That Person
Visut Bootsripoom

 

In everyone’s life there is 'that person' who changes everything. They may stay through the entire course of your life, or they just come and go, as the sun rises and sets.

Tarn and I accidentally met each other when I was traveling with my relatives over the summer in Europe, and we became friends quickly. This was because we were only two children in the trip and the rest were all in parental age. She was tall and slim, her skin was creamy and white. Her huge black eyes were very beautiful. Before I knew what was happening, sparks flew between us and we were getting along with each other very well in that trip. For ten days we talked, ate and laughed side by side. Her smile was very attractive and unforgettable. Even though our relation wasn’t be that far, in my heart, I felt some kind like a connection between she and I. When we returned to Thailand, life went of both of us; she had her life with high school and friends and I had mine. She invited me to her birthday party at her home, and I gladly accepted it; how could I turn down that important invitation. That night was the first time I spoke out what I really felt about her. It was the first time that I said, "I like you."

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Of course, we both lived in different worlds. She was born in a very rich and wealthy family. She liked shopping and traveling around, as for me I was born in a middle class family and had a very normal life.

I promised to her that I would look after and protect her with my life, no one would be more important than her; she would be the only one in my heart and always will be. She said nothing. She looked into my eyes and simply said "Thank you for choosing me."

Although we were from two totally different worlds, as we put it, our differences complimented each other so well. We would talk on the phone until one in the morning almost every day, and we had very deep discussions about our love, life and our future. It was a very emotional relationship.

At that time, we both had to walk in our preferred ways. We once promised to get in the same college as we didn’t want to be separated. But as you know, the future couldn’t be predicted. We didn’t stay together. Yet, I could come and see her everyday; distance wasn’t an obstacle for me. The only thing I was concerned about was other guys. Of course, it was impossible to be with her all the time. I had to pay attention to my classes as well as my love. I would phone her almost every period break to make sure that she wasn’t with another guy. God! I was jealous as hell.

As I said, distance didn’t matter to me. I was willing to drive a hundred kilometers from my college to see her everyday. I didn’t care about the traffic jams, the rain or how tired I would get. I always thought in my mind that the girl who I loved so much was waiting for me. We would have dinner together almost everyday. Wherever she wanted to go, I would gladly take her there. If there was anything I could do for her, I wouldn’t hesitate even though it was very dangerous, or a waste of time. And that was the power of my love.

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Four months later, I was facing very bad test results. My GPA was lower than I expected and my parents were so concerned about the results. They knew exactly why it turned out the way it did. They didn’t want to mention about the relation between Tarn and I. They wanted me to manage my time more carefully; they even wanted me to stop thinking about love. I didn’t want this to be the beginning of the end of my relationship with Tarn. I swore to her I would try harder next time and I wouldn’t disappoint her any more. Everything seemed to be better. My parents understood and didn’t want to put any pressure on me. "There would be a better day tomorrow", I comfort myself.

We kept dating as we always did. I took her everywhere she wanted to go. Although I tried to manage my time as well as I could, I still felt terrible and unconfident during the test. As a result, my GPA was getting worse.

The feeling beneath my thoughts now was which side would I choose between ‘love and study’? We had been seeing each other for seven months, and most importantly, I loved her so much. We talked and discussed about this topic almost every night. At last, something happen that changed my life forever!

Days later, she told me that she had a couple of friends in Sydney and her friend told her about transferring credits to the universities in Australia. She helped me by talking to the office of the international relationship in my college and encouraged me to go to Australia. Just a few weeks later, I was informed by the international relationship office that the University of Monash had accepted my transfer and I had to leave in two weeks. The people who had the most joy out of this was certainly my parents.

We dated the last two weeks before we couldn’t see each other due to forces outside our control. Yet, we didn’t break up, and we promised to each other that distance and time would never take the two of us apart. Certainly, no one knows that day was the last day we met and stayed together.

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She couldn’t come and say good bye to me on the leaving day because she had an examination. My parents showed no sign of sadness. They might think this was the best way to make their only one son a good future. They kept saying "Be a good boy, and study hard" until I entered through the gate. They didn’t tell me how much they love me or their true feeling. However, I wasn’t concerned much about my parents; I knew they love me.

