The door opened, and one by one, we exited the plane. Each step on the metallic stair was rather steep, but holding onto the painted metal rails, feeling the bumps and the coarse metal underneath the layer of paint as one dragged one’s hand along, feeling one’s step, allow one to observe one’s whereabout. The roof was tall and high, half-cylindrical shaped. The metals that supported it seemed rather rusty and old, giving up its sense of robustness. The giant room was mostly empty, inhabited by only a few long tables and chairs just some distance in front of the bottom of the stairs. Lamps were nigh; but the outside sun shone through the, should one say, hangar, door, was enough to lit the whole room.

Everyone settled down, placing the bags around the tables, taking a seat; some of them roamed around, or just standing where they felt fit. One immediately went and laid straight on the floor beside the chairs, ignoring the people sitting to my right, and the others walking around me, taking out my phone and opened up “REInvest”. Business can’t wait. Once you miss an opportunity to enter the market, one’ll surely regret.

The list of stocks proved longer than one assumed. Even using simple rule of thumbs to filter them out requires some time. One looked up and asked, “Could you guys wait for me? I need to sort out these… business, first?”

They looked at one wavering one’s phone towards them, gave me the ‘meh’ look, and one of them, Juny, answered, “Sure. We can wait for you.” The others didn’t disagree, and one felt relieved. One turned one’s attention back to the list.

Scrolling through the list of stocks, one came upon some stocks that dropped a lot -- a chance to buy. Without thinking further, one placed some orders for that few, till a notification came up that filled the whole screen, preventing one from taking further action. Why, business! Don’t you know you’re hindering business? What if the stock prices rise while you’re showing me shit?

One had no choice but to read it carefully. “NOTE: Orders placed aren’t executed until you pay at REInvest HQ. Failure to pay would result in reverted orders.” What? So one had to go back first? Then let’s not take our time.

“Hey, I’m finished. Let’s go.”

“Sure!”

While one was scrolling, these guys had prepared food on glass-made plates and bowls and eaten them. There was no sink in the hangar, so one helped up with packing them up, stacking them from small to large, top to bottom, bowl to plates, and carry the dirty dishes, together with their bones and leftover vegetables and other sauces still within them. It proved futile for a person to carry all those plates, and so others helped carry some. Surely these guys couldn’t have eaten so much food, can they?

We exited the hangar. One raised one’s hand to cover one’s eyes from the sun. Mysteriously, the plates disappeared, though one never realized. The sun was bright and hot, promising you sunburn if you don’t quickly reenter the shades. The roof stuck out the edge of the hangar promised some shades along the side, though it’s limited. There was another hangar to the left, and one took a space in the shade between other boxes and crates and metals roughly placed outside to rot and rust. There was a highway just 10 meters in front of one, perpendicular to the hangar that we came out from just now. There were no cars on the highway, sadly; but someone had gone to find us transport. One don’t know how they’re gonna do it when there’s no car coming by. Uber equivalent?

Nothing to do, one glanced to the shades where Juny stood talking to a girl. Can’t hear what they say, but the girl, originally serious, broke into laughter, and they laughed together. One raised one’s ears as the wind blew their conversation into my ears, something like:

“You haven’t laughed for ages, had you?” And she froze, her laughter diminished, but she retained a smile. One recalled, when we were younger, how she always laughed when we played together, the happy moments we shared. Don’t know when it started, her smile disappeared, and she kept an emotionless face, and our relationship faded. When was the last time one’d played with her? One no longer remembers. But the laughter and the cuteness when she swirled around one, dancing like an angel, one could never forget. Not unless it’s business.

Just then, Freddy came out from the hangar door next to Juny and her. The first thing one noticed is the heavy black sacs under his eyes; but how come? When one looked to the rest of the party that followed behind him, they too had such black sacs. When one refocused on Juny and the girl, they too, though theirs less heavy. One wondered, why didn’t one saw it earlier? And do one have black sacs, too? There’s no mirror around here, unfortunately.

“Does it hurt?”

“Yeah… Somewhat.” Heavy black eye sacs that hurt… contaminated, maybe?

The bus pulled by, and we entered. One looked at them taking a seat next to one another, seating, but no one wanted to seat beside me. Oh, well, whatever. As the bus pulled off the highway, one looked outside the window -- trees after trees after trees, and nothing else. A straight road going back home. No other cars sharing the highway with us. Oh, why can’t they just build an express train back home? One’s eyelids got heavier and heavier, and one can’t resist anymore, and what happened after that, one don’t know, nor do one take the effort to learn it from anyone else.

The bus pulled into the side of the road. One could already see it -- the rows of one-storey buildings arranged in grids, each rectangular, hosting several shops. One of the shopfront hung a brightly neon-lit storefront sign: “REInvest”. That’s where one’ll go next, one supposed. One waited impatiently for the bus to pull to a stop before getting down the bus with the others.

“I’m going to the store for a while.” One told one of them.

“Oh, yeah, OK. We’ll go directly to the lounge.” Someone replied effetely. Perhaps they hadn’t slept throughout the boring journey, or perhaps they slept, but felt tired anyways.

“See ya later!”

“See ya!”

As one entered the shop, one approached the store clerk and told them about them promise to be fulfilled. The clerk went to the computer to check for my orders, and told me,

“Sorry, your promise can’t yet be fulfilled.”

“But why?”

