Friday, August 15, 2008

Too late to apologize


Daniel could see from far that the traffic light is still green. He pushed the paddle as much as he could to increase the speed. He didn’t want to be late. He knew that the red light would take a long time to turn green again since the settlement there is so pack. He was lucky that the road was pretty empty. The traffic light turned yellow. His heart thumped faster wishing he could make it.

3 meters from the line, the traffic light turned red. He was worry and his mind puzzled. Should he stop? Or keep on moving? “Ah! I should not brake drastically”. He kept the speed and didn’t care much about the traffic light.

Priiittt!!! It came from whistle sound. A traffic police wanted him to stop the car. Daniel stopped his car quite far and grumbling in his heart. He looked at the side mirror and saw a face which is so familiar.

Oh he is Allister Mc Kenzie Adams! His good friend when he was in secondary school. He felt relief. He opened the door and raised his hand with a smile.

“Hey Ally! How are you? Long times no see… it was long time ago when I saw you last at your wedding.”

“I’m fine thanks”. Allister didn’t smile back.

“Man! I was in hurry. My wife is waiting for me at home”

“Oh really?” Allister replied in doubt.

“Yeah pal… today is my wife’s birthday. She has prepared everything together with the kids. For sure I can’t be late. Friends are waiting for me too.”

“I understand. But I have been watching you for quite some times and you did the same fault at the same junction for few times.”

Daniel wanted to change his strategy.

“So, do you want to summon me? Actually the traffic light wasn’t red when I reach at the junction. It was yellow.” It was a good excuse given by Daniel.

“Okay. I saw it clear. Please give me your identification card and your driving license.”

Daniel was so frustrated and slowly passed Allister his identification card and driving license. Walked back to his car and closed the door tight while Allister was writing something on his book. After few minutes, Allister knocked his car window. Daniel looked at Allister’s face with a frown to show his frustration.

Lower his window… very little.

“Ah! Just an inch is enough for him to pass me the summon ticket.” His heart murmured madly. He took the summon ticket.

Without a word Allister went back to where he was to observe the traffic.

Daniel was shock. Yes, he got his identification card and the driving license back for sure... but with a note. His mind puzzled. “Why doesn’t he gives me a summon ticket instead of a note? Is this a joke?” he spoke to himself.

He read the note hurriedly.

“Daniel…

I bet you know I got a beautiful wife and a very cute daughter. Sadly, they are gone.

They were hit by a driver that didn’t obey the traffic light at this junction. Yes the same junction.

The driver was in jail for 3 months. Now he is free to see his wife and his 3 kids again.

And I was alone… as my family has gone. I live in sorrow after that incident. They won’t come back to me… not anymore.

I tried to forgive the driver for so many times. But it was just too hard.

This time it happens to you… my good friend. I’m so sad.

Be careful when driving Niel” –Ally-

Daniel was speechless. He opened the door and searched for Ally but he was too late. Ally wasn’t there anymore.

He drove his car slowly with a lot of things playing in his mind hoping that Ally will forgive him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------






Till later.

15/8/2008 - Sound of silence...

63 comments:

  1. Nice story !

    I'm so familiar with the names :) Poor Ally.

    If I was Ally, I will write a note with a summon too *evil laughing*

    Maybe after this Daniel can meet him at the same junction on the next day ? So that he can apologize to him ?

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  2. The names are not related to anyone who is still alive. They are just names created by my imagination.

    I wish Daniel could see him again at the same junction. But what if he never works there anymore? Isn’t it too late too apologize?

    That is life.

    Thanks Dayah :)

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  3. Wow! What an amazing story!

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  4. i've heard about this story before,but in MALAY version....for sure this is quite a nice story for someone that always ''chase'' green traffic light,like me..huhu...thats da reason why aku accident kelmarin...but things happen,lesson learned....must be careful more next time....

    hmmmm this story full of pengajaran rite....

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  5. Anonymous9:59 AM

    (lost of words)

    ohh. ohh. i get it.

    NICE ONE!

    p.s : poor ally. *pat*pat*

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  6. nice story bro!

    :)

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  7. Anonymous2:50 PM

    Salam faisal admar...

