Our story began in our 3rd year of high school when we were at our highest peak of life. We were confidence. We were cheerful. We were invincible. Life at that age was still carefree and full of hope. We met at the beginning of the school year among a chaotic crowd. Our lives collide together when we were searching for our classes. After realizing we have 3 classes together, we got to know each other through hard work and full concentration in classes. We wanted to do well. Our common goal was also the drive for our friendship. Through many hours poring over homework and studying for exams, we also shared many hardships together. We became best of all best friends. Our group of three was the envy of our classmates because we strived for the best.
Our relationship took another path as we entered our last year of high school. Ting Wei and I began to date around the summer of our third year. When we returned to classes again, people began to whisper about us and tried to sabotage our friendship with Jing Jing by spreading rumors. Some even went as far as causing ruptures between us and creating misunderstandings one after another. But we managed to brush past all that and maintained our friendship with Jing Jing despite all the hardships we had to go through. Despite many rumors about some rivalries going on between Jing Jing and me for Ting Wei’s affection, we ignored them and survived the school year with our grades still high and our friendships very much intact.
We entered college with the highest hope and still the same goal to do well. However, I began to suspect a darker force that had been the hand behind all our problems since the same types of problems occurred throughout the college years. I never had any proofs and I didn’t want to believe it was her. But in the end, I had to. I accidently found out that Jing Jing had liked Ting Wei since the very first day we met. I never expected that to happen. How come she never told me? Was she the one behind all those rumors? Was she the one who had caused all those misunderstandings? Was she the one who tried to tear us apart? I never found out the truth until one day. The day both good and bad news arrived at the same time.
I didn’t quite understand why she didn’t strike directly until now. People say that once you hit 25, it was the turning point of your life. It was crucial that you have already paved the road ahead with a certainty. At that state, all of us were forced into acknowledging the truth that we must plan ahead and secure our future through all possible means. Jing Jing must worry that she could possibly be walking down a path called life without a companion.
It was the last shot and her only chance. The winner would be rewarded with happiness while the loser would walk away empty-handed. After all the harmless games she set up throughout the years, she had to deliver the ultimate blow. She needed to try one last time – even if it would result in defeat.
What would happen when her plan succeeded? He chose to stay with me? Or follow her? Or were we pawns for his pure pleasure after all these years? He once said he wanted us to all remain as friends. He didn’t want to ruin our friendship. He didn’t want this to happen. He didn’t know how serious things could get. He had no idea what Jing Jing had done to us. He had no idea how much effort Jing Jing had put in to ruin us. But in the end, he found out. What would he do? Jing Jing and I were very persistent. Neither one of us would give up. Our golden years were coming to an end. We didn’t have time to waste anymore. When push came to shove, all three parties would lose – no matter how you look at it.
So what was his final answer to us? It all began with a wish. A wish that would make all of us happy. It would free us all from extreme anxieties we were suffering from for such a long period of time. A wish that turned into a trap of fate. A nightmare that all of us were tangled in. It was nothing but a price of greed.
J.M. Barrie once said, “Dreams do come true, if we only wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.” So, were we ready to sacrifice everything else we had work hard for all along? Were we?
My name is Zhang Shao Han. I will tell you the story of how a curse was brought upon all of us on that fateful day.
© Saturday, July 12, 2008
Posted: Saturday, March 13th, 2010