“Urrr… I don’t know? The computer didn’t say why it can’t be fulfilled. But please prepare with $500. When the promise can be fulfilled, we’ll notify you again via the app and you can come back to pay.”

$500? Did he even know what’s he’s speaking about? Did one even buy that much stocks? $500 is very expensive! What, a trolley of vegetables cost only 10 cents! A bag of 10kg rice cost barely 3 cents! Pencils are sold in boxes of 200, just to meet the minimum 1 cent requirement! And now you told me my stocks cost $500???

Duh, one had no choice. One exited the storefront and looked up at the sky. The sun were setting down on the horizon, the orange hue it painted on the environment getting dimmer and dimmer. Huh! Better reach out for the living quarters, then. Don’t feel like lingering around and be a slave to the waiting process.

The living quarters were just behind the shops. After one entered, one could see the bright but not blindingly bright orange light lining the top of the single tile attached to the walls along both sides of the corridor, providing the only illumination to the romantic 5-star-hotel looking luxury lounges. Such rooms weren’t like hotel, arranged in rows separated only by a layer of soundproof walls, though. Indeed, they were individual rooms, VERY large rooms, arranged in grids. The door could be placed at random in any direction, as if the design was to maximize romanticity, but the architect hadn’t thought about the escape routes in case of a fire. The other students, like me, Juny, and Freddy, also lived in the lounge. Though, they didn’t have the chance like us to go on a 07-07 trip. What’s the month again? Can’t remember; but it lasted a month, the trip, one can be certain. Though, what’s the date today? 11th. Don’t understand why, we unboard the plane at the hangar at 7th, and only reach home at 11th? Even if one took a whole single day to ask them to wait and deal with one’s business, and another single day to drive, it’d only be 9th! But 11th, did traveling took really that long? One slept through the whole time in the bus, no food, no drinks, no poo poo, no pee, as if one entered a turtle-like hibernation for 3, no, 4 whole days? Seriously? One don’t even feel time passed, and time passed so quickly!

But one thing is certain. 07-07, plus 07-11, 1 month and 4 days, is a lot of study we missed. There’s a lot to catch up with the teachers and the students. Bet they would laugh at us stupidly went for a trip and how heavy we would have to study when we get back.

Talking about the students, $500 was a lot of money, and one had barely more than $300, after all the heavy spending. Oh, how one regret one had spent that much money, if only one hadn’t bought those luxuries! But it’s not like regret could bring me back my money, can it? Reserving a few dollars to deal with necessities, one could only take out $300. Where can one get the other $200? One can’t think of any other choice but to borrow from friends. Not like one could earn it immediately anyways. Juny and Freddy sounds like someone good. One’ll go and visit them. One remember where they lived.

As one approached Juny’s room and knocked on the door, one heard footsteps that opened up, revealing Freddy’s face.

“Oh, you’re here!”

“Yeah! Come in!”

One get in, took off one’s shoes and put at the side, before joining them sitting on the bed. Juny was speaking to another hooded figure. Can’t recognize who he is, presumably a he, one guess, for no other reason than one cannot believe a she would enter a room of a he. Their luggage were thrown all over the floor, still settling down, but never really wanted to deal with their belongings yet.

“So, welcome! You’d finished your business?”

“Umm… No, unfortunately. And that’s the reason I came here.”

“Oh, what do you want?” he asked.

So one explained the situation to them about how stupid the shop clerk is, and how he wanted $500 and one only got $300, before one pleaded, “Could you guys… borrow me $200? Please, I’ll bank transfer you very soon, I promise! You know I can keep my words.”

One waited and waited for them to reply. They looked at each other, seemingly trying to gauge how much they can trust me, and if my trust is enough to loan that much from them? After much thinking, Freddy said, “Umm… $200 is a lot. I… won’t be borrowing you that much, don’t have a lot myself. Let’s say… $65. That’s as much as I can borrow you; and you promise, you’ll have to repay me in 3 months, yeah!”

“OK, OK! Thank you so much! But… umm… I’ll have to see first, only if I get the whole $200 can the transactions be settle. If it cannot be settled, perhaps you’ll hear back from me soon enough.”

“Fair enough.”

“No worries, bro. I’ll borrow you… say… $115. So that makes $170. You just have to borrow the rest from other means. Is that OK for you?”

“Yes, sure! Thank you, brother! Oh, my brother, I love you very much!”

“Pfft…”

The hooded figure didn’t speak a word, but reached for his wallet and took out 3 $10 notes and handed it to Juny.

“Oh, you’re borrowing him the rest? You don’t even know him very well, do you?”

The figure shook his head, didn’t said anything.

“Well, I guess I’ll make sure he repay me and I’ll act as the middle man to repay you.”

The figure nodded.

“OK, anyways, gotta sleep. Ouch, this eyes really hurts a lot.” He kept rubbing his eyes there’s a patch of red within the blacks.

“Oh, yeah, have some sleep! Hopefully they might heal tomorrow. We still got classes.”

“Yeah, I’ll also go back to my own room. This disease stinks. My eyes kept pouring water out and now I can’t see a thing!” Freddy complaint, using his hands to feel his shoes while he wore them. The hooded figure nodded and reached for the door.

“Ahh, right, I’ll… see you guys tomorrow. Thanks for the money, anyways. Trust me, I’ll make sure you guys get repaid.” One can’t wait further to settle the business, it took so much of my attention one can’t focus on emotions and care for the moment. One quickly stuff on one’s shoes, with its back still stepped under my feet, and walked out of the door. Happily, one headed back to one’s room. The clerk haven’t yet notify me through the app, so that’ll have to wait.

