Surpriiiiiiiiiise!

It’s three days before AS pure maths paper, but given my past papers marathon schedule I was doing my Physics paper 2 instead. The SAT on the day before left me jaded, and regardless of the countless naps I had, I still felt lethargic. At 10:20 pm, I tried to maintain my mental vitality by watching a 20-minute-video while doing the papers, but I relinquished into my bed at 11. But massive aberration occurred an hour later: I was then wide awake, and noticed that some housemates who typically sleep at 10 or 11 were still meandering around the dining area. There’s also some female noise wafted from the corridor, reverberating my eardrums sporadically. I didn’t care much and attempted another hypnosis to myself again, but I can’t…

It wasn’t even two minutes when I heard repetitive knocks on my door. With my mind ruffled and eyelid sagged, I lumbered to the door and turned the knob, greeted only by Yi Heng with his (feigned) stolid face and the dark vicinity.

Then Zeno held a cake (or two? Couldn’t trust my eyes) with candles illuminating the dark surroundings, followed by an influx of people and the concomitant concerted choir force singing “happy birthday”. I didn’t know how to react, except laughing non-stop.

Everything next followed full procedure: make a wish, and blow the candles. But before I cut the cakes (which I temporized it for fun) the crowd demanded me to remove the candles orally, anticipating the scene when someone tried to push my face into the cake then. Too bad, I realized the force pushing me into the cake and resisted it fast enough (so I doubt if I was really in blurred condition) 😛

It’s two, not one.

It’s buffet session, and the guests when into hectic “snapchatting” activity (I don’t have one, but I know they do). Some questioned me whether I could “detect” this surprise, and one joked that he heard an “alarm striking from my room at 12”: I denied it vehemently, showing my aggravation on this false “accusation”, only to realize later that I shouldn’t have taken it literally. Later, these friends unveiled some previous mysteries layer-by-layer: when three friends chased me out of their rooms the day before and said they were talking about “personal matters”, they were discussing about this birthday plan. Nevertheless, I conceded to Zeno that I sensed irregularities when accidentally saw a Whatsapp group “Anzo watch **rn” on his phone when he asked me questions on a math problem, when he asked jocularly “guess what’s the secret group for the other housemates”.

The party ended soon with a group photo, and with clock striking 12:50, I thanked the guests and said goodbye to them (reminding that some have papers one day away), with subsequent repartee “hey let’s go, the host is chasing us out”. I can’t describe how humorous these friends are.

That’s all. That mini-banquet was over. I fell into my bed at 1:10 after cleaning the mess (thanks to my inept cake cutting skills), leaving a thud for Zeno to tease with later. But I found myself in whole night insomnia out of euphoria: this sensation was just too fantastic!

—

In the party, I didn’t explicitly say how grateful I was; instead I flippantly said “thanks for ruining my plan of waking up early for a good swim tomorrow”, and “I can sleep finally” after the guests dissipated. The reason of I doing so is to reinforce my eccentricity (I wrote this before: I have never been normal and I will never be), and to show how I lost my words during the party.

The fact was, these friends deserved more than just a gratitude from me: who can expect them to throw a surprise just for me when exam was impending? Everyone could have studied in his/her room and enjoy quality slumber. Instead they planned all this not only to commemorate this special day of mine, but also to break the tedium of exam month even before the exam commenced.

This post is specially dedicated to you all. To add on, thanks to all the wishes, including one good friend who phoned me from Taylor’s College. Finally, thanks to my parents too (they have been celebrating my birthday for 18 times already, isn’t it?)

*Photos: credit to Jean and Zeno.