'A Sweet Betrayal'
An elegant black Mercedes Benz stopped and took a rest in front of the school’s entrance. Then, a slim boy came out from the car. His skin was an ochre colour, much like the mellow-brown light that bathed the forest. Once he closed the car door, a window from the driver’s seat was lowered down until it showed up a man’s head, probably in his 40s.
He said, “Aiman! Don’t forget my advice! Study hard! Don’t play anymore! UPSR is approaching. About the marathon you mentioned last night, I hope you understand why I don’t allow you to participate. No more running! I am afraid it will ruin your focus to learn. I want you to maximise your time in studying and get straight A’s...”
“….just like your sister”, both of them uttered at the same time, but with different kinds of expression. One with a serious voice and the other one in mimicry expression.
Aiman had already memorised his father’s words of advice, especially that last phrase as he listened to this a lot from him. He nodded lazily to signal to his father that the advice given from him had been landed safely on his brain. After waving to his father, he trudged into the school compound with his bag slung over his shoulder.
It was the first day of the school week. All pupils and teachers were gathered in the school hall for the weekly assembly. Aiman could not care less about what was happening and kept on reading and flapping his small handwritten Science notebook. However, the headmaster’s announcement about the school’s annual sports day managed to make him titled up his head, away from the sight of his notebook. He felt an unwelcome rush of excitement. As he listened to the event’s tentative from the headmaster, a memory of last year’s sports day hit him. He reminisced himself being announced as gold medallists for 80m and 200m sprints. However, his recollection of previous sports achievement was effaced completely when his father’s words that morning suddenly lingered on his mind. He, then, continued his reading and cramped his head with Science terms and concepts in hope to brush off his heartbreak of not being able to participate in this year’s sports day.
On the next day, when Aiman was busy completing his Math questions in his class, Mr. Saddiq, a PE teacher, who looked so much like Ben Affleck, maybe because of the mole on his right cheek, knocked the door and wanted to meet him personally. He asked Aiman the reason why he didn’t attend the first training yesterday. With a heavy heart, Aiman told him that he did not intend to take part in the sports day as he wanted to focus entirely on his UPSR, or he should have said that his father was the one who forced him to concentrate solely in studying. After lending his ears to Aiman’s explanation, Mr. Saddiq gave him an advice that turned his life around.
“Aiman, I understand and respect your decision. However, I want you to give it a second thought.”, he said calmly.
Then, he added, “Everyone knows that you’re good academically, but academic achievement alone is not enough. I want you to know that achievement in sports is important too and you have all it takes to be a good athlete. I don’t want to lose my hidden gem in track events. What I can suggest to you is to learn to manage your time wisely and you’ll be able to achieve success in both fields.”
Aiman nodded while digesting his words.
On the following day and the 3 days after, he began his training every evening without his parents’ knowing. He lied to his parents that he had extra classes which required him to stay at school until the evening, brought his sports attire and exchanged to school uniform before he went home. There was one morning when his father realised the difference in his bag size and asked him the reason why his bag looked unusually bulky. Thankfully, he managed to come up with an excuse by saying that it was because he brought all his reference books for the extra classes. Deep down, he felt sorry for lying and guilty for his action.
The sports day had finally arrived. This time, Aiman was awarded with four gold medals for track events, making him as the school’s record breaker. He felt on top of the world. That day, he went home by bus with a smiley face. Once he reached home, he was shocked to see his parents’ cars were parked at the garage during the office hours. Anxiously, he went inside whilst trying to maintain a calm expression. Then, he studied his parents’ face; glaring eyes, stern faces and eyebrows drawn together. At that moment, he knew something was off. His parents, then, asked his sister to inspect his bag. While his sister was enjoying her role as an inspector, Aiman kept on speculating the possible suspect that leaked the secret and then, Mr. Saddiq’s name popped out on his mind. He believed that Mr. Saddiq had betrayed him by telling his parents about his involvement in sports.
After his sister had inspected his bag, she told their parents that she could not find anything. Once that information was delivered to his father, he stood up with both hands on his waist and called out Aiman’s name fiercely. Aiman trembled with fear.
“Where are the gold medals that you won just now? I want to take a look. Your teacher, the one with a mole on his right cheek, called me to inform how great you performed today. I am so proud of you. We all are! And oh, we actually knew that you went to training every evening for the past few days and I want to applaud you for your commitment. If not because that teacher stopped me that morning, when you already entered the school compound with your bulky bag, and explained to me everything; about your potential in sports and the importance of success in both academic and sports, I would have still be blinded with my children’s good academic achievements only.”, he uttered with a soft voice.
After listening to his father’s unexpected statement, Aiman was shocked and speechless. He hugged him with tears flowing down his face and thanked his father numerous times for recognising his talent in sports.
His father replied, “No, son. You should thank that teacher of yours for enlightening me on the actual meaning of success. Alia! Don’t just spend all your time with books. I want you to manage your time in studying and also in sports wisely… just like your brother.”
-THE END-