The next morning, immediately when one exited the door on the back (one entered through the front door the day before), one saw a small hill that led up from the left of my side. A row of building lined both side of the cement-paved road, wide enough to let a car pass through with enough space on both sides for people to walk. The stairs was to the side of the entrance, and a short waist-high fence erected in front of one. Most buildings were made of bricks, unpainted. They weren’t tall, mostly one storey. People were walking out the same door one walked out, prepared to go to class. Already that early morning, before the fog that still lingered on the path dissipated, people were walking up and down the street, each busy with their own stuffs. To my left stood someone whom followed me, perhaps my mom. But why would my mom be there? One never thought. One can’t even see her face clearly, as hers was being censored; one just guessed she’s my mom.

The fog, or rather, the mist, tingles on one skin, bringing away my body heat, makes one feels cool and refreshing. Holidays haven’t always been refreshing, not especially when business nowadays packed your timetable to full, as if trying to maximize the things you can get out from it without really thinking whether you can or cannot get anything out from it, or whether you would get burnout or not. Practically, one got nothing out of it, remembered nothing from it, for whatever reason. One felt like the whole journey was participated by a zombie without a brain rather than someone clear-minded. Indeed, my memory only recorded ever since one debarked the plane, landed back at the hangar airport. Weird but true -- that seems like an adventure in itself! And it must be the most interesting adventure one had experienced as far as my availability bias told me so. Just then the wind blew through, and make my hair tinged on its ends. Ahh, back to the present. Looks like it’s school time again, gonna be another tired day full of catching up to do. But before that, we need to prepare for the day, and it’s only, what, 6 in the morning? School had yet to start!

Me and my mom walked up the small hill as one observed the people walking past me. Faceless! Well, all looked the same -- the seriousness on their face, deeply depressed by the amount of work they’d to do. And they didn’t even went on a 07-07 holiday! Oh, my God. What would our face be like at the end of today, one wonder. As we walked up the hill, one observed that the road wasn’t long in front. Past a few storefronts, there’s a narrow path that leads to a beach. The narrow path marked the end of the road, as the cement-paved road stopped when it reach a jutted out storefront that obstructed it at the end, leaving only the narrow path passable while cars have to stop before it, if cars even come in. One could sea people playing at the beach, the vast sea that stretched beyond, the waves that hit on the sandy beach calm, and some other dressed half-naked heading to the beach, carrying floats! What the sparks are they thinking, going to the sea early in the morning when everything feels so frigid? And the wind that continuously blow, originating from unknown region deep into the ocean, continually eroding the soil and rocks, turning them into sand. Will the buildings one day crash when they turn into sand too? Building so close to the sea?

We walked closer towards the narrow path, when something on the left caught my eyes. Storefronts don’t open up this early morning, well except that -- otherwise, it won’t caught my attention. The inside already lit with orange lights that lined the walls, just like those non-blindingly bright orange lights along the corridor of the halls in the lounge earlier. The shop was rectangular, and the shorter side was its front. Upon entering, there’s a corridor directly slicing in between the rectangle, with tables and chairs on both sides. The chairs immediately along the corridor were just normal wooden ones, a round chair without a back to lay your back on. The ones along the circumference of the rectangle were built-in sofa-like chairs that can’t be moved. People were already sitting there, waiting for their friends to come and have one-to-one chat over a cup of whatever drink of their choice. Yes, this is the one-to-one café, allowing people to sit and have one to one sessions with their friends. One really hoped that one day one could sit in it and have someone come over and talk; but… one don’t know. Juny and the others loved gathering in groups rather than as singulars. Can’t they understand there’s no privacy in groups? Can’t they understand people kept disturbing your conversations with theirs? I don’t know, it’s not like one could change their minds anyways. So one had never gone in before, the café. But one day… Taking a last look at the student who went in, with a jingle bell ringing at the door as it opened and closed, and sat down in front of someone, and they put down whatever they’re reading on their book or their phone and started talking, staring into each other at the eyes… my mom urged me to come along.

2 steps forward, there was a narrow 2-shoulder wide, one step long corridor on the right. Entering it, we saw tables and chairs arranged in grids. Long, wide, rectangular tables, and long chairs on both side of the table. Except for the corridor, other sides were blocked by buildings, allowing anyone working within to look out of their windows and watch what we’re doing below. It was still relatively empty, with a few people taking their seats. Usually, this is the place where groups gathered, each around a table for smaller ones, and larger one occupied 2. They loved to come here during breaktimes, discussing nothing about schoolwork, though some worked quietly on their homework. One had no choice but to join them, because Juny was also in one of the groups. Hmm… The table immediately after the corridor was ours, though no one was there yet. And people seemed to understand their own territory, never taking seats of others as if it’s being booked informally at certain times. Don’t know how it happened but… Well, it just worked that way.