    This story is AWESOME!!! :) but, too bad for Ally... :(

    "Apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift." - Margaret Lee Runbeck

    It's never too late to apologize... An extra effort I believe could save you from feeling guilty over-n-over... :)

    good post!!

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  8. hey. *^^* i was bloghopping. found yours. kool entry. hm. this is what it made me think: saying sorry is an easy thing to do, to some. maybe to many. but to mean it could be hard, to some. maybe to many, too. but really..when it comes to situations like THIS, we..us, well, we have to MEAN or sorries, do sumthing about it..right? maybe not much. but i believe in doing sumthing after apologizing. kool entry, again. *^^*

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  9. "Kemaafan Dendam Yang Terindah" - Aishah. SORRY.. donno why i like this song.. nice entry bro. Keep remind myself & my driver bout this. Alalalatok...2x!! Jgn saman..

    ReplyDelete
  10. Adik sayang.... mintak maaf yer,

    Abg Bear tak berapa reti bahasa Inggeris... kalau baca blog adik ni abang kena bukak kamus Dr Fazly tu... alah yg elektronik tu... maklumlah Bahasa Inggeris Abg Bear tahap hulubalang jer bukan tahap Dewa... hehehhee

    jangan marah yer, lambat bebenor nak memahamkannya... kalau takder komen jangan marah... tetapi Abg Bear berkunjung ke sini

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous9:48 PM

    a good post!
    i could relate myself being one of the people yg always speed up when the traffic light turns yellow LOL

    i'm not sure myself who is right and who's wrong
    i mean.. think about it..
    u'r nearly getting over the junction, if stop, 2-3 min wasted just like that (not to mention duit minyak :P)

    but anyway, my dad's advice..
    always be on the look out even though the traffic light is already green since u can't understand lousy drivers yg still speeding up even though it's red :P

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  12. That is a beautiful story but I feel sad for Ally. There are so many drivers who are like that. They still keep going even if the traffic light is red. Here in the Philippines, many drivers are not respectful. Some are but many are not. I don't think they'll ever change.

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  13. Anonymous10:39 PM

    Sedihnya kisah ni.. I'm speechless!

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  14. you have turned from a poet to a writer now? :) great one Faisal!

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  15. I've read this one via email (again!). The reason why Daniel wanted to apologize is because the driver who killed Ally's family is Daniel himself. But Ally never knew. It is based on a true story (as per the email).

    One way looking in this kinda post is about the way the drivers are actually driving their life. The moment we were behind the steering wheel, we tend to have 'total control' over the car but our conduct that we supposed to control are uncontrollable.

    My dad piece of advice (that is worth to take note of) is this:

    "Selaju mana pun anda di jalan raya, anda tetap tak dapat terbang dan anda masih lagi di belakang kereta orang. Hahaha"

    That piece of advice is when I am late for work (before) LOL.

    The other side of reading this post is about apologize. Sometime we tend to let it be forgotten when we have all the time to apologize. So we blame it on 'time'. Sigh. This is the world that you and me and us are living in.

    :)

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  16. This story makes me think about a movie called Moving McAllister. I already downloaded it. But haven't yet manage to watch it. Crap. Sory dah keluar dari tajuk post. hehe

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  17. EH EH
    did Daniel is the one who hitted Ally's wife and kids?
    I'm kinda blur :D

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  18. this is gud entry...gud thing to ponder...and its true...

    Life behind steering wheels is so dangerous…anything can happen…tho sometimes is not our fault…it still happen..

    Like others said…never too late to apologize…in this case of story…Niel need to put an extra effort to find Ally…if he really feel guilt lah kan..

    Okies have a nice weeken faisal…cheers….

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  19. Tammy – thanks Tammy. I hope we can learn something from the post.

    Axim – yes Axim. This story has a lot of lesson and if you are creative enough this story will lead you to many points and questions related to our live including daily basis. It can also be applied on the incident happen to you recently. I hope you are fine now.

    Hidney – yes. It’s a sad story, indeed. Hope we can learn something from it.

    Ayumi – poor Ally at a point and poor Daniel at some points. Thanks Ayumi.

