Story Compilation with Unlikely Friendship Theme

“Hah! Say that again?!” Kasturi’s voice cracked as
she was holding back her fury. The bloodshot in her
eyes made Amihan chickened immediately. Even
though she was frightened, Amihan was reluctant to
back off. Her determination to expose Kasturi
eventually made Kasturi lose her temper.

“You’re saying I did a ritual here and caused an
uproar. Is that it, Amihan?” The way Kasturi called
Amihan’s name gave her chills to the bone as the cat
got her tongue.

Then, Kasturi pointed to the ground, next to Amihan’s
right foot. “You! You had chewed more than you
could bite! You want to see what I buried, right?”

Amihan frantically agitated to see Kasturi dug the
bulged ground with her bare hands, exactly like what
she witnessed ‘that day’, like a monster. Took only a
few seconds for Amihan to see maggots and bones
with some decayed rotten meat buried under the dirt.
Her knees weakened and she stumbled on
the ground.

With dirty hands combined with the
stench of a corpse, Kasturi stood up and
looked down on Amihan, who was
trembling as if she suffered Parkinson's.
Kasturi’s crazy eyes made Amihan almost
pissed in her skirt. With resentment in her eyes,
Kasturi uttered, “Look at that. You see that? You
know nothing yet you accused me of such a thing.”

Amihan flinched, never thought Kasturi could be this
frightening. Her pale face somehow made Kasturi
calm down as she asked in a regretful voice, “Why do
you resent me, Amihan?”

Upon that question, Amihan was puzzled and
embarrassed with her trashy attitude. There was still
great dissatisfaction written on Kasturi’s face as she
slowly sat on the ground, next to Amihan. Amihan
looked at Kasturi awkwardly with mixed feelings.
Considering how psychotic Kasturi could be, Amihan
silently planned for an escape if Kasturi were to harm
her. But, Kasturi started to speak from her heart
instead.

“I think we misunderstood one another. Up until now,
I thought you were obsessed with outsmarting me,
and most of the time, you succeed. Because of you, I
was lectured by my parents. Those were not ordinary
lectures, you know. They were filled with resentments
and curses. ‘Ungrateful child, always be the stupidest
in the class. Become the second for what?’, they said.
One day, I was determined to do something crazy but
I met my ironic savior, the black cat, instead...the one
I buried.” As she pointed to the ground.

Amihan was stunned. She had thousands of queries
but she was rather eager to listen to Kasturi.

“Rentung was the sweetest creature. My savior, my
soulmate…until...” The awkward peek Amihan gave
made Kasturi chuckled bitterly.

“On my way home, I would always take this dark and
narrow alley. As I walked, I saw my soulmate by the
side of the road, immobiled. I called for him as I
trudged to him…I picked him up just to see his eyes
were uptight close, his nose was bleeding and his
lower body was twisted in a horror way. Just then I
realized, I lost him.”

Ren..tung??

Amihan covered her mouth with her right hand,
speechless. She thought of comforting Kasturi but
then hesitated as Kasturi did not even shed tears.

“What you’ve witnessed,” Kasturi pointed to the
ground, “I had no bad intention.”
“I-I don’t get it, wh-why don’t you just bury it at your
house? Why library?” At last Amihan’s curiosity
outbest her intention to stay silent despite her voice
still stuck in the throat.

Kasturi rubbed her nose slowly. “My parents hate
Rentung. He’s a black cat, you see. There’ll be no way
I could bury him there. Besides, Rentung always likes
books. So, I just thought I had to bury him here and
you just happened to be there to witness me.” Kasturi
glanced at Amihan gently.

I bet, Kasturi recalled the moment she dug the
ground bare-handedly.

“Dear you, Rentung, the best gift Allah has ever gave
me, the closest ally, my soulmate.” She said as she
pulled Rentung, wrapped in the white thin cloth,
closer to her chest.

“What did we do wrong to deserve this…Just why I’m
talentless and you’re worthless in people’s eyes, to be
hated just because of what we had. Why do I need to
lose you now? Allahu, this is hurtful, Rentung.” She
mumbled as she crouched on the ground.