Suddenly, one felt water dripping on one’s face. Looking up at the sky, clouds were heavy and dark, and it seemed like it’s beginning to rain. Another drip. Yet another. And it started coming down fast, taking one by surprise, quickly wetting one’s face. Perhaps one was so surprised one did nothing, stood still, just feeling the water running down one’s skin. Oh, how one wished one could be in the one-to-one café and just sit there quietly and feeling cozy, looking out at the rain dripping on the windows and sliding down, and had a hot cup of tea, and kept one’s mind empty, just enjoying the outside. But here one is, in the rain itself, becoming the scene of those sitting inside the café, if they could see me from the corridor. The surrounding gets more foggy as the heavier atmospheric pressure compressed the mist downwards. The rain around here never gets more larger than they should, unlike the torrential types that happened usually with countries near the equator. It’s… like London’s. If you ever go to London, just strap around a jacket, preferably partially waterproof, and you’d be just fine. In an equatorial country, the whole jacket would be soaked, and you’d need a raincoat, one made of waterproof material like plastics. But that’s that.

One loses one’s attention on the rain as one saw a familiar figure coming in from the corridor we entered earlier. A young man wearing swimsuit approached, having a huge surfboard as tall as him slung behind him.

“Going surfing?” My mom asked.

“Yeah.”

“Be careful! The rain’s starting to fall, and if there’s thunderstorms, come back quickly! You don’t want to get Zzzzzzz later…”

“Yeah, I will.” He swiftly replied. One don’t think he really listened it in, just answering out of obligation. Perhaps. Mom had not always been the best mom when mom become too busybody with our activities, as if we don’t know things better.

One watched him continued his way along the path we’re now standing on and disappeared through the corridor of the same length and width on the other side. While he stood at the place full of pipes and tanks (water tanks?) and machinery that looked like air-conditioning condenser units, held/attached on metal pillars, he waved back to us before disappearing to the left.

One thought one’d go back to the living quarters; perhaps there one could shield from the rain. One walked off without waiting for mum, the attention to get under a roof fully occupied my brain, oblivious to anything else. My steps quicken as one made great strides down the hill and toward the stairs. Standing atop, one waited for the people to come out before entering; but one never entered. Think who’s the last that came out of the door in the queue? Juny! At the end, one followed him, or rather, them, back to the group quarters. One no longer see one’s mum there, though one didn’t realize it, not till now while one wrote this sentence did one realize. And mysteriously, earlier, one came out without any baggage slung over one; but when one returned, the bag magically appeared behind one’s back. Yes, a big heavy bag containing all the textbooks as thick as dictionary that easily weighted 10 kg on the weighting scale, and a laptop in front of one with a strap that slung over one’s left shoulder, another 4 kg. They’re quite heavy, and when one hobbled up the hill down the street and one already felt exhausted. By the time one arrived, the table we booked, the chairs closed to the walls, the last empty seat was booked by Juny. One don’t know why one don’t want to sit on the other side of the table, even though it’s relatively empty. And the seats, it could’ve been enough if people didn’t just put their bags on the seats that took up two-thirds of the spaces! What an idiot! And even worse, how could they have carried so many bags! The bags not only stacked on the seats, but they also filled the floors, as if they have so many bags the seats couldn’t support all their bags!

Anyway, one recognized the person sitting beside Juny, but one prefer not to reveal his name. Let’s just call him SM. The other person sitting on the other side of Juny one don’t recognize, another faceless figure. But that wasn’t the problem. Without a seat on this side facing the wall, one had to stand 2 steps away from the wall, with the bags still strapping to one, and with the waters coming down, soaking one’s bag and the contents within it, makes it felt heavier and heavier as time passed. One don’t know how long one can last before one put it down on the floor. Not like there are puddles -- actually, there are small ones, but the ground was relatively flat, at least flat enough to not make big puddles.

While one stood and looked onto the sky, wondering when the rain’s going to stop, Juny stood up and walked towards me, standing beside me. By this time, SM came by and asked him,

“How’s the pain going?”

“A lot better! Thanks for the pill yesterday!”

“Right? The pill is immensely powerful. Just look at your eye sacs! They’re gone! Nothing a pill couldn’t solve!”

One observed carefully. Yeah, one can’t see the black eye sacs below anymore. But was that not an infection? So there’s a pill that cured the infection fast, so fast that it only need one night to be visible, even completely healed? Can’t believe there’s this kind of magical pills! One never learned of what the pill name’s called, though. But it’s not their fault. It’s my fault. One never asked.

By then, while one’s mind wandered, SM was gone. Nobody came and disturb us. Juny put a hand behind one’s back, and asked,

“What’s this for?”

Huh? What do you mean by this? Surprised, one tried to relate what he meant by “this”, keeping my mouth shut and my body frozen. At last, one couldn’t figure out what’s “this” except for this: so one put one’s arm around his shoulder, reciprocating his move, and explained,

“Ahhh, this, it’s to put on the other side of your shoulder. The arm had to wrap around the upper torso, not lower on the hips, nor higher on the neck. Across the upper torso, and place your arm slightly wrapped around your arm on the other side, where your biceps and triceps are.”

“Ahhh… I see…” And both of us, with our arms wrapped, looked up at the sky, feeling the rain, staying quiet while listened to each other’s pumping hard. Friendship couldn’t be the more easier if both takes an effort to sustain it. Same with brotherhood.

That was the end of what one remembered. As one’s memory faded, one presume the rest of the story goes on like how life goes on as usual, and it didn’t leave a single mark on one’s memory. Sometimes, one question oneself, is it because of the lameness of how everyday life passed that one cannot remember what it is, or is it because one purposefully don’t want to remember what happens in everyday life that my brain chose not to remember it. There’s no answer, however; and that’s a question that one can’t answer you.

