UNFORESEEN EVENTS

At 10.30 pm, my friend AA asked me to send her to the terminal bus station at 12.30 pm. Her bus was at 1.00 am, Transnasional which is notorious for its punctuality. I said ok.

Around 11.30 pm, another friend, H, asked me to send her and 2 friends for their 1.00 am bus too. I said ok too. I thought I could hit two birds with one stone.

I was very sleepy and tired but was ready by 12.30pm. AA was ready. She brought S to keep me company on my way back. H took several minutes to reach the car. Then, one of H’s friend, AB couldn’t be contacted so they tried frantically calling her roommate. She had fallen asleep while waiting. We had to weigh between waiting for AB and leaving her or we wouldn’t make it in time to the terminal. We decided to wait. It was a nerve wrecking moment for us. Waiting for her to reach the car seemed like forever. We had only 10 minutes left before 1am. From UIA to the bus station it usually takes about 15 minutes depending on the traffic.

As we drove off, the pakcik guard nak tahan lah pulak but I didn’t have time to stop. Then, there were road constructions which reduced the 2 lanes to only one lane. And we had to stop at a red traffic light. I drove as fast as I could (yang tak berape laju sangat). As we reached the terminal, we saw a Transnasional bus pulling out of the driveway. We prayed it wasn’t AA’s bus.

I waited for a while to make sure that my friends got on their buses. Suddenly, AA came walking to the car, teary-eyed. The bus we saw was the one she was supposed to board. Due to my insufficient knowledge of the roads and bus routes, I was unable to offer untuk kejar bas tu. Kesian AA. All we could do was to return to UIA. It was a silent ride back to the hostel.

Alhamdulillah the other 3 managed to board their bus.

I keep thinking whether I did the right thing by agreeing to H’s request when I had already promised AA first. My obligation to AA took precedence over H’s. But I couldn’t turn my back on H. Should i have left AB? is a bird in hand better than 2 birds in a bush?

Moral of the story, we can plan but Allah also plans and Allah is the best of planners. We can try our best within our limited capacity but some things are beyond our control, like a friend accidentally falling asleep. inshaAllah, whatever happens, it is for the best.

15/11/2008

2.00 am