    13May – thanks bro.

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  20. Salam Nurin,

    Yes it’s a good story to keep in our mind, in fact in our heart. It can help us be a better person by some toleration and rid of our self centered. That is for the real life happen on our daily basis with our lovely traffic light even though I know some traffic lights are unfair enough. But traffic light is part of our life. Sometimes it’s unfair and we are use to, isn’t it?

    "Apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift." - Margaret Lee Runbeck

    Love this quote. Yes I agree that never too late to apologize. But it’s different with case which someone keep do the same mistake for many times and saying sorry is common. Saying sorry for the first time is acceptable as the person realize about the fault. Who doesn’t believe in second chance right? Maybe the person need to be reminded for this second chance and should be forgiven. What about third time? I will ignore. It will come to mind whether the person really means it or the word sorry is just an excuse for making the same mistake?

    Thanks dear.

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  21. Hi Hanna,

    Yes. Your comment is related to my reply above for Nurin. You got the point too. Sorry is just a word to describe apologize or excuse. This post mix well if you play the song from the youtube video I attached. You will love it and the feeling can’t be described by words. By looking at your comment remind me another song instead of Too Late to Apologize -- Hard to Say I’m Sorry. Thanks Hanna for dropping by and compliment.

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  22. Kamal,

    “Kemaafan dendam yang terindah” penuh dengan seribu erti tu. Susah juga untuk diuraikan. Yes agree with you this post could remind us about road safety. Haha lagu alalalalatok lama sungguh! Lama dah tak dengar tapi best… reggae!

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  23. Abang Bear yang manis (madu memang lagi bagus dari gula kan? :)),

    Takpe abang adik memahami. Abang singgah pun adik dah cukup happy. Adik ada tanya adik perempuan yang bongsu tu dia cakap kamus Dr Fazly tu memang best. Berapa abang beli dan di mana nak beli ye? Macam best pula. Lagi pun English adik pun sama lah, tahap hulubalang je gak hehe.

    Maybe suatu hari nanti leh ikut Abang Bear mengembara :) Best tengok Abang Bear pergi merata pelusuk dunia.

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  24. Adila,

    Thanks for the compliment. Yes not only you but me too especially when we are late. I hate being late to work or any event. It will show who you really are for being late. I want to be punctual always or earlier is always better. But we never realize that by holding that principle always we actually abandon people around and being self centered. Things happen and sometimes being late is not a lame excuse.

    Yes, always careful at the traffic light junction. Lousy drivers are everywhere. They could harm you even though you are a slow and safe driver. I simply hate them.

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  25. Aisha,

    It happens to many countries too especially in Asia I suppose. I have no idea why. It was so different when I was in Germany and other Europe countries (except France… ops!). They were so polite and earned respect for such a good ethic when driving on the road. How I wish we Malaysian learn that too… but they must go out of this country to see how others reflect to what they are doing now. Hopefully things change in Malaysia, in a good way of course.

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  26. Ixora – think about it always Ixora. It will help you when you driving on the road. People will respect you of course but if they don’t there is no harm too since if you don’t drive with good ethic they will curse you which is not a good thing.

    Farah – hehe I wasn’t a poet and of course I’m not qualified to be called a writer. But who knows your word will be true someday. Thanks Farah.

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  27. Zara,

    Adoi la… don’t spoil the writer la! Haha. Bad Zara :P

    You got a great point out of this post Zara which make me smile. Yes you are smart enough to apply it other way round -- the driving as life. Were you in art stream? You seem good enough to be creative and interpret something easily which I’m so proud of you :)

    "Selaju mana pun anda di jalan raya, anda tetap tak dapat terbang dan anda masih lagi di belakang kereta orang. Hahaha"

    I like your dad’s words of wisdom. This is new to me which I never realize. Good reminder! This will be kept in my mind forever. I will say this to my sisters too.

    Yes. First thing to do when we do something wrong and realize about it, is to say sorry even though it’s hard. Get rid of ego and be humble. Don’t take too long to say sorry before the guilt becomes ripe and sour.

    Good comment Zara :)

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  28. BCD – is the movie about bad driver or the name Allister is there? Lol.