The door opened, and one by one, we exited the plane. Each step on the metallic stair was rather steep, but holding onto the painted metal rails, feeling the bumps and the coarse metal underneath the layer of paint as one dragged one’s hand along, feeling one’s step, allow one to observe one’s whereabout. The roof was tall and high, half-cylindrical shaped. The metals that supported it seemed rather rusty and old, giving up its sense of robustness. The giant room was mostly empty, inhabited by only a few long tables and chairs just some distance in front of the bottom of the stairs. Lamps were nigh; but the outside sun shone through the, should one say, hangar, door, was enough to lit the whole room.

Everyone settled down, placing the bags around the tables, taking a seat; some of them roamed around, or just standing where they felt fit. One immediately went and laid straight on the floor beside the chairs, ignoring the people sitting to my right, and the others walking around me, taking out my phone and opened up “REInvest”. Business can’t wait. Once you miss an opportunity to enter the market, one’ll surely regret.

The list of stocks proved longer than one assumed. Even using simple rule of thumbs to filter them out requires some time. One looked up and asked, “Could you guys wait for me? I need to sort out these… business, first?”

They looked at one wavering one’s phone towards them, gave me the ‘meh’ look, and one of them, Juny, answered, “Sure. We can wait for you.” The others didn’t disagree, and one felt relieved. One turned one’s attention back to the list.

Scrolling through the list of stocks, one came upon some stocks that dropped a lot -- a chance to buy. Without thinking further, one placed some orders for that few, till a notification came up that filled the whole screen, preventing one from taking further action. Why, business! Don’t you know you’re hindering business? What if the stock prices rise while you’re showing me shit?

One had no choice but to read it carefully. “NOTE: Orders placed aren’t executed until you pay at REInvest HQ. Failure to pay would result in reverted orders.” What? So one had to go back first? Then let’s not take our time.

“Hey, I’m finished. Let’s go.”

“Sure!”

While one was scrolling, these guys had prepared food on glass-made plates and bowls and eaten them. There was no sink in the hangar, so one helped up with packing them up, stacking them from small to large, top to bottom, bowl to plates, and carry the dirty dishes, together with their bones and leftover vegetables and other sauces still within them. It proved futile for a person to carry all those plates, and so others helped carry some. Surely these guys couldn’t have eaten so much food, can they?

We exited the hangar. One raised one’s hand to cover one’s eyes from the sun. Mysteriously, the plates disappeared, though one never realized. The sun was bright and hot, promising you sunburn if you don’t quickly reenter the shades. The roof stuck out the edge of the hangar promised some shades along the side, though it’s limited. There was another hangar to the left, and one took a space in the shade between other boxes and crates and metals roughly placed outside to rot and rust. There was a highway just 10 meters in front of one, perpendicular to the hangar that we came out from just now. There were no cars on the highway, sadly; but someone had gone to find us transport. One don’t know how they’re gonna do it when there’s no car coming by. Uber equivalent?

Nothing to do, one glanced to the shades where Juny stood talking to a girl. Can’t hear what they say, but the girl, originally serious, broke into laughter, and they laughed together. One raised one’s ears as the wind blew their conversation into my ears, something like:

“You haven’t laughed for ages, had you?” And she froze, her laughter diminished, but she retained a smile. One recalled, when we were younger, how she always laughed when we played together, the happy moments we shared. Don’t know when it started, her smile disappeared, and she kept an emotionless face, and our relationship faded. When was the last time one’d played with her? One no longer remembers. But the laughter and the cuteness when she swirled around one, dancing like an angel, one could never forget. Not unless it’s business.

Just then, Freddy came out from the hangar door next to Juny and her. The first thing one noticed is the heavy black sacs under his eyes; but how come? When one looked to the rest of the party that followed behind him, they too had such black sacs. When one refocused on Juny and the girl, they too, though theirs less heavy. One wondered, why didn’t one saw it earlier? And do one have black sacs, too? There’s no mirror around here, unfortunately.

“Does it hurt?”

“Yeah… Somewhat.” Heavy black eye sacs that hurt… contaminated, maybe?

The bus pulled by, and we entered. One looked at them taking a seat next to one another, seating, but no one wanted to seat beside me. Oh, well, whatever. As the bus pulled off the highway, one looked outside the window -- trees after trees after trees, and nothing else. A straight road going back home. No other cars sharing the highway with us. Oh, why can’t they just build an express train back home? One’s eyelids got heavier and heavier, and one can’t resist anymore, and what happened after that, one don’t know, nor do one take the effort to learn it from anyone else.

The bus pulled into the side of the road. One could already see it -- the rows of one-storey buildings arranged in grids, each rectangular, hosting several shops. One of the shopfront hung a brightly neon-lit storefront sign: “REInvest”. That’s where one’ll go next, one supposed. One waited impatiently for the bus to pull to a stop before getting down the bus with the others.

“I’m going to the store for a while.” One told one of them.

“Oh, yeah, OK. We’ll go directly to the lounge.” Someone replied effetely. Perhaps they hadn’t slept throughout the boring journey, or perhaps they slept, but felt tired anyways.

“See ya later!”

“See ya!”

As one entered the shop, one approached the store clerk and told them about them promise to be fulfilled. The clerk went to the computer to check for my orders, and told me,

“Sorry, your promise can’t yet be fulfilled.”

“But why?”

