Chapter 14- Good News.

Today is the day Amrita has been waiting for so long. It is the day where she will see if all the effort she has put in for the past 2 years paid off. She knows how much she prepared herself for this day. Sleepless nights, the stop of all unnecessary entertainment. She put a stop to many things to focus only on her studies. Therefore, today is the day. It is the day she would know if she has a shot to fulfill her dreams to get a place in a public university. Amrita got up earlier than usual and she prepared breakfast for her parents because she was excited and she wants to go to college early to collect her results.

“Wow, breakfast is ready?” Amrita’s father said when he came to the kitchen.

“Yeah. Amrita made breakfast this morning,” Amrita’s mother who was helping her to serve the breakfast said.

“Wow. That is a surprise. What is the occasion?” Amrita’s father asked.

“Nothing much, Appa. Just want to go to college early. Today is Results day. Want to go early to collect my results,” Amrita asked.

“You seem confident of today’s results. Are you?” her father asked her.

“Anxious actually. Just hoping that my hard work paid off,” Amrita said taking a seat next to her father at the dining table.

“No worries. I have confidence in my daughter’s capability,” her father said.

They all had breakfast and left to Amrita’s college to collect her exam results. When they arrived, they saw so many students already waiting for their result announcement. Amrita joined her classmates, waiting for her results.

“How long more before the announcement?” Amrita asked.

“I think about 15 minutes more. At least that is what they said,” Shruthi, one of her classmates told her.

After a while of anxious waiting, they saw some staffs putting up the list of results at the notice board. They all went to the notice board and saw the results after the staff has put up the list and left the area. A part of Amrita is excited about seeing the results. Another part is feeling afraid of what her result could be. While she was getting nearer to the list, she could feel her heart beating rapidly and the inside of her stomach knotting up. She prayed hard before seeing the list. Her name starts from A and she knows that the list was in alphabetical order, she quickly searched for the group of names starting with A on the list. She slowly searched for her name while deep inside, she was chanting all kinds of prayers. When she found her name, she quickly checked her results. The moment she saw her results, she could feel her eyes getting blurry and tears were running down her cheeks. Her heart was beating fast but not due to anxiousness but because of excitement. She could feel the burden on her shoulders going of slowly. She could feel the corner of her lips going up while she tried to impossibly dry her cheeks as her tears keep falling. She slowly walked out of the crowd and stood silently for a while.

“Yes!!” Amrita said after finally recollecting her thoughts. “I did it.”

“So, how was your results?” Amrita’s mother asked when she saw Amrita as she walked towards the girls once seeing her walking out of the crowd.

Amrita started crying immediately. She put up 4 fingers and showed her mother to indicate the number of A’s she got. No words was coming out of her mouth at that very moment.

“All A’s?” Amrita’s mother guessed. She pulled her daughter into a bone-crushing hug the moment she saw the girl nodded.

Amrita felt so accomplished when she saw the proud smile on her father’s face and the tears of happiness on her mother’s eyes. She felt great as she knows that finally her hard work paid off. She was not distracted and now, she is one step closer to reaching what she really wanted. Amrita went to collect her exam result slip from her lecturer with her friends.

“Congratulations, Amrita. Great job. You should be proud of yourself,” her lecturer said.

“Thank you, Sir. Thank you so much for your help,” Amrita said.

“No Amrita. It was solely your effort and hard work. I just helped you and there. You proved it to yourself that if you put your heart to it, there is nothing you cannot do,” the lecturer told her.

“I am still glad that I got a lecturer like you, sir. You were willing to help me even when I keep coming to you so many times,” Amrita said.

“I am glad and proud to have met a diligent student like you. I wish you all the best for your future,” he lecturer said giving her a professional handshake and a big smile.

“Thank you, sir,” Amrita said returning his handshake.

Amrita went out to meet her friends who studied with her throughout the 2 years.

“Shruthi, Meiling. I am going to miss you a lot,” Amrita said giving both her friends a bear hug.

“We are going to miss you too. So whats plans after this?” Shruthi asked Amrita.

“I guess the applications will go out soon. Then I will hope for the best. We should meet up. Once at least before we move on. We haven’t really went out cause we were all so hooked up with books preparing for the exams,” Amrita suggested.

“I think we should. Legal age and done with exams. I think we can gift ourselves some free time of entertainment. I will plan. If it okay with you girls,” Mei Ling said.

“Of course!!” Amrita and Shruthi said full of excitement. The girls were very into the conversation until Amrita decided to go home to her family.

That night, Amrita and her family went out to celebrate her success. They decide to go somewhere different with good food. Therefore, they decided to go to a place called “Manhattan Fish Market” which has good seafood and a variety of them. Even though Amrita has sinusitis and is allergic to seafood, she still enjoys them a lot and her parents has decided to do as she wishes at least for today. Amrita and her parents still have not told Amaran and Amarika about the reason they are going out that night. Somehow they managed to rush Amaran and Amarika to get ready and get into the car. They were rushed that they did not have time to even digest what was going on. They were in the car when Amarika suddenly asked,” Appa, Amma. Why are we going out and where are we going?”

“It is a secret. Can’t we go out without any specific reasons?” Amrita’s mother said.

“Akka, at least you tell us, why and where?” Amaran asked turning to his sister who was seating next to Amarika next to the window.

Amrita just kept quiet and pretended like she did not hear what Amaran asked her.