It took about seven hours from Bangkok to Sydney, Australia. I was so lucky; my parents had prepared everything I needed; besides my uncle was living in Sydney. I stay with Chai, my uncle who had never seen me since I was five years old. He had settled down in Sydney for over 15 years. As a result, he was now running a business and had his own house in a downtown. So my life in Australia was totally comfortable and great. This trip to Sydney was really safe and sound.

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‘I’m missing you so much’ I typed in the window messenger. Absolutely, I was chatting with her in the MSN. We usually met each other in the internet after my lunch time at my college. In fact, I wasn’t allowed to use a telephone, unless there was a call to me. So I mostly relied on the MSN as the channel to keep in touch with her. Everyday when I woke up in the morning, I would walk to the backyard in my uncle’s house, and then took a photo of the sky. Surely, Chai and his wife were very curious why I had to do like that, but I just told them exactly what I was doing. I experienced many things I hadn’t done in my life. For example, working part time job and traveling around the city by my self. I didn’t have to be afraid of thief because there was a very low crime late in my city. Of course, it was totally different from Bangkok. During this time, I saved some money that I made to buy a birthday’s present for her. It was nearly her birthday, so I had to surprise her. I estimated the day that the present would arrive to Bangkok, and then sent the present to her. She was very surprised and happy; she liked my present a lot. You know, when she had happiness, I would have double happiness than she had.

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Eight months later, my life in Sydney was very perfect and great. I was really enjoying the life in Australia. My GPA was satisfied both of my parents and me. On the other hand, I had less talk to her; we met each other in the internet just two or three times a week. I openly accepted that living without a girl friend was very wonderful. However, I couldn’t break a promise that I had given to her. I never liked someone else here in Australia; all the spaces in my heart were with Tarn.

April 23 was the two year anniversary between Tarn and I. Unfortunately, I couldn’t come back to Thailand and celebrate with her. Perhaps we would meet each other in the MSN tonight.

Her name didn’t appear on the MSN as usual, neither wrote to me. I was so jealous as hell and felt very terrible. I tried to call her but no one answered. What was happening? Where had she gone?

I phoned to one of my friend in Bangkok and asked him what was happening with Tarn. The only one thing I could do was praying that she didn’t get any accidents. But I couldn’t believe my bear ears what I did heard from my friend. He told me that he saw Tarn was walking with another guy at a theatre. Initially, my friend thought it could be her friend but he was thinking wrongly. He saw they were kissing in Tarn’s car as he tried to track on her. I didn’t believe single of words of my friend. I even didn’t think about that. "She loved me and loved so much. This wasn’t truth." I talked to myself. I asked my friend to call me when he saw her again. I couldn’t live without knowing the truth. Three days later, my friend called me and he passed the line to Tarn. I tried to accept the truth she was telling to me. She explained everything to me. I tried not to cry out as I was in a middle of the class but I couldn’t stop bursting into tears. I kept saying "I love you so much, please don’t do like this. We love each other. We ever promised that we would not be break up." Unfortunately, nothing could be done now. She was gone to another guy and she didn’t love me anymore. This wasn’t Tarn I knew and loved so much. My heart was broken; I couldn’t breath and really wanted to die.

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Two weeks later, after the painful trauma of the broken heart, I sent a letter to her. I also sent her the pictures of the sky I took everyday since I was here. And this was the reason why I took those pictures; because these were the pictures of the sky of the days that I loved her. When I looked up at the sky, the only one thing I though was her. The dreams we had and shared now ended because of the certain thing that I was never afraid of, ‘the distance’. I still missed her; her voice, her eyes, and her arms around me. I missed our discussions about "our love and future together" and our nap we took together. I looked at the pictures when we were standing together in front of the hotel in Europe. And cry as I remember the romance we had on that trip.

I met "that person" early on in my life, and there wasn’t a day that passed that I didn’t thank God for it. It was hard to imagine going through the days we shared and had together. I know there would be other people come into my life that share their views and feelings around but, there is one thing that would never change…I would never forget her and meet another Tarn again. And she, of course, would never meet another me.

 

 

Copyright © 2005 Visut Bootsripoom
Published on the World Wide Web by "www.storymania.com"