“Urrr… I don’t know? The computer didn’t say why it can’t be fulfilled. But please prepare with $500. When the promise can be fulfilled, we’ll notify you again via the app and you can come back to pay.”

$500? Did he even know what’s he’s speaking about? Did one even buy that much stocks? $500 is very expensive! What, a trolley of vegetables cost only 10 cents! A bag of 10kg rice cost barely 3 cents! Pencils are sold in boxes of 200, just to meet the minimum 1 cent requirement! And now you told me my stocks cost $500???

Duh, one had no choice. One exited the storefront and looked up at the sky. The sun were setting down on the horizon, the orange hue it painted on the environment getting dimmer and dimmer. Huh! Better reach out for the living quarters, then. Don’t feel like lingering around and be a slave to the waiting process.

The living quarters were just behind the shops. After one entered, one could see the bright but not blindingly bright orange light lining the top of the single tile attached to the walls along both sides of the corridor, providing the only illumination to the romantic 5-star-hotel looking luxury lounges. Such rooms weren’t like hotel, arranged in rows separated only by a layer of soundproof walls, though. Indeed, they were individual rooms, VERY large rooms, arranged in grids. The door could be placed at random in any direction, as if the design was to maximize romanticity, but the architect hadn’t thought about the escape routes in case of a fire. The other students, like me, Juny, and Freddy, also lived in the lounge. Though, they didn’t have the chance like us to go on a 07-07 trip. What’s the month again? Can’t remember; but it lasted a month, the trip, one can be certain. Though, what’s the date today? 11th. Don’t understand why, we unboard the plane at the hangar at 7th, and only reach home at 11th? Even if one took a whole single day to ask them to wait and deal with one’s business, and another single day to drive, it’d only be 9th! But 11th, did traveling took really that long? One slept through the whole time in the bus, no food, no drinks, no poo poo, no pee, as if one entered a turtle-like hibernation for 3, no, 4 whole days? Seriously? One don’t even feel time passed, and time passed so quickly!

But one thing is certain. 07-07, plus 07-11, 1 month and 4 days, is a lot of study we missed. There’s a lot to catch up with the teachers and the students. Bet they would laugh at us stupidly went for a trip and how heavy we would have to study when we get back.

Talking about the students, $500 was a lot of money, and one had barely more than $300, after all the heavy spending. Oh, how one regret one had spent that much money, if only one hadn’t bought those luxuries! But it’s not like regret could bring me back my money, can it? Reserving a few dollars to deal with necessities, one could only take out $300. Where can one get the other $200? One can’t think of any other choice but to borrow from friends. Not like one could earn it immediately anyways. Juny and Freddy sounds like someone good. One’ll go and visit them. One remember where they lived.

As one approached Juny’s room and knocked on the door, one heard footsteps that opened up, revealing Freddy’s face.

“Oh, you’re here!”

“Yeah! Come in!”

One get in, took off one’s shoes and put at the side, before joining them sitting on the bed. Juny was speaking to another hooded figure. Can’t recognize who he is, presumably a he, one guess, for no other reason than one cannot believe a she would enter a room of a he. Their luggage were thrown all over the floor, still settling down, but never really wanted to deal with their belongings yet.

“So, welcome! You’d finished your business?”

“Umm… No, unfortunately. And that’s the reason I came here.”

“Oh, what do you want?” he asked.

So one explained the situation to them about how stupid the shop clerk is, and how he wanted $500 and one only got $300, before one pleaded, “Could you guys… borrow me $200? Please, I’ll bank transfer you very soon, I promise! You know I can keep my words.”

One waited and waited for them to reply. They looked at each other, seemingly trying to gauge how much they can trust me, and if my trust is enough to loan that much from them? After much thinking, Freddy said, “Umm… $200 is a lot. I… won’t be borrowing you that much, don’t have a lot myself. Let’s say… $65. That’s as much as I can borrow you; and you promise, you’ll have to repay me in 3 months, yeah!”

“OK, OK! Thank you so much! But… umm… I’ll have to see first, only if I get the whole $200 can the transactions be settle. If it cannot be settled, perhaps you’ll hear back from me soon enough.”

“Fair enough.”

“No worries, bro. I’ll borrow you… say… $115. So that makes $170. You just have to borrow the rest from other means. Is that OK for you?”

“Yes, sure! Thank you, brother! Oh, my brother, I love you very much!”

“Pfft…”

The hooded figure didn’t speak a word, but reached for his wallet and took out 3 $10 notes and handed it to Juny.

“Oh, you’re borrowing him the rest? You don’t even know him very well, do you?”

The figure shook his head, didn’t said anything.

“Well, I guess I’ll make sure he repay me and I’ll act as the middle man to repay you.”

The figure nodded.

“OK, anyways, gotta sleep. Ouch, this eyes really hurts a lot.” He kept rubbing his eyes there’s a patch of red within the blacks.

“Oh, yeah, have some sleep! Hopefully they might heal tomorrow. We still got classes.”

“Yeah, I’ll also go back to my own room. This disease stinks. My eyes kept pouring water out and now I can’t see a thing!” Freddy complaint, using his hands to feel his shoes while he wore them. The hooded figure nodded and reached for the door.

“Ahh, right, I’ll… see you guys tomorrow. Thanks for the money, anyways. Trust me, I’ll make sure you guys get repaid.” One can’t wait further to settle the business, it took so much of my attention one can’t focus on emotions and care for the moment. One quickly stuff on one’s shoes, with its back still stepped under my feet, and walked out of the door. Happily, one headed back to one’s room. The clerk haven’t yet notify me through the app, so that’ll have to wait.

