Behind their smiles (B)
Seems it has been awhile since I wrote in this segment. Today, I will share a simple and yet, disheartenning story of a wondeful friend of mine. She is a classmate in college and goes by the code name: Nanti. Her name is Zhang Siyu, foreigner, confider, companion, friend. Life works in such a strange and fateful way in changing or at least transforming someone from mere strangers to the greatest of friends. Here goes...
Like all people that enters your life, they come as ghost. No background, no history, no family, no friends. What you see is what you get. She is beautiful in some way, appropriately tall, great shape, athletic, pretty smile but the only unfortunate part was that she has this knack to flaunt her physical attributes which is plainly a troubling distraction in class or anywhere else. Got to know her through another friend of mine from orientation days, Yash, who is unofficially her boyfriend. Yash has been one of the longest friend I had and hence, I had to be careful whenever I was with Siyu.
Never did pay much attention to her and we only inched closer fatefully when last minute, I changed another classmates name to hers randomly to be my PW group member. She was always happy and smiling that captivating smile of hers. Laughed a lot and teased even more. She was great company as she was loyal and trustworthy and an extremely good listener. She knows how to make anyone's day and yet, it was rather odd that no one was giving her the attention that she rightfully deserves. PW brought us closer and yet she was struggling as she was not very proficient in English or current affairs matter. The rest of the group blamed her indirectly for our slow progress and all I could do was watch in silence as she was mentally tormented. She went to fewer and fewer meetings and gave all kinds of excuses which reminds me a lot of myself so I took it as a sign for intervention. Everyday, I would ask her how she was and told her everything that my group discussed in her absence so that she could at least keep up. Finally, the inevitable happened.
A fresh load of injustice was placed unto her without her or my approval by our then group leader. She disappeared from the class so I went out to find her. Found her at a staircase and again I asked her, "How are you?". That day, she broke down and cried on my shoulders. That day too, I stood up against my then leader and spoke up in her defence. This was the day our friendship was sealed.
Siyu was not a child her parents had yearned for. In China, daughters were frowned upon and to her parents she was a curse and she was sent to her grandmothers when she was a baby. She never saw her parents until she was a toddler. Family love was lacking as economical growth took over. Her dad was a busy man and she never really had a good talk to him or see his face for more than a month. She was sent to boarding school far from any of her family contacts and from here, she learned to be an independant lady. She was the fastest sprinter back in her primary days and learned not to sulk or be depressed so that others around her would not feel the same way as her. She was not a scholar. She was (forcefully) sent to overseas to study away from her family and that was how she ended up right in the same class as me. She yearned greatly to have a brother or sister and told me stories of her past. The greatest cause of her unhappiness: loneliness. Being mistreated by the teachers and her friends, she hated Singapore and wanted to leave this little island of hell.
Home to her was winter- cold and silent. The trees are dead, the birds are asleep and she hates winter. We went out more and more often. To watch movies, eat out in new restaurants, walk in parks, to cycle or simply chill out at her hostel to play billiards or talk. Like I said, she was great company and we both got to know each other more and more better. She was always there for me when I had trouble and would literally, shoot out of her hostel in a flash at my call. She dress nice too, her favourite brand is Burberry and Miu Miu and hence, we went out shopping often too. I guess, her troubles made us understand the hardship both of us felt. She became my confider and gave the best advices just that I dont always act on the advices.
Nowadays she still has that beautiful smile plastered on her face and yet, given any day, no Man is perfect, I will tell her to wipe that smile off and give her my shoulders to vent that sadness away. May Allah guide and give strength to people like her and reward her for being strong and resilient in an environment she never chose.
Like all people that enters your life, they come as ghost. No background, no history, no family, no friends. What you see is what you get. She is beautiful in some way, appropriately tall, great shape, athletic, pretty smile but the only unfortunate part was that she has this knack to flaunt her physical attributes which is plainly a troubling distraction in class or anywhere else. Got to know her through another friend of mine from orientation days, Yash, who is unofficially her boyfriend. Yash has been one of the longest friend I had and hence, I had to be careful whenever I was with Siyu.
Never did pay much attention to her and we only inched closer fatefully when last minute, I changed another classmates name to hers randomly to be my PW group member. She was always happy and smiling that captivating smile of hers. Laughed a lot and teased even more. She was great company as she was loyal and trustworthy and an extremely good listener. She knows how to make anyone's day and yet, it was rather odd that no one was giving her the attention that she rightfully deserves. PW brought us closer and yet she was struggling as she was not very proficient in English or current affairs matter. The rest of the group blamed her indirectly for our slow progress and all I could do was watch in silence as she was mentally tormented. She went to fewer and fewer meetings and gave all kinds of excuses which reminds me a lot of myself so I took it as a sign for intervention. Everyday, I would ask her how she was and told her everything that my group discussed in her absence so that she could at least keep up. Finally, the inevitable happened.
A fresh load of injustice was placed unto her without her or my approval by our then group leader. She disappeared from the class so I went out to find her. Found her at a staircase and again I asked her, "How are you?". That day, she broke down and cried on my shoulders. That day too, I stood up against my then leader and spoke up in her defence. This was the day our friendship was sealed.
Siyu was not a child her parents had yearned for. In China, daughters were frowned upon and to her parents she was a curse and she was sent to her grandmothers when she was a baby. She never saw her parents until she was a toddler. Family love was lacking as economical growth took over. Her dad was a busy man and she never really had a good talk to him or see his face for more than a month. She was sent to boarding school far from any of her family contacts and from here, she learned to be an independant lady. She was the fastest sprinter back in her primary days and learned not to sulk or be depressed so that others around her would not feel the same way as her. She was not a scholar. She was (forcefully) sent to overseas to study away from her family and that was how she ended up right in the same class as me. She yearned greatly to have a brother or sister and told me stories of her past. The greatest cause of her unhappiness: loneliness. Being mistreated by the teachers and her friends, she hated Singapore and wanted to leave this little island of hell.
Home to her was winter- cold and silent. The trees are dead, the birds are asleep and she hates winter. We went out more and more often. To watch movies, eat out in new restaurants, walk in parks, to cycle or simply chill out at her hostel to play billiards or talk. Like I said, she was great company and we both got to know each other more and more better. She was always there for me when I had trouble and would literally, shoot out of her hostel in a flash at my call. She dress nice too, her favourite brand is Burberry and Miu Miu and hence, we went out shopping often too. I guess, her troubles made us understand the hardship both of us felt. She became my confider and gave the best advices just that I dont always act on the advices.
Nowadays she still has that beautiful smile plastered on her face and yet, given any day, no Man is perfect, I will tell her to wipe that smile off and give her my shoulders to vent that sadness away. May Allah guide and give strength to people like her and reward her for being strong and resilient in an environment she never chose.
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