    Ann – haha I guess you are the first one to hit the 100 marks!

    Riena – yes Daniel must put an effort to find Ally for his forgiveness. Never too late to do so, or is it too late to apologize to Ally? You have a great weekend ahead too.

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  29. Anonymous2:48 PM

    Good post! Never gamble on the amber...and hope all drivers will take note! Otherwise, it will be too late to apologise...too late to regret!

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  30. suituapui,

    thanks for the compliment. yes agree with you... drivers should be careful or else they are too late to apologize and regret! :)

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  31. Wello there Faisal..

    Isk..did you called up my Principal to check if am in art stream or not? Aiyooo...she's retired the day when I left my F5. If not, she will tell you which stream I belonged to..ok ok... yes, am in art stream. :P

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  32. zara,

    hehe no wonder you are so good at it. bet you were the best student too *wink*

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  33. hahaha... no laaa.. am not the best student isk...sob sob.. but what I know.. in my daily life, I have to read between the lines, read the fine prints, read the fine lines etcetera...

    but.. you are good and smart as well. Impressive. :)

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  34. Yeah Faisal...sometimes..it is hard to forgive and forget...Life is like a rollercoaster..full of surprises,hate and envy. To be able to forgive someone is the nicest thing to do.....
    Nice story...

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  35. moral of the story is..biar lamabat asalkan selamat...better safe than sorry...need to say more...nahhh!

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  36. makin hari makin ramai.. kalau jam bole divert traffic ka tblog aku.. kui..kui!!

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  37. Faisal,

    writers are born and they are natural at what they do plus, you need the patience and love to do it too- I think you do! :)

    Have a great week ahead, looks like a good start- it rained this morning! :) nice welcome for Ramadhan, don't you think?

    p.s: rajin gi pasar ramadhan bayan baru tak? yg dekat masjid tu?

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  38. very interesting one!

    i do hope that people wont be reckless that way there would no people who died in a reckless driving and hitting on the road for a very fast speed.

    - as for the shower chairs, sorry for that but you can message me anywhere, just put caption on what its all about, don't worry i dont have a short memory, i do know every post i did in here...

    happy monday!

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  39. Zara – still think if you are not the best you are in top 5. I doubt you are average :P

    Thanks for the compliment and again I really like your comment. You got good points.

    Syukur – agree with you doc that it’s hard to forgive and forget. You can say that through your mouth but no one know your heart. Some people even don’t believe in second chance. Thanks doc.

    Waliz – yes better safe than sorry. Hehe sometimes it’s hard to accept that we are late and munching the boss words in the beginning of the day :)

    Kamal – haha makin ramai ke? Biasa je la. Mana boleh divert... maxis, digi dan celcom je kot leh haha

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  40. Farah – hehe may God make it true to me. Who knows? I think writing is cool and I bet you love writing as well hehe.

    Yes, it rained in the morning till afternoon. It’s hard for me to buy breakfast and lunch. If it rains again tomorrow I need to order some burgers from Mc Donalds.

    p/s: Jarang pi sana. Hehe banyak pilihan tapi sangat crowded. Last year ada gak gi beberapa kali beli ayam percik dan makanan-makanan yang lain. Kalau ta silap last day puasa kot… sebab tu tak ada orang hehe. Kalau nasi kerabu selalu beli di Bayan Lepas. Farah selalu pi Bayan Baru ke?

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  41. Nova – thanks. Yes some peoples drive fast because they are late or they need to go to toilet. But weirdly some peoples drive fast because they love to do so. Isn’t that weird enough? I hope people (especially in Asia) will drive carefully after reading this post.

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  42. Hello, I was bloghopping. Touching story, although from what I gather the ending twist is that Daniel was the driver who killed Ally's family. Quite unbelievable though because given the fact that Ally's a traffic police and Daniel went to jail (surely this caught the media's attention), how could he possibly not know that Daniel's the culprit (or maybe he does!). Hmmm or maybe I'm just thinking too much and should just appreciate the story for what is it :D

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  43. Hello milkberry,

    Hehe. Let we take it as the case didn’t get much attention on media. But still weird that the case didn’t go to the court before Daniel was jailed. Maybe that is why I couldn’t be a good writer or a lawyer! Haha.