The next morning, immediately when one exited the door on the back (one entered through the front door the day before), one saw a small hill that led up from the left of my side. A row of building lined both side of the cement-paved road, wide enough to let a car pass through with enough space on both sides for people to walk. The stairs was to the side of the entrance, and a short waist-high fence erected in front of one. Most buildings were made of bricks, unpainted. They weren’t tall, mostly one storey. People were walking out the same door one walked out, prepared to go to class. Already that early morning, before the fog that still lingered on the path dissipated, people were walking up and down the street, each busy with their own stuffs. To my left stood someone whom followed me, perhaps my mom. But why would my mom be there? One never thought. One can’t even see her face clearly, as hers was being censored; one just guessed she’s my mom.

The fog, or rather, the mist, tingles on one skin, bringing away my body heat, makes one feels cool and refreshing. Holidays haven’t always been refreshing, not especially when business nowadays packed your timetable to full, as if trying to maximize the things you can get out from it without really thinking whether you can or cannot get anything out from it, or whether you would get burnout or not. Practically, one got nothing out of it, remembered nothing from it, for whatever reason. One felt like the whole journey was participated by a zombie without a brain rather than someone clear-minded. Indeed, my memory only recorded ever since one debarked the plane, landed back at the hangar airport. Weird but true -- that seems like an adventure in itself! And it must be the most interesting adventure one had experienced as far as my availability bias told me so. Just then the wind blew through, and make my hair tinged on its ends. Ahh, back to the present. Looks like it’s school time again, gonna be another tired day full of catching up to do. But before that, we need to prepare for the day, and it’s only, what, 6 in the morning? School had yet to start!

Me and my mom walked up the small hill as one observed the people walking past me. Faceless! Well, all looked the same -- the seriousness on their face, deeply depressed by the amount of work they’d to do. And they didn’t even went on a 07-07 holiday! Oh, my God. What would our face be like at the end of today, one wonder. As we walked up the hill, one observed that the road wasn’t long in front. Past a few storefronts, there’s a narrow path that leads to a beach. The narrow path marked the end of the road, as the cement-paved road stopped when it reach a jutted out storefront that obstructed it at the end, leaving only the narrow path passable while cars have to stop before it, if cars even come in. One could sea people playing at the beach, the vast sea that stretched beyond, the waves that hit on the sandy beach calm, and some other dressed half-naked heading to the beach, carrying floats! What the sparks are they thinking, going to the sea early in the morning when everything feels so frigid? And the wind that continuously blow, originating from unknown region deep into the ocean, continually eroding the soil and rocks, turning them into sand. Will the buildings one day crash when they turn into sand too? Building so close to the sea?

We walked closer towards the narrow path, when something on the left caught my eyes. Storefronts don’t open up this early morning, well except that -- otherwise, it won’t caught my attention. The inside already lit with orange lights that lined the walls, just like those non-blindingly bright orange lights along the corridor of the halls in the lounge earlier. The shop was rectangular, and the shorter side was its front. Upon entering, there’s a corridor directly slicing in between the rectangle, with tables and chairs on both sides. The chairs immediately along the corridor were just normal wooden ones, a round chair without a back to lay your back on. The ones along the circumference of the rectangle were built-in sofa-like chairs that can’t be moved. People were already sitting there, waiting for their friends to come and have one-to-one chat over a cup of whatever drink of their choice. Yes, this is the one-to-one café, allowing people to sit and have one to one sessions with their friends. One really hoped that one day one could sit in it and have someone come over and talk; but… one don’t know. Juny and the others loved gathering in groups rather than as singulars. Can’t they understand there’s no privacy in groups? Can’t they understand people kept disturbing your conversations with theirs? I don’t know, it’s not like one could change their minds anyways. So one had never gone in before, the café. But one day… Taking a last look at the student who went in, with a jingle bell ringing at the door as it opened and closed, and sat down in front of someone, and they put down whatever they’re reading on their book or their phone and started talking, staring into each other at the eyes… my mom urged me to come along.

2 steps forward, there was a narrow 2-shoulder wide, one step long corridor on the right. Entering it, we saw tables and chairs arranged in grids. Long, wide, rectangular tables, and long chairs on both side of the table. Except for the corridor, other sides were blocked by buildings, allowing anyone working within to look out of their windows and watch what we’re doing below. It was still relatively empty, with a few people taking their seats. Usually, this is the place where groups gathered, each around a table for smaller ones, and larger one occupied 2. They loved to come here during breaktimes, discussing nothing about schoolwork, though some worked quietly on their homework. One had no choice but to join them, because Juny was also in one of the groups. Hmm… The table immediately after the corridor was ours, though no one was there yet. And people seemed to understand their own territory, never taking seats of others as if it’s being booked informally at certain times. Don’t know how it happened but… Well, it just worked that way.

