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Dedication : This short story is dedicated to all my EC English Teachers : Dayne, Chloe, T Mal, Cheetah, Vanessa, AB (Ameni), Tim New - thank you guys for helping me. I know you tried your best, but ... LOL. 

To all my rumbustious Indonesian friends : Narizawa, Laalaa, Ken and the others. You guys are really funny.

And to all my EC friends - you know who you are. 

And special mention to Samu.

~~~~~~ Chapter 1 ~~~~~~

“Lina, wait up”.  Lina stopped dead in her tracks. With a heavy heart, she waited for Hakim to catch up.

“Where are you going? What’s the rush?” Hakim asked her. She did not know how to answer him. How could she? There was no answer.

“Hey, are you crying?” He sounded confused.

“Emm. I need to go now. My Mom needs me to baby sit for my brother and sisters. I will talk to you later” She did not wait for his response. She did not want him to see her tears. She was walking as fast as she could without seeming to run away from him.

Hakim was her best friend, her love. But today, she could not talk to him. She could not tell him about her parents’ decision which had broken her dreams into a million tiny pieces.

She had known Hakim since she was in kindergarten. That was fourteen years ago.  Hakim’s parents had just been transferred from another state and in the middle of the year. He was a withdrawn child at first. He kept to himself and did not talk to the other children for several weeks after he arrived, whereas Lina was a sunny child.

However, they became friends fast. Lina was always the mischievous one was getting them into all kinds of trouble, but Hakim did not seem to care. When they were in their secondary school, Lina would always be the top student, but Hakim just barely passed all his examinations. He was not interested in studying. Most of the time, he seemed bored, but she knew that he was very smart. Maybe, he took things for granted because he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. But he was never snobby to her, and always generous to their friends.

In their secondary school, Lina and Hakim were in different classes. She would always be in the "special class" due to her high scores, but Hakim would always be in the lower class. Despite the different classes, they always sat together at recess and walked home together after school. In their last year of secondary school, Hakim was pressured by his parents to study extra hard so he could study in the United Kingdom just as all of his brothers’ had. Lina, on the other hand, had to get top scores so she could apply for a scholarship. She knew that would be the only way she can pursue her dream of studying medicine.

Yesterday morning, she received a letter from a local university offering her a scholarship to study in medicine. She was over the moon with the news. She could not wait to tell Hakim. She ran to his house but he was not at home. The maid told her that Hakim had gone to the City to settle his student's visa to the United Kingdom. Lina was heart broken that Hakim would still be going to the United Kingdom as planned, even though he had said he was not interested. Maybe he was being pressured by his parents again. The whole morning she was anxious to tell her parents on the good news from the university. 

She finally arrived at her home. "Lina" Mom said as she opened the door. "Your father and I need to talk to you about something".  Lina did not like the sound of Mom's voice. She looked at her parents. Both of them looked glum. Her heart started to beat faster. Deep down inside she knew the news would not be good. She had noticed Mom had looked a little sad lately, and Dad had been avoiding her for the last few days

"Lina ....  your Mom and I have wanted to talk to you about you going to the university. You know that we love you very much. We always supported you, but ..." Dad's voice suddenly trailed off. Mom started to sniff. 

"What are you trying to say, Dad?"

"Mom?" Lina looked at Mom pleadingly.

------------------To be continued in Chapter 2 -----------------

P/S : Again, thank you Vanessa for all the help.