The longest Thursday morning...

I thought waiting for Ayah to come back from KB last night was suatu penyiksaan. But, this morning (or rather - yesterday morning) - I got to REALLY experience REAL torture.

Hanna left for school with Ayah at 6:50a.m, after which I busied myself with all the chores around the house. I didn't get a good sleep the night before as I kept on waking up every half an hour or so - every time checking the clock. Aduhhh...lamanya lah pulak nak daylight!

By 8:30a.m, I already had Hilman and Hasya in the car - still groggy and still in their jammies, with their unkempt hair. The jam along LDP going towards Bandar Utama seemed worse than usual, especially at the Sri Damansara end toll. Both Hasya and Hilman slept throughout the first half an hour of the journey, and it was really quiet in the car, which was rather unusual - I thought to myself. There was something missing. And then I realised - I forgot to switch on the radio, like I would normally do. Hmmmm...my mind was somewhere else... It was with Hanna, to be exact.

As I left LDP and headed towards Taman Tun, Hasya woke up and reminded me -

"Mommy, don't forget to get some Dunkin' Donuts for my class party, okay?"

And I was like - "Party? What party?"

And then I remembered - oh ya... the end of year class party!

9:o5 a.m - reached Dunkin' Donuts off the Sprint Highway opposite Eastin Hotel. Hilman was also awake by then.

Still no phone-call from Hanna, and I was starting to have palpitations...

I thought of getting Dunkin' Donuts for both Hasya and Hilman's party as I was really in no mood to go somewhere else to get some other foodstuff, but, no - Hilman did not want any freakin' Dunkin' Donuts. He wanted a cake. I tried to talk him into settling with Dunkin' Donuts. But, no - he wanted a cake. Me - breathe in, breathe out (10 times).

9:15 a.m - headed towards my office to clock-in. I received permission from the HoD to be away in the morning.

9:35 a.m - still no phone-call from Hanna, and I decided to drive to Section 14 to get Hilman his cake.

Went to Bak*r's Cottage, and Hilman could not find anything that he liked. So, we made our way to Ki*g's Confectionery. My mind was miles away, when suddenly I heard Hilman - "Mommy!!! I want this one!". I didn't even look at the cake, and just asked the staff there to write "Happy Holiday" on it and paid for it. Still no phone-calls.

I dragged Hasya and Hilman to the bank and settled the car loan instalment, and we headed to the Post Office to post some letters.

10:05 a.m - reached Mak's house in PJ and dropped the kids. Tried calling Hanna, but she didn't answer the call. OMG...is she okay?

10:10 a.m - should I call Hanna, or not? Oh well...what the he*k. I dialled her number again. Still no answer.

I called Ayah, who was already on his way to school from Putrajaya (where he had to attend to our Bibik matter at the Immigration Office). I told him that I was worried, and he said, "Hanna's probably in her classroom and has put her handphone on silent mode."

Yes, that must be it. That must be the reason why she didn't answer her phone just now- I was pacifying myself.

10:15 a.m - I called Cikgu Raz*an, and tried to sound as cheery as I could - "Assalamua'laikum Cikgu. Maaf mengganggu. Is it okay to talk? Cikgu di sekolah ke ni? Saya cuba telefon Hanna a few times, but, she didn't answer her phone. Risau jugak saya ni - Hanna senyap aje! Results dah keluar ke Cikgu?"

All that in one breath.

And I felt like he was taking forever to answer.

"Wa a'laikumussalam...Belum lagi lah Puan. Cikgu Nazr*l dah pergi Kementerian, dan dia dalam perjalanan pulang ke sekolah now ni. Dalam pukul 10:45 pagi ni dia sampai. Dan, insya Allah kami akan umumkan keputusan pada pukul 11:00 pagi di Dewan nanti. Insya Allah, Hanna okay tu. Walau apa pun keputusan dia, kita terima sebab dia dah buat yang terbaik..."

"Hmmmm...does he know something that I don't know?!" I was asking myself. Oh, please Allah...Please give me strength. Be still my 1000-beats-per-minute beating heart!

10:40 a.m - made my way to the school.

I was at the traffic light under the flyover at Jalan Universiti when my phone rang. It was Ayah. I looked at the time. It was 10:43 a.m.

"Hello, Mommy...are you on the way to school? Where are you now?"

"At the traffic light. Should be there in 3 minutes, insya Allah", I replied.

"Hmmmm...Hanna dah dapat results dah...", I heard Ayah said.

"And?!!! 5 A's??!!" - I was not breathing.

"Hmmmm..." Ayah sounded reluctant to say it, and then he said -

"Yes - she got 5 A's!", and Ayah was laughing at the other end."I knew she would get it!" Ayah said.

And all I could remember was that everything became very, very blur after that....because I was crying. And I mean - REALLY crying...

Vision blurred, I somehow made my way to the school and went straight to the hall, and saw my first born jumping up and down with her friends.

Hanna saw me and ran straight to me, and we hugged each other.

"Mommy! I got 5 A's!!! YESSSS!!!" she screamed.

I just nodded, and continued hugging her.

"Mommy, why are you crying?!!! I got 5 A's laaa!"

"I know, sayang...I AM SO, SO PROUD of you..." I managed to utter the words in between the tears.

And she gave me the biggest smile ever, and kissed my cheeks...

Syukur Alhamdulillah...