Ismi Safeya

The Guard

2010-01-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

"Peace be upon you. You're... Harun, right? Can I have a word with you for a minute? There's something I wanna tell you. Private stuff, you know?" Zulaikha started the conversation with one of the guards wearing the name tag of 'Harun'.

"Peace be upon you too. You wanna talk to me? Yeah, sure you can. I don't mind chatting with you, in fact I am willing to spend the next hour chatting with you. Let's say... you wait me here for another couple of minutes. I'm off duty by then, and we can go somewhere else. I'll buy a cup of coffee," replied Harun with added enthusiasm, even though he didn't know Ismi Safeya.

Ismi Safeya understood what Harun meant by then. She knew Harun could not be trusted, but she grabbed the man's arm and pulled him to the side. She came closer to his ears, and readied herself to whisper something into them. "Harun... I think you are pretty lucky to get someone as beautiful as Mira. I'm just curious... how did you manage to do that?" Zulaikha pretended to ask, and showed an innocent face.

"Well, well... you really get me interested. Who are you really? I don't think I know you." Harun shook his head a few times and looked at Ismi Safeya's face with a cheeky smile.

Bingo! The guard's reaction confirmed that he was the man talked about by Mira and her friend. She was glad. She even started planning how to get Harun into her trap. "My identity is not important to you. The crucial thing is what I'm going to tell you. Do you know I have a note from Mira?" asked Ismi Safeya with a straight face.

"A note?"

Harun became really interested and he came closer to Ismi Safeya. Ismi Safeya tried to remain calm, her mind racing on what to be talked about in a few moments to come.

Chapter 2 - The Hiding

2009-12-02T17:18:00.000-08:00

Ismi Safeya changed her mind to walk straight to the exit door. Before any one of the two guards could notice her, she shifted her way towards a boutique which situated opposite to the exit. Ismi Safeya pretended to choose some clothes while observing the guards.

Her guess was correct. Both of the guards were now beginning searching all bags belonging to customers who wished to go through the exit door. Ismi Safeya saw it all with her own eyes, how the guards took everybody's bag and dug through all the contents. Desperate, she looked around and saw several clothes rack at the back of the boutique. Without thinking twice, Ismi Safeya headed towards the racks and hid herself behind one of them. She ignored the two salesgirls who were busy chatting at the front of the boutique. But their conversations were obvious to heard, so Ismi Safeya just simply listened.

"Mira, I notice that you have been nervous these days. Hasn't your mother recovered from her illness yet?" said one of the salesgirl. Her name tag read a name, Emi.

"She's all right. My mother is completely fine. She had taken the medicine I've given her, and she's as healthy as ever. It isn't her that I'm worried about. It's about something else. I've been thinking about it for days... and I've caught a lot of headache doing it. It has been several nights that I only sleep, but I don't drift off," replied the salesgirl who wore the name tag which read Mira.

"Hmmm... if you sleep but you couldn't drift off. I wonder if you bathed but you're not wet. And you eat but you're not full. I am almost sure I know your problem. I think you're in love..." suggested Emi, showing a bit of teasing expression on her face. She smiled a little and showed an array of nicely arranged, white and clean teeth.

"Yeah... yeah... I'm telling you now. It's not that I want to keep any secrets from you, but you know Harun, right? The guard guy. He's all over heels on me, but I've never had any feelings for him. I swear. And I am so sick of his desperate urges, he always asks me to tell him what I feel. But yeah... I don't have the guts. And I pity him. I'm afraid he will misinterpret what I'm going to tell him, since he is so 'in love'..." said Mira, and with that laughed out loud. But the laughter showed a little bit of embarrassment, as if it was a crime that she had committed by confessing.

"This is easy. Mira... what are you thinking? You don't have to worry a thing. You will just torture your body and mind thinking about this garbage thing. Just go to him and tell him the truth. End of story. You are keeping it to yourself for nothing. I'm more afraid if that Harun is already having dreams of having kids with you. Then when he discovered you are not interested, then what? You will be in trouble by the time it happened. What are you going to say then?" A question mark showed on Emi's oval face.

"Well... I guess you're right. I'll think about it. Moreover I pity him, and I see him everyday standing at the exit door. I know he wants to attract my attention, but somehow disgusted is the feeling I get. I don't think I am going to even like him at all. He's just not my type," replied Emi with a slow voice. She seemed reluctant, but surely considering.

"Then, you should do what you are supposed to. It's a different story if you really have something going on. If that's the case, I surrender. I can't help you, you have to figure it out yourself," teased Emi. She liked teasing the girl, because Mira became panic easily and she almost always believed every word Emi told her. But Emi only teased Mira just for a little fun, and no harm done. She loved the girl like she loved her own self. To Emi, Mira was like a real sister. They argue and fight, but then forgive and forget.

"No I'm not!" Mira protested in a high-pitched voice. Her calmness position had now changed into a panic one. She protruded her tongue out and showed it to Emi to strengthen what she meant. A cheeky smile curved on the outline of her mouth.

"You're good. Now the problem's out, are you still worried?" Emi smiled back and just simply asked what she wanted to know.

"I guess not. Like you said, why worry?" Shrugging, Mira replied and walked into the cashier compartment. She started doing some coins collecting, so the discussion stopped just like that. Seeing that Mira had started doing her work, Emi went to the sweatshirts racks and rearranged the display.

Ismi Safeya heard every bit of the conversation between the two salesgirls. She decided to get out of the boutique. She headed straight towards the exit, where the two guards were still rummaging into customers' bags. In a distance of about three metres from those guards, Ismi Safeya could clearly read their nametags. One of the guards nametag read 'Harun'.

Chapter 1 - The Bracelet

2009-12-01T01:57:00.000-08:00

Ismi Safeya observed the movements of the sales lady in the gold store. After she was really sure the sales lady didn't notice her presence, Ismi Safeya focused on what she really wanted to do. The 24 carat of 916 gold bracelet really attracted her attention. Without delay, Ismi Safeya dug her hands into the glass container which was exhibiting an array of gold jewelleries, including the bracelet as well. Quickly, she unzipped her bag and slid the bracelet into it. When the bracelet sank into the bottom of the bag, she zipped back the bag and made a nonchalant face.

Her earlier facial expression was rigid and anxious. But now she felt calmer, because she felt half of her effort had already been done. But she knew she should be careful because she was still inside the gold store. Furthermore, the gold store is inside a shopping mall, Terminal One. She tried as hard as she could to portray a simple and straightforwarded face while observing the sales lady. She knew the sales lady was ignorant.

Carefully, Ismi Safeya arranged her steps out of the gold store. She felt her footsteps were as if the footsteps of a giant, too loud and hurting to her ears. Her heart beats were as if the nuclear bomb which exploded repeatedly and mercilessly, and disturbed her sanity.

Now she was already out. But she was still in the Terminal One, so she had to find a way out soon. She continued walking. In front of her now stood two guards on duty. One of them was talking on the mobile phone. The guard nodded and he gave a hand gesture towards the other guard on duty. They discussed something, and their facial expressions were serious. All of a sudden, Ismi Safeya felt as if her heart stopped beating. Her instinct told her that something was obviously fishy and she had to find out.

Test

2007-02-14T17:53:00.000-08:00

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