waiting me there… my heart was pumping hard as I was on the ‘journey to the west’, well, our school field was really located west from my class…
“H—I, are you…” before I could finished my sentence, Rosabelle turned and faced me… she pulled my left hand and observed if there was any injury during the battle with ‘monster’. I could see her watery eyes…
“Is that hurt? It looked so red and swollen.”
“Is… Is okay…”
A little tear was at the edge of my eyes… it was a mixture of happy and touched… little salty and sweet…
“Erm… about the confession just now, what your friend read from the paper, is that true?” She looked at me, hoping for an exact and certain answer that would come out from my mouth…
I only nodded with a smile, and surprisingly, she hugged me. Although everything was out of my expectation, I was still so happy though…
Since then, everyday, I got a scrumptious breakfast prepared by her… when there was exam, we studied together and discussed about the questions in the exercise book… we were so close to each other, everywhere I go, she would just stick on me like a koala bear… sometimes, we would go out to a shopping mall for a walk, watch some movies. I even drove her to a lake nearby one night to watch the falling meteors reported by astrologist.
I secretly drew her portrait and prepared to give her as a surprised gift, as I was going to walked out from my room, I heard a discussion of my parent accidentally, my mind went completely blank… no way… it shouldn’t be like that… but I kept it from Rosabelle, it was too cruel for her to accept such reality… I would rather share my last few moments in this country with her, happily.
Days after days, weeks after weeks and the moment of truth had arrived, I had to go, leaving this old home, my buddies, my school, and most importantly, my beloved Rosabelle… I still kept the present we exchanged, she received the portrait, and I got a necklace she made by her own… I was afraid that I couldn’t do like what I had promised to her, which was to go for a trip, just for both of us… I knew, I would definitely leave her a deep scar this time…
Toot-toot… Toot-toot… Toot-toot… … hello there, I’m Rosabelle, I’m sorry ‘cos I couldn’t answer your phone now, please leave your message after the beep sound, thank you… …Beep…
“H-I, is me, Timothy, I… I have to say goodbye now… I’m leaving this country and follow my family to overseas, I’m… sorry… sorry for not informing you earlier, I know, it will be a certain shock for u, and now, I would probably on the plane already… I won’t blame you if you hate me…” I hung off the phone… tears dropped uncontrollably and fell down to my cheek… I swore for god sake, I won’t forget you…
* * * * * *
“What a beautiful night view from here, right? Looking at the image of the moon reflected on the surface of the lake water, it was not much of the difference here… it had been 14 years since I left this place, so many memories…” I said to Rosabelle… I meant Rose.
“Yeah not much difference here, only some sky scrappers were built after you left… … Oh! The necklace?! Don’t tell me is that necklace… haha… you are such… …”
Eventually, she turned out to be speechless… and silence, took control on us, we both know that we still care for each other…
That night, we talked about many things… and the night was the longest night ever in my life…
After what we have gone through for such a long period of time, I become confused and uncertain now, the relationship between us, is it a pure friendship? Or it’s a true love that I missed for 14 years?
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