Semua Bab Their Chance : Bab 1 - Bab 10

Chris I am out of the northbound train as soon as the doors slide open, shoving my way past the unruly commuters who don't have enough travel decorum to wait for people to alight before they board. I run all the way up the escalators and make a mad dash out of the station onto Avenue Road.At 8pm, I am two clear hours later than when I should have picked Muna up from her day care centre. As much as I have tried to limit my hours at the hospital to a maximum of five, there are days like this when it is out of my control. Thankfully, the owner of the childcare facility, Hazel lives close to home, which is the main reason I chose it over other less expensive and easier accessible options. But as I half walk and half run down the street, the hefty penalty makes me which I had noise cancelling headphones.The frown on Hazel's face when she opens the door does very little to conceal her disapproval."I'm so sorry about this," I say, as she hands over my sleeping daughter. "It got crazy at

AhanaI refresh the Bankit website for what might just be the hundredth time that day. Scratch that. Thousandth. It is Monday, the day the results of the scholarship exam are to be published. I click my tongue with my rising impatience. It is already 2pm. Would publishing the results earlier in the day have been so hard?. It has taken forever because their process involves not just scoring candidates on their exam but also running paperwork with their partner universities, we have already had a two-month wait to get to this point.“What’s up Ahana?” Valerie, a friend who also wrote the exam, calls me on the phone yet again. “Have you seen yours?” I retort.“But why's it taking forever?” Valerie grumbles.I sigh as I refresh the page yet again. Nothing. It starts to dawn on me that this might just be a precursor to the real bad news. What if neither of us is successful?“I will check on you later, don't stop checking!” Valerie pleads. “I’ll be doing the same here. If you get the firs

ChrisI look at the brunette sitting in front of me, the Au Pair the agency has sent, Greta, is a young Danish girl who has been in London less than a year. Her English isn’t great, and it is an initial worry for me, especially with Muna just becoming conversational. But demure and diminutive, she is nothing like the buxom Astrid, which could be a good thing as there’s a lower chance of me stumbling on any strange people in my house.Or is there?Last minute, I decide that is a risk I can’t take.“It’s not a live-in position,” I tell her. “Will that be a problem?”“I live Belsize Park,” she beams as she raises a finger. “Only one bus.”Perfect.We finalise plans for her to come in the mornings, early enough to prepare and take Muna to day care, and leave when I get back from the hospital at 9pm. On nights I have social events, she’ll sleep in, but only on those.Everything is sorted.She starts work the next day, arriving nice and early at 7:30am. She is effective enough, except her cu

Ahana Finally landed. My first trip outside Canada. I try to get used to my environment. The air surely is different. That's why I have only stuck to Canada, because I can't imagine myself elsewhere, sweating or shivering. Another sharp gust of wind slaps me in the face, and I marvel anew, but as I get on the horizontal escalator, as larger than life adverts welcome me to London as I glide on the moving walkway, I forget the air and take in my new reality. I have left Canada. I'm in London. I will soon be reunited with Aput. And that is enough to make me excited all over again. Going through immigration is a breeze. I stick to my scholarship story and, as Aput advised, I make no mention of him at all. As I move on to get my luggage, I can’t help but be amazed over how seamless the whole thing has been. As I wheel the trolley bearing my suitcases, I am even angry with myself for all the time I wasted being nervous about this whole thing. It’s been a walk in the park. Stepping into

ChrisMy phone rings as I step out of the train station and I immediately reach for it in my pocket, thinking it might be Greta calling about Muna. It’s a Saturday morning and I have started taking on the extra workload I need to fast track my specialization. It has been four months and things are going great with Greta. She and Luna get along, and I can put in more hours at work. It’s been a win-win situation.Except it isn’t Greta calling. I shut my eyes and grimace as Ada’s name flashes on the display of my phone, tempted to ignore the call as I have been doing for the last few weeks. After running out on her when we met months ago, she’d gotten my number from Eli and called. I’d been happy to hear from her and we met up for dinner that night. But unlike the last time when our conversation had flowed seamlessly, without the support of alcohol, I found her incredibly boring. My mind wandered as she’d droned on about topics I had no interest in. It was a big disappointment and I foun