Kasturi bawls her eyes out silently. “Rentung, I
wonder…(hiccups)...Just what so great awaits for me
in the future…(hiccups)...for me to suffer this bad
right now? What’s there left for me, Rentung…
(hiccups)...without you, there’s nothing ahead.”

Amihan awkwardly faked her cough, discomforted
with Kasturi’s gentle side, and shook Kasturi back to
reality. Then, Kasturi asked with her eyes glued on
the bulged dirt, where Rentung was buried. “We’re
cool, Amihan?”

Not knowing why she was even surprised when
Kasturi called her name warmly, Amihan tried to
react naturally. “Yeah. We’re good. Anyway, I
apologize, I think our misunderstanding was partly
because of me. You treated me coldly throughout
those years that I thought we’re rivals. Then,
somehow I got obsessed with it…My bad.”

Kasturi snorted. “Apologies accepted.”
Amihan was relieved as she thought, 'Jesus Christ,
somehow Kasturi fits my Filipino name better than
me, the winter wind.'

THE
YIN TO MY

YANG

By: Aisha Azman

It all began on the first day of secondary school, the day
our friendship began. It was the second class of the day
yet I had so far failed at making new friends. Our English
teacher had some business to do so she left us with
some work. After finishing the work given, I noticed that
the others had made new friends except me. I was too
disheartened to try and make any new friends, so I pulled
out a book and drowned out everyone else. I was in the
middle of a riveting chapter when a voice pulled me out
of my immersion.

“Nice book”, said someone from the front. I shifted my
eyes from my book to that person staring at the book in
my hands. I glanced at her nametag. Lyana. It must be
her name. I whispered to myself. “Did she just talk to
me?”, I asked myself. I could not help but notice her dirty
school uniform and worn-out shoes.

She could not even afford to buy the new school uniform and
shoes? A thought came into my mind. "Thanks”, I replied
shortly. She smiled at me and I smiled back. It was so
awkward, so I just shifted my eyes to the book back.

The day dragged by. When the recess bell rang, all my
classmates quickly went to the school canteen except
Lyana. Why didn’t she go to the canteen? I wondered. I was
contemplating whether to ask her to join me or not. I did not
want to cross the line, hence I decided not to ask her and
went to the canteen alone. Walking back to the class, I
noticed a food container on Lyana’s desk.

“Mind your own business, Aisha” I asked myself. However, my
eyes seem to not receive the signal. While walking towards
my table, I glanced at the food container on her desk. I
noticed a banana peel in it.

At home, I told my Mom about Lyana. Mom suggested that I
become friends with her. “How am I supposed to be friends with
her, Mom? She is not even my level”, I told Mom. Hearing my
question, Mom was shocked. “Honey, not all people are lucky like
you in this life, born with a silver spoon in your mouth. She did not
ask to be born like that. Remember this, our status cannot define
who we are. Do not judge people like that”, Mom replied.

On the next day of school, Mom’s advices are still repeating in my
mind. During recess, I went to Lyana’s desk and gave her some
food which I brought from home. I could see that she was trying to
hold her tears. I spent my recess listening to her opened up about
her life. I almost could not believe what she told me. She told me
that her Dad was sick and her Mom sold Nasi Lemak to support her
family. I could not imagined being in her shoes.

At the end of the day, our English teacher assigned us to write a
short journal. When the teacher read Lyana’s journal, I felt so
moved.

“My first and second day of school went well. I had fun spending
my recess with my new friend today. Her name is Aisha.” Lyana
smiled at me. I hardly noticed her dirty uniform and worn-out
shoes. What I saw was a new friend, a friend I had almost missed
out on, the Yin to my Yang.

- The end -

TW IITTTTEERR

E FF RR II
ND
Written by: Nurin Hamizah

Never have I ever thought of building bridges with someone who
is entirely opposite of me until I bumped into a person with a heart
of gold out of the blue. This story brings me back to the year
before covid, 2019, where the story of my unlikely friendship
begins.

Back then, I was sitting on a couch in my house and scrolling
through my twitter. I still remember the tweet I tweeted

“Are there anyone who will be going to the IPG interview
tomorrow at IPG Tun Hussein Onn?”

