………………………………………………………….
But you can’t run away from your destiny and reality for too long!!
My parents had long since given up on persuading me by themselves but they had their reputation to take care of, no?
So, they prepared the only medicine which worked on this deadly virus called ‘me’. (Hey, I thought of something just now, I am a virus but the irony is, I feel alive in the virtual world while I am dead in the living-real world, funny isn’t it?!)
(HAHAHAHAHA…)
Yeah, so my time had come, my time to face reality, once more.
My sister, who was angry on my parents for my sorry state and hadn’t said anything to me, at last succumbed to my parents’ pressure and her own rationale after thinking of my future and had come to me.
My sister, Tiara ‘Omamori’ Kubo, is by profession a Cardiologist, she is eight years older than me and just at the age of 23, she is already a renowned Doctor.
She is a, by the complete sense of the words, a complete mystery.
I don’t even know when and how she completed her high school, her Uni and her Post Grad degree because she got the degree at 20 and has been practising overseas, for the last three years.
By calculations, she only had 3 years after her high school graduations, to get that degree but it’s just not possible!! She even said that, she didn’t skip classes so, how did she do it?
Well, she indeed, is a mystery!!
Leaving that matter aside, ‘Kubo’ is our Family name.
My mother is not Asian, so, she wanted an English name (when I heard this I was like, “LOL”) and hence the first name ‘Tiara’, she definitely lives up to her name, doesn’t she?!!
By the way, ‘Omamori’ is something that I came up with.
Well, as far as I remember, it’s because I started speaking a bit latter than normal children do, I think it was when I was 3 or 4, my sister was already in her elementary and even back then I stammered a lot but she always stood there, in front of me, protecting me from those evil relatives and the neighbourhood children who teased me.
I always liked to walk behind her and since I was very small, I used to hide myself behind her body, clenching on to her skirt and watching her as she protected I unconsciously started calling her ‘Omamori-nee’, that too, in my half crying and stammering voice, which according to her was music to her ears and she became my “Omamori-nee”, my lucky and protective charm!!
My siblings are my world and the most precious gifts that god has given to me.
I love only them (this was until I met him….hehehe) and ‘by default’ my parents, who brought my gifts to this world.
I can never love them for myself but I love them because of my siblings and leaving them aside, I practically don’t need anyone else!! So, about the rest of the world, I don’t give a damn!! (……or so I thought back then!!…Rebellious phase is scary alright!! I can say this, because now that I am an adult and at seventeen I got my rationale back and being someone who can tell bad from good, it’s improper to treat your parents like that, or so I should believe?.......)
Yes, so, where was I?!
Yeah, as the baton of handling this ‘mutant’ (‘this’ is something my parents used, to refer me as, when I started rebelling) and bringing it to its senses had been passed to my sister, her effects came incredulously fast, too fast!!
I came and connected to the surface, in just a few minutes of our conversations, majority of which was done by her. Yes, her charm had worked, yet again, it had worked and again it was in the favour of my family and of course, it had worked on me!
She is a beauty, an epitome of that word, in both soul and body!! A petite but slim figure, her long black hairs as they trace down her waist, exquisitely redefine her curves, she has almond-shaped pure black eyes adding to her charm, a really charming and open personality, what else do you need!!
With a really good brain on her head and a black belt to her name, yes, she brawls too!!!
Adding to that, she has this charming and persuasive way of saying things, you know, in her rhythmic and childish voice, in between, adding her cutesy giggles, you just can’t go against her!!
I don’t know from where she picked this skill, but amazingly, it works, at least on me, it does work!! She has this way of expressing her feelings in a roundabout way which, in contrast, will make you think that she is saying whatever you wanted her to say, so you easily give in. Thinking that, she is your biggest ally, which of course she is, you give in to her words.
Maybe it’s because of her profession or it may be due to nepotism on my part, but her charm, it always works on me!!
So, the hard ice had finally melted and I went out. Whatever she said, struck a nerve and I came out of my isolation, finally!!
Practically, though my rebellion was on a high note, it’s not like the shy and coward me had left me!! So, even though I didn’t show it on face, actually, I was getting anxious. Yes, I was scared for and of myself.
As my sister always says, “Live your life to you dreams but make sure that you don’t regret it, ever!!” and these words kept on ringing inside me, even when I was gaming, even when I was screaming and even now!! Whatever I do is half-assed, I know it but I can’t change it.
