Nguyễn Vân Mai
(nvanmai)
Moderator
* Topic: Short story
* Title: A chance encounter
* Writer's name: Trong Nhan
* Class and high school: Pho Thong Nang Khieu
Email : [email protected]
It was so long ago that he saw her, and he never knew her that well. Yet, for some reasons her image still lingered on his mind. Maybe, that was because she represented for him an ideal image of an intelligent, blond-haired and blue-eyed female that he thought he could have imagined only in a novel.
In another time and at another place he reminisced. It was in a Monday night, he had wandered into the International Center to read the evening newspapers. He expected the Center to be as empty as usual but he could hardly settle in his chair when a group of people came through the door talking and laughing spiritedly.
They talked in a language that he had learned at one time but never had the opportunity to speak it. Then he saw her. She was beautiful with her golden hair, her skin as fair as it could be, and with eyes as limpid as the mountain spring. But beyond that external beauty, there was something that attracted him to her. It was as if she had an aura about her. The way she smiled, the way she talked, and that wide-eyed look on her face when she was listening to the conversations around her not fully understanding yet trying to guess what they were all about. He happened to be close to her and he kept looking at her. He didn't understand all the jokes either but he didn't care. Then they all left, she and her companions, leaving the place with a sudden and eerie serenity as if everything had happened in a dream.
Was it a dream, a beautiful dream? He didn't know her name, somehow that information lost in the foreign language they were conversing. He didn't expect to see her again. It was a beautiful encounter but a dream could never be a reality. To his surprise, he ran into her again in the dining room of his dorm a few days later. He waved at her, and she waved back. It was not a dream after all.
What he adored about her was her girlish and infectious giggles. Whenever she giggled, he couldn’t help laughing with her. Yet, she was not used to giggling. In fact, she rarely smiled. Life had been hard on her, and she often felt angry and frustrated at the world. "Why me?" He wanted to see her smile, just once. "But why?" "Because you look so sweet when you smile, dear" "Oh, sure" she said.
Feeling a little better after she had known him, she managed a smile once in a while. However, he never expected she would have given him such pure enjoyment at such forgotten pleasure as the girlish giggles. Nothing would please him more than to have her snug up to him, and giggle when she planned to tease him on something.
He couldn’t make her giggle by physical means because she was rather immune to ticklish touches. She had a lot of will power and control over her emotions. But she couldn’t control herself whenever she thought of some fun things she would tease him about. Then, she would giggle spontaneously, and he being the innocent victim, with a puzzling look on his face, would join in the fun and laugh with her. He discovered also that she always giggled whenever he tried to sing. Though not blessed with any singer's voice, he loved to sing, mainly to himself at shower time. But he was brave enough to sing in her presence, and his singing always made her giggle so much that he was quite amused himself.
She was one of the smartest people that he had known. She was also quite attractive. But why did he have to talk politics with her every time he called her? Why could he not feel comfortable around her? Was she so much a better student than he was that he did not feel at ease talking to her? It was a foolish sentiment. Did he ever get over the embarrassment that he felt when he prematurely alluded to her as his girlfriend in a letter thanking the Foreign Student Adviser for having admitted him to the university? How embarrassing it was for him not to know the difference between a girlfriend and a friend who is a girl.
Well, he already made a social faux pas, and he could feel that he had caused her undue embarrassment amidst some good-natured ribbing from Professor V, and even Mr. G., the Foreign Student Adviser. Two fellow expatriates in a foreign university, he should have welcomed the opportunity to grow closer to her. Yet, he did not think rationally, and plagued by an inferiority complex, he had set obstacles between him and her. However, where he saw roadblocks, another saw only opportunities. "Is she your girlfriend?" "No. She is only a friend." He had given her up. He did not want to get involved. He was afraid that his study could have suffered if he’d ever relaxed his will to graduate in three and a half years.
Yet, she had none of his hang-ups. Instead she flourished with love and attention from someone definitely not as good looking, and not as good a student as he was (or so he thought, always very subjectively), but far more mature. To rub salt to the wound, her boyfriend was even a non-compatriot. She still graduated summa cum laude in the same time as he did, and won a prestigious scholarship to attend Harvard. She was never in his life even though she was at one time the reason for him to go where he did. Now, she was in someone else's life. Were there any regrets? No, he also won a fellowship to attend another renowned university. Though going separate ways, he finally grew up more mature living far from her dominant shadows.
It was difficult for him to know when he discovered that he truly loved her. He always knew that he had a very special feeling for her, more than anyone he had met until then. For him, it did not matter when love started. But she wanted to know.
He missed an important connection because he had stayed on the phone too long talking to her. He forgot the time because he did not pay attention to it while reminiscing about the wonderful moments they had shared. He had never done anything like that before. But being with her brought out the best in him. He could be adventurous, he could be unpredictable, he could be lovable and an enfant terrible at the same time.
He had to sleep on a hard floor, in a strange place with strangers waking him up because they thought he was a lost soul that needed to be rescued. He knew that he would miss work, but more importantly, he would not be able to pick up M for school as usual. But none of that did bother him now. A couple of phone calls would clear up the situation for him.
He thought only about her. He did not hear the sound of the vacuum cleaners. He did not hear the bustling steps of people in a hurry. He was oblivious to his environment. In his semi-state of consciousness, in his half-sleep and half-awake stupor, even on a hard floor, a smile appeared on his face for he knew then for the first time, what her love really meant to him.