Suddenly, one felt water dripping on one’s face. Looking up at the sky, clouds were heavy and dark, and it seemed like it’s beginning to rain. Another drip. Yet another. And it started coming down fast, taking one by surprise, quickly wetting one’s face. Perhaps one was so surprised one did nothing, stood still, just feeling the water running down one’s skin. Oh, how one wished one could be in the one-to-one café and just sit there quietly and feeling cozy, looking out at the rain dripping on the windows and sliding down, and had a hot cup of tea, and kept one’s mind empty, just enjoying the outside. But here one is, in the rain itself, becoming the scene of those sitting inside the café, if they could see me from the corridor. The surrounding gets more foggy as the heavier atmospheric pressure compressed the mist downwards. The rain around here never gets more larger than they should, unlike the torrential types that happened usually with countries near the equator. It’s… like London’s. If you ever go to London, just strap around a jacket, preferably partially waterproof, and you’d be just fine. In an equatorial country, the whole jacket would be soaked, and you’d need a raincoat, one made of waterproof material like plastics. But that’s that.

One loses one’s attention on the rain as one saw a familiar figure coming in from the corridor we entered earlier. A young man wearing swimsuit approached, having a huge surfboard as tall as him slung behind him.

“Going surfing?” My mom asked.

“Yeah.”

“Be careful! The rain’s starting to fall, and if there’s thunderstorms, come back quickly! You don’t want to get Zzzzzzz later…”

“Yeah, I will.” He swiftly replied. One don’t think he really listened it in, just answering out of obligation. Perhaps. Mom had not always been the best mom when mom become too busybody with our activities, as if we don’t know things better.

One watched him continued his way along the path we’re now standing on and disappeared through the corridor of the same length and width on the other side. While he stood at the place full of pipes and tanks (water tanks?) and machinery that looked like air-conditioning condenser units, held/attached on metal pillars, he waved back to us before disappearing to the left.

One thought one’d go back to the living quarters; perhaps there one could shield from the rain. One walked off without waiting for mum, the attention to get under a roof fully occupied my brain, oblivious to anything else. My steps quicken as one made great strides down the hill and toward the stairs. Standing atop, one waited for the people to come out before entering; but one never entered. Think who’s the last that came out of the door in the queue? Juny! At the end, one followed him, or rather, them, back to the group quarters. One no longer see one’s mum there, though one didn’t realize it, not till now while one wrote this sentence did one realize. And mysteriously, earlier, one came out without any baggage slung over one; but when one returned, the bag magically appeared behind one’s back. Yes, a big heavy bag containing all the textbooks as thick as dictionary that easily weighted 10 kg on the weighting scale, and a laptop in front of one with a strap that slung over one’s left shoulder, another 4 kg. They’re quite heavy, and when one hobbled up the hill down the street and one already felt exhausted. By the time one arrived, the table we booked, the chairs closed to the walls, the last empty seat was booked by Juny. One don’t know why one don’t want to sit on the other side of the table, even though it’s relatively empty. And the seats, it could’ve been enough if people didn’t just put their bags on the seats that took up two-thirds of the spaces! What an idiot! And even worse, how could they have carried so many bags! The bags not only stacked on the seats, but they also filled the floors, as if they have so many bags the seats couldn’t support all their bags!

Anyway, one recognized the person sitting beside Juny, but one prefer not to reveal his name. Let’s just call him SM. The other person sitting on the other side of Juny one don’t recognize, another faceless figure. But that wasn’t the problem. Without a seat on this side facing the wall, one had to stand 2 steps away from the wall, with the bags still strapping to one, and with the waters coming down, soaking one’s bag and the contents within it, makes it felt heavier and heavier as time passed. One don’t know how long one can last before one put it down on the floor. Not like there are puddles -- actually, there are small ones, but the ground was relatively flat, at least flat enough to not make big puddles.

While one stood and looked onto the sky, wondering when the rain’s going to stop, Juny stood up and walked towards me, standing beside me. By this time, SM came by and asked him,

“How’s the pain going?”

“A lot better! Thanks for the pill yesterday!”

“Right? The pill is immensely powerful. Just look at your eye sacs! They’re gone! Nothing a pill couldn’t solve!”

One observed carefully. Yeah, one can’t see the black eye sacs below anymore. But was that not an infection? So there’s a pill that cured the infection fast, so fast that it only need one night to be visible, even completely healed? Can’t believe there’s this kind of magical pills! One never learned of what the pill name’s called, though. But it’s not their fault. It’s my fault. One never asked.

By then, while one’s mind wandered, SM was gone. Nobody came and disturb us. Juny put a hand behind one’s back, and asked,

“What’s this for?”

Huh? What do you mean by this? Surprised, one tried to relate what he meant by “this”, keeping my mouth shut and my body frozen. At last, one couldn’t figure out what’s “this” except for this: so one put one’s arm around his shoulder, reciprocating his move, and explained,

“Ahhh, this, it’s to put on the other side of your shoulder. The arm had to wrap around the upper torso, not lower on the hips, nor higher on the neck. Across the upper torso, and place your arm slightly wrapped around your arm on the other side, where your biceps and triceps are.”

“Ahhh… I see…” And both of us, with our arms wrapped, looked up at the sky, feeling the rain, staying quiet while listened to each other’s pumping hard. Friendship couldn’t be the more easier if both takes an effort to sustain it. Same with brotherhood.

That was the end of what one remembered. As one’s memory faded, one presume the rest of the story goes on like how life goes on as usual, and it didn’t leave a single mark on one’s memory. Sometimes, one question oneself, is it because of the lameness of how everyday life passed that one cannot remember what it is, or is it because one purposefully don’t want to remember what happens in everyday life that my brain chose not to remember it. There’s no answer, however; and that’s a question that one can’t answer you.