    A bad twist I suppose :(

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  44. Or maybe we could say that Ally is just too naive for his own good. Poor guy, though.

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  45. Wow
    Very touching indeed
    But then, this is life and living
    You always fail to appreciate
    Not until you have a choice to make

    Nicely crafted
    Skillfully penned
    that's my comment on your blog
    Wassalam

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  46. Milkberry - We could assume that way but it’s pretty impossible to be so naïve until we don’t read newspaper or even don’t watch tv for news (even though I know some peoples really don’t). Glad that you assume that way (to cover up my bad twist hehe).

    Buwau98 – what a wonderful comment. It’s very meaningful. Yes I agree with you that we sometimes forget to appreciate life and even abandon our life. We tend to do something without thinking properly and regret later.

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  47. crita simple tapi maksud nya sangat dalam! akak pun selalu macam ni tau..nampak je lampu kuning mmg nak speed memanjang. lagi² kat putrajaya ni byk traffic light.

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  48. salam bro faisal..
    this is my first time visiting your blog and I have to admit I like this blog.
    BTW, this story is touched, dan buat saya sedar btp pentingnya pemanduan berhemah. lagi pula utk new driver like me.. heheh. =)

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  49. ok, i need to find a slower car than kelisa next time..

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  50. mummy - hehe ye akak, semua orang macam tu. ni dah dekat puasa ni harap-harap lebih kesabaran kita semua ye...

    zaza - salam zaza... thanks for the compliment :)

    oh hehe baru dapat lesen memandu ye. drive carefully ok? when you speed, always remember this story. hope it helps :)

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  51. katunx - hehe no need to driver slower car than kelisa. even though you drive a bmw, you must remember about others too. we cannot be self centered on the road and always remember... like zara said:

    "no matter how fast we drive, we are still behind a car"

    this quote helped me this morning when i was about to drive fast... and i smiled :)

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  52. oh great story here
    i can relate to it so much
    its true that sometimes we made mistakes in our life but then we just find out thats its too late to make a remedy to it its too late to say sorry and its too late to right all those wrong things
    have agreat day and thanks for sharing its nice to be here at your blog
    by the you might want to see who are those solo performers that gain much popularity as they leave their group of where they came from at my blog
    hope to see you there
    more power and God bless

    ReplyDelete
  53. Thanks for dropping by Bluedreamer. Yes, most of time it is never too late to say sorry but it is the matter of too late to forgive. Kind of complicated isn’t it? That’s life.

    You have a great day too.

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  54. bro faisal..
    nice story..
    i wonder whether Allister is still alive or not that tyme?
    hurm..
    scary duh

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  55. Abir - Thanks... yes Allister is still alive at that time. You think he is a ghost? :P

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  56. Sedihnya cite ni...Tapi Ally tidak dapat mengembalikan apa yang dia hilang...Moral of the story : BERHATI-HATI DIJALAN RAYA INGAT ORANG TERSAYANG..

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  57. Ad - betul tu ad... ally tidak dapat mengembalikan apa yang dia hilang. yang tinggal hanyalah dia seorang diri di bumi ini menghabiskan sisa-sisa kehidupan. kesian kan?

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  58. Anonymous5:50 PM

    hahahaa.... dah mmg ketentuan yg ESA... best citer ni...

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  59. adlie, betul tu. tapi kita sebagai manusia kena bersikap timbang rasa kan? ramai muda mudi sekarang ni dah lupa tentang toleransi dan timbang rasa. kadang-kadang geleng kepala juga aku tengok muda mudi sekarang pandu (walaupun aku takle tua sangat hehe)

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  60. Anonymous11:29 PM

    hye~
    i love this story .
    did you write it all by yourself ? :D

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  61. Berrykisses - No. I translated the whole story in BM to English. I like it too :)

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  62. Anonymous3:39 PM

    watever it is ,
    i still love this story . :P

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  63. Hehe glad that you like it :)
    Will post something similar like this again ok?

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for the comment.

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