“You are not telling where we are going or why. This is considered kidnapping,” Amaran said.

Amrita and her parents giggled,” We are your parents. Why would we need to kidnap you guys?” Amrita’s father asked.

“I don’t know. But who knows? Maybe you are imposters. Maybe you are not Amma and Appa. And you, you might not be Amrita Akka,” Amaran said pointing at Amrita. Hearing this, Amrita and her parents could not contain their laughter.

“If I am imposter, how would I know that you have a mole on your right inner thight and you, how would I know that you have a lot of pink items,’ Amrita told to both Amarika and Amaran while laughing. Amaran and Amarika kept quiet after hearing what Amrita has to say. “I don’t know where you guys get all these ideas. I think Amar, you got to reduce in your movie. You are getting very influenced with them,” Amrita said.

After about 20 minutes and a big laughter session, they arrived at the restaurant. Amaran and Amrika were so excited to see where they were. Amrita just laughed seeing how the younger ones forgot their kidnapping accusations and got excited with where they were. They all went in and took their seats at the table assigned to them by the waiter and placed their orders. Once the beverages they ordered were served, Amrita’s father took charge of the table.

“Okay Everyone. Raise your glasses. Well. You two were wondering why we are here right?” Amrita’s father asked Amaran and Amarika. The two nodded having a very bur face wondering what was going on.

“Well…... We are here to celebrate your sister’s achievement,” Amrita’s father said.

“Really? You did it?” Amaran asked Amrita.

“Yes. I did it,” Amrita said with a big smile on her face.

“Congratulations, Akka,” Amrika said and hugged Amrita.

“Thank you, Rika,” Amrita said hugging her sister more.

They had a great night full of laughter. Amrita felt so blessed that she has a family who supports her so much no matter what she wants to do.

Despite all the excitement and fun on the table, Amrita could not stop from wondering about the person who she is yet to break the news to. She was excited to know what he has to say.

#

 It was near midnight but Shivanesh was still up doing his assignment waiting for a certain someone’s message. He has been waiting anxiously the whole day to hear something from her. While Shivanesh was doing his assignment, he heard a notification from Facebook messenger. He just smiled to himself knowing well who it from was.

He opened the messenger window and saw a message received from Amrita.

Amrita:

Shiva!!.

Shivanesh

It is about time you buzzed me. How was your day?

Amrita :

Don’t you know what day is today?

Shivanesh:

It is obviously not your birthday. Is it any special day?

Shivanesh knew exactly what day it was as he has been waiting the whole day for this girl to tell him her results.

Amrita:

Shiva!! How can you not know? I definitely told you yesterday.

#

The night before.

Shivanesh and Sumithra was in the phone talking about her choice for after school. They were having a serious conversation while Shivanesh was researching on options for his sister’s future as he knows she is really good in her studies unlike him.

While he was on the phone, he received a message on his laptop.

Amrita:

Shiva. I am feeling really nervous.

Shivanesh:

Oh. Why?

Amrita :

They are announcing the results tomorrow

Shivanesh knew how much Amrita needs him. He decided to end his conversation with his sister before replying Amrita.

“Sumi, I got to go. We talk later okay,” Shivanesh told his sister.

“Sure, Anna,” Sumithra said before ending the call.

Shivanesh:

Don’t feel nervous. You would have done really well. You are a brilliant student.

Amrita :

Thanks Shiva. I am hoping for the best. Pray for me?

Shivanesh:

Surely. Good luck for tomorrow. I will be waiting to hear the news from you.

#

(Current time)

Shivanesh:

Well, maybe you should remind me.

Amrita :

Fine. Today was the day I got my STPM results.

Shivanesh:

Yeah, I know. What about that?

Shivanesh decided to annoy Amrita more.

Amrita was sure she would have smacked Shivanesh if only he was next to her. She clearly knows he was pulling her legs about it. So, she decided to play a trick on him too.

Amrita :

Okay. You don’t seem interested to know. I am not telling you. Good night

Amrita quickly changed her chat status to ‘Away” on purpose right after the reply.

Shivanesh panicked the moment saw the reply he received from Amrita. He panicked even more when he saw that Amrita’s status changed. He knew he brought the prank a bit too far.

Shivanesh:

Amrita. I am so sorry

He waited for a few minutes before sending more messages to Amrita.

Shivanesh:

Amrita. I really want to know your results. Please tell me

I waited all this while for you to tell me. Please come back

I do remember what day it is. I am so so sorry for annoying you. Pity me please

On the other side, Amrita was laughing to herself seeing how Shivanesh was panicking. After about 15 minutes, she decided to reply him.

Amrita :

This is what you get for pranking me

Shivanesh:

Okay. I am very very sorry

 So, how did you do?

Amrita :

I manage to get a decent score

Shivanesh:

Okay. How decent?

Shivanesh replied while drinking water. Reading her reply made him spray the water in his mouth out of shock.

Amrita :

All A’s

He knew she was a brilliant girl and could get good scores but this for him was at a genius level.

Shivanesh:

Wow. That is Genius territory. Congratulations. Al last your hardwork paid off

He was so happy and proud of her that he wish she was next to him that he can give her a big hug.

Amrita :

Yeah. I know. I am so happy. I don’t know if I can sleep

Shivanesh:

It is okay if you don’t want to sleep. But I am going to sleep. It is really late and I have class tomorrow. Good night, Amrita

Amrita:

Good night Shivanesh