Shania hitched her ride to the Penang Times Square on Rapid 303 bus. She looked very much tired and exhausted in her white baby-tee and her 3/4 jeans, as she was right after a tuition class. With her Paris sling bag, she made her way to the building. She aimed straight to the book fair by BookXcess fair at the very first floor of the building. She was utterly stunned to see the amount of book they had there for sale. She browsed through the table, laden with all kind of book; fiction, non-fiction, self-help, young adults etc etc.
Smitten with the choices of books, she went down the escalator, this time making a bee line straight to the Maybank ATM at the entrance of the building. The ATM lounge was pretty small with 3 ATM machines, one cash/cheque deposit machine and a table with four Maybank staffs (agents?) seated. She made some mental calculation while waiting for her turn to use the machine.
Considering herself as a book junkie, she decided to withdraw RM100 and not more than that. She wanted to get herself some decent books to read, but yet she didn't want to overspend on the books either. She’s quite broke at the moment, as her pay was already in on the second week of the month, due to the festive season. Hence, she lost track of her expenditure and money flow. Typical, but yet she’s trying to make her ends meet. After all, she just started her new job like 3 months back. Fresh at her work place, she already had a few long term plans running in her mind, so she didn’t want to touch her savings.
After waiting for like 5 minutes for her turn, she finally got to use the machine. She just can’t wait to go and hunt for her books that immediately after she withdrew her money, she turned her way out of the lounge. Somehow, she was cornered by one of the Maybank staff who were seating there. She didn’t want to, but as a sign of respect she sat down on the chair provided. That man who made her to sit ranted about some saving plans. Shania was not interested at first. The plan, as the guy explained, caught her attention somehow and she listened. After listening to the explanation for about 10 or 15 minutes, the guy made her to fill up her particulars in a form, saying that an agreement will be sent to her address and all the following process will be proceeded upon the acceptance of the terms and conditions of the plan. He, than handed her a brochure with his name and number on it. She took it, and immediately vacated her seats, heading straight to the book fair.
She felt heavenly, spending almost an hour there, looking through the books and deciding which to buy and which not. She grabbed a few books which she felt is quite interesting and walked around until one of their staffs came and offered to her a basket for her to load her books in. She even bought a rubber duck kit for her puppies to play with. At the end of the day, she hauled about 9 books and she spent about RM70 on them. She beamed as the cashier handed her her bag of books.Satisfied with her purchase, she went down the escalator, only to notice that there’s a sale on bags in one of the shops there. As she was in need of a new bag, she bought one, thinking that it was a bargain to get a decent bag (not branded, though) at RM30.
Tired, but happy, she walked out of the building to the bus stop, waiting for the bus. She waited nearly 20 minutes for the bus. About 30 minutes later, she was already in her room, checking and admiring her books one by one. Contended with her purchases, she took her phone to check the time. She had a missed call and a message. Both from an unknown the number. She opened her inbox, to find this message;
‘'Hi, Shania. I am Edward meet in maybank jus nw. If u free cn i meet u today’’
Shania was surprised, but she replied anyway, saying;
‘’ Hi, I am back at home already. Is there anything?’’
But before she can even send out the message,Edward sent in another message.
‘’ If nt nvmind shania.thx’’
After her message was sent, she received a reply. Prompt one.
‘’Cn i meet u at dato keramat. bcoz i wil b going to my uncle hse thr’’
Shania was seriously surprised reading that message. Obviously, Edward had taken her details off the form she filled up in Times Square.
“ You mean today? Is that has got anything to do with the saving plan?’’
“ Ya itz ok fr u’’
‘’ Obviously no. It’s late already. If it is really urgent, you can e-mail it to me. I will get it from there’’.
She waited for Edward’s reply. But he did not reply, so she gave up waiting. She felt weird about Edward, but she brushed her feelings aside. She had some other better things to do than to think of some random guy.
Later that night, about 10.50pm, she received an SMS. From Edward. Confused, Shania opened her inbox, wondering how hardworking and desperate one could be, looking for customers until late at night.
“ Hi sory fr late reply. busy a bit. actually no problem. i jus wan to knw if gt any other frendz that work at XX company.nvmind if u free we meet at morning. anyway thx’’
‘’ I’m sorry, but I am quite tied up with my work up to Tuesday.’’ As much as possible, Shania tried to avoid meeting that guy. She just didn’t like her approach.
‘’ Dat means tuesday mrng i cn meet u. any way right nw wt project u r doin’’
Shania didn’t bother to reply, as it was already after 11pm.
‘’ ok it seems u r busy. gd nite’’
After about 15 minutes.
‘’ Happy independence day..bla..bla..bla….’’
Shania got really pissed with the guy that she switched off her phone. She even thought of making a police report if Edward continue to text her.
End of Part 1
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Hello peeps! This is my attempt to write a short story. Do comment whether you like the story or not.