* Title: A chance encounter
* Writer's name: Trong Nhan
* Class and high school: Pho Thong Nang Khieu
Email : [email protected]
************************
A chance encounter
It was so long ago that he saw her, and he never knew her that well. Yet, for some reasons her image still lingered on his mind. Maybe, that was because she represented for him an ideal image of an intelligent, blond-haired and blue-eyed female that he thought he could have imagined only in a novel.
In another time and at another place he reminisced. It was in a Monday night, he had wandered into the International Center to read the evening newspapers. He expected the Center to be as empty as usual but he could hardly settle in his chair when a group of people came through the door talking and laughing spiritedly.
They talked in a language that he had learned at one time but never had the opportunity to speak it. Then he saw her. She was beautiful with her golden hair, her skin as fair as it could be, and with eyes as limpid as the mountain spring. But beyond that external beauty, there was something that attracted him to her. It was as if she had an aura about her. The way she smiled, the way she talked, and that wide-eyed look on her face when she was listening to the conversations around her not fully understanding yet trying to guess what they were all about. He happened to be close to her and he kept looking at her. He didn't understand all the jokes either but he didn't care. Then they all left, she and her companions, leaving the place with a sudden and eerie serenity as if everything had happened in a dream.
Was it a dream, a beautiful dream? He didn't know her name, somehow that information lost in the foreign language they were conversing. He didn't expect to see her again. It was a beautiful encounter but a dream could never be a reality. To his surprise, he ran into her again in the dining room of his dorm a few days later. He waved at her, and she waved back. It was not a dream after all.
What he adored about her was her girlish and infectious giggles. Whenever she giggled, he couldn’t help laughing with her. Yet, she was not used to giggling. In fact, she rarely smiled. Life had been hard on her, and she often felt angry and frustrated at the world. "Why me?" He wanted to see her smile, just once. "But why?" "Because you look so sweet when you smile, dear" "Oh, sure" she said.
Feeling a little better after she had known him, she managed a smile once in a while. However, he never expected she would have given him such pure enjoyment at such forgotten pleasure as the girlish giggles. Nothing would please him more than to have her snug up to him, and giggle when she planned to tease him on something.
He couldn’t make her giggle by physical means because she was rather immune to ticklish touches. She had a lot of will power and control over her emotions. But she couldn’t control herself whenever she thought of some fun things she would tease him about. Then, she would giggle spontaneously, and he being the innocent victim, with a puzzling look on his face, would join in the fun and laugh with her. He discovered also that she always giggled whenever he tried to sing. Though not blessed with any singer's voice, he loved to sing, mainly to himself at shower time. But he was brave enough to sing in her presence, and his singing always made her giggle so much that he was quite amused himself.
She was one of the smartest people that he had known. She was also quite attractive. But why did he have to talk politics with her every time he called her? Why could he not feel comfortable around her? Was she so much a better student than he was that he did not feel at ease talking to her? It was a foolish sentiment. Did he ever get over the embarrassment that he felt when he prematurely alluded to her as his girlfriend in a letter thanking the Foreign Student Adviser for having admitted him to the university? How embarrassing it was for him not to know the difference between a girlfriend and a friend who is a girl.
Well, he already made a social faux pas, and he could feel that he had caused her undue embarrassment amidst some good-natured ribbing from Professor V, and even Mr. G., the Foreign Student Adviser. Two fellow expatriates in a foreign university, he should have welcomed the opportunity to grow closer to her. Yet, he did not think rationally, and plagued by an inferiority complex, he had set obstacles between him and her. However, where he saw roadblocks, another saw only opportunities. "Is she your girlfriend?" "No. She is only a friend." He had given her up. He did not want to get involved. He was afraid that his study could have suffered if he’d ever relaxed his will to graduate in three and a half years.
Yet, she had none of his hang-ups. Instead she flourished with love and attention from someone definitely not as good looking, and not as good a student as he was (or so he thought, always very subjectively), but far more mature. To rub salt to the wound, her boyfriend was even a non-compatriot. She still graduated summa cum laude in the same time as he did, and won a prestigious scholarship to attend Harvard. She was never in his life even though she was at one time the reason for him to go where he did. Now, she was in someone else's life. Were there any regrets? No, he also won a fellowship to attend another renowned university. Though going separate ways, he finally grew up more mature living far from her dominant shadows.
It was difficult for him to know when he discovered that he truly loved her. He always knew that he had a very special feeling for her, more than anyone he had met until then. For him, it did not matter when love started. But she wanted to know.
He missed an important connection because he had stayed on the phone too long talking to her. He forgot the time because he did not pay attention to it while reminiscing about the wonderful moments they had shared. He had never done anything like that before. But being with her brought out the best in him. He could be adventurous, he could be unpredictable, he could be lovable and an enfant terrible at the same time.
He had to sleep on a hard floor, in a strange place with strangers waking him up because they thought he was a lost soul that needed to be rescued. He knew that he would miss work, but more importantly, he would not be able to pick up M for school as usual. But none of that did bother him now. A couple of phone calls would clear up the situation for him.
He thought only about her. He did not hear the sound of the vacuum cleaners. He did not hear the bustling steps of people in a hurry. He was oblivious to his environment. In his semi-state of consciousness, in his half-sleep and half-awake stupor, even on a hard floor, a smile appeared on his face for he knew then for the first time, what her love really meant to him.
Chỉnh sửa lần cuối:
. There are couple weaknesses here and there but then again, who doesn't have some. English: nearly perfect, Literature: full of potential. The best one I have read so far in this contest.