This verse has become the
major driver of authenticity of
my friendship story.

“Ding Ding” a sudden notification “Izzati replied to
your tweet” appears on my phone .

The way she replied to my tweet
makes it obvious that she is a social
butterfly person unlike me.

From her tweet, I can sense that she
is the opposite of me, the extrovert one.

From that day on, we contacted each other daily expressing
our nerves before the day of the IPG interview.
Despite everything, we never knew each others’ location of
the interview after days getting in touch until the day of
the interview.

That day is where I believe in the phrase
“The world is a small place” as we bumped
into each other, fortuitously. She looks
definitely the opposite of me, she is 2 meters
taller than me, she looks smart yet has
a very good sense of fashion unlike me.
Despite feeling excited, I started to get on my
nerves where my mind goes blank to start
the conversation between us. Gladly, the
extrovert side of her started our first physical
conversation. The communication between
us went smoothly at first, but things got pretty
dull afterwards. I put all the blame on my
introverted side for making the dullness in our
conversation exist as my mind got blank on
how to start conversations.

The conversation between us on that day was getting more dull
and so was she. She went from a person who talk’s my ears off
into a person who is as quiet as a lamb. “Are you okay? Let’s go
have our lunch together”. She nods, “I’m good but I’m sorry I
have a few more things to do”. That really does not sound like
it’s her and that is the moment where I believe in my instinct
that I might have made her feel offended with my personality. I
turned away, took my steps away from her and got back to her
with her favorite chocolate ice cream in my hands.
“I’m sorry” that’s the only word that came
out of my mouth. “No, it’s okay. I’m sorry too”.
I felt really relieved with the word from
her and it started at that moment
where we continue to talk to each
other until today.

3 years of unexpected friendship bond, who knows we can still
get clicked with different personalities in ours. After that
unforeseen day, we always got each other's back. We get to
hang out often expressing our problems and even completing
our assignments together.

3 years of friendship might only look like a short dull story but for
me this unlikely friendship is one of the most important things
that I will fight on to secure this precious friendship. I am looking
forward to spending more quality time with this friend of mine
who has always been by my side even though we met online.

Oil and water…
with a blend of soap

By Siti Nur Syahirah binti Mohd Torek

I can help mix you guys!

“Do not mix with him”, “he is different”, “we are soy bean what, they are
cincau”, those whispers fed me like a ravenous wanderer lost in the woods,
uncertain whether the food available is edible or not, just gulping whatever
is served in front of the eyes. But one thing that I am sure is that I am unsure.
At the hall, I would request to change my seat just so that I do not get any
near to him. It got me thinking nonetheless, when I sometimes steal a look
to him when his eyes were roaming around. The look is nowhere near
beastly or even vicious rather shady and somehow sad… maybe because
majority of the students at this school are just like me and nothing like him,
thus we keep avoiding him.

My perception has not changed until that dark day, a blessing in disguise
indeed. I still remember it at the back of my mind, the grey clouds hanging,
looking as if they promised to flock together. Both my feet felt like I was
walking on thorns, it was bare and what to expect than some minor
abrasion. I was rushing to go home when the longest needle of my analogue
watch was pointing to the 6-digit, heartbeat was pounding so fast… As fast
and strong as the wind blowing the dried leaves. One drop of water, two
drop… Three drops and more… my hands started to reflex, dipping itself in
my bag finding for an umbrella. “Oh god! I left it on the shoe rack!”. No
choice, I need to dash to my house which is just 2 Kilometres away from my
school.

‘Woof!’ ‘Woof!’ the exact times my ears detected that particular sound,
butterflies started flying in my stomach. Adrenaline was flowing all over my
blood vessels as I saw a brown Pitbull, the size may not be scary but its sharp
teeth and ferocious serious face are. I just know it the moment it started
running, I would be dead. As coward as always, I run as much as I could, and as
expected prey mood set by the predator. After some time, my run started to
get slower, the dog was approaching about two feet near me.