Somewhere, deep down in my heart, I knew that, I’ll come to regret this, but without someone’s interference, it was way too hard for me to come back from the path I was walking on. That did come, she came only for me.
I was rescued, I could believe that, I am not alone!! That someone was bound to be my sister, my brother is my stem and she is my roots, ironically enough, my education are my leaves and my roof!!
So, it was because I wanted this, okay!! It’s not like I melted that easily, you know?
Okay, okay I was just saving my face but in reality, my sister had decided everything thinking every bit about me, so, who am I to deny her, to go against her?
She had applied, as my proxy or more like in my stead, for a school which was really far, really far away from where we live. For my parent’s sake, of course, it’s in the same country!!
Using some connections, which according to her is something I shouldn’t know about because I am too pure, she had found that, no one from my previous schools had applied there, so, there are no reasons to be scared of reliving my past trauma!!
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
She is the Coolest Hero ever, isn’t she!!
She had made sure that everything that happened there, in my new high school, will be reported to her and not to my parents. According to her, it was her way of making them, our parents, amend their mistakes, what she called were ‘sins’!
She had this utter faith on me that I will pass that exams, which by our country standards is ‘tough’, without a hitch!! So, without any further ado, she had prepared everything, she was ready and was there for me for my every need.
This school’s exams were the last for this year, before I knew it, the others were over, so, if I didn’t pass, I was doomed for a year and the worst part, it was only after 3 days!!
No matter what I did, it won’t be enough or so I thought.
My sister didn’t come late, what she did took some time and she came to me, fully prepared. It was me who was on the wrong, who was at fault. After the rebel inside me had subsided a bit, I knew what and who was at the wrong as, it didn’t need much thinking, it was clear as the sky, I was being an idiot!
So, as I was getting my rewards of continuous negligence, another ticking bomb had appeared, without my knowledge.
My sister who had packed some of my belongings and as she took them with herself asked me to get some sleep, I came back to reality from the me who was facing some inner turmoil.
I said okay and went to sleep, hearing and admitting and accepting all of that, I was not even in the mood of playing so, after so many days, I had an early and good sleep.
The next day……
The bomb, at last exploded!! My sister who is a free bird, too free for God’s sake, decided to take me to the venue of the exams, herself and that too, by her car!!
My sister told me that she will drive me to the school and of course that it will take one whole day to get there by road, she said all that when I was having my breakfast, yes, it was half an hour before we set out for the centre, funny isn’t it…..hahahaha……no IT IS NOT!!
But being unable to say a no or, even getting a chance to say anything at all, I was pushed into the car after I had completed my breakfast, which I had dropped from my mouth into the plate after I heard her ridiculous idea. Of course, I wore something which could be labelled as formal attire and not my pyjamas and before I could catch up with my feelings and to her words, yes, before I could even think of anything, we were already on the road!!
So, guys, hear this!!
I am someone who was lying on the bed, gaming, as of yesterday and as of today is going to appear a national level exam, which, further, will decide if I will be a high-school student for the next session or will be a dropout, an exam which is going to be held the day after tomorrow!!
….hahaha….
God save me!!
It’s not even a fiction!!
………………………………..
We reached our destinations the next day at 01:04.
It was really late, but of course, my sister had prepared everything.
She had booked a hotel for us, so, we readily checked in after that strenuous long, long drive!!
She asked me if I wanted something to eat but since, we had our dinner, while on the road and I didn’t need more, I said a no.
I was too tired, not just from the journey, actually, the mental stress was what kept me at the edge, so, I took the room keys and went straight to our assigned room.
When I first entered, I instinctively closed the door! I thought I had entered the wrong room, but checking the card and room ID countless time, I went inside the room and by now my sister had also joined me with a skipping note and evil smirk on her face.
I got the whole idea, it was my one of my sister’s prank.
The room had a double bed, my sister had a dumb face for a split second but it had already turned into that evil smirk, not too hard to guess, she was the one to ask for it……hah…. this evil sister, she knew I didn’t liked it but she also knew that I didn’t want to sleep alone so, she……. god this lady!!
As we slept, she cuddled and clung to me and unable to do anything or put any resistance, I slept like a log but knowing that she was beside me, I slept well!!
That night, no words were exchanged between us.
The next day, we had our breakfast and after that she left me to study on my own, of course I was not the last-moment-crammer-type, so, I just overlooked some trigonometric formulas which are still my short coming, math is tough, no?
