Dalia

It’s Vivi’s birthday! 5:30 a.m. right now. I have to be careful not to wake her up. I get out of bed, kiss her cheek and tiptoe out of the room.

6:30 a.m. now. Vivi will have awoken. I head to our room with tea and a tray of cookies. Hope she likes my gift. I open the door. There she is, on the bed with tousled hair, in her vermilion nightgown. Her half-asleep state keeps her from noticing my entry.

“Happy birthday, Vivi!” I keep the tray on the bedside table.

She beams me a tender look, enwraps me and kisses me. My hands run through her hair, we gaze at each other and giggle.

“I think you should have your breakfast first.” I stroke her hair and move to my side of the bed, “I have something to give you.” I take out my present from the table drawer and hand it to her.

“I wonder what’s inside,” Vivian remarks with childlike innocence, “Can I open it now?”

“Up to you, birthday girl.”

She opens the present. Her expression mellows into a pleasant smile. A look I can never get tired of no matter how many times I see it.

“Dales,”  Vivi faces me, “Thank you so much, I love it.”

I clasp her hand, “Glad you love it.”

We lay in bed, face to face, conversing about topics that come to our mind. She brushes her hands through my hair while we talk and I play with hers.

“How’s dorm life so far? Do you like it?” I inquire while she fondles my cheeks.

“Dorm life? Hmm” She furrows her brows in thought, “I think I’m liking it more than I thought I would hehe. What about you, Dales?”

“I like it here too.” Her hand interlaces with mine. Compared to my petite fingers, hers are long and slender. The first time I noticed it, I felt a sense of comfort in knowing such hands would be there to hold me through trying times.

“Sometimes I wish the days in this dorm would last forever,” she makes a melancholic expression.

“What kinda wish is that hehe?” I tug her close to my chest and braid her hair. “Hey, Vivi?”

She looks at me with curious eyes. Too cute, I’m squealing internally. 

“Where’re you planning to study after we return home and graduate from school?” I hope my seriousness in asking the question came through.

“Wherever you go!” She jokes and traces her fingers along my neck. I expected an evasive answer, yet it still disappoints me. My mind nags me to ask the question again, but I’m not pressing her for a serious answer today.

**********

Vivian

I’m blindfolded. Dalia holds my hand as she leads me to the dorm dining room. When we hold hands, I’m reminded of the differences in the size of our hands. Hers are smaller, softer, delicate.

She swings the door open with vigor and removes my blindfold.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIVIAN!”

Amel, Noah, Lino and Dalia wish in unison. Confetti shower on me. A huge ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ has been pasted on the wall facing me. There’s a table at the center of the room with a double decker chocolate cake placed on it.

The celebration begins with Amel proposing a toast for me, the drink’s apple juice though, nothing alcoholic. I do the honours of cutting the cake. After the cake, it’s time for presents. I’ll open the gifts later.

At 9:30 a.m. we’re done. Dalia stays back to help with cleaning up. I need some alone time after all the merrymaking so I’m heading to the hills.

The sun’s radiant. I fell asleep after finding a cozy patch of grass by a shady Eirenai tree in the hills. As I stretch, I spot a figure going uphill. It’s Noah. He’s holding a bottle of apple juice. His gait is sluggish and he wipes the sweat with his arms. I call out to him and he springs.

“Didn’t see you there.”

“On a walk?”

“Yeah,” he trudges toward me and gestures at the bottle, “Want a drink?”

“I think I’m done with apple juice for today.”

He sits on the forest floor by the Eirenai tree and heaves, then raises the bottle.

“Happyyyy,” he stretches out the word and goes, “Happy umpteen!” He let’s out a chuckle.

“Thank you! It’s eighteen though.”

“Happy eighteen!”

I wait for him to be flabbergasted. I know he will be.

“Wait! Eighteen… Eighteen?!” There it is, the reaction I’d anticipated. His astonished expression makes me laugh out. “Ho- How? You just turned eighteen today so that means you enrolled when you were seventeen. When yo-” His brows wrinkle, “I thought we weren’t allowed to enroll at seventeen?”

Seeing him in bewilderment amuses me and I guffaw. He stares at me perplexed.

“You want me to explain the situation?”

“Obviously!”

I collect myself and sit next to him, “You see, Dalia had already turned eighteen when the government made service compulsory for people living near the borders. I was seventeen and worried to death for Dalia so I pleaded my parents to convince the boarding school’s authorities to make an exception.” I stretch and lean on the tree trunk, “Convincing my parents to let me join was more difficult as compared to the school authorities. As a matter of fact, the school was pleased as they’d have an extra hand.”

“Wow!” Noah nods like he’s finally understood a problem he’d been struggling on for days, “Any other jaw-dropping thing about you I should know?”

I rub my chin, “Hmm, Oh! Amel and I are probably distant relatives.”

“What? For real?”

“Nah, I’m just kidding with you.” I try to contain my pleasure but fail, “You really bought it?”

Noah shakes his head and gulps down the apple juice while I remain amused.

**********