“Woof! Go away bad boy!” I was shocked to know that there would be a hero to
save me. But wait that boy with a dark clean face, about few centimetres
taller than me and yes that deep sweet dimple which would be apparent even
the person is not smiling! Looks so familiar… It’s Ravi! I am in awe to realise that
it was Ravi who thrown the stone to the dog! The dog turned around and
changed its prey leaving me behind. Obviously, it’s time for Ravi to run this
time. He ran as fast as lightning that he took a wrong step and land with his
stomach. I ran quickly while my eye balls were moving right and left, upwards
and downwards to find any tool to protect us.

“Ahaa! Found a thick stick” this is not enough, “I need to shout, else both of us
could die”. “Help! Help!!” my hands are busy waving in the air, and it gets
busier when I heard “vroom… vroom…” When the car stopped behind us, I
finally could exhale my breath normally. The two tall muscular Chinese uncles
came down from the car and quickly helped us to get in the car. In the moving
cranberry red coloured car, I stared and browsed from his dark virgin hair to the
scratched head out of helping me to his broad body to his torn school trouser
in which I could see through its throbbing scratched knee. I started to open my
mouth and that moment is the beginning of our story, ‘soya cincau” story…

I have heard from so many mouths that we are like paper and pen from that
uniting moment. Wherever I am, he would be there, and wherever he is, I would
be there. Sadly, not few days ago. It all started during my birthday.
“Ah Mei… What do you want for your birthday?” Asked Ravi enthusiastically.
Knowing that Ravi did not come from the same social class as me, I just
answered “having true friend like you is a present already I need no more”. He
smiled, but I can read that smile is still thinking on giving me something.

21st April 2022,
It is my birthday today! “Ah Mei aaaa come and eat” shouted Mama from
downstairs as I was playing games in my room. “Eh!” My favourite food struck my
head, lao lao’s savoury long noodles with dumplings. The old wrinkled hand
never failed to celebrate my birthday with the taste of heaven. I rushed
downstairs and carefully sat at the table with lao lao, Mama, Jie and Mei. Baba
was not around as he was busy with his business trip. So, there were one seat left
waiting to be seated. It’s Ravi’s seat. “Tinggg tong” the sound of the bell hit our
eardrum. “That must be Ravi!” I accompanied Ravi to our kitchen. Once he sat he
was like “Woww! You got long noodles and dumpling for your birthday but not
cake?” Ravi questioned. I opened my mouth to answer his question but before
my sound box articulate the sound, lao lao was already answering Ravi’s
question. “It is okay for us if there is no cake but long noodle is a must for us as it
signifies longevity that is why sometimes we called it ‘longevity noodle’”.
Explained lao lao. With light sparkling in the big golden brown eyes Ravi throw
one more question with excitement, “Then you have to make the noodle really
really long ah lao lao?”. Amused by Ravi, lao lao giggles and say “Yes! Correct I
tried my best not to cut them short...”

I still remember at the back of my mind when Ravi greeted grandmother by
calling her popo and was confused when I corrected him. It’s just the fact that
lao lao is mama’s mother. Ravi learned a lot about my tradition but still there
are more things to learn, same goes to me.

“Okay okay enough with the questions, lai chi!”, invites lao lao with her mellow
voice. We dug in enjoying all the complementing flavours, hint of spices making
it spicy and some salty and sweet flavour striking our taste bud. It is so good
that the dining table only produce the whirring sound of the fan chopping the
air and the slurping sound out of everyone’s mouths. Ravi suddenly broke the
silence, asking me to close my eyes tightly. “In the count of three, open your
eyes… One, two, three” Ravi counted. I opened my eyes and was surprised to
see a black analogue watch wrapped in a black satin handkerchief. I utter no
words but just grin and bear it, thinking what was his intention.

After that occasion, I kept avoiding Ravi everywhere I go, I felt too lazy to talk to
him. Even thought, I know that he was beyond confused. “Ah Mei! Ah Mei! Let’s
have lunch together”, “Ah Mei can you accompany me to go to the library” he
requested me for many but I gave none. My answer is never yes, I would give so
many reasons just so that I could avoid him and walk with Ling Wei.

