A Fairly Memorable Experience

When I was teenager, people used to say I was a bit like a girl. I mean, my skin was pale and fairer than what commonly boys had. It might be because I hardly went out under the sun. My body, too, was a bit skinnier for a boy at my age. Until something happened like 5 years ago.

How I (right) looked when I was teenager.

Five years ago, I worked at a food frenchise company in Surabaya, East Java. Our boss gave each of us—his workers—two times a year to go to our hometown in Central Java. They were usually either after Lebaran and after new year, or depending on our importances sometimes, when we had something urgent forcing us to go hometown. Practically, twice a year, anyway.

In early 2017, it was our—my and friend’s—turn to go hometown. After 10 days spent with our family, we had to go back to Surabaya, again. So, my family was about to waive me departing. But apparently I was a bit irritated for thinking that they might be going to make my departure late, and was worried if my friend had been waiting for me and would get upset to me.

It was like 5 PM, when my mother took and handed me my hoodie for me to wear. But, being a bit upset, I threw it to the window. It flew back into the room inside. Then, I said, “I’m leaving”, and went to my friend’s house before departing to the bus terminal. My mother, she must have been sad—either for getting such mean treatment, or worrying if I would get coldness during the trip for not wearing any outwear.

Going to my friend’s house, I was disappointed for unexpectedly finding him still relaxing with his wife—he married at very young age—and having not even really prepared himself. Regretting what I had just done to my mother earlier and seeing that my friend hadn’t been ready and even suggested me to relax, I was irked.

Long story short, we went to the bus terminal, got into the bus, and then after more than 4 hours of (I’m not sure, might be more) travelling, we arrived in Jogja at midnight. We had to take one more bus with approximately 5 to 6 hours long travel to arrive in Surabaya. Before choosing a bus, once again, my friend upsetted me. So, after many buses going to go to our destination had departed in front of us, he kept insisting to wait for one certain name of bus, believing that it was the only safe bus to travel with. Inside my heart, I was like:

“Oh, dear God, how long do we have to wait? Seriously? All bus is the same, though.”

But, always being the type of person who could neither say no nor expose his irritated feelings, I only held my irk. He then sat playing his phone, probably chatting or playing game, while I didn’t have mine yet to play. I could only sat, with upset feeling inside and coldness outside, because I only wore a T-shirt and jeans.

After like two hours, the awaited bus finally came. We got into it, and it took like maybe 5 or 6 hours to arrive in Surabaya. And finally, we arrived in our boarding house in the morning, finding our other workmates still sleeping. Then, we both decided to lie and rest our body, with my mind still thinking of and deploring what I had done to my mother.

Something surprising me happened when I woke up at the day. After seeing me, some of my workmates told me, asking such:

“How come your skin got darkened, unlike what it was?”

Previously, I always thought that my skin was just normal like every boy’s, though, but hearing their utterance, I was like:

“Really?”

I looked into the mirror and didn’t really find any significant changes but my tired face that indeed turned a bit dirtier. I thought, well, maybe it was due to the long peregrination we had just experienced. But I was convinced in the evening after some people that I saw them again told me the same utterance, that my skin got darkened, and that for the first time I got acne on my face.

I wasn’t sad or something, but thinking, that making a beloved one—mother—sad, holding anger inside towards my friend, and added with spending long travel with a bus by only wearing T-shirt could really make an instant physical changing. Since then, I became to look like a more common boy, with a fair skin, but still skinny.

Does anyone ever have the same kind of experience related to instant physical changing due to something?