Success is relative, so is time
By Jhezylle Faye Loria
It is one of those days Mia dreaded. She hates to know who would have the employee of the month or year would be. She had been hating this since she entered school, since she is constantly being compared to her elder brother Ahmed. Why can’t she just stay home and read novels all the time until she grows old? Why can’t children have a choice? She has so much to ask to her parents but they aren’t always around. They’re just around when they wanted to. Good for them. Ahmed, her brother, himself is the strain of their brother-sister relationship. Mia hated the notion that she is the lesser one. When in fact she has other strengths that her brother doesn’t have. She likes to interact with people. She has an interest with books but not with the academic ones that bores her to death but those exciting literary ones written by George Eliott, George Orwell, Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, and Ralph Waldo Emerson which Ahmed seemed to be disinterested in. Whatever the reason is, her parents, no matter what, aren’t fond of what interests her. Until she graduated college, they did not seem bothered with her presence. She did her best but nothing seemed to satisfy her. She is constantly looking for something. When she thinks she needs cooperation from her subordinates, by the end of the month she will send a resignation letter to her manager. It isn’t an easy path, but she is trying to at least save her last 64 | ALIMANTAK ounce of sanity. 64 | ALIMANTAK
Graphics By Christian Reganit Page Layout By Cyen Esclanda
Then, one day she passed by a bookstore that had an Arabic vibe interior. It has those contraptions she could not understand whenever she’s watching a movie. She skimmed through the shelves and saw some familiar books. By then she realized that it wasn’t all about Arabic. She saw bestselling books that she heard as a child from her nanny. While trying to scan the pages of some of the books, suddenly an overwhelming feeling ran through her veins. It was the excitement she could never explain. Her blood rushed and her ideas suddenly started to bombard her. She bought books and started to run, trying to match the beat of her heart. She’s so excited that she can’t contain it any longer. She hailed a cab and directed the driver to her apartment. She already knows what she’s going to do. She’s going to write a book! Finally, after years of looking for what she really wanted with her life, God gave her a chance to do it her way this time and not how society dictates her. So much time is wasted already. She went to her room and took her laptop and went straight to her desk. She sighed.