In the silence of the night, my mind travels through time. Sailing through moments - moments of life that I have passed through, there are moments that make me smile or even laugh, not rarely also those that make me sad. Yet there is one moment in my life, which is more properly called a phase of life that I truly do not want to forget, a memory that is so deeply attached in my heart and my mind. Everything began from something simple, yet deeply imprinted in the soul. Let us turn time back to the year 2005. Precisely in the month of August, when the weather was unpredictable. The wind blew frequently, and rain often came by. My age at that time was still young, 18 years old. I was a third-year student at one of the Favorite Universities in this Country. That afternoon we as Seniors of the Faculty of Engineering were going to open the Faculty Orientation event, a tradition commonly carried out every year. All preparations had been done, and the event began. After the opening ceremony finished, the orientation participants were divided according to their respective Departments.
"Come on line up neatly, don't be like kindergarten kids." Dea slightly shouted while arranging the Civil Engineering Orientation participants.
"Ready Sis." Answered the participants as they straightened their lines.
"Those girls who are chatting come on line up neatly, don't just gossip like at a gathering." Dea said with a slightly cynical tone.
Then with a bit of awkwardness the new female students immediately lined up neatly. Oh yes a little introduction, Dea is my classmate, one of the handful of Female Students in the Civil Engineering Department. The Faculty of Engineering on our Campus is indeed famous for a composition of 80% Male and 20% Female. And from this 20% most are spread across the Architecture Department, Environmental Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Informatics/Computer Engineering. For other Departments like Civil Engineering, having only 5 Female Students in one cohort can already be said to be very rare. For example the class of 2003, which is my cohort, out of 50 people there were only 4 Female Students including Dea. Only in this year did Female Civil Engineering Students reach 12 people out of the total 50 accepted.
After all participants lined up neatly, the event continued. The time already showed 15.30, and the orientation event had finished. When I was getting ready to go home, Akmal, one of my good friends approached.
"Dude, you heading home already?" Akmal asked.
"Yeah, I'm in a hurry. There's something I need to catch. What's up dude?" I replied.
"No, I just want to ask for a favor from you. Not now though, but, if possible, as soon as possible. Hehehe." Akmal joked.
"What kind of favor dude? If I can I will definitely help. But later just call me yeah to explain it. Right now I need to catch the train. I'm not bringing a vehicle today." I responded while going to the campus bus stop.
"Alright, tonight I'll call." Akmal replied agreeing to my request.
Exactly at 16.05, I had arrived home. Coincidentally the travel distance from Campus to Home was only about 20 minutes by train.
"Wow lucky me, arrived just right at this time." I muttered in my heart.
Then after entering the room, I immediately turned on the Television to the show that I had indeed been waiting for. "My Sassy Girl Chun Yang" a Korean Drama that had just started airing last week which I accidentally watched and became interested in watching because it was funny and made me curious.
Hey, don't judge strangely first okay. As a man and an Engineering student, I do not really like watching movies or series that are overly melodramatic. Only that one Korean drama that I watched because the story was indeed interesting and made me curious. Even that was watched secretly so it wouldn't be known by family or friends. Hehehe. Enough of the clarification. Let's continue again.
The time already showed 19.50, and suddenly my home phone rang.
"Hello, who would you like to speak with?" I asked.
"Dude, it's me Akmal. I want to explain what I asked help for earlier on Campus." Akmal answered.
"Oh, it's you Mal. Alright tell me what I can help with." I replied.
"So here's the thing dude, earlier during orientation I saw a sweet figure that stole my attention. Coincidentally she is in the team that you mentor. So my intention is to ask for your help to pull me into your team so I can help you and at the same time I can get close to her. Hehehe." Akmal explained his purpose plainly.
"Whoa dude, you know I'm already being helped by Miss Fierce (Dea - Red) to manage that team. If you want, arrange it with Dea. I'm fine as long as Dea agrees." I answered briefly.
"Oh is that so? Can't you just be the one to talk to Dea?" Akmal asked.
"Ah man, that's tough dude. I'm lazy to argue with Dea. You know yourself how fierce she is. I might end up being chopped by her. Hehehehe." I answered jokingly.
"I'm scared too dude." Akmal joked.
"Alright then I'll try to call Dea after this. Hopefully she agrees. I can't promise." I answered to calm Akmal.
"That's it dude, that's what you call my best friend. Hehehe. I'll wait for the good news." Akmal replied happily.
"Ugh, only when you need something you call me best friend. Hahahaha. By the way, what's the name of the girl you're crushing on? Earlier I didn't see any pretty girl that fits your type?" I asked curiously.
"Man, this one is better dude. I'm sure if you see her, you'll like her too." Akmal answered proudly.
"Hahaha. What's her name then? Tomorrow I want to see how beautiful she is that she made you want to switch teams." I asked Akmal again.
"Her name is Cantika Putri Jelita. Just like her face which is Beautiful and Lovely." Akmal answered with a lovestruck tone.
"Oh ok. Alright then I'll try to call Dea first. Hopefully she agrees. I'll let you know again later." I said as I hung up the phone receiver.
With great effort and tough negotiation, finally Dea agreed to swap teams with Akmal. And Akmal was very happy when I told him about this.
Before sleeping that night, I accidentally drifted into daydreaming. Truly I became curious about the figure of a Junior Female Student named Cantika Putri Jelita who could make my friend deeply infatuated. Yet my daydream slowly faded because the faint drowsiness had already begun to strike.