“Ravi? Ravi?” called Miss Tan few times.
“Is Ravi absent?” Asked Miss Tan, waiting for other students’ response.
Almost whole class nodded except me, my head just newly checked whether
my right-side seat was occupied or not. It made me worried, “no way that Ravi
decided to skip school” whispered myself. There must be something unwanted
happened, what if anything dreadful happened to Ravi whispered my heart.
“Ain’t no way!!” I shouted.
“What is it Ah Mei? What are you shouting at?” Miss Tan questioned.
“Hehe… nothing Miss, could you please call Ravi’s mom and ask what
happened to him?” I requested.
“I don’t have to, her mother messaged me that he got minor injury out of being
chased by a dog when he went back to school yesterday”. Explained Miss Tan.

Déjà vu. That’s exactly what I felt. But this time around, we are exchanging
character, Ravi got no one to help him. Not even me. The closest friend that he
tried his best to always be there during my hard times.
“Okay Miss, thank you” I replied to my math class teacher.

After class; Monday at 5
I was standing like a statue in front of Ravi’s small house. A house that he
called home is not as big as mine, but one thing for sure he got bigger heart
than mine.
“Ah Mei why are you just standing there? Come in!” Invited Amma, Ravi’s
mom.
“Okay… Amma” I replied. “Ravi look… who is here?” asked Amma.

“It’s Ah Mei your dearest friend”, I could not hold my tears I dash to hug him
“I’m sorry, I am so sorry for not being there for you when you have no other, if
only I stopped being such childish and talk to you” I sobbed. Ravi on the other
hand just kept quiet and patted my back.
“Shhh… it’s nothing, I finally understand why are you acting like that, I should
be the one who say sorry not you”. Appealed Ravi.
“What is it Ravi? How do you know?”. I confusedly asked.
“It’s a longggg story” told Ravi. “Make it short.” I simply requested.

“When I went back to school yesterday, I visited Uncle Ong to ask what is my
fault, I mentioned everything I did to you before the day you start avoiding
me”, I am sorry to not know that, I never wish for you a short life.” “I give the
presents as Ling Wei said that you would love if I give a watch what more if it is
wrapped it in black handkerchief”. I was surprised, how dare Ling Wei do that
to me and Ravi! My dearest friend just got scratches because he visited Uncle
Ong to discover his fault.

“Now, we are all clear right? Let’s have a list of our don’ts so things like this
won’t happen again” Requested Ravi. “Deal!” answered me. Now, I got my best
friend back!
Added Ravi “We are like oil and water, we are different and may look like we
are impossible to be mixed but with soap which is understanding, toleration,
and respect, we could be mixed! It’s chemistry! Ahahhahaha” giggled us.

-THE END-

The Boy
Called
Damien

This book belongs to:
iman najwa



“Come out now. What are you doing down there?” I
asked Joanne when I saw her crouching under the
desk.

“Erk…I am hiding lah… how come I eat my lunch in
front of you when you are fasting?” babbled
Joanne in her Chinese accent.

I flickered her forehead gently. “Don’t be silly. If
you are hungry, just eat maa~ I am okay with it”.

Joanne and I have been best friends since
preschool until now in college. Despite myself
being a Malay-Muslim and Joanne as a Chinese-
Catholic, we never fight with each other. Our
religions and cultures are never a problem
between our friendship as we both know not to
cross each other’s boundaries.

***
“What do you think of moving out of the dorm
and living in our own house?” Joanne suddenly
asked me when we were having our lunch at
the café.

“Well, that would be great! We would have
more freedom”. I simply replied.

“So you prefer living outside?”

“Abso-freakin-lutely yes!”

OK cool. Now let’s move in with me this
weekend. My father got me a house near the
campus. A medium-sized one. Got three rooms
with one bathroom each. Got living room and
kitchen also. You wanna cook? Wanna watch
TV? You do it all. Everything is provided, all
left is a housemate a.k.a YOU” she finished her
talk in one breath, smiling suggestively.

“Huh?”

“We’ll discuss this later, I need to pick up
Damien. Bye!” She sprinted through the main
door, leaving me all confused and speechless.

***
“Aiyyaa Nana, come on lei, why don’t you want to
live together with me?” whined Joanne on the
phone.

“Joanne, I need to know more details on this. It’s
too sudden. Who else is living together with us?”

“Me, you and Damien”.

“Damien???”

“Aiyyaa I haven’t told you yet, isn’t it? Damien is
moving into my house. Don’t worry, he's a cute boy.
You are going to like him a lot”.

“Wait, Joanne. Where did you meet him?”

"On Facebook! I fell in love at first sight, made some
arrangements blablabla let’s skip the boring part but
most importantly he’s moving in this afternoon yay!”

WHAT?! This is crazy! I was happy that Joanne finally
found her soulmate but wasn’t it too early to already
live together? Plus, I did not want to have a guy
housemate. It’s forbidden in my religion. But I couldn't
bring myself to tell her this.

“Joanne, can you give me more time to think? I need
to sort out my thoughts”. I spoke gently.

Joanne stayed silent.

“Nana, why do you keep refusing my invitation? If you
don’t want to, just say no! Stop giving me excuses. I
guess I am the only one who's excited about it”.
Joanne hung up.

***
Two days passed and Joanne was still giving
me a cold treatment. So I decided to be honest
with her about my situation. I took a GrabCar
and went to her house.

“I apologize for hurting your feelings. I don’t-
no…I can’t live together with Damien here”. I
told Joanne the moment she opened the door.

Before she manages to answer, a small kitten
suddenly dashes from below a sofa in the
living room. It meows and circles Joanne’s
feet. She lifts it onto her chest.

“This Damien scares you? I thought you liked
cats, just like me”.

I gaped.
“Hold on- wait…wait. I need to clarify
something. Damien is a kitten? I
thought he was your male friend or
boyfriend!”.

“What are you talking about? Of course,
Damien is a cat. Why would I live together with
a guy? I don’t even have a boyfriend, Nana!”

“You talk about it as if he’s a guy! I have
enough reasons to be misunderstood by it.”

“Nana, I know Muslim girls cannot live together
with a man that is not from their family. I read
a lot about Islam too. We are friends,
remember? I need to know what you can and
you cannot do. Next time, just be honest with
me. I thought you were already bored with me. I
was sad, you know? We are indeed different
from each other but we manage to stay strong
for years. If we disagree on something, we
should talk it out, okay?”

“I nodded my head and pulled her into a hug.

“Joanne I am so sorry for my mistake. I promise,
there will be no more secrets between us. So
where do you get this kitten again?

“I’ve told you babe. From a Facebook page! I
adopted him from the Cat Lovers Club”.

Oh. So that’s what she meant before.

THE NEW
ZACK'S

By Nurnabilah binti
Hadri

The wind slowly caressed the cheek of a young lad. A sound of
cicada pierced the void of silence as a vast blue sky spread on
top of his head. The boy named Zack was humming happily to
buy a cake for his birthday. Unfortunately, when he was about
to cross the road, he was hit by a truck; as his vision became
cloudy with dots of black ink.

He heard the sound of bird chirping resonating in the air. Zack
tried to open his eyes slowly but he was surprised with the
scene in front of him as there were many greenish trees along
with rainbow bubbles flying surrounding the place. He walked
to the stream nearby as he could see a different appearance of
him. The human in the reflection seems like a toddler at the age
of twelve years old. A sudden realization crashed his mind. He
died and he was in another world. As he looked up from the
stream, he saw a beautiful blond woman standing an inch
above the water. He was terrified as the woman slowly
approached him.

“I would like to tell you, welcome to Rowoon
Kingdom as I’ve been waiting for you. In this
world, where it is dominated by animals that act
like animals because they do have emotion and
can speak, it will totally give you a new
experience.

However, do not fret because I can see you live
happily and find a new family unlike the old
world of yours.” The woman disappeared into
thin air as he was still in confusion. However,
judging by her statement earlier, he decided to
give this world a try because in his past world, he
never got a chance to be part of family as he
was an orphan.

He walked mindlessly as he found a small town.
There, he could see a myriad of animals from different
kinds of breeds coexisting with each other. He was
excited to see the town. Unluckily, he was under harsh
impression as the animals at the town started to throw
furniture at him while screaming “A monster! Go away
devil!” he was frightened and he ran away back to the
forest. He wanted to cry because he could not find his
‘family’.

Two weeks later had passed. Thanks to his magic, he
was able to adapt in this world. He created his own
house and small farms. He enjoyed the cozy lifestyle yet
he was still alone.

“Arghhhhh”

Zack heard the sound of a youngster screaming. He ran
out the house and found a lion cub on the ground. He
could see that it was bleeding. Thus, he brought the cub
into his house and tended the wound.

Due to this fateful encounter, the lion cub called as
Lino started to meet Zack at his house. There were tons
of differences between them as the major difference
was their physical appearance. Zack with his human
body and Lino with his lion cub form. Zack's personality
was the opposite of Lino as Zack has a tendency to use
profanity and because of his old soul in a child-like
body, he was perceived as more mature in the eyes of
Lino. Lino who was an eight years old cub loved to cling
on Zack.

“Zack, I want to eat the meat raw!! I hate it when you
cwook.” Lino said with a lisp.

“Okie bud, here eat them.” Zack handed the raw meat
as he ate the grilled meat.

Zack suddenly remembered that
he could not speak the language
that was used by those animals.
However, with the aid of Lino and
his magic, he started to use the
language.

“Lino, did you tell your mom that you met me?”

“No, I didn't tell them because I overheard that they called
you a demon when I'm sure you are not because you helped
me. ”

Zack felt appreciated but he could not sit still as the feeling
of nervousness engulfed him. He disliked the idea of Lino not
telling his parents because they might be worried about Lino’s
whereabouts.

“GET OUT FROM THAT HOUSE DEVIL AND HAND OVER THE
CROWN PRINCE.” A loud voice was heard outside of the house.
Zack and Lino went out of the house and saw a brigade of
knights in front of the house. Zack hid Lino behind his back as
Lino was in confusion. Suddenly, they got attacked by the
knights and Lino was caught. Zack could not fight back with his
magic as the knights used weapons that were coated with
anti-magic materials. He blacked out due to a concussion at
his head. Lino screamed and cried watching the episode in
front of him. Zack was detained and brought back to the
castle. Lino, the Crown Prince of Rowoon Kingdom, had swollen
eyes as he could not meet with Zack. Zack was placed in a
prison. He decided to be an audience to the emperor and
empress.

“Greeting to the sun of the kingdom, the emperor of Rowoon,
Zharif and your highness Empress Vilda, I am seeking for the
audience to make a confession. When I was kidnapped last few
months ago, I was able to escape however I was having lots of
blood loss because of the wound. The mage Zack as you
thought was evil was the one who saved me and my life. I
would like to ask for your permission to let go of him as he is
not a bad guy.”

The emperor and empress were looking at each other and
were about to decline the request but got cut out by the young
prince.

“You told me in order to be a good leader, I need to respect
others as long as they are kind to me. However both of you are
displaying a horrible example as Zack is not a demon but a
mage who had helped me in the past.” Lino had teary eyes but
he looked at the leaders of the kingdom again as he heard sigh.

“The Crown Prince of the Rowoon Kingdom, I granted your
request. However, any issue in the future would be your
responsibility.” The emperor declared the statement.

Months later, the scene of Zack and Lino
playing together was a common occurrence in
the castle. Zack also contributed his ideas
from the modern world on his part to the world
for example the use of washing machines. The
emperor was impressed as he was presented
with a magic tower.

“Thank you Crown Prince Lino.
You are the real family of mine
although we do have different

personalities and status.”



“Thank you Crown Prince Lino. You
are the real family of mine

although we do have different
personalities and status.”



Zack smiled and called for Lino by
his name.

She is a
jigsaw of
her puzzle

BY; SITI RADHIAH BINTI ADNAN

Two houses living across each other, separated by a big tar road,
two best friends are giggling while facing each other. Mia is
looking through the shoddy window that is as shabby as a jalopy.
On the other side, Mary is sitting beside her fluffy looking
Samoyed through the sliding glass from her bedroom balcony.
They chuckle while remembering the old indelible incident that
catalysed their friendship from glass into gems.