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A ShortSt ory by Than Toe Aung i as Li ndert Edi t ed by El i n Li nn Ht et CoverArtby SaiHt Copyright © 2016 by the author, all rights reserved. Cover image contributed by Sai Htin Linn Htet for nonprofit purposes. This is a free eBook. You are free to give it away (in unmodified form) to whomever you wish. This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons—living or dead—institutions, or locales is purely coincidental. The Other Side of the Coin By Than Toe Aung 1 “Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest. I testify that there is no God except Allah. I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Come to prayer. Come to prayer.” The muezzin from the Bengali Mosque in downtown Sule is broadcasting azan for the Friday prayer. Nwe Sein Wai stands waiting patiently in front of the mosque while Thiha prays inside. As she waits for him to finish praying, she looks up at Sule Pagoda, puts her palms together, closes her eyes, and pays homage to the Lord Buddha. A few minutes later, the prayer is finished and people start to come out of the mosque. Soon Thiha emerges, removing his prayer cap. When he sees Nwe, he glances around, and taking advantage of the cover granted by the flow of worshippers from the mosque, he gives her a stealthy kiss on the cheek. “Stop it, Thiha! I hate it when you do that in public,” she says, blushing. “Don’t worry; no one saw,” he replies with a mischievous grin. “And I’m sorry. I just can’t help it. It comes out of habit.” “A habit that you picked up with a lot of other girls before me?” “Don’t be silly. You are the first girl I’ve ever been in love with.” “Liar!” she says with a laugh. “It’s okay if you don’t believe me,” he says just as a noisy bus roars past. 1 “Sorry. What did you say?” “Never mind. Let’s go eat something. I’m hungry.” “All right then.” It was a rainy evening when Thiha first met Nwe Sein Wai at their English language class. The class had just been dismissed, and he was about to head back home. He had an important family dinner he had to go to, but he didn’t have an umbrella with him, and the rain was pouring down heavily. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a girl raising her umbrella. “Do you need a lift?” she asked in English. A lift? He thought. It’s an umbrella, not a car. But then he understood what she meant, and he went along with her. She escorted him to the nearest bus station. On the way, she spoke to him in English, and he replied in kind. He sensed that she wanted to practice her English, but he didn’t know why she chose him. It was not as if he was one of the best students in the class. His spoken English was only so-so, though he was a strong reader. When they arrived at the bus stop, she said goodbye and walked away. He didn’t get to know her name, nor have a chance to tell her his. Still, the memory of the encounter stayed with him. Thiha soon found out that she was a close friend of one of his best friends, Min Thant, who told him that her name was Nwe Sein Wai. After the “ride” she gave him in the rain, he tried his best to get closer to her. She spent most of her time in the library, so Thiha began going there too, even though he had rarely ever gone to the library before he’d met her. As time passed by, they began meeting each other frequently at a coffee shop, where they would hang out before their class started. They often talked about their family lives, their experiences at their universities, their crazy friends. Sometimes they’d giggle over the silly antics of a couple sitting at 2 another table. Then they would go to class together. Now that they’ve been meeting regularly for several months, some people in their class think they are