At lunch, my sister came back from wherever she had gone, she didn’t mention and I didn’t ask. I knew that she had gone to talk with her superiors and just because she didn’t like to bring profession into family, I didn’t ask. She asked me if I wanted something from the convenience store, I didn’t, so, I said a no. We had a light brunch and then parted ways till night. We again slept together without and without any further suspense, finally, the day had come.
The preparations for my exams were not good, scratch that, they were not even at the level where I could say I tried, yes, it was that bad!!
I mean, I have been reading nothing, for a month already!! Okay, I would be lying if I said I was not studying at all, because I was still studying for 3 to 4 hours every night (which my sister, I think, knew) because it had been ingrained in my bones but the entrance exams are tough and need a different approach.
The me with my trauma, will definitely do bad, so even though I felt sorry for my sister that I couldn’t stand up to her expectations, I at least didn’t want to run away from her nor from this so, I decided to go for it.
Even though I am the type to read until I die before my exams, not a late night and last minute crammer, that’s different but a thorough reader and I knew that my preparations were of a sorry state but because my sister said that, “I know how much you work hard, I know you were not the ignorant type, I believed and so I know you have not lost your touch. You were studying even though you were cooped up, I know you will do well. Mi, I believe in you”, I decided I want to give my best, even if, it’s for her, I want to give it my best!! “I wanted to hear these words and it came from someone who has this unspoken but real faith on me, what else do I need?”, I thought to myself. It was my turn to do something for her.
So, with the pen which my brother gave to me, as I was leaving the house, saying that this had his luck and protection and a big push from my sister’s strong but dependable palm, I went on to appear the exams.
It was the time of my real exams, this will prove if my hard work of all these years was worthwhile or not!! This will be a chance to prove my worth to my parents-no actually, this was a chance given to me, by my angel, to live my life as I pleased, without the fear of my parents, without the pressure of the term, ‘first’!!
The exam, by every sense of it, was worthy to be called ‘tough’ but not something that will make you bald.
Its aim was to screen out the deserving ones. Not tough but tricky, not a contest but a competition!!
As the time passed and I went on tackling the sheet, though I was anxious, I was quite calm. I wasn’t this calm even during my class tests!!
It’s probably because I had someone backing me, someone to support me if I tumbled, someone who had faith in me and before I knew it I had covered 85 questions out of the 100 asked and a smile had also surfaced without my knowledge, it was probably because I was thinking of my sister and brother.
But…...that calm was also before the storm!!
It was 10 minutes to 14:00. The last 10 minutes of the exam and then all hell broke loose!!
My heart was palpitating, my hands were soaked with sweat, my mind went blank and I was panting. I got anxious, again at the last questions.
Old habits die hard, of course, you can’t change your habits this easily.
I was too scared; my heart beat reached the peak and I blanked out. I had probably passed but I wanted to do better!! But still, still I couldn’t do it, I almost started crying.
I apologised and apologised in my heart, to my sister; to my brother; to God. I was sorry. I was unable to live up to their expectations, I was trembling to the point of shaking when………………
Haahh…hahh…aaachhoooo!!
The guy who was sitting beside me, sneezed!!
It was so loud that the teacher gave him an irked look, too which he raised a hand I slightly, gesturing a sorry!!
Almost everyone in the room were shaking, they were probably restraining themselves but I couldn’t and let out a small giggle!!
It was way too hilarious; the tears finally fell but they were not sad ones!! Before I knew it, I was calm and serine again. His sneeze was so sudden that, I forgot everything for a moment and it helped me calm down!! I was glad but still, I lightly bowed and apologised, when I saw the annoyed look on the invigilator. I was shocked that I could laugh in this situation, it was a first for me!!
When I looked at the boy, he was also staring at me.
He said,” You, okay now? You were too tensed, so…….” he gestured his achoo.
I was shocked.
Yes, due to this sudden incident, I was saved but I didn’t know it was not by accident it was planned, only for me.
I said a thank you and a sorry and gave him a short smile to which he gave a “it’s ok”.
The exam went well!! I was grateful to him, I wanted to thank him but before I could say that, he had already left.
When I came back, I told everything that had happened, to my sister, even she, for a change, was shocked.
She said,” It would be good if you could be friends, no?”, she gave a meaningful smile.
That night before sleeping, I prayed to god, “God please let me meet him again, okay?”
………………………
After a week, the exams results were out